Tommy Burns

Who was Tommy Burns?

Tommy Burns was an all-star and Grey Cup champion football player in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union and the Ontario Rugby Football Union, playing from 1931 to 1941.

A hometown boy, coming from the Montreal C.N.R. Juniors, Burns won a Grey Cup with the Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers in 1931, his rookie season. He left home for 4 year stay with the Toronto Argonauts, where he won another Cup in 1933 was selected an all-star in 1934. He then returned to Montreal and played with nearly every team the city had to offer. 1936 and 1937 saw him playing for the Montreal Indians, but in 1938 he left the IRFU for the ORFU and the Montreal Nationals and, in 1939, the Montreal Westmounts. He finished with 2 season playing for the Montreal Bulldogs. He was an all-star in 1937, 38 and 39.

Burns suffered a fatal accident on April 4, 1942. Working for J.P.Porter & Sons, of Montreal, in Nova Scotia at the time, the brake drum of a dredge he was working upon came apart, instantly killing him.