Tom Wilkinson (born January 4, 1943) is an American former professional football quarterback best known for his time with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League, where he played on six Grey Cup-winning teams. He was a Western Conference and CFL all-star quarterback in 1974, 1978 and 1979 and won the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award in 1974. Wilkinson has been inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Early life Wilkinson was born in Iowa and moved to Wyoming with his parents in 1945. Wilkinson played high school football in the small town of Greybull, Wyoming. He was scouted as both a football and baseball player out of high school. Football career Wilkinson attended the University of Wyoming on a football scholarship and played baseball for Wyoming. After graduation, he was signed as a quarterback by the Toronto Rifles of the Continental Football League. He played 16 games for the Rifles in 1966 and 1967, throwing the ball 287 times for 141 completions with 1,952 yards, 11 interceptions and 18 touchdowns. It was during 1967 he moved to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League as a backup quarterback. He was the team's leading quarterback in 1969 throwing for 2,041 yards. In 1970, Wilkinson made way for Don Jonas to lead the Argos, but still got enough playing time to throw for 1,272 yards. Traded to the BC Lions in 1971, he played there for a year before being released prior to the 1972 CFL season. He was picked up by the Edmonton Eskimos and played well enough in the remaining pre-season games to make the team as a backup, but by season's end he was their top passer with 2,475 yards in which he completed 177 out of 268. Wilkinson, known affectionately as "Wilkie" by Eskimo fans had amongst his talents an uncanny knack for drawing members of the opposing line "offside" pretty much at will. It was 5 yards you could all but rely on. A small man in a big man's game he used guile as much as athleticism to make the big plays and win championships. He played the balance of his career in Eskimo Green and Gold in a two-quarterback system, first with Bruce Lemmerman and then with Warren Moon. After his first professional seasons, when he had been considered especially injury-prone, Wilkinson did not miss a single game during his 10