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{{Short description|Canadian football player and coach (1923–2012)}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2012}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox gridiron football person
| name = Eagle Keys
| image = 
| alt = 
| caption = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1923|12|4}}
| birth_place = [[Tompkinsville, Kentucky]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2012|12|20|1923|12|04}}
| death_place = [[Burnaby]], [[British Columbia]], Canada
| team = 
| number = 40
| status = 
| import = yes
| position1 = Center
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 3
| weight_lb = 215
| college = [[Western Kentucky University|Western Kentucky]]
| coaching_years1 = {{CFL Year|1955}}–{{CFL Year|1958}}
| coaching_team1 = [[Edmonton Eskimos]] (A. coach)
| coaching_years2 = {{CFL Year|1959}}–{{CFL Year|1963}}
| coaching_team2 = Edmonton Eskimos (HC)
| coaching_years3 = {{CFL Year|1964}}
| coaching_team3 = [[Saskatchewan Roughriders]] ([[Offensive coordinator|OC]])
| coaching_years4 = {{CFL Year|1965}}–{{CFL Year|1970}}
| coaching_team4 = [[Saskatchewan Roughriders]] (HC)
| coaching_years5 = {{CFL Year|1971}}–{{CFL Year|1975}}
| coaching_team5 = [[BC Lions]] (HC)
| playing_years1 = {{CFL Year|1949}}–{{CFL Year|1951}}
| playing_team1 = [[Montreal Alouettes]]
| playing_years2 = {{CFL Year|1952}}–{{CFL Year|1954}}
| playing_team2 = [[Edmonton Eskimos]]
| career_highlights = 
*5× Grey Cup champion ([[37th Grey Cup|1949]], [[42nd Grey Cup|1954]], [[43rd Grey Cup|1955]], [[44th Grey Cup|1956]], [[54th Grey Cup|1966]])
* [[Annis Stukus Trophy]] (1968)
| CFLEastAllStar = {{CFL Year|1949}}, {{CFL Year|1950}}, {{CFL Year|1951}}
| CFLWestAllStar = {{CFL Year|1951}}, {{CFL Year|1953}}, {{CFL Year|1954}}
| CFHOF = eagle-keys
| CFHOFYear = 1990
}}

'''Eagle Keys''' (December 4, 1923 – December 20, 2012) was an American born professional [[Canadian football]] player who played and coached in the [[Canadian Football League]] (CFL).<ref>{{cite web |last=Vanstone |first=Rob |url=https://leaderpost.com/sports/football/roughriders-football/Former+Saskatchewan+Roughriders+coach/7729390/story.html |title=Former Roughriders coach Eagle Keys dead at 89 |publisher=Leaderpost.com |access-date=December 21, 2012 |archive-date=December 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210125759/https://leaderpost.com/sports/football/roughriders-football/Former+Saskatchewan+Roughriders+coach/7729390/story.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>  He is currently [[List of Canadian Football League head coaches by wins|fifth all-time]] in regular season wins with 131 as a [[head coach]] in the CFL. He was inducted into the [[Canadian Football Hall of Fame]] in 1990.

==Early life==
Keys was an outstanding center and linebacker for the [[Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football]] team in 1942 and, after a stint in the military (Marine Corps) in World War II, 1946 and '47. He also lettered in baseball (pitcher-outfielder) three straight years (1946–48) after the War. He was an All-KIAC (Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) selection in football as a senior. His 1946 baseball team went a perfect 9–0, outscoring the opponents by an average of five runs a game.

Eagle "Buddy" Keys was inducted into the [[Western Kentucky University]] Athletic Hall of Fame (Football-Baseball '42, '46–48) in 1994.

==Professional career==
Following his career on the Hill, Keys moved north to play professional football in the Canadian Football League. He was All-Eastern Conference for three straight years (1949–51) with the [[Montreal Alouettes]] and then he earned a berth on the All-Western Conference team throughout the next three seasons while playing for the [[Edmonton Eskimos]]. He is best remembered as a player for his final game when he played on a broken leg in the Eskimos' [[1954 Grey Cup]] triumph.

==Coaching career==
After his six years as a player, he put in six more years as an assistant coach in the CFL before being named head coach of the Eskimos in 1959. He coached Edmonton from 1959 until 1963, became an assistant coach with the [[Saskatchewan Roughriders]] in 1964 and was promoted to head coach in 1965. He was awarded the [[CFL Coach of the Year]] award in 1968. In 1970, the Roughriders finished with a mark of 14 wins and 2 losses, a CFL record that stood until 1989 when Edmonton went 16–2 (by that time, the CFL had expanded its regular season schedule to 18 games). Keys resigned at the end of that season and coached the [[British Columbia Lions]] from 1971 until partway through the 1975 season. In 1966, he won his only championship as a head coach, with his Roughriders team winning the [[54th Grey Cup]] (which was also the team's first CFL championship in team history). As such, he was voted the All-Time All-Star Coach for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. In total, he spent 16 seasons as a head coach in the Canadian Football League.

===CFL Coaching record===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular Season !! colspan="4"|Post Season
|-
!Won!!Lost!!Ties!!Win %!!Finish!! Won !! Lost !!  Result
|-
![[1959 Edmonton Eskimos season|EDM]]||[[1959 CFL season|1959]]
||10||6||0||.625||'''2nd in WIFU'''|| 2 || 2 || Lost in WIFU Finals
|-
![[1960 Edmonton Eskimos season|EDM]]||[[1960 CFL season|1960]]
||10||6||0||.625||'''2nd in WIFU'''|| 4 || 2 || Lost in [[48th Grey Cup|Grey Cup]]
|-
![[1961 Edmonton Eskimos season|EDM]]||[[1961 CFL season|1961]]
||10||5||1||.656||'''2nd in Western Conference'''|| 1 || 1 || Lost in Conference Semi-Finals
|-
![[1962 Edmonton Eskimos season|EDM]]||[[1962 CFL season|1962]]
||6||9||1||.406||5th in Western Conference|| – || – || Missed Playoffs
|-
![[1963 Edmonton Eskimos season|EDM]]||[[1963 CFL season|1963]]
||2||14||0||.125||5th in Western Conference|| – || – || Missed Playoffs
|-
! colspan="2"|'''EDM Total'''
||'''38'''||'''40'''||'''2'''||'''.488'''||'''0 Western<br />Championships'''||'''7'''||'''5'''||'''0 Grey Cups'''
|-
![[1965 Saskatchewan Roughriders season|SSK]]||[[1965 CFL season|1965]]
||8||7||1||.531||'''3rd in West Conference'''|| 0 || 1 || Lost in Conference Semi-Finals
|-
![[1966 Saskatchewan Roughriders season|SSK]]||[[1966 CFL season|1966]]
||9||6||1||.594||'''1st in West Conference'''|| 3 || 0 || '''Won [[54th Grey Cup|Grey Cup]]'''
|-
![[1967 Saskatchewan Roughriders season|SSK]]||[[1967 CFL season|1967]]
||12||4||0||.750||'''2nd in West Conference'''|| 3|| 2 || Lost in [[55th Grey Cup|Grey Cup]]
|-
![[1968 Saskatchewan Roughriders season|SSK]]||[[1968 CFL season|1968]]
||12||3||1||.781||'''1st in West Conference'''|| 0 || 2 || Lost in Conference Finals
|-
![[1969 Saskatchewan Roughriders season|SSK]]||[[1969 CFL season|1969]]
||13||3||0||.813||'''1st in West Conference'''|| 2 || 1 || Lost in [[57th Grey Cup|Grey Cup]]
|-
![[1970 Saskatchewan Roughriders season|SSK]]||[[1970 CFL season|1970]]
||14||2||0||.875||'''1st in West Conference'''|| 1 || 2 || Lost in Conference Finals
|-
! colspan="2"|'''SSK Total'''
||'''68'''||'''25'''||'''3'''||'''.724'''||'''4 Western Conference<br />Championships'''||'''9'''||'''8'''||'''1 Grey Cup'''
|-
![[1971 BC Lions season|BC]]||[[1971 CFL season|1971]]
||6||9||1||.406||4th in Western Conference|| – || – || Missed Playoffs
|-
![[1972 BC Lions season|BC]]||[[1972 CFL season|1972]]
||5||11||0||.313||5th in Western Conference|| – || – || Missed Playoffs
|-
![[1973 BC Lions season|BC]]||[[1973 CFL season|1973]]
||5||9||2||.375||'''3rd in Western Conference'''|| 0 || 1 || Lost in Division Semi-Finals
|-
![[1974 BC Lions season|BC]]||[[1974 CFL season|1974]]
||8||8||0||.500||'''3rd in Western Conference'''|| 0 || 1 || Lost in Division Semi-Finals
|-
![[1975 BC Lions season|BC]]||[[1975 CFL season|1975]]
||1||5||0||.167||5th in Western Conference|| – || – || (Fired)
|-
! colspan="2"|'''BC Total'''
||'''25'''||'''42'''||'''3'''||'''.379'''||'''0 Western Conference<br />Championships'''||'''0'''||'''2'''||'''0 Grey Cups'''
|-
! colspan="2"|'''Total'''
||'''131'''||'''107'''||'''8'''||'''.549'''||'''4 Western Conference<br />Championships'''||'''12'''||'''12'''||'''1 Grey Cup'''
|}

==Canadian Football Hall of Fame==
He retired from coaching after the 1975 season and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1990. His 131 wins as a coach in the CFL still stands as the fifth highest victory total for a head coach in the league. He was elected as a builder on April 28, 1990.

==Personal life==
Keys had retired and was living in [[Burnaby, British Columbia]], until his death on December 20, 2012. He and his wife Joyce (née White), also deceased, had five children.

==See also==
*[[List of Canadian Football League head coaches by wins]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Edmonton Eskimos coach navbox}}
{{BC Lions coach navbox}}
{{Saskatchewan Roughriders coach navbox}}
{{37th Grey Cup}}
{{42nd Grey Cup}}
{{43rd Grey Cup}}
{{44th Grey Cup}}
{{54th Grey Cup}}
{{Annis Stukus Trophy}}
{{Canadian Football Hall of Fame members}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keys, Eagle}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2012 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:BC Lions coaches]]
[[Category:Canadian football offensive linemen]]
[[Category:Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Edmonton Elks coaches]]
[[Category:Edmonton Elks players]]
[[Category:Montreal Alouettes players]]
[[Category:People from Tompkinsville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Kentucky]]
[[Category:Saskatchewan Roughriders coaches]]
[[Category:United States Marines]]
[[Category:Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football players]]
[[Category:Players of Canadian football from Kentucky]]