View source for Les Lear

{{Short description|American gridiron football player and coach (1918–1979)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox gridiron football person
| name = Les Lear
| image = 
| alt = 
| caption = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1918|8|22}}
| birth_place = [[Grafton, North Dakota]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1979|01|05|1918|8|22}}
| death_place = [[Los Angeles, California]], U.S.
| team = 
| number = 
| status = 
| position1 = [[Offensive tackle]]
| height_ft = 
| height_in = 
| weight_lb = 
| CIS = [[University of Manitoba|Manitoba]]
| coaching_years1 = 1948–1950
| coaching_team1 = [[Calgary Stampeders]] ([[Head coach|HC]])
| playing_years1 = 1938–1943
| playing_team1 = [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]]
| playing_years2 = 1944–1946
| playing_team2 = [[St. Louis Rams|Cleveland/L.A. Rams]]
| playing_years3 = 1947
| playing_team3 = [[Detroit Lions]]
| playing_years4 = 1948–1950
| playing_team4 = [[Calgary Stampeders]]
| career_highlights = 
* [[List of NFL champions (1920–69)|NFL champion]] ([[1945 NFL Championship Game|1945]])
* 3× [[Grey Cup]] champion ([[27th Grey Cup|1939]], [[29th Grey Cup|1941]], [[36th Grey Cup|1948]])
* [[Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum|Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame]] (2019)
'''CFL All-Star''' - 1941, 1943
| CFHOF = les-lear
| CFHOFYear = 1974
|module=
{{Infobox horseracing personality|embed=yes
|image= 
|name = Les Lear
|caption = 
|occupation  = [[Horse trainer|Trainer]] and owner
|birth_place = 
|birth_date  =  
|death_date  =
|career wins  = 
|race  = '''Major U.S. wins:'''<br />[[Suwannee River Stakes]]<br />(1962)<br />[[Saratoga Special Stakes]]<br />(1964)<br />[[Laurel Futurity Stakes]] (1964)<br />[[Garden State Stakes]] (1964)<br />[[Sorority Stakes]] (1965)<br />[[Kentucky Oaks]] (1966)<p>

'''Major Canadian Wins:'''<br />[[Highlander Stakes]] (1960)<br />[[Marine Stakes]] (1961)<br />[[Manitoba Derby]] (1971)<br />[[Toronto Cup Stakes]] (1971)<br />[[Sky Classic Stakes|Jockey Club Cup Handicap]] (1971)</p>
|awards = 
|honours  = 
|horses  = 
|updated = 
}}}}

'''Leslie Lear''' (August 22, 1918 – January 5, 1979) was a [[National Football League]] (NFL) and [[Canadian Football League]] (CFL) player and coach as well as an owner and [[horse trainer|trainer]] of [[Thoroughbred horse racing|Thoroughbred race horses]].

==Football==
He grew up in [[Manitoba]], Canada, where he played guard at the [[University of Manitoba]]. Lear started his professional football career with the [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]] of the [[Canadian Football League]] and helped the team to two [[Grey Cup]] victories. In 1944, he signed with the [[Cleveland Rams]] of the NFL becoming the first Canadian-trained player to play in the NFL. He would play a total of 4 seasons in the NFL.  After his stint in the NFL, Lear returned to Canada where he coached the Grey Cup champion [[Calgary Stampeders]] to an undefeated season in 1948- the only CFL team to go undefeated in a season.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V8ItAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eZ4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6747,3918771&dq=queen's+plate+lyford+cay&hl=en|title=The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|access-date=9 April 2018}}</ref>

===CFL coaching record===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular season !! colspan="4"|Postseason
|-
!Won!!Lost!!Ties!!Win %!!Finish!! Won !! Lost !!  Result
|-! style="background:#dfd;"
![[1948 Calgary Stampeders season|CGY]]||1948
||12||0||0||1.000||'''1st in Western Interprovincial Football Union'''|| 3 || 0 || '''Won [[36th Grey Cup|Grey Cup]]'''
|-
![[1949 Calgary Stampeders season|CGY]]||1949
||13||1||0||.929||'''1st in Western Interprovincial Football Union'''|| 2 || 1 || Lost in [[37th Grey Cup|Grey Cup]]
|-
![[1950 Calgary Stampeders season|CGY]]||1950
||4||10||0||.286||'''4th in Western Interprovincial Football Union'''||  ||  ||
|-
! colspan="2"|'''Total'''
||'''29'''||'''11'''||'''0'''||'''.725'''||||'''5'''||'''1'''||'''1 Grey Cup'''
|}

==Horse racing==
Following his retirement from football, Les Lear became involved in [[Thoroughbred horse racing]] both as a [[horse trainer]] and an owner.

==Later life and death==
Lear was elected into the [[Canadian Football Hall of Fame]] in 1974. He died of kidney failure on January 5, 1979.<ref>{{cite news|title=Les Lear|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4wIpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C9MEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4796,2217784|access-date=15 August 2011|newspaper=Associated Press|date=January 6, 1979}}</ref>

Lear was posthumously inducted into the [[Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame]] in 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=Les Lear |url=http://honouredmembers.sportmanitoba.ca/inductee.php?id=556&criteria_name=&criteria_sport=&criteria_keywords=&criteria_induction=2019&criteria_sort=name |website=Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame - Honoured members database |publisher=Sport Manitoba |access-date=10 November 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Calgary Stampeders coach navbox}}
{{27th Grey Cup}}
{{29th Grey Cup}}
{{1945 Cleveland Rams}}
{{36th Grey Cup}}
{{Canadian Football Hall of Fame members}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lear, Les}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:American football offensive linemen]]
[[Category:Canadian football offensive linemen]]
[[Category:Canadian horse trainers]]
[[Category:Canadian players of American football]]
[[Category:Canadian racehorse owners and breeders]]
[[Category:Calgary Stampeders coaches]]
[[Category:Calgary Stampeders players]]
[[Category:Cleveland Rams players]]
[[Category:Manitoba Bisons football players]]
[[Category:Winnipeg Blue Bombers players]]
[[Category:Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Manitoba]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure in California]]
[[Category:People from Grafton, North Dakota]]


{{Canadianfootball-offensive-lineman-stub}}