Norman Kwong

The Honourable
Norman Lim Kwong
林佐民
CM AOE LLD
16th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta
In office
January 20, 2005 – May 11, 2010
Monarch Elizabeth II
Governor General Adrienne Clarkson
Michaëlle Jean
Premier Ralph Klein
Ed Stelmach
Preceded by Lois Hole
Succeeded by Donald Ethell
Personal details
Born Lim Kwong Yew
(1929-10-24)October 24, 1929
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Died September 3, 2016(2016-09-03) (aged 86)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Spouse(s) Mary Kwong
(m. 1960; his death 2016)[1]
Children 4
Profession
  • Football player
  • businessman
  • politician
Signature

Norman Lim "Normie" Kwong (born Lim Kwong Yew; Chinese: 林佐民; October 24, 1929 – September 3, 2016) was a Canadian football player who played for the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was also an active businessman and politician being part owner of the Calgary Flames and serving as the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from January 2005 to May 2010.

The son of Chinese immigrants from Taishan, Guangdong, Kwong was the first Canadian professional gridiron football player of Chinese heritage. In addition, Kwong was also the first person of Chinese heritage to serve as lieutenant-governor of Alberta. As a former vice-regal representative of Alberta, he was styled "The Honourable" for life. Kwong was the third Canadian of Chinese heritage to be appointed as a vice-regal in Canada, after David Lam and Adrienne Clarkson.

Sports career

Norman Kwong
Career information
CFL status National
Position(s) RB
Height 5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Weight 170 lb (77 kg)
Career history
As player
1948–1950 Calgary Stampeders
1951–1960 Edmonton Eskimos
Career highlights and awards
  • Grey Cup champion (1948, 1954, 1955, 1956)
CFL West All-Star 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956
Records

Eskimos Record

  • Most Rushing Touchdowns – Career (73)
Career stats

After playing football at Western Canada High School, he went on to play for the Calgary Stampeders from 1948 to 1950 and, after a trade, the Edmonton Eskimos from 1951 until his retirement in 1960. Nicknamed the "China Clipper", Kwong was the first Chinese Canadian to play on a professional Canadian football team. A powerful fullback, in 11 years of recorded statistics Kwong rushed for 9,022 yards for an average of 5.2 yards per carry and scored 93 touchdowns. He won the Grey Cup four times during his career (1948, 1954, 1955, and 1956). Kwong was a Western Conference all-star running back and three-time winner of the Eddie James Memorial Trophy, in 1951, 1955 and 1956. He was named the Schenley Most Outstanding Canadian in 1955 and 1956. He was named Canadian Athlete of the Year in 1955. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1969, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1975, the Edmonton Eskimos' Wall of Honour in 1983 (where his jersey No. 95 was retired), the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, and the Calgary Stampeders' Wall of Fame in 2012 (as a builder of that sports organization). In November 2006, he was one of very few of his contemporaries to be voted one of the Canadian Football League's Top 50 players of the sport's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN. Kwong set the CFL record for the most yards rushing by Canadian in a season with 1,437 in the 1956 season. This record held for 56 years, being broken by Jon Cornish only in 2012,[2] though Kwong accomplished his record in fifteen games, rather than eighteen for Cornish.[3]

He was president and general manager of the Calgary Stampeders from 1988 to 1991, leading the team to a loss in the Grey Cup final in 1991. Between 1980 and 1994, Kwong was a part owner of the Calgary Flames, having been one of the original group of six Calgary businessmen who bought and moved the NHL's Atlanta Flames hockey team to Calgary in 1980.[4] The Calgary Flames won the Stanley Cup in 1989, making him one of few people whose name is on both the Grey Cup and the Stanley Cup.

Public service career

Kwong's public stature from sports helped him move on to politics and government. In 1971 he ran for the Alberta Progressive Conservative party in Calgary-Millican. In this election, the PCs ended Social Credit's 36-year hold on power, winning all but five seats in Calgary. However, Kwong himself was defeated by longtime incumbent Arthur J. Dixon who won by a 1600 vote plurality.

In 1988 Kwong was made a member of the Order of Canada and has served as the national chairman of the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism. Kwong was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta on January 20, 2005, replacing Lois Hole, who died in office on January 6, 2005. Kwong welcomed Queen Elizabeth II to Alberta in June 2005 on a visit commemorating Alberta's first 100 years in Canadian Confederation. During a private audience the Queen presented Kwong with the insignia of a Knight of Justice in the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

Kwong swore Ed Stelmach into office as the 13th Premier of Alberta on December 14, 2006. Kwong's term concluded on May 11, 2010, and he was succeeded by Don Ethell.

Kwong married Mary Lee on March 26, 1960 and together they had four sons: Gregory, Bradley, Martin, and Randall.[1][5] He died in his sleep on September 3, 2016 at the age of 86.[6] He was survived by his wife, four sons, and ten grandchildren.[7]

Arms

Honours



Ribbon Description Notes
Order of Canada (CM)
  • Member
  • 21 October 1998
  • [10]
Order of St. John (K.StJ)
  • Knight of Justice
  • June 2005
Alberta Order of Excellence (AOE)
  • 2005
125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal
  • 1992
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
  • 2002
  • Canadian Version of this Medal
  • [11]
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
  • 2012
  • Canadian Version of this Medal
  • [12]
Alberta Centennial Medal
  • 2005

See also

References

  1. 1 2 The Honourable Norman Lim Kwong, 2005-2010
  2. ↑ http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/10/31/normie-kwong-proud-of-cfl-rushing-record
  3. ↑ http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/football/lions/Lions+boss+Wally+Buono+says+record+books+should/7492003/story.html
  4. ↑ The other original investors are Harley Hotchkiss, Ralph T. Scurfield, Daryl Seaman, Byron Seaman and Norman Green.
  5. ↑ Norman Kwong, CFL trailblazer, former Alberta lieutenant governor, dies at 86
  6. ↑ http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/former-lt-gov-norman-kwong-has-died
  7. ↑ Former CFL pioneer Norman Kwong dies at 86
  8. ↑ Canadian Heraldic Authority (Volume V), Ottawa, 2007, p. 119
  9. ↑ Canadian Heraldic Authority. "The Public Register of Arms, Flags, and Badges of Canada > Norman Lim Kwong". Queen's Printer for Canada. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  10. ↑ http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=3931&t=12&ln=Kwong
  11. ↑ http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=41679&t=6&ln=Kwong
  12. ↑ http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=103548&t=13&ln=Kwong
  13. ↑ http://www.senate.ualberta.ca/en/HonoraryDegrees/PastHonoraryDegreeRecipients.aspx#K
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