Football player.
Born at Damon, Texas on 16 August 1924, son of Robert Porter Tinsley and Effie Curtis, his involvement with football began in his teens and he played on the 1941 Texas High School State Championship. He received a football scholarship to Baylor University in Waco, Texas but interrupted his studies in 1942 when he enlisted in the US Navy and was stationed at Corpus Christi, Texas in the Seaman Guard. He was discharged in 1945 with the rank of Sergeant-at-Arms.
He returned to Baylor University and played for the Baylor Bears until graduation in 1949. Two years later, he was scouted by the Winnipeg Blue Bomber organization and was attracted to Canada by the promise of good hunting and fishing. He played tackle from 1951 to 1960, served as team captain and was on the Grey Cup-winning teams in 1958 and 1959. In recognition of his sporting prowess, he was inducted into the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt (1957), Blue Bombers Hall of Fame (1984) and Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (1994), and he received a City of Winnipeg Community Service Award (1969).
After the end of his football career, he was the Western Sales Manager for Melchers Distilleries and also partnered with his wife in Tinsley Agencies (1977-1991).
On 22 June 1949, he married Hazel Stevens (1932-1993) at Dancigar, Texas and they subsequently had a daughter and a son. The family had a cottage on Brereton Lake from the early 1950s and, later in his life, he wintered in Texas. He became a Canadian citizen in 1957. He was a member of the Masons (Sturgeon Creek Lodge) and Khartum Shriners. In 1994, he married Jean Laughlin.
He died at Winnipeg on 14 September 2011 and was buried in the West Columbia Cemetery in Texas.
Obituary [Hazel George Tinsley], Winnipeg Free Press, 12 November 1993, page 78.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 17 September 2011.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 December 2024
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