Ted Reeve Edward Henry " Ted " Reeve ( January 6 , 1902 – August 27 , 1983 ) was a multi - sport Canadian athlete and sports journalist . He was on two Grey Cup winning teams as a football player , a Mann Cup championship as a lacrosse player and three Yates Cup championships as a coach for Queen ' s University . He is a member of Canada ' s Sports Hall of Fame . As an athlete Reeve was noted for determination and inspiring team - mates . He acquired the nickname " The Moaner " in later years after one of the characters in his newspaper columns , Moaner McGruffery . Athletic career . Ted Reeve was one of Canada ' s best lacrosse players . He won the Mann Cup with the Oshawa Generals in 1929 and the Brampton Excelsiors in 1930 . He turned pro with Montreal in 1931 in what was a new lacrosse league , but the league folded after one season . After serving in World War I , he attempted to break into professional football with the Canadian Rugby Union , precursor of the Canadian Football League . He first played for the Toronto Argonauts before winning the winning the Ontario Rugby Football Union championship five times and then the Grey Cup twice in 1927 and 1930 , all with the Balmy Beach club in Toronto . Reeve played middle wing position with the Toronto Balmy Beach rugby team who were at the time one of the most powerful teams in Canada . The often injured Reeve was admired for his toughness . During the Grey Cup final in the 1920s his Balmy Beach team was leading by a narrow margin late in the game when the opposition was preparing to kick the winning field goal . He had been forced to sit out most of the game due to a serious injury . Despite being injured he went on the field and blocked the kick . In his Toronto Telegram newspaper column the next day he wrote : Sports writing and coaching . After retiring as an athlete he both wrote a newspaper sports column and coached football . He was coach of the Queen ' s University football team from 1933 to 1938 where they won three Yates Cup championships . He then coached the Montreal Royals in 1939 , the Toronto Balmy Beach in 1945 and 1946 and then the Toronto Beaches - Indians in 1948 . He had been writing a weekly lacrosse column as early as 1921 when he was with the St . Aidan ' s junior rugby team in the Toronto Beaches . He wrote for the Toronto Telegram from 1923 to 1971 . In 1927 the Telegram decided to discontinue his lacrosse columns . While he was recovering from a broken leg , Reeve began to freelance his stories and sold a couple to a US publication . He received an offer to join the Telegram full - time because editor C . O . Knowles liked his style . He was told , " have a crack at it . If you can ' t do it we ' ll let you out . " His column " Sporting Extras " became known for its humour and was considered one of the finest sports features in Canada . He received a National Newspaper Award for excellence in 1961 . Reeve had the reputation for living life to the full and his friends each had their own favourite " Ted Reeve " story they would tell . One such story is from the time he was covering the Stanley Cup playoffs involving the New York Rangers . The Toronto Telegram editors were finding that as the hockey series continued , the columns he was submitting from New York were becoming progressively shorter and shorter . They only later discovered that after each game he and the coach of the Rangers , Frank Boucher , would meet at Hogan ' s Irish House , a drinking establishment that apparently never closed . Eventually the paper ' s editors received his shortest column of all , consisting of just seven words : " They got me , boys , they got me . " On another occasion , Reeve overheard the Telegram ' s sports editor complaining " that fellow Bassett " , whom Reeve had never heard of before at the paper , was always asking them to get tickets for hockey games . That night in the VIP box at Maple Leaf Gardens , Reeve was introduced to Bassett and used the opportunity to deliver the reprimand , " You ' re the guy downstairs who ' s always bellyaching for tickets . Every time you get a couple from us , you ' re cheating some office boy out of them . " The next day , Reeve discovered that John Bassett was about to be the new owner of The Telegram . When the Telegram went out of business in 1971 , after writing for the paper for 50 years , he said " When I joined the paper they said it would be a full - time job . " He then wrote for the Toronto Sun which was launched only two days after the closure of the Telegram . When staff at the Sun saw him arrive they stood on their feet and applauded , as his presence gave the fledgling paper legitimacy . Reeve once lamented the trend of sports writers creating articles which simply consisted of nothing more than the coach ' s opinions on the game . " Many of the writers are little more than stenographers , " he said . War record . Ted Reeve was a strong supporter of the Canadian war effort in both world wars . Although he was well past military age during World War II , he attempted to enlist , but he was rejected by the medical officers because he was suffering from arthritis and varicose veins . He joined the Toronto Scottish reserve and then underwent surgery for the varicose veins which allowed him to pass his medical . He joined Conn Smythe ' s 30th Battery , Royal Canadian Artillery as a gunner and went to France shortly after D - Day . Reeve sporadically continued his columns for the Telegram , but they concentrated on the war instead of sport . These columns , of the experiences of the Canadian soldier in Europe , were very popular with Canadians at home . While Reeve was a regular enlisted soldier and much older than many of the younger majors , captains and officers , they looked up to Reeve as a leader . He was discharged from the army when his elbow was smashed by a flying rock . In November 1944 , the Canadian Press story from the military hospital in Southern England where he was recovering reported that Reeve ' s greatest concern " is to get his haircut , because he wants to look his best when he meets his wife and the gang around Toronto ' s Balmy Beach . " Personal life and death . Reeve was a lifelong Toronto Beaches resident . A rink in east Toronto is named in his honour . From 1929 to 1932 Reeve coached football at Malvern Collegiate , a local area high school . They won so many championships under his guidance that the school board passed a ruling requiring that only teachers could coach . Later in life , he was troubled with arthritis from his numerous sporting injuries . It was said he had broken 47 bones over the course of his playing career . On Saturday , August 27 , 1983 , Ted Reeve died after a short stay in the hospital . Reeve was buried on a warm , rainy morning August 30 at St . John ' s Norway Anglican Church in his beloved Beaches area of east - end Toronto . Attending his funeral were Lt . Gov . John Aird , Premier of Ontario William Davis , Mayor of Toronto Art Eggleton , Attorney General of Ontario Roy McMurtry , former NHL stars Ace Bailey and King Clancy , Commissioner of the Canadian Football League Jake Gaudaur , Harold Ballard owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and many other sports figures . Rev . Bob Rumball of the Evangelical Church of the Deaf delivered the eulogy . He was survived by his wife Alvern , a son and a daughter .