Canadian Football Hall of Famers:

• Les Lear (1974)
• Danny McManus (2011)

Winnipeg Football Club Hall of Famers:

• Les Lear (1984)

CFL All-Stars:

• Adam Bighill (2018, 2021)

Division All-Stars:

• Darvin Adams (2017, 2018)
• Adam Bighill (2018, 2021, 2022)
• Les Lear (1941)
• Bert Iannone (1947)

CFL Award Winners:

• Most Outstanding Defensive Player — Adam Bighill, 2018, 2021
• Norm Fieldgate Trophy (Most Outstanding Defensive Player, West Division) — Adam Bighill, 2018, 2021

Bomber Team Awards:

• Most Outstanding Player — Adam Bighill, 2018
• Most Outstanding Defensive Player — Adam Bighill, 2018, 2021
• Ed Kotowich Good Guy Award – Buck Pierce, 2011

He Wore It Well:

Buck Pierce, QB, 2010-13

Many players have come and gone over the decades for the Winnipeg Football Club, but few have been as popular as Buck Pierce, the likeable pivot who grew up in Crescent City, California and began his professional career with the B.C. Lions before joining the Bombers as a free agent in 2010.

He played like every snap might be his last and, as a result, took some hellacious shots along the way. He suited up for 34 games in four years with the Bombers – missing 38 due to an assortment of injuries – but was critical in the club’s run to an East Division title in 2011.

He made Winnipeg his home upon his retirement and is now the Bombers offensive coordinator.

Adam Bighill, LB, 2018-

Adam Bighill made an immediate impact upon his arrival in May of 2018 by bringing a level of professionalism and a diehard work ethic to a team poised to win a championship. The veteran middle linebacker was a CFL All-Star and the league’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player in his first year and then was an integral part of the 2019 team that ended a 28-year Grey Cup championship drought in 2019 and then won again in 2021.

Notable: 

Danny McManus, currently the Bombers Assistant GM/Director of U.S. Scouting, is a Canadian Football Hall of Famer but most of his success came after he left Winnipeg. Blocked by Matt Dunigan on the Bombers depth chart, McManus left for the B.C. Lions in 1993 and then on to the Edmonton Eskimos, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Calgary Stampeders. He is fifth on the CFL’s all-time passing yardage list.

FYI:

Brendon Ayanbadejo first came to the CFL with the Bombers in 2000 and played 12 games before being released in October of that year. He resurfaced with the Toronto Argonauts, then the Los Angeles Xtreme of the XFL, returned to the CFL with the Lions as an all-star in 2002 before morphing into one of the best special-teams players in the NFL, earning All-Pro recognition in 2006, 2007, 2008.