| NUMBER ELEVEN | ||
| NAME | POSITION | YEAR |
| Rick Cassata (also #12) | QB | 1969 |
| Larry Desjardins | — | 1942 |
| Ken Draper (also #31) | HB | 1940-41, 1945-46 |
| Herb Mobberley | E | 1933-39 |
| Ken Ploen (also #89) | QB, DB | 1957-67 |
| Wayne Sheley (also #3, 33) | QB, HB, P | 1938-42 |
Canadian Football Hall of Famers:
- Ken Ploen (1975)
Winnipeg Football Club Hall of Famers:
- Ken Ploen (1984)
CFL All-Stars
- Ken Ploen (1965)
Division All-Stars
- Ken Ploen (1957, 1959, 1965)
CFL Awards
- Grey Cup MVP — Ken Ploen, 1961
Bomber Team Awards
- Most Outstanding Player (established in 1953) – Ken Ploen, 1957, 1964
- Ring of Honour – Ken Ploen, 2016
He Wore It Well: Ken Ploen, 1957-67
Ploen’s No. 11 is one of only three numbers – along with Jeff Nicklin’s 28 and Tommy Lumsden’s 75 – officially unavailable to players. And with good reason, for Ploen is an absolute icon in these parts. Ploen came to Winnipeg just months after being named the MVP of Iowa’s victory in the 1957 Rose Bowl. He would help the Bombers to four Grey Cup titles during his days and was so gifted an athlete that he earned an all-star berth in 1959 as a defensive back after leading the team with what was then a club record 10 interceptions.
He retired in 1967 as the CFL’s sixth all-time leading passer and was voted the Bombers offensive player of the half century upon the club’s 50th anniversary in 1980.
Read Ken Ploen’s Ring of Honour story here.
FYI:
Rick Cassata is listed at both 11 and 12 in our records, although it’s almost unthinkable that he would wear Ploen’s number just two years after his retirement. Cassata joined the Bombers after spending the 1968 season in Saskatchewan and would dress for only six games and throw only one pass in Winnipeg in ’69. He would later join the Ottawa Rough Riders and was their QB in an era between Russ Jackson and the Conredge Holloway/Tom Clements tandem of the late 70s.
