About Cookie Gilchrist
Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist (May 25, 1935 – January 10, 2011) was an American football fullback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL). A combined ten-time All-Star (six Canadian, four American), Gilchrist ran for over 9,000 yards in professional football and won a Grey Cup with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and AFL championship with the Buffalo Bills. He was named the AFL Most Valuable Player with Buffalo in 1962, where he was the first 1,000-yard rusher in AFL history. He was named to the AFL All-Time Second-team. == Career == A star player at Har-Brack High School in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, in 1953 he led the team to the W.P.I.A.L. co-championship with Donora. As a junior, he was talked into signing a professional football contract with the NFL's Cleveland Browns by Paul Brown. The signing was against NFL rules and likely illegal, and when Brown reneged on his promise that Gilchrist would make the team, Gilchrist left training camp at Hiram College, in Hiram, Ohio, and went to Canada to play. There, in the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU), he received the Jim Shanks (Team MVP) Trophy for the Sarnia Imperials in 1954, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen's Team MVP Award in 1955. In 1956, he joined the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, helping lead them to a 1957 Grey Cup victory. Gilchrist later claimed that after the season ended, the Browns inquired about his services.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.