Ulysses Curtis Mural - Project Commissioned by XOXO Downsview

Description

Danilo Deluxo has created this mural of Ulysses "Crazy Legs" Curtis: a trailblazing Toronto Argonaut running back, much-loved educator, and local hero. Ulysses Curtis joined the Argos in 1950, becoming their first full-time Black player. Seventy years later, he remains among the team's top five offensive players. He helped win two Grey Cups in his five seasons with the Argos and stood up to considerable racial animosity.  

Upon his retirement from football, Curtis started a new career, working with young people in the Downsview community. He became one of the first Black teachers at the North York Board of Education and spent thirty years teaching at various North York high schools.  In 2013, Ulysses Curtis passed away in Toronto at 87, but his legacy lives on in Downsview and this mural. 

Artist Biography

Danilo Deluxo McCallum is an award-winning Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist, graphic designer, muralist, and cultural curator. His creative practice explores the multiplicities of Black identity through the lens of Afrofuturism. He has been working collaboratively with arts organizations, artists, and communities in Toronto for more than 15 years and is probably best known for “Patterns of the People”, part of the iconic “Toronto” sign in Nathan Phillips Square.  Danilo is the curator of ArtworxTO’s northwest hub of the Year of Public Art. As well as curating a massive BIPOC mural on the Downsview Supply Depot, Danilo is painting the XOXO Downsview Ulysses Curtis mural on the former Downsview Fire Station.