ROBINSON ASSUMED LEGENDARY STATUS
Stampeders mourn loss of CFL Hall of Famer whose legacy reaches far beyond two big plays, writes Danny Austin.
Larry Robinson didn’t talk all that often about his famous field goal in the 1970 West Final.
His teammates on that year’s Calgary Stampeders squad did, though, and there are no shortage of fans who still marvel at the way he kicked the ball through the Taylor Field posts in unfathomably brutal conditions to secure their team a spot in the Grey Cup.
There was another play he didn’t mind talking about, though.
A year after his famous field goal, the Stampeders beat the Toronto Argonauts to claim the 1971 Grey Cup — Calgary’s first in 22 years — and it was Robinson who forced a late fumble by Argos running back Leon McQuay that helped secure the victory.
“He’s famous for kicking the field goal, but the only play I ever remember him talking about was when they played Toronto and he caused the fumble at the end of the game that Reggie Holmes recovered and they won the Grey Cup,” said Bob Viccars, another all-time great Stampeders who became one of Robinson’s best friends. “That was the only play I can ever remember him talking about.”
On Wednesday, the Stampeders announced Robinson had died at the age of 76.
He leaves behind a legacy that goes far beyond two big plays and is among the longest-serving and most-decorated players in Stampeders’ history.
A native Calgarian who attended Western Canada High School and Mount Royal College, Robinson would go on to play for the Stampeders for 14 seasons, from 1961 to 1974.
In those years, he did a little bit of everything, serving as the kicker for the Red & White, playing receiver and then moving to defensive back, where he set the franchise record with 50 interceptions.
His field goal in the ’70 West Final and his forced fumble in the ’71 Grey Cup, though, also happen to be two of the biggest plays in Stampeders’ history.
“There’s arguments about (the ’71 Grey Cup),” said teammate and longtime friend Basil Bark. “Everybody, including the Toronto Argonauts, said the ground caused the fumble, but it didn’t. Larry caused the fumble.
“So not only did he get us in the Grey Cup in ’70 in that game in Regina, he also helped us win that Grey Cup game in Vancouver against the Argonauts.”
Looking at Robinson’s numbers throughout his career, his accomplishments are almost staggering.
He was the first player in CFL history to score 1,000 points, was a three-time West all-star at defensive back and was named the top Canadian in the West Division in both 1964 and ’65. It goes on.
For his efforts, Robinson was added to the Stampeders Wall of Fame in 1986, was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1998 and was added to the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
“He played a long time, and always at a high level,” Viccars said. “He never talked about himself, though, at least I can never remember him talking about himself.
“He was probably the most comfortable person I ever sat with. He was always calm, cool, had a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face. He was very competitive, quietly so.”
Robinson was also a Calgarian through-and-through.
When his time with the Stampeders came to an end, the bornand-raised Calgary kid stayed in the city he’d always called home, remaining heavily involved with the Stampeders alumni and working in the oil and gas industry for four decades before retiring.
His legacy with both the Stampeders organization and Calgary itself goes far beyond those two massive plays, but make no mistake, fans of the team are going to be talking about his role in securing two of the biggest wins in Stamps history for a long, long time.
And rightfully so.
Bark was the man who snapped the ball that Robinson kicked through the uprights back in ’70, and he can still hardly believe what his teammate and friend managed to do.
“However you want to exaggerate it, it was a 30-mile wind in his face or 30-below, but it was actually brutal,” Bark said. “When we got out on the field we thought the game was going to be cancelled. We were almost at the exact same spot in practice and he couldn’t get it to the goal-line. To this day, I don’t know how he got it through.
“The man was a great friend and a great teammate, a great Canadian.”