Going through the Grey Cup ringer
In 1963 I began covering he CFL in Regina for United Press International, the same year Ron Lancaster, George Reed and Hugh Campbell arrived in the Queen City. Two years later Eagle Keys became head coach. In 1966, the storied franchise won its first Grey Cup. Visions of more Grey Cups danced in the heads of the Loyal Order of Rider Priders. After all, their team was one of the greatest ever assembled.
Saskatchewan returned to the classic the following season, losing to Hamilton 24-1. They were lucky to get one. Two years later they met Ottawa in the last game of the storied Russ Jackson’s career, losing 29-11. “There are some games you get the feeling you’re not going to be allowed to win,” said Keys. “That was one of them.”
In 1972 they lost the Grey Cup 13-10 on a last play field goal by Ian Sunter in Hamilton to the Ti-Cats. And then the darkest day in Saskatchewan sports history occurred four years later when Tony Gabriel caught a last minute touchdown pass to win 23-20. Five Grey Cup appearances, one win. On to Calgary. Under Wally Buono, the Stampeders appeared in six Grey Cups winning three, despite tremendous talent like Allen Pitts, Dave Sapunjis, Kelvin Anderson, Alondra and Will Johnson, Jamie Crysdale, Jay O’Neil, Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia and Dave Dickenson, et.al. Flutie is considered the greatest to play the Canadian game. (I had him third on the TSN list behind George Reed and Jackie Parker.) He won a record six Most Outstanding Player Awards. He won a single Cup for Calgary, two in Toronto. In the modern era, only Hugh Campbell enjoyed sustained Grey Cup success.
Does limited Grey Cup success diminish the accomplishments of Lancaster and Flutie? Not at all. Winning consecutive Grey Cups is very hard to do.
I mentioned to Lancaster years ago that lots of people thought he couldn’t win the big one. “I never looked at it that way,” he replied. “I played every game the same, I played every game to win and I did everything I could do to win. I expected to win. Maybe on those particular days they weren’t our days to win. I got to the Grey Cup which is more than a lot of people can say. You’ve got to win a lot of big games to get to the Grey Cup.”
Lancaster was booed his last game at Taylor Field. Flutie was stung by criticism that he couldn’t handle cold weather when Calgary lost the West Final in 1993. He was deeply hurt when he was booed off the McMahon Stadium turf in 1995.
The Stampeders went into the Grey Cup in 1998, six seasons without a victory. They won that day. If Calgary had lost , the Stampeders of the ‘90s would have forever been labelled the greatest team that never was. Dave Dickenson was the backup quarterback then and understood what enormous pressure that team faced.
John Hufnagel began his eight year career as Calgary head coach in 2008. He won the Grey Cup his first and last years, losing in 2012. He won 88 games. His successor Dickenson has had three first place finishes and is making his third straight appearance in the Grey Cup, a tremendous achievement. But like Buono and Flutie, Dickenson and Bo Levi Mitchell are faced with the epitaph, “Can’t win the big one” or “it won’t mean a thing if you don’t get that ring.”
That is so unfair. This has been a rebuilding year. Dickenson lost running back Jerome Messam, his backup quarterback retired, his return man Roy Finch was arrested. Said Dickenson in May, “We got a lot of unexpected retirements. I don’t ever remember being involved with a team that had so many guys retire, at least nine by my count: three offensive linemen, fullback, running back, quarterback, receiver Marquay McDaniel, LB Deron Mayo, DB Josh Bell. The names on the back of the jerseys may be different but the standards won’t.” True to his word, even when they lost their running back and four of their five starting receivers to injury, Bo and Dave still won 13 games and finished first, a remarkable feat, no matter what happens Sunday.
Graham Kelly has covered the CFL for the Medicine Hat News for 46 years. Feedback for this column can be emailed to sports@medicinehatnews.com.