Remembering running back Robert Holmes
During his brief tenure, U.S. running back helped Roughriders get into 1976 playoffs
Robert Holmes turned five games into 40-plus years.
After a short but eventful stint with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1976, he remained in our area of the world and, by all accounts, made friends easily.
I never had the honour of meeting Holmes, who died April 14 at age 72, and that is a regret.
Oh, the stories he could have told me ...
Consider, for example, that Holmes helped the Kansas City Chiefs upset the Minnesota Vikings in the 1970 Super Bowl.
In 1968, he rushed for 866 yards and seven touchdowns for the Chiefs, who at the time were a member of the AFL.
Five years later, as a member of the NFL’s San Diego Chargers, he enjoyed another seven-TD season.
With those credentials, Holmes was an unlikely CFLer. Nonetheless, he arrived in Regina in late September of 1976 — having just been released by the Houston Oilers — when the Roughriders were habitually auditioning American running backs.
The mind rewinds to Oct. 2, 1976, when the Roughriders were trailing the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers 28-3 in the fourth quarter.
The television camera zoomed in on Holmes, who had just entered the game.
“Well, he looks like a football player,” one TV commentator said of the five-foot-nine, 220-pound Holmes — appropriately nicknamed Tank — as he lined up behind Ron Lancaster.
No. 23 turned and handed off to Holmes, who rumbled for 14 yards.
On his next carry, he gained 15 yards.
Those were two of the Roughriders’ few successful plays in a 28-10 loss.
The following weekend, Holmes sparkled in his first CFL start, rushing 20 times for 101 yards and adding three receptions for 60 yards (including a 42-yarder) as Saskatchewan defeated the visiting Toronto Argonauts 34-3.
Afterwards, Holmes told the Regina Leader-Post that he would like to play in the Grey Cup game.
It was not to be — more about that later — but Holmes helped the Roughriders get there.
On Nov. 7, 1976, Saskatchewan needed to defeat the host Calgary Stampeders on the final day of the regular season to clinch first place in the Western Conference.
The Roughriders fell behind 24-0 before Lancaster enlivened the offence and eventually engineered one of his patented comebacks.
Trailing 31-26, Saskatchewan began its final possession on its 31-yard line with 2:13 left.
Ten plays and 79 seconds later, the Roughriders were in the end zone — courtesy of a threeyard touchdown pass to Rhett Dawson, who scored just as time expired. Saskatchewan 33, Calgary 31.
Holmes was in the Riders’ backfield on that decisive drive.
But when the Roughriders next required his services — in the 1976 Grey Cup game against the Ottawa Rough Riders — he was unavailable.
Head coach John Payne had opted against dressing Holmes as the designated import, instead assigning that duty to Tom Campana (a slotback who had been injured against Calgary).
When tailback Molly McGee suffered cracked ribs in the first half, the offence lost an important dimension. Campana was called upon, as a complement to fullback Steve Molnar, but the running game was only a rumour.
In a third-and-one situation during the fourth quarter, the Roughriders’ lack of confidence in their running game was such that they punted from near midfield while clinging to a 20-16 lead.
The Ottawa offence was resuscitated just in time for Tony Gabriel to catch a 26-yard, gamewinning touchdown pass from Tom Clements with 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Immediately after Ottawa posted a 23-20 victory, and for the subsequent 42 years, the question was asked: What if the Roughriders had dressed Robert Holmes?