Newly born Lions hit gridiron to face powerful Bombers
The weekend of Aug. 28-29, 1954 was crazy busy in Vancouver.
One hundred and thirteen thousand, seven hundred and forty-five people went to the opening day of the Pacific National Exhibition. Another 100,000 went to the airport to watch an “18-jet show.” A record 15,000 anglers hit the waters by Horseshoe Bay for The Vancouver Sun’s annual Salmon Derby.
But for sports fans, the big deal was at Empire Stadium, where the B.C. Lions played their first regular-season game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The Lions were inspired by a 1951 column by Sun sports writer Andy Lyle, which led a local group headed by Ken Stauffer (of the Cave nightclub) and Tiny Radar to try to launch a Vancouver team.
They sent representatives to the Western Interprovincial Football Union, who were told to return the following year with a $25,000 good-faith bond to show they could generate enough interest in Vancouver. The fledgling team started selling memberships at $20 each, and got the money for the bond in time for the 1952 WIFU meetings. But the teams in Winnipeg and Regina voted against having a third team, because they thought travel would be too expensive to the coast.
In 1953, Vancouver was given a conditional franchise if the team built a 15,000-seat stadium. After the 32,000-seat Empire Stadium was built for the 1954 British Empire Games, the Lions were in. They took their orange and black colours from the Meralomas, the club that is now known for rugby but had a football squad at the time.
It’s hard to imagine today, but the Lions got some of their players by raiding National Football League teams. Running back Al Pollard came from the Philadelphia Eagles, who sued to keep him from jumping leagues.
“Pollard is a tanned, earnest young man with an engaging crooked grin and a physique that makes him look heavier than he actually is,” wrote The Sun’s Jack Richards. “He has a bull neck and powerful sloping shoulders that blunt his 6 ft. 1-½ in. in height.”
Pollard wanted out of Philadelphia because he was slated to be a backup.
“All I want up here is a chance,” he said. “I know I can play good football and I’m willing to work my head off to prove it.”
Unfortunately for the Lions, they faced a powerful Winnipeg squad led by the great quarterback “Indian Jack” Jacobs and receiver Bud Grant, who would go on to become one of the most successful coaches in CFL and NFL history. Richards said the Bombers boasted they would wallop the Lions by 60 points.
But the Lions proved to be to a tough opponent, losing 8-6.
“Soft Touch Lions Look Pretty Hard,” read The Sun’s headline.
Richards wrote the game left “strips of (the) Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ hide dangling from the (Lions’) claws.”
“Only the staunch and storied arm of Indian Jack Jacobs managed to keep Winnipeg in the ball game,” said Richards.
“Facing (a) ferocious Lions defensive line, Jacobs had no choice but to throw. Right from the outset it was obvious any ground attack was doomed to destruction.”
Jacobs completed 17 of 27 passes for 205 yards, while Lions QB Johnny Mazur completed only four of 15, for 49 yards. But the Lions out-rushed the Bombers 123 yards to 43, including a one-yard plunge by By Bailey that was the first-ever Lions touchdown.
“The right side of the Lions line obliterated the opposing Bombers and Bailey scored without having a hand touch him,” wrote Richards.
“Then the great Jacobs went to work. He filled the air with footballs, his favourite target being the magnificent Grant, with whom the Lions’ pass defense could do nothing.
“It was Grant who took Jacobs’ pass off his own 40, executed a beautiful lateral to Gerry James and watched happily while James went all the way to score.”
The Bombers won when Jacobs did a surprise punt from the Lions’ 24-yard line. George Klein tried to run it out but was “rouged” by Grant.
The 20,606 fans in attendance probably went home happy after the unexpectedly close game. But when the Lions played Saskatchewan two days later, they were trounced 17-0. The team won only one game in its first year, against 15 losses.