GREY CUP FEVER HEATING UP
Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and running back Jerome Messam run through drills during practice in Toronto for Sunday’s Grey Cup.
Nearly seven decades on, the Grey Cup legacy of the 1948 Calgary Stampeders and their raucous fans still reverberates. Here are some of the facts and firsts from that storied game that saw the Stampeders defeat the Ottawa Rough Riders 12-7 at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium.
■ It was the Stampeders’ first CFL championship, a feat since repeated six more times. But the team wouldn’t win another Grey Cup until 1971.
■ That Stampeder team was the first and only one since to enjoy a season without a loss, going 12-0 during the regular portion. They tied the Regina Roughriders 4-4 in a first playoff match before defeating the Saskatchewan team 17-6 in a rematch to go to the Grey Cup.
■ The team employed the first American quarterback, Keith Spaith. Quarterbacks from the U.S. are now a league mainstay.
■ At 18, Stampeders’ halfback Normie Kwong would be the youngest player to win a Grey Cup. He would later serve as Alberta’s lieutenant-governor and died Sept. 3.
■ The Stampeders employed the so-called sleeper play, with receiver Norm Hill hiding along the sidelines and catching a Spaith pass while on lying on his back. He scored a touchdown on a play that was later outlawed by the league.
■ Two trainloads of boisterous, boozy Stampeders fans invaded Toronto, electrifying the city. It turned what had been a staid event into a national bash that’s been picked up by fans of all other teams.
■ Those 1948 fans enjoyed a pancake breakfast, but it was one provided by the host city and presided over by Toronto Mayor Buck McCallum. That hospitality is now provided by the Calgary Grey Cup Committee at every Grey Cup festival.
■ To ensure maximum performance, the Stampeders were sequestered in nearby Oakville, away from the festivities and only arrived in Toronto on game day.
■ Legend has it that a horse ridden by a Calgary fan or player sauntered through the lobby of Toronto’s Royal York Hotel either before or after the game. But no photos of the occurrence exists and some believe it didn’t actually happen until the following year when the Stampeders returned for their second Grey Cup appearance. Whatever the truth, it’s become Grey Cup lore and an annual custom since.
■ Triumphant Calgary fans hoisted goalposts torn from Varsity Stadium and planted them in the hotel lobby.
■ At the sold-out game, scalpers were arrested and jailed after pocketing $25 for $1 tickets.
■ The following year, the Stampeders and their crazy entourage returned to Toronto to vie for their second Grey Cup, only to fall to the Montreal Alouettes 28-15.