MITCHELL COULD ETCH HIS NAME IN STAMPS HISTORY
No Calgary starting quarterback has won two Grey Cups with tradition-rich team
Bo Levi Mitchell is on the verge of doing something no Calgary Stampeders starting quarterback has done before.
Win two Grey Cups for the Red & White.
It’s a surprising revelation given the long list of notable Stamps alumni. This is an organization that featured some of the game’s greatest quarterbacks.
“That is very surprising, especially when you think of Dave (Dickenson) and Doug (Flutie) and Jeff (Garcia) and all those guys,” said longtime Stampeders receiver-turned Alouette, Nik Lewis.
“It’s a long list of guys, even when you go back to Danny Barrett and Hank (Henry Burris) and Kevin Glenn. That’s pretty outstanding Bo has the opportunity to do that, especially in his first four years. Wow, that’s amazing.”
For an organization known as a virtual quarterback factory the last three decades, it’s stunning this Sunday’s 105th Grey Cup will give the 27-year-old Mitchell the chance to make club history.
“I may have won two had I been able to play in the 1995 Grey Cup but we will never know that answer,” Garcia said jokingly, referring to Wally Buono’s decision to start Flutie over him in their loss to Baltimore.
“It’s a little surprising, but I think what’s more surprising is that the Stampeders have not won more Grey Cups, considering the history of the league and the last three decades of dominance within the Stampeder organization.
“Bo Levi Mitchell has had a great career in Calgary and has led the Stampeders to so many great wins. This opportunity to play in his third Grey Cup in four years and the potential to win his second would obviously put him in a class separate from all the great signal callers that have played in that great city.”
Former Stampeder defensive back Jackie Kellogg, who won a Grey Cup with Garcia in 1998, said it’s a product of so many great pivots moving on after their Calgary success.
“I think the way we’ve developed quarterbacks in Calgary is a big reason no quarterback has won two Grey Cups here,” said Kellogg, who played in Calgary from 1995 until 2000.
“I look at the starting quarterbacks I played with and they all took a shot at the NFL after success in Calgary. Flutie (who left for Toronto and then the NFL), Garcia (San Francisco), Burris (Chicago) and Dickenson (San Diego) — if they stick around for a few more years, that stat would be different. Bo will change this on Sunday and he will get a couple more if he chooses to stay in Calgary when the NFL comes knocking on his door.”
It didn’t hurt the aforementioned quarterbacks’ upward mobility when five of the team’s seven Grey Cup wins featured the quarterback as the game’s MVP: Flutie in 1992, Garcia in 1998, Marcus Crandell in 2001, Burris in 2008 and Mitchell in 2014.
With only seven Grey Cups in 72 years of football, the stat also speaks to just how hard it has been for the organization to finish three decades of dominance with wins in the big game.
“That’s actually an amazing fact,” said receiver Marc Boerigter, who starred in the 2001 Grey Cup with Crandell before bolting for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. “It just goes to show you how hard it is to win a championship.”
Many are also surprised to learn Dickenson’s only Grey Cup ring as a starter came with the B.C. Lions. He was the backup for the two Grey Cups rings he won in Calgary as a player, behind Garcia in 1998 and as an injured backup to Burris in 2008.
Canadian receiving great Dave Sapunjis pointed out Dickenson is also poised to join elite company as head coach.
“It’s a great opportunity this year to get our first quarterback with two Cups and the second time a past Stamps quarterback has gone on to win as the Stamps head coach (behind GM John Hufnagel),” Sapunjis said.
Dickenson admitted he, too, was unaware no Stamps starter had repeated.
“I would have thought somebody would have done it but I didn’t think about that,” the team’s head coach said.
“He’s only 27, but it seems like he’s been around quite a while and he has made it a habit to play in Grey Cup games. I think he has kind of put himself up there as one of the great Stampeder quarterbacks and can put himself farther up the list if we get a few more wins.”
One of the men standing between Mitchell repeating his 2014 championship is Argos quarterback Ricky Ray, who is bidding to become the first payer in CFL history to win four times as a starter.
Vince Danielsen, who caught passes in Calgary from several greats between 1994 and 2001, said he’s not surprised by the Stampeders stat.
“When you have three quarterbacks on the same team like Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia and Dave Dickenson, or Henry Burris, they are all so good they will never stay on the team long enough and they either go to a new CFL team after success or an NFL tryout,” he said.
“That is really what happened in the ’90s, not to mention the team had chances with Doug in 1991 and 1995 to win Cups but could not win the second big one after 1992.”
Aldi Henry, the Stampeders’ 2001 Grey Cup special teams hero, figures drastic changes on defence from year to year help explain the team’s inability to repeat.
Mitchell said he was caught off guard last year when told he could be the first double Cup dipper.
“It surprised me because I know a lot of good quarterbacks have played on this team, but I also know they moved on and did some great things,” said Mitchell, who is far less philosophical this year than last, when he spoke openly about creating a legacy.
“If that’s something that happens it happens and that would be cool. I want to focus on one Grey Cup title and this one only.”
One man who will never stop philosophizing is retired running back Jon Cornish, who has his theory on the subject.
“Winning the Grey Cup is all about your team’s story,” said Cornish, a Stamp from 2007 to 2015.
“Teams that are supposed to win often don’t because they lack this unifying, transcendent narrative. It is incredibly difficult to inspire your team to a championship level every year, as evidenced by the great teams with legendary quarterbacks we had in the ’90s, from which the Stamps emerged with only two Grey Cups.
“When you can find that fundamental, unifying story which inspires your team, you will win the Grey Cup. The storyline may come from the outside, like the historic 100th Grey Cup won by Toronto, the 101st game in Regina or our 2014 win in the Year of the Horse. A great QB can manifest this winning storyline as well, as Burris did with a chip on his shoulder last year or Reilly rallying his team to overcome the Stamps in 2015.
“Bo Levi Mitchell has the chance to be the first Stamps QB to win two Grey Cups because he understands this simple idea. Bo and the other captains will look past the festivities of the week ahead, instead working as hard as they can each day to get the taste of last year’s loss out of their mouths.”