Jan. 9, 1978: Canadians discover thrill of defeat at the first Can-Am Bowl
Team Canada’s football players returned home to the snow and cold pleased with themselves after losing 22-7 to the Americans the day before in Tampa, Fla.
The Can-Am Bowl, an event unprecedented in the history of the sport, pitted Canada’s best men of the college gridiron against a team of U.S. Division I all-stars playing by Canadian rules. Some people had expected a blowout.
Most of the Canadians hadn’t played since late October, while most of the U.S. collegians had just concluded their seasons.
And the game was played in monsoon-like rain, which resulted in only an 11,328 paidattendance figure, with a ticket stub count at the gate of 7,939 fans — 90 per cent of whom left at halftime.
The post-game Canadian dressing room featured an assortment of quotes including a dozen “we showed ’ems” and at least one “proud to be a Canadian,” the Journal reported.
“It was a real victory,” said head coach Darwin Semotiuk, who captained the University of Alberta’s football and basketball teams in the early 1960s.
“We broke the myth that Canadian players are not as good as American players,” said Canadian delegation head Bob Pugh of the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union (CIAU), now called Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).
“It was great for us,” said Don Guy of the U of A Golden Bears. “We were such tremendous underdogs that it was a thrill to keep it this close on the scoreboard. We weren’t outclassed in all the one-on-ones. Matter of fact, I thought we handled them well.”
Bears wide-receiver Joe Poplawski said: “I’ve never caught a pass and had men on me like that. On those two I caught early in the game, I was just bringing the ball in when I had a helmet in my face.”
The American players admitted they were surprised. “They were a real scrappy team,” said Georgia’s Ben Zambiasi. “They proved to us that you can’t measure heart by size. They really came on strong.”
In 1979, at the second CanAm Bowl, the Canadians put up a valiant effort but lost 34-14.
Many players from both Canada and the U.S. went on to play in the CFL, including Zambiasi. Some of the U.S. players went on to NFL careers.
The Can-Am Bowl died after 1979 due mostly to lack of interest in Tampa — much of that due to poor marketing.