Remembering running back Robert Holmes

REGINA 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, 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.

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 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 as Saskatchewan defeated the visiting Toronto Argonauts 34-3.

Afterward, Holmes told the Regina Leader-Post he would like to play in the Grey Cup game. It was not to be, 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 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 later, the Roughriders were in the end zone. 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— he was unavailable.

Immediately after the Ottawa Rough Riders posted a 23-20 victory, and for the subsequent 42 years, the question was asked: What if the Roughriders had dressed Holmes?