HC here from 1978 -1980 passes at 86. Lots of good players here in those days but not good teams. Took Hamilton to Grey Cup in 1980 when Alouettes dynasty collapsed.
Long pro football career.
By all accounts a nice guy.
YUP, Payne replaced Tom Dimitroff as Cats Head coach and took us to one Grey Cup beat down to Edmonton back in the day when the East was very weak. (Nothing like today)
Interesting side note Tom’s one son Thomas is now GM for the Atlanta Falcons and Tom Sr still has family in the Burlington area.
Yes, John Payne was a very respected Coach and well liked by his players where ever he went during his long coaching career.
Loss of another old time coach from the glory era. RIP Coach.
Ballard saw him as too soft which was at odds with the team who had a nasty defense by the time he was fired. Openly mocked his evangelical-ism after he fired him
Ballard figured a blood and guts type was needed so no surprise Frank Kush wowed him…
Irony being Kush was as too hard as Payne was supposedly too soft.
Man, some really bad teams during that era, but also some legends like Zambiasi. For me, I became a fan in about '75, so it felt like a really long wait till the Cats made the Grey Cup in '80, only to get blown out 48-10 by that Edm dynasty.
RIP, coach
Zambiasi, Woods , Shaw…This is mightypope territory but team had elements of something good …just couldn’t put it all together at the same time . Needed a QB, got Clements who promptly left for KC then had to rely on rookie Marler…no continuity to build on.
Plus, we got hosed in the Lumsden Sr. for Bruce Lemmerman trade when Lemmerman buggered off. Wasn’t there another player involved in that trade? Can’t remember.
No, it was Lumsden for Lemmerman and you are right, we got hosed in the end. Lemmerman played the first four games before getting injured early in the fifth game of the season. When he came back from injury he wasn’t the same and played a conservative style of game. Marler took over later in the season and that was the end of Lemmerman’s playing career. The next year he was on the Eskimos sideline as an offensive coach while Lumsden played several more outstanding years in Edmonton.
I wonder if the Payne name was modified somewhere along the line, to save face.
Reading about his son Thomas - check out Wikipedia about the noted ( & mostly reviled ) American Revolutionary & Founding Father: Thomas Paine . But I digress …
I rather liked Coach John Payne, & saddened to hear of his passing…
The Eagle
As an 8 year old in 1979 I stumbled across the Hamilton vs. Ottawa playoff game on TV. It was my first time watching a Cats game. I watched Tommy Clements try to rally the Cats to victory in a thrilling game but ultimately fell short. I was immediately hooked and became a massive fan during the 1980 season. Hearing about John Payne brings back a lot of those memories.
RIP Coach Payne 
As a kid I think I half-believed that Marler’s first name was “Two Minute” because I’d hear a lot of fans calling him “Two Minute Marler.”
Looking back, I hope that was just a commentary on when he typically got into the games (after Clements returned to the team), and not a nickname assigned by his college girlfriend or something.
I believe that was called the “Shoot & Run” offence. ;D
I remember Coach Payne very well . I always thought he was a very good head coach for us in an era when good coaching it seemed was very few and far between for the team after our Grey Cup of “72” .
Payne was the first HC who got us back to the Cup after that glorious hometown win in “72” .
Unfortunately we ran up against the powerhouse Eskimos in 1980 smack dab in the middle of their 5 year run of Grey Cup victories and predictably got blown away in that game 48-10 .
We did defeat though the Alouettes at Ivor Wynne that year in the EF to advance to the big game . A game I was at by the way as a 19 yr old fresh out of school kid (where does the time go ? )
Anyways I have unearthed a gem I found on Youtube of that EF game from 1980 . So for those inclined to take a walk down memory lane or perhaps depending on your age just want to watch some Ti-Cat history and you have 2 hrs to kill here it is for you…Ladies and Gentleman live from Ivor Wynne Stadium may I present to you the 1980 East Final…Montreal Alouettes vs Hamilton Tiger-Cats !!!
Enjoy 8)
Thanks Bobo !!!
Interesting. That game featured the legendary Fred Biletnikoff playing for the Als.
Glad you enjoyed it !!! 8) 
Here’s a few more interesting bits of trivia and fun facts about some of the participants in that game .
#1…Alouettes starting LT #66 - Larry Pfohl would go onto bigger and better things when he switched careers to become a Super-star in the World of Professional Wrestling after his football days were over transforming himself into his in ring persona who was better known as Lex Luger .
#2…The Alouettes had a stud Canadian starting LB who was winding up his career after finishing his 9th year in Montreal before finally retiring the next season in 1981 that went by the name of Wally Buono .
#3…Although the Cats failed to win the Cup that year there was three players that day that were still around 6 years later in Hamilton when the team finally won the Cup in “86” . Ben Zambiasi , Rocky DiPietro and Bernie Ruoff were all members of that team . Unfortunately for Ruoff though was that he was injured and didn’t dress for that “86” Cup game . His replacement was some unknown kid who went by the name of Osbaldiston .
#4…Starting Alouette QB Gerry Datillio was and is the last Canadian player ever to start a play-off game under centre as a number one at that position in the CFL . Despite winning the MOC award and also representing the East as MOP in 1980 he was demoted to 2nd string the following season and replaced by newly signed NFL QB flop Vince Ferragamo .
Is thatDon Chevrieron the call?
Skip Walker on the opening kickoff return for Montreal.
SkipWalker played 1982 and 83 with Ottawa andrushing for 1141 and 1431 yards to lead the East and named All Canadian both seasons. The only reason he was with Ottawa was along with the Ferragamo experiment Montreal brought in David Overstreet a 1st round pick of Miami who signed with Montreal in 1981.
Overstreet returned to the NFL in 1983 and died in an unfortunate car crash in 1984.
I was at the playoff game where Walker single handedly killed the Cats playing for Ottawa.
He was a Cat killer either the 1982 or 83 playoffs with Ottawa. Can’t remember which season it was. We could not stop him.
That would be the “82” East Semi-final game that was played here at Ivor Wynne that that happened . A game that unfortunately I also was at . The Cats fell to an inferior back to back 5-11 Riders team 30 to 20 for a 2nd consecutive year in a row home loss in the play-offs after being upset the previous year 17-13 in the EF.
If memory serves me correct we were in control , dominating and up at the half by something like 17-3 before Walker went nuts in the 2nd half and was a one man wrecking ball ripping off something like 233 yds rushing against our sieve like defence . It was painful to watch as Walker was unstoppable and the fans ended up going home disappointed for a 2nd year in a row because we couldn’t beat a crappy Ottawa team when it mattered most in a home play-off game . :-[ 
At least these days our seasons end with losses to decent-to-good OTT teams. Feels slightly better than losing to crappy teams.
Losing in the Frank Kush era 1982 year was devistating… arguably one of the best ticats team assembled, ever.
Hey we tied the mighty Esks, that year; we had not beaten Esks in many years, and would not do so until the 1986 grey cup; when Moon was long gone- and the cocky Matt Dunnigan got his contact knocked out.
Remember 1980 Ef victory, when some climbed the upright on the west side and rest of us yahoos were trying to bring the uprights down.
These days someone would video us and next day we would lose our jobs and get arrested.
…awww the good ol’ days, other than having a lot of…so so teams …all was good.
Another contributing factor in that game was Ottawa back-up QB Kevin Starkey replacing the CFL rookie-of-the-year Chris Isaac near the end of the first half. Starkey scored a second half touchdown and passed the ball with more efficiency than the ineffective Isaac. Walker, combined with Starkey, throttled the 'Cats in the second half giving the Rough Riders two playoff upsets in a row at Ivor Wynne Stadium.