I am trying to help a friend from Canada's Sports Hall of Fame with a project she is doing. It is entitled the Top 10 moments in Canadian Football. Please list your top 10 moments in Canadian football and, try not to make them all Ti-Cat moments. Your input would be quite valuable and will be used in this project. I will get the ball rolling:
In no particular order:
-Jackie Parker's fumble return in the '54 Grey Cup
-Tony Champion's catch in the '89 Grey Cup
-Lui Passaglia becoming the league's all-time scorer
-Mike Pringle passing George Reed to become the league all-time leading rusher
-Tony Gabriel's catch in the '76 Grey Cup
-Grover Covington becoming the league's all-time QB sack leader
-Calgary Stampeders being the only team to go undefeated (1948)
-The first Grey Cup in 1909
-the first forward pass in a Grey Cup (1931)
-Winnipeg winning the Grey Cup in 1935, becoming the first Western club to win the Grey Cup
Second game of 1986 Eastern Conference Final with the Tiger Cats trailing the Argos by 26 points with 3 quarters to play. At the end of the game the Ti-Cats defeat the Argos to represent the East in the Grey Cup. The greatest comeback in Canadian football history. The TiCats defeat the Edmonton Eskimos the following week for the Grey Cup.
I have to admit that any time the Argos are defeated is a great moment in Canadian football history.
Grey Cups:
-1989, great game back and forth
-1987, Edmonton making the late game comeback to win
-1994, Passaglia kicks BC (and Canada) to a win over the Baltimore Stallions
-1996, Argos vs Edmonton in a snowstorm in Hamilton, Eddie Davis catch off his foot, Gizmo Williams running a kick back for a TD (did Pinball run one back too? I think he did)
-1991, Matt Dunigan has a bum shoulder, doesn't look like he's going to play, he starts throwing in a hotel ballroom the night before and he goes out and wins the Grey Cup in frigid Winnipeg vs Calgary. Rocket Ismail also had a kickoff return for a TD that day, but most people probably remember that return because someone from the stands almost hit him with a beer can
-1995, the year the Cats had Dunigan, the Cats went to Toronto and played a back and forth scorefest with Flutie and the Argos. Unfortunately the game wasn't on national TV so unless you were there you missed the 38-35 game. (I'm guessing at the score, but they were both in the 30s)
-American expansion. Love it or hate it it was one of the more unforgettable things that ever happened in the CFL.
-Doug Flutie.
-Warren Moon.
-Damon Allen. Breaks All-time professional football passing record. He's also 3rd all-time in rushing in the CFL with 11, 920 yds rushing!
-Allen Pitts 2,036 yds receiving in 94. Honourable mention to Terry Greer's 2,003 yds in 83 (first receiver over the 2,000 yd mark in a season).
-Russ Jackson, last Canadian QB to lead his team to victory in the Grey Cup.
-Pinball Clemons setting the all-time record for yards from scrimmage in a season: 3,840 in 97.
-Earl Winfield scoring TDs 3 different ways in the same game. Reception, Kickoff return and punt return.
-Less Browne's 87 career INTs
-Alberta Crude defense
-129 yd missed FG returns for TDs. Bashir Levingston and Dominic Dorsey both did it in 2007 for the Argos.
-Garney Henley making 10 straight All-Star teams. The first 9 as a DB and in year 10 as a receiver.
-BC James Parker's 26.5 sacks in 84.
-Gizmo Williams, who was so prolific as a kick returner that he had more kick return TDs called back then the next guy on the kick return TD list has scored.
1. Ticats' Ray Bibbles Bawel returning an interception for a sure TD, tripped by a fan on the sidelines. Ticats awarded half the distance to the goal. Spectator later gives Bawels a gold watch (1957 GC, Hamilton vs. Winnipeg).
2. 1961 Eastern 2 game total point final- Ticats go into 2nd game down, but mount brilliant defence. Last play in regulation time, Dave Mann punts for game-winning single. Goes deep, but not out of end-zone. Sutherin picks up ball, returns punt. Mann grabs, punts again. Bernie Faloney catches ball several yards in Hamilton end-zone and behind great, but illegal, blocking, goes the entire distance to Argo end-zone for apparent winning TD. Due to illegal blocking, no TD. Hamilton scores 4 TDs in OT to win Eastern final.
3. Ticats go to '61 GC, but lose in OT due to Kenny Ploen QB option run for TD (NOT sudden death). Hamilton had built early lead on long pass to Paul Dekker for TD, but on sleeper play Gerry McDougall stumbles untouched deep in Winnipeg territory. Next play untouched Faloney fumbles. Ticats have to settle for rouge, 7-1 lead instead of 14 -1, at half-time.
The TiCats did not play in 9 Grey Cups in the 60s. They played in the 1961,1962,1963,1964,1965 and 1967 games. TiCats won the '63,'65,and '67 Grey Cups.
I think that for a list like this, you need to think of big/historical/transcendent moments. Alternatively, moments that are talked about forever after, and not just by fans of the winning team.
Some have already been mentioned:
First Grey Cup
Fog Bowl
First forward pass (doesn't necessarily have to be in a Grey Cup)
US expansion - maybe, because it does symbolize the desperation of an era, and the confirmation that the league will always be a Canada-only affair.
Other ideas:
First East-West Grey Cup (national unity, yada yada)
First black QB in pro football (not sure when that was - I think it was in the CFL though, wasn't it?)
5 consecutive Grey Cups ... hard to deny how impressive that was
The time Calgary fans turned the Grey Cup into the Great National Drunk (horses in the Royal York, etc)
Something about university football perhaps? If I knew anything about it I could offer a suggestion, but the amateur game needs to be on the list in some way.
It's tough to include any particular record, since it will likely be broken one day. And any individual plays had better be awfully impressive and unique to make this list. (like the multiple kick-back one described above)
I forgot one - perhaps one of the biggest of them all.
The inaugural games between McGill and Harvard in 1873 that some consider to be the first ever "real" football games. The Canadians taught the Americans some new rules (e.g. the concept of running with the ball) that had not been part of their game previously.
Wow! Merlin's list is amazing. You are truly a magician of football knowledge. :thup: :thup: :thup:
Pat Lynch(the old guy who wishes he had Merlin's memory)
You raise a good point - “Canadian Football” is not limited to the CFL only. What about outstanding moments in Canadian university football, Canadian junior football, etc.?
One of my greatest Ticat/CFL memories is Earl Winfield scoring a TD 3 different ways in 1 game. I believe it was in 88? He scored a receiving TD, kickoff return TD and punt return TD.