Prairie Football

They play on Labour Day, just like the Battle of Alberta, and the TiCat-Argo Clash, and they call it the Banjo Bowl, and don't ask me why, but the games between The Green Riders and Blue Bombers are usually more special.


Whether it is prairie bragging rights, or pure hatred from neighbouring provinces, but Winnipeg vs Saskatchewan always seem to bring out the best.


Lancaster to Hugh Campbell, George Reed rumbles in from 3 yard line, with Bomber lineman draped on his back. Dieter Brock, or Tommy Clements to Tommy Scott, or Joe Poplawski on a snowy field in Regina, when they called it Taylor Field.


These games in September are just a table setter to the November clashes when the prairie weather creates high winds, blowing snow, and slick icy fields.

The conditions become part of the panorama of western games.




















Thanks to global warming we don't see too many of those grisy games when the field level was almost a white out condition, and playing on fake grass also takes some of the old style game away, but regardless, they hit each other harder, and it's hyped greater than other divisional games.


It is what makes our game very special, it spans the country, it spans time zones, it spans geography, and culture and the best part of it, it unites the country like nothing else short of an election, or a bonspeil. Give the Melon Heads of Regina and Saskatoon, and Moose Jaw their due, they travel like a thundering herd to Manitoba in droves to support their boys, and they have thee most ardent fans in this Canadian game. They are like no other fans, and they are proud of the small community feeling the Roughriders bring out.

You Beautuful Uglies

Back in the late 60's, we were building a team of winners.

We had Tricky Dick, we had Marv Luster, we had Sy (old 33 ).
But we could not get past the Roughies, so
when the 70's dawned, we looked to the east and saw the magic man had finally retired to become a high school principal. ( Bye Russ )

Then we looked at Jonas, and we looked at Wilkie ( boy kinda blew that one ) at QB.

We recruited like fanatics, and we had the best CFL recruiter, and he was our coach, Leo the Lip.



So we sent him on adventures to the south, we had scouts yes, but when we saw talent, we had Cahill, the prodigious Leprechaun sell the player on Toronto.

And they came, they spurned the NFL and they heard his clarion call, and they came. From Kent State, from Rutgers, from the golden dome of Notre Dame , the Detroit Lions practise squad, but they came.

It was Stillwagon from Ohio State, it was Timmy Anderson to play free safety, it was Barrie, Ontario born Jim "Big Country " Corrigal, it was unheralded Leon "X-Ray" McQuay, and it Greg Barton, and it was a Heisman winner, Joe Theisman. Joe spurned the Miami Dolphins who wanted Joe to return punts, but Joe wanted to play QB, and Leo said he could.


So we parted company with the Tom Wilkinson, Don Jonas, Jim Thorpe and Dave Raimey, and others, and brought in what we felt were major new parts to the Boatman, " More Oarsmen , he cries, "Pull Together ", he yelled ". So they pulled the Boatmen forward to 1st place in 1971.

We had stall wards on defence in Luster, Thornton and Allridge, and new heroes in Anderson, Stillwagon, and Corrigal. We won 14 games that year...14 !!! Can you believe it,a nd we made it to the eastern final , but this year no Jackson, this year no Margene Adkins, or Whit Tucker, or Billy Ray Booth. This time it was the Cats from Steeltown.

h the Cats were good, and always any team with Tommy Joe Coffey, Joe Zuger and Garney Henley was always taken seriously.

We went to play them with the factories of Stelco and Dofasco staring at us, reminding us these were hardened men, tough men, eat ya raw kinda dudes. That cheer, that Oskie Wee Wee chant, and the fans were right on you , so close to the benches.

We beat em in their own park, and we're going home to play part 2 the following weekeknd. God I miss that 2 game playoff.

We lead them 25-15 on points. Could the uglies pull together another game.

I went to that game, sat in the middle section while we held the Tabbies all day long, to a saw off at 15-15 on the day, but enough to send us to Vancouver for the first time since 1952.

It ended poorly on that rainswept day at Empire Stadium, it rained almost the entire game, and we fumbled our final chanced away to the Stamps. If only, if only, if Stillwagon had blocked
Calgary QB Jerry Keeling, then Dick Thornton's interception return would have found the end zone and victory. If only...

You beautiful uglies, you gave me my finest memory as a fan.

Rivalries

Above was the hated one, the divine one, the one Leo Cahill said the phrase, well he can't walk on water, can he ?
I remember 1969, because we hosted Game 1 at the Ex, and won 22-14, over the vaunted, hated Roughies. It was off to Ottawa to play at Landsdowne Park, a graveyard of lost dreams for my Argonauts. Well, in the frigid temperatures that Sunday morning, the field had frozen, and the Roughies had brought their suction cup shoes ( late on the Al's used these broom ball shoes to defeat the Eskies in the 76 Grey Cup ).

So Russ Jackson , the man who could not walk on water, went for a early skate on the Rideau Canal, frozen now, so he truly did walk, well glide on water.
Oh the Cahill prophecy

So Landsdowne was no skating rink, but icy, but Ottawa gripped the field, while we in dumb dumb cleats slid and fell all day long and lost 32-3, erasing the hard fought lead we forged in Toronto.

Rivalries make this game what it is today. In future entries I will attempt to bring myself to the highest heights and discuss the Tabbies/Argos Labour Day tilts, and my own personal memories.


Here are are the 3 Argonaut nightmares,
Jackson, the general.
Vic Washington , the ground force.
Whit Tucker, the air force weapon.

Throw in Bo Scott, and Ronny Stewart,
and their strong O-Line, and they were so tough.









Then there were other Rough Riders out west too !!!

You should seen their guys.

My Argonauts

These are my guys, they have
been my guys for close to 45 years now.


My first memories of those beautiful uglies
was via the radio, CFTR 680, listening
with my mother, thanks Mom.

In 1964 I was 9, and already a big
Maple Leaf fan, but got exposed to a
new game, through the medium of radio,
and it was so different than listening to
Foster or Bill Hewitt, this was a new experience.

I think my first game on the tube was the Alouettes and the Argonauts, but my memory is a little fuzzy. Once we started building our family cottage, there were summers with no television, just the magic of radio to spark my interest.

Wally Gabler was the quarterback, and while he was no superstar, in 1967, he was all we had. That was to change very soon, once Leo Cahill arrived from the Toronto Rifles.


So Wally G was back there calling signals, and usually getting clocked
by The Rough Riders, or Mosca and Barrow of the Tiger Cats.



Poor Wally, I always felt sorry for him.

In later entries I want to provide more memories, and some really nice ones.

Today, I am devoting this 1st Argo memory to the 2 Brians.

My uncle was the other family member devoted to the cause, so much so he brought up an aerial in 1971 to our cottage ( because we were beyond the 100 mile radius ) and were able to watch the 1st game of the 2 game Eastern Final against the Tabbies.

The other Brian is my bud , and he knows the Argos as I do.

More to come, it's 3 and long, but thankfully Dave Mann is back there !