Good Tuesday morning, Uni Watchers! I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday.
UW pal/contributor/author Leo Strawn, Jr. joins us again today, after finishing an EPIC series he called The Good, The Bad, The Oddly (a seven parter, with links to the other six in Volume 7). Last week Leo returned to take a look at the colo(u)rful uniforms of the three-down, 110 yard field sport of Canadian Football and today he has a different look at the CFL, so I’ll just turn it over to Leo now…
Canadian Football in Grey
by Leo Strawn, Jr.
I’m Leo…welcome to my world!
I’ve been cleaning out my sports photo files and have been running across some pics that I thought I’d share. La 111e finale de la Coupe Grey (how is my French?) is on the horizon, so I thought I’d share some vintage Grey Cup photos you might not have seen.
I’ll begin at…the beginning. The first Grey Cup was contested between the University of Toronto Varsity Blues and Toronto Parkdale Canoe Club on December 9, 1909. Blues beat the Paddlers, 26-6. Smirle Lawson of the Varsity Blues is carrying the ball in the photo below. He would also help the Argonauts win their first GC in 1914.
1910 saw the Blues win their second in a row, this time over the Hamilton Tigers, 16-7. Love the newsboy caps worn by University’s Hugh Gall and Jack Maynard!
Worth mentioning, though I unfortunately don’t have a photo, the Varsity Blues would go on to complete a sweep of the first three Grey Cups the following season in another all-Toronto final, this time against a different team with its roots in rowing, defeating the Argonauts in their first GC appearance. Here are the Argos in their 1914 team photo. They would win the sixth Grey Cup that season, their first win in their third Grey Cup appearance, getting revenge on the Blues, 14-2. Those are some sweet coaches’ (?) sweaters on either end!
Mr. Vilk would’ve loved cheering on the huge-numbered Argonauts in the 34th edition. They defeated Winnipeg, 28-6.
The 1948 Grey Cup saw Calgary wearing these beauties as they beat Ottawa, 12-7.
The 38th Grey Cup final in 1950 was a mess…literally. Known as the “Mud Bowl”, it may be the only time in history that a player nearly drowned during a football game. The Argos sported pants that were double blue, light on front and dark on back, but it didn’t take long until it was impossible to tell. Because the unis were so muddy by halftime, Winnipeg changed from dark blue jerseys with Northwestern stripes to light blue jerseys and Toronto changed from light blue jerseys to dark blue.
In 1953, Hamilton wore mono yellow vs. the Bombers. Apparently, that Grey Cup featured lots of passing, an idea that didn’t sit well with some old-school Canadians.
The 45th GC featured this unusual uniform matchup between the Bombers and Ti-Cats. The game itself was unusual as well. As 2/3 of the Grey Cups to date had been played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, it’s no surprise a lot of Argos fans were in attendance. One such fan named David Humphrey had somehow made his way down to lurk on the Blue Bomber sideline. Hamilton DB Ray Bawel intercepted a Winnipeg pass and Humphrey tripped Bawel as the Ti-Cat defender ran past.
1958’s Final featured another nice uniform matchup between Hamilton and Winnipeg.
In 1962, the 50th Cup final was known as the “Fog Bowl”. The fog got so bad that the Blue Bombers and Tiger-Cats had to suspend play with 9 minutes 29 seconds left in the fourth quarter and finish the game the following day. That would be legendary coach Bud Grant’s fourth and final Grey Cup victory with the Bombers. I’m sure you know he would go on to coach the last NFL champion to not win a Super Bowl, Minnesota. But, did you know he won another championship as a player with the Minneapolis Lakers, prior to his football career playing with the NFL Eagles and Winnipeg and subsequent coaching jobs with the Blue Bombers and Vikings? The more you know…
The following season, 1963, saw the Lions play Hamilton in a game that created some wounds that just wouldn’t heal. Ti-Cat Angelo Mosca allegedly kicked Willie Fleming of BC in the head while he was on the ground, knocking Fleming out of the game with a concussion. This led to some bad blood, of course, especially between BC QB Joe Kapp and Mosca, as seen in the last pic. Nearly half a century later, when both men were in their 70s, the two got into a fight at an alumni gathering.
There were stripes everywhere in 1965, on Hamilton’s sleeves, the officials’ shirts and the goal posts!
Sadly, we’ll never see another Riders vs. Riders Grey Cup. Ottawa won 3 of the 4. They won the first meeting in 1951, this rubber match in 1969 and the final meeting seven years later. The only Riders to still exist won the 1966 matchup.
Until next time…
Cheers!
This year’s Grey Cup takes this place this Sunday at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, with kickoff slated for 6:00 pm (ET). For us Americans, the game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. The Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are set to compete in the 111th Grey Cup. The championship game will mark the eighth time in the history of Canadian Football that the modern-day incarnations of the two clubs have played for the iconic trophy (1937-38, 1945-47, 1950 and 2022). I’ll definitely try to watch some of this game before I head to my Curling League.
If you’ve never watched a CFL game — or haven’t in a while — I would definitely recommend it! The game is (obviously) similar to that played in the States, but there are several major rules that are different (12 men, 3 downs, rouge, etc.) that really make it a very fun game to watch.
GTGFTU: 10/11/2009 – Dallas Cowboys (26) at Kansas City Chiefs (20) (OT) – Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City.
That’s two days in a row we’ve had AFL throwback games from that same date!
2 beautiful throwbacks right there.
Dallas AFL and NFL got it right from the start.
Great stuff, Leo!
Congrats to the U. of Toronto Varsity Blues! First Grey Cup champ. One of the university teams that can boast winning a Grey Cup in their trophy case(Queen’s Gaels the other). Toronto Varsity Blues are far from competing for a Vanier Cup these days.
Fun fact. I attended the last Rough Riders at Roughriders game. Little did we know it would be the last at the time. Both teams were pretty horrible that season, and the Eastern Riders could barely afford an indoor toilet then.
GTGFTS – November 18, 1962. Giants 19, Eagles 14 at Yankee Stadium.
Great stuff again, Leo, many thanks. I should be watching more CFL. I love the traditions and the pace of the CFL game. I have no favorite CFL team yet, but I am leaning towards the Alouettes as I support the Yakult Swallows in Japanese baseball…
Is that Winnipeg with the gold front/white back pants? I’ve never seen that before!
Yes! (Sorry for the late reply.)
That was more common than you might think. I may have to dig up some photos and put them together for everyone. Unfortunately, most of the pics I have (being from that era) are black & white.
Funny…..I refer to the Superbowl as “America’s Grey Cup”…
I swear Winnipeg is Washington Huskies, seems like a purple hue to me.
B.C. Lions give me Oregon State vibes.
So, I wonder what the composition of the pre-1960s uniforms were. Did they wear sweaters (wool) especially for games deep into the season? When did the manufacturers start making jerseys from that not-very-stretchy Durene fabric?
And I wonder if some CFL teams wore different jerseys at the beginning of the season (for the heat) and the end (for the Arctic cold).
In the “Mud Bowl” images, there is a stately looking Victorian brick building beyond the grandstands at Varsity Field. That building is McMaster Hall (now Ihnatowycz Hall) and the home of the Royal Conservatory of Music since the early 1960s.
When I was a child in the 1990s, I took piano lessons on the fourth floor of that building. Look closely at the double windows in the middle of the façade facing the field. That’s a stairwell where I used to watch Varsity Blues football games before my lessons. Though the Mud Bowl was played 40+ years before that, I’d like to think that there is a youngster in those windows, who also preferred athletics to arpeggios.
Thank you for the story.
Great stuff, Leo, especially the pics from the early 20th century! Your historic details are just wonderful!
My TV package doesn’t have CBSSN, so I haven’t seen a CFL game for a few years. They are so cool to watch, though, and the history tied to the Grey Cup is fabulous.
Mr. Vilk would’ve loved cheering on the huge-numbered Argonauts in the 34th edition
Properly-sized. ;)
Another fantastic article, Leo! This reminds me of the old VHS tape I used to have that showed the history of the Grey Cup from 1950 to the Baltimore Stallions’ victory in ’95. So many great unis from that era.
I miss the Riders vs. the Riders.
Love seeing the historical Canadian football photos.
Some Grey Cup images brought to mind when Canada Post did some CFL historical postal covers, stamps, etc. for the 100th Grey Cup back in 2012.
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