1970 Panda Game: OttawaU 29, Carleton 20

With the Panda Game coming this weekend, let's look back at a past one.

1970 was chosen in part because I didn't even know I had the recap saved. I usually have a one-paragraph summary on the Panda Game page above but did not have one for this particular edition of the big game.

The truth of the matter is that you can't go wrong selecting any of them. Even the lopsided games are made interesting by a record being set, a now-legendary player participating, Pedro antics, whatever.

I apologize for the poor scan but you should be able to read it without difficulty once you view it in its original size. Of course, what you'll read will be full of spelling errors such as "Ravins" and multiple versions of some of the players' names (Evanetz/Evantez, Ribbins/Robbins) but it is what it is.

You can also check out some soccer scores and consider an ad for French classes. Indeed, I was too lazy to crop around all that stuff. 

The picture above is copied from the Ottawa Journal. No credit was given.

Noteworthy trivia, I read in a Ravens Old Crow newsletter that John Ruddy intercepted a pass for Carleton in this game. Ruddy, as you likely know, is a member of the RedBlacks ownership group and was a major contributor to restoring Carleton's football program in 2013.

Super Season 88!

The Ottawa Rough Riders' "Super Season '88" is considered by the majority of observers to be the worst season of a modern-era pro football franchise from the capital city. Ottawa was hosting the Grey Cup that year and looking to generate some excitement for fans who hadn't witnessed a winning record since 1979 and had just suffered through a 3-15 season in 1987.

As if the notion of a "super season" at this point wasn't already ripe for skepticism, it took little time for the hyperbolic title to blow up in their faces. Fans who thought things couldn't get worse learned a valuable lesson when the 3-win 1987 team was reduced to two victories in 1988.

Why bring this up now? Because the Ottawa Redblacks are challenging that team's level of ineptitude on offense.

The '88 RRs scored 278 points on the season. The 2019 RedBlacks currently have 238 with four games left. I'll leave you to figure out that math.

(To be fully factual, the 2014 Redblacks also only scored 278 for the year but as an expansion team, they get a pass)

It bears pointing out that the 1988 team also allowed 618 (!!) points. In other words, the average game for them was a 34-15 loss (give or take).

And yet, for all that, the 1988 was season wasn't without some positives.

Simon Fraser running back Orville Lee was drafted first overall that spring and provided some cause for optimism. He ran for 1075 yards (4.6 yard average per carry) and a couple of scores. This led to Lee being named the league's Most Outstanding Rookie.

(Lee also threw an interception but he had plenty of company on that level. Five RR Quarterbacks combined for 14 touchdowns against a staggering 36 picks.)

Receiver Gerald Alphin, a personal favourite at the time, also had himself a solid season with 64 receptions for 1307 yards and five scores.

Both were Eastern All-Stars and both were instrumental in helping the team achieve its first victory on August 13th in Winnipeg. The Citizen recap of that game is below. As usual, you can open the images in a new tab for a larger, easier-to-read version.

Also, Ken Evraire would make his debut this season and become a fan favourite until a bewildering bungle led to his departure and defensive back Troy Wilson snagged 10 interceptions.

Why would I hold on to a newspaper account of a team's one of two wins on the year? This was the game that made me a fan, as unbelievable as that may sound.

I'd left town briefly but moved back that year and was living on my own for the first time. Intent on enjoying all that the city had to offer, I sat down to watch this game. When the Riders won, I told myself "Man, these guys must be pretty good!"

Right.

It would not the last time I would be full of crap on a football prediction but this was equivalent to throwing a pick on your first pass attempt.

Week 4 OUA Honours

I did a crap job of it last year but I do want to record weekly award winners in the OUA throughout the season. So without further adieu, here are the two Gee-Gees that were so honoured this week.

Defensive Player of the Week – Kyle Rodger, Ottawa Gee-Gees

Defence was a key part of the equation in the tilt between Laurier and Ottawa on Saturday, and helping the Gee-Gees gallop to their hard-fought victory in that one was Kyle Rodger, who managed to be all over the field in the win. 

Rodger racked up 11.5 tackles on the day, including nine of the solo variety, but his biggest impact came in the turnover department, as he was giving the Golden Hawks trouble all game long. Rodger was able to force a pair of fumbles on the day. The first came halfway through the opening quarter when he dislodged the ball from Laurier’s Cal Taylor deep in Ottawa territory. The second came halfway through the following quarter, upending what was a 32-yard passing play from the Hawks to once again give the ball back to his Gee-Gees. 

The Gatineau, Que. Product led the team in tackles a season ago with 49.5 after transferring home for his final two seasons. Like he did in his first season with the Garnet and Grey, Rodger once again finds himself pacing the club on defence, racking up 20.5 tackles early on this season.

Rodger is a Cegep de l'Outaouais product.

Special Teams Player of the Week – Loic Legendre, Ottawa Gee-Gees

In a game that proved to be greatly impacted by special teams, Ottawa Gee-Gees’ punter Loic Legendre made his presence felt against Laurier on countless occasions. 

Despite high winds make conditions less than ideal for the players, Legendre continually gave the Golden Hawks’ offence difficult field positioning, including three times pinning them inside their own 20-yard line. The second-year native of Nevers, France went on to average over 43 yards per punt, while racking up a total of 518 yards therein. 

The highlight of his busy day, however, came with a well-placed punt earlier in the fourth quarter that helped spark his team’s dramatic comeback. Having just gone down by 19 points and punting back to the Hawks, Legendre placed a punt that one hopped over the Laurier returner and into the end zone before being pounced on by Rashad Spooner for the Gee-Gees first major of the day.

Emerson's Big Day

Last night I copied an article about the most recent high school championship game. Today, I'm going  to copy one from the least recent.

Any account of high school football (senior) that I've ever come across dates back to 1927. No doubt games were played well before then but that appears to be the year that operations became solidly structured and/or a champion was crowned.

Note that this was a city championship, hence the reference to playing Renfrew the following week in the portion of the article below.

The lasting impression of this game was that one Emerson Ogilvy entered the Gallery of the Gods.

Luckily, the game was not marred by vaccinations.

This would be the first of 13 championships for Glebe between 1927 and 1946. They remain, to this day, the most decorated team in the city for high school football with 17 overall, though the last was in 1991.

As for Emerson Ogilvy, after entering the Gallery of the Gods, his name appeared in the Canadian Junior Football league record books. He is tied with several others for having kicked seven singles in a game for the Ottawa South Roamers in 1928. I had not heard of this team until today but I might just have to do a little digging now!

"St. Peter Knights down Ashbury Colts for Tier 1 football championship"

The high school football season is about to start and I celebrate this by...copying an article about last year's championship game. I didn't come across it at the time but having stumbled into it now, I want to have easy access to it because they can be hard to track down.

This article was written by Mark Beasley for the Orleans Star.

There was no stopping the St. Peter Knights in their attempt to capture another senior football city championship at Minto Field on Nov. 10. 

The Knights fought through gusting winds, a crusty, snow-covered turf and the relentless efforts of the Ashbury Colts to win 31-21 as they brought home their 14th city title in the football program’s 24 year history. 

Knights head coach Jim Mick has been at St. Peter ever since it opened in 1992 and has been at the helm for every one of those championship wins. 

En route to the 2018 championship, Mick and his coaching staff did a masterful job handling adversity, injuries and the loss of a number of potential players to prep schools south of the border. 

... 

Despite all the changes in personnel St. Peter didn’t falter and continued to be a force again this regular season and throughout the post season culminating in another city championship. 

The championship game was a total team effort by the Knights who managed to generate offence in the difficult playing conditions but at the same time defended well and kept the Colts attack under control. 

St. Pete’s defensive lineman Tucker Burke made life miserable for any Colts player whenever they had possession of the ball, or rock as it may have felt like during the cold and blustery day. 

Burke led his team with three sacks and a timely fumble recovery which led to the Knights putting points on the score board. 

... 

Wide receiver and defensive back Justice Koradi also had a big game with a perfectly timed interception. 

The offence was led by fourth year senior quarterback Ryan Licandro who had a number of weapons at his disposal including running back Josh Smith who scored a pair of touchdowns in the big win. 

Conor MacDonald and Jonathan Agette also scored for the Knights, with MacDonald adding a field goal to round out the scoring in the difficult conditions. 

With the victory over the Colts, the Knights are now riding an impressive winning streak that includes an undefeated regular season and a 29-1 victory over the St. Mark Lions in the semi-finals.

So what will 2019 look like? The rather outstanding Ottawa High School Football Instagram account prepared the following graphic as something of a preview.

L-R: St. Patrick, Immaculata, St. Peter, Asbhury, St. Matthew, Colonel By

L-R: Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, St. Mark, Franco-Cité, Glebe, Mother Teresa 

Scores and standings will also be available on fatdog.ca.

Kaye Vaughan to be Added to the TD Place Wall of Honour

The abbreviated biography below was written by Jim Cain and copied from the Redblacks website. The photo is from Vaughan's Canadian Football Hall of Fame entry.

Recently the CFL Ottawa Alumni Association Board of Directors created a committee (Jim Foley, Bob McKeown, Jim Cain and Jeff Avery) with the co-operation of the Redblacks to determine criteria for honouring players, past and future, to be added to the Wall of Honour. After much discussion and research the CFL Ottawa’s Board’s top selection was Kaye Vaughan. Other former outstanding players will be honoured in subsequent years. 

Kaye played 12 seasons for the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1978. He was selected for the Schenley Most Outstanding Lineman Award in both 1956 and 1957 and was also a finalist in 1960. Kaye won the two Schenley awards after missing the entire 1955 season after breaking his leg in the pre-season.  The CFL All-Stars were not created until 1962, which was near the end of Vaughan’s career, but he did win that honour at Middle Guard in 1962. 

Like many linemen in the 1950’s, Vaughan played both sides of the ball, and he was as good on defense as he was on offense.  Vaughan was selected as an Eastern All-Star six times on offense at tackle (1956 and 1957) and also at guard (1953, 1959, 1960 and 1961) and was selected as an Eastern All-Star four times on defense, 3 as a defensive tackle (1956, 1957 and 1959) and one as a middle guard (1962). 

Vaughan was also selected as the 41st best CFL player since 1945 in an extensive TSN Poll in 2006. The only Rough Rider player also selected was Russ Jackson at #8.  

He also recovered a fumble for the clinching touchdown in the 4th quarter of Ottawa’s 1960 Grey Cup victory that made the score 16 to 6 which was the final score. It was Kaye’s only touchdown in his career and came at a great time. 

Kaye along with the late Marv Bevan were the two pulling guards in 1960 when Ron Stewart rushed for an astounding 287 yards, which is still the CFL record 59 years later, in a game against the Montreal Alouettes. Kaye still can remember some of the blocks he threw on one of Stewie’s long runs.

The original article pointed out that while Vaughan's name will go up on the wall, his number will not be retired.

In addition to the honours listed above, Vaughan is also in Tulsa's Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1990.

Ottawa's Overlooked Grey Cup

The Redblacks are hosting the Argos later today and the league has chosen this past week to push its "Turf Traditions" merchandise. This is a rare opportunity to score a t-shirt or ball cap with the classic Rough Riders logo on it.

The Redblacks don't refer to the Rough Riders a whole lot. They want to build their own brand and that's fine. They paid tribute to the 1968 and 1969 Grey Cup teams last year and righted a wrong by delivering them some championship rings. They've had Russ Jackson and Tony Gabriel attend some events as well. But by and large, they want to blaze their own trail

Today I'm going to record some information about the 1973 championship team if only because they don't quite get the degree of admiration and attention that the 68/69 and 1976 teams do.

Venue: Exhibition Stadium
Location: Toronto, ON
Date: November 25
Attendance: 36,653
Winning Coach: Jack Gotta
Most Valuable Player: Charlie Brandon, DE, Ottawa
Most Valuable Canadian: Garry Lefebvre, DB, Edmonton

Ottawa quarterback Rick Cassata (16) throws a pass against the Edmonton Eskimos in the 1973 Grey Cup. Ottawa won the game played at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto 22-18. JOHN WOOD/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

There could be any number of reasons for the reduced recognition. One recap of the game that I found (distributed by the CFL itself and later used in a "Throwback Thursday" by the Redblacks in 2015) began as follows:

Call the 1973 Grey Cup the Backup Bowl. 

The Ottawa Rough Riders were forced to start Rick Cassata at quarterback when Jerry Keeling couldn’t play because of a knee injury. Many didn’t think Cassata was deserving of an opportunity to perform on the national stage due to his previous ineffective play. 

Meanwhile, Edmonton’s starting quarterback, Tom Wilkinson, was knocked out of the game near the end of the first quarter by Ottawa defender Wayne Smith. The Eskimos offence fizzled after this, and Cassata and the Riders rallied for their third title in five years.

Perhaps not the conditions from which great tales are made. The game doesn't have that "signature play" to make it stand out years later like "The Catch" in 1976, either. It didn't several lead changes, huge offensive output, etc. Rather, it was marked by aggressive (often too much so) defensive play.

Also of note, Ottawa had started the season 0-4. They rallied to win 9 of the following ten and take the Eastern Conference with a 9-5 record. Edmonton was 9-5-2 and would begin a run of playing in the Grey Cup on a near-regular basis but at that time, perhaps neither team had that dominant mystique.

Here's a portion of the newspaper recap following the game.

Members of the 1973 team gathered for its 40th anniversary in 2013 (obviously) but since this was prior to the Redblacks taking the field, I suspect that the articles about it flew under the radar somewhat. Gord Holder of the Citizen met with several of the participants. The quotes below are from his ensuing article.

Mark Kosmos: “The quarterback ran (an unblocked bootleg play) to the left, and I was blitzing from the right, and he had his back to me,” Kosmos says. “So, now, I’m thinking, ‘Oh! You’ve got to get him.’ 

“In my head, I’ve got God on our side. I’m saying, ‘Please, God. Don’t let him throw the ball.’ He stopped to throw the ball, I hit him, he fumbled, we recovered. 

“There are special things that happen in a football game where you get an opportunity to say, ‘Hey! You know what? I’m doing something for all the team, not just for me. … It just fills you up with a little of, ‘Let’s get it again, let’s do it again.’ ” 

“It was that kind of enjoyment as a team, where you’re joking on the field, joking with your players, joking with the officials. If I could go back (and play one game), that would be it.”

Let's conclude on that note. I want to credit statscrew.com for the roster below as it includes players who only participated briefly during the season. They may not all have played in the Grey Cup game itself, but they still made a contribution to what became a championship season.

## Player  Pos. Ht Wt College GP
33 Dick Adams DB 6'0" 195 Miami (Ohio) 14
61 Charlie Brandon G 6'4" 240 Shaw 14
54 Jerry Campbell LB 5'11" 210 Idaho         14
24 Art Cantrelle RB 6'0" 210 LSU            7
 6 Rick Cassata QB 6'1" 200 Syracuse      14
66 Doug Collins T 6'4" 240 Cincinnati 14
   Billy Cooper HB            Winnipeg Rods  6
30 Danny Dever LB 6'0" 180 Wake Forest   14
   Frank Dimaggio QB 6'1" 210 Temple         1
28 Jim Evenson FB 6'3" 230 Oregon      14
   Lee Fobbs RB 6'3" 200 Grambling      1
 5 Jim Foley FB 5'11" 185 PEI      14
11 Wayne Giardino LB 5'11" 195 Florida State 14
   Arthur Green RB 5'11" 198 Albany St (GA) 7
 4 Jerry Keeling QB 6'1" 175 Tulsa    13
   Mark Kosmos LB 6'0" 235 Oklahoma       6  
 3 John Kruspe DB            Waterloo Lut. 14
60 Tom Laputka DE 6'3" 255 S.  Illinois 14
   Mike Law DB 5'11" 180 Waterloo 11
31 Al Marcelin DB 6'1" 190 Parsons 14
   Herb Marshall DB 6'3" 204 Cameron        3
   Willie McKelton DB 5'11" 185 Southern      1
42 Bob McKeown C 6'2" 225 Yale         14
74 Rhome Nixon WR 6'5" 215 Southern 10
27 Hugh Oldham WR            Oregon      14
71 Gerry Organ K/WR 6'2" 200 Guelph      14
51 Roger Perdrix G 6'1" 225 Cincinnati 13
73 Jim Piaskoski DE 6'3" 240 E. Michigan 14
77 Tom Pullen E 6'4" 205 Michigan 14
62 Moe Racine T 6'4" 235 Cornwall 14
   Frank Reid T 6'2" 240 Buffalo       6
   Bob Rickenbach G 6'4" 255 Penn State    1
56 Tom Schuette G 6'1" 230 Indiana 14
   Tom Schultz LB 6'3" 222 Ottawa  11
65 Rudy Sims DT 6'1" 250 Florida A&M 14
64 Donn Smith C/T 6'4" 235 Purdue      14
75 Wayne Smith DE 6'4" 230 Halifax Bucs 7
 7 Wayne Tosh DB 5'11" 180 Richmond 14
12 Terry Wellesley SB 6'0" 205 Colorado 13
26 Rod Woodward DB 6'1" 200 Idaho        14
 8 Chuck Zapiec LB 6'1" 216 Penn State     7

CFLOAA Player Profile: John Fripp

While looking up something largely unrelated, I came across a pdf version of an Ottawa CFL alumni newsletter from November 2017. Much of the document was advertising but it did include a bio on a local player who performed for both the Rough Riders and the Trojans in the 40s. I've carved up that page and share it with you now,.

Mr. Fripp is a good example of the type of player I want to include on the Rough Rider Player Database (see the pages listed under the banner). The list from which much of the info is copied only dated back to 1949 and I want to add players from prior to that time. Mr. Fripp fits that description and has therefore been added.