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