Hearing new REDBLACKS GM Shawn Burke make mention of former Rough Riders GM Dan Rambo, along with copying the summary of the highest-scoring game in Riders history a few days ago, brought back fond memories of the contest below. It remains one of the best games I've ever seen, in person or on television.
Rambo had been named general manager at the end of 1991. It resulted in controversy immediately.
The head coach at the time, Joe Faragalli, was convinced that he would be retained for the 1992 season. Faragalli had been hired following an 0-4 start to the 1991 season and turned the team's fortunes around somewhat, winning seven of its remaining 14 games to reach a 7-11 record.
Rambo, instead, publicly stated that he would seek to interview candidates for the position, drawing Faragalli's ire. He would later hire Ron Smeltzer to replace Faragalli.
Rambo also made it clear that salaries would need to be cut. Several popular veterans were released or asked to take reductions in pay.
It was all quite chaotic, but arguably less so than when the Riders finally took the field against the defending Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts.
At the time, teams played two five-minute mini-halves to settle a tie game. It was a great system, in my opinion, that didn't put so much emphasis on winning a coin toss as the current one does.
This team would go on to post a 9-9 record. For a while there, it looked like after many years of ineptitude, the Rough Riders might become a solid franchise again, but it was not to be.
The Gliebermans fired Dan Rambo at the end of May of 1993, a few days before the start of training camp, and the club reverted to their laughingstock status in short order. They could only manage a 4-14 record in 1993 and Lonie Glieberman has since admitted that firing Rambo on little more than rumours was the biggest mistake he made while in charge of the Rough Riders.
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