1943, Nov 6th: "Early Lead Wins For Celts"

St. Patrick's College won the Senior Interscholastic championship in 1943 behind the guidance of former Ottawa Rough Rider Bunny Wadsworth. The article below, from the Ottawa Citizen, summarized the victory against Ottawa Tech that put the team in the finals against Glebe.   

Sept. 8th, 1937: Welcoming (back) Stan O'Neil

The image below is from an unusual source for this site: The North Bay Nugget!

O'Neil was among the first American players to suit up for the Ottawa Rough Riders. He did not participate during the 1936 season, however, because he did not meet the requirements to do so. The article below, also from the Nugget, explains. 

Following that ruling, O'Neil returned to the States. He spent the summer in Ottawa in 1937 in order to meet the criteria to play for the Rough Riders in the fall. He remained with the team through to the 1941 season inclusively, winning the Grey Cup in 1940.

There is an error in the article above, aside from the one-word spelling of Rough Riders. The other player ruled ineligible in 1936 was Tony Rosso, not Tommy. While O'Neil chose to head home, Rosso stuck around town and coached St. Patrick's to their first Eastern Ontario senior high school championship.

I don't believe that Rosso returned to the Rough Riders or to St. Pat's for that matter. The Ottawa Journal reported, in May of 1937, that Rosso had continued coaching but at Washington and Jefferson College in the U.S.

But in 1936, neither man could play for the Rough Riders because, in effect, they didn't spend enough time pretending to live in Canada.

The 1961 Senior High School Semis

Nov 11th, 2005: Merivale 22, Colonel By 02

The high school page was originally built to include only the senior level. Generally speaking, the site tracks football from ages 17 onwards so junior high school football doesn't get much attention.

For a few years in the mid-2000s, the senior level operated in two tiers. I believe the major difference was that tier one could compete provincially, and tier two did not. Tier one, then, was perceived as being the superior of the two and got all the attention here.

Whether that perception is accurate or not, tier two was still senior football and now that the high school page is filling up quite nicely, it's time to start adding the second tier, starting with Merivale's championship in 2005. Standings and playoff results leading up to that game have been added, as well as a brief summary of St. Peter's semifinal win in Tier 1.

I'm not sure exactly why the article goes off a cliff like that at the end but that's not my doing. 

Oct 12th, 1927: Glebe 05, Lisgar 02

1927 is largely considered the year in which high school football started in Ottawa.

That claim is not entirely factual; games from 1925 and 1926 have been recorded here so teams did play prior to 1927. However, I believe that the local schools began being affiliated with the EOSSA that year and therefore fully organized for the first time, hence it began the recognize starting point.

The majority of championship results/recaps have been recorded on the High School page with some additional work done recently to track down standings and playoff game finals from the mid-2000s. But tonight, I thought I'd go back and track down the first "official" senior high school game played in Ottawa. 

Not surprisingly, it turned out to be a little unclear.

The brief Ottawa Citizen article below states clearly that Glebe and Lisgar met in the "opening game of the school season", yet the Ottawa Journal's summary of the game made reference to the teams looking crisper than they had in an earlier contest. I was unable to locate any reference to a game being played in the prior two weeks or so, so I don't know for certain what the Journal's writer meant by that. So the article below will do for now until I prove myself wrong.

1934 Senior High School Playoffs: Glebe 8, St. Patrick's 00

I intend to add many more game summaries to this blog and where senior high school football is concerned, this particular match-up is the best place to start.

This game has the distinction of being the first playoff meeting in the history of the sport at that level. Prior to that, meaning from 1927 to 1933, the team at the top of the standings by season's end was deemed the circuit's champion.

In 1934, Glebe and St. Patrick's had identical records and split their two meetings during the season.  

The system didn't catch on immediately. I'll need to do some double-checking but I believe teams first played semi-finals in 1937 on their way to naming a champion and the method held up from that point on.

We'll figure it out for sure later but for now we know that Glebe and St. Pat's staged the first ever playoff game in Ottawa senior high school history. 

1958 United Funds Tournament: Glebe 19, Sarnia Central Collegiate 13

I haven't given this contest any attention since early March, then discovering that an Ottawa team (Fisher Park) was finally awarded the trophy in the city's ninth year of participation in the tournament. If my memory is sound, Ottawa teams had won all but one of its games against various other Ontario schools since 1949. Yet someone else was always named the "Golden Rule" champion, recognizing character and sportsmanship, until Fisher was recognized in 1957. 

So could the Ottawa area defend its title in 1958? Well...No.

No knock on the local team, it just wasn't a possibility. For some reason, the newly-named United Funds Football Tournament officials chose to not name a winner starting from this point. Presumably every team that won its game felt they had an argument for taking home the trophy so perhaps the organizers were tired of justifying their decisions every year, or they were uncomfortable with making the call in the first place.

Whatever the case may be, if you're ever bitched about handing out trophies to kids for just showing up, it may come as some consolation to know that it was happening in 1958 as well. Hell, even the losing teams got one in this tourney.

Certain selection rules were put in place as well. In past years, the choice of representative from Ottawa schools had come under a little fire which went counter to the purpose behind the entire tournament. Presumably the Ottawa area wasn't unique in that regard. There was also an attempt to avoid having the same powerhouse school(s) go every year by setting limits on consecutive participation.



Perhaps eager to prove the worthiness or their selection, Glebe skunked Lisgar to the tune of 32-07 on the Wednesday night before setting off to Toronto to play a team from Sarnia. And once there, they were featured in the opening contest. 



And here's the trophy presentation from the October 22nd Citizen. Presumably it's the same one that Sarnia received despite their loss. 



I don't know how many more years this tournament was held but I suspect we'll come to find that this particular one was the turning point that led to its demise. Media coverage lamented the lack of a champion, even if said champion was chosen rather than based on a head-to-head contest. The format changed to an East vs West total points type and fewer teams participated as I believe they normally had eight rather than six.

Attendance was quite good though so perhaps I'm wrong. We'll check back again periodically and see it to its end!

Dec. 14th, 1944: Joe Asquini is Awarded the Gerry Boucher Trophy

Many years ago, I was contacted through the previous version of this website by a relative of Joe Asquini. The lady in question was looking for more information about Joe's playing days. I tried to help and was ultimately given a gift that exceeded my contributions to the cause.

Since acquiring much better access to old newspapers articles, I've occasionally attempted to get in touch with this lady again to find out if she'd achieved her goal or if there was anything more she was looking for. So far, no luck. 

I was reminded of all this again last night when an article about Mr. Asquini caught my eye. It's taken some time to find it simply because it is from mid-December of 1944. By then most of the football-related activity is over so searches don't extend that late into the year.  

Mr. Asquini was honoured as a high school player at Ottawa Tech prior to joining the Ottawa Rough Riders. The articles about that award are copied below and if his relative is still looking for material, hopefully she stumbles across this post one day and this is something new to add to the collection. 

1982: Laurentian 19, Ridgemont 07

The 1982 Carleton Board championship was posted earlier today, here's the Ottawa Board championship in which Laurentian earned the right to meet J.S. Woodsworth for the city crown.

1982: J.S. Woodsworth 37, Confederation 12

The high school football page continues to grow as the eventual champions' regular season scores are added when found, as are all playoff results. 1982 is getting the attention this evening.

Many game summaries are quite brief, little more than a sentence or two, but the Carleton board championship warranted a bit more attention and detail. Here it is below. 

The 1964 Laurentian High School Senior Team

Over the past few days, I've worked on adding far more detail to the high school page. Most seasons included little more than the championship game's score and a brief summary, but I'm now working from 1927 up to the present to add regular season results for the eventual champion, as well as playoff scores for the league. 

1964 got the bulk of the attention this morning. Photography in the local newspapers began to improve around this time so the images displayed with the articles tend to be easier to copy. We have a couple of examples below involving the eventual champion Laurentian. 

Joe Upton is back coaching the Laurentian senior football team. Upton, a former Rough Rider star lineman, took ill a few years back and had to take things easy. But he feels fine now and is anxiously awaiting the start of the senior league schedule. In the picture with Upton are, back row, left to right, Jim Foley and Doug Smith. Kneeling in front is Mark Ciavaglia. 

The above is from the September 22nd Ottawa Journal. The picture below is from two days later, but appeared in the Ottawa Citizen.

Upton was a former Rough Rider but Foley was a future one. The team drafted him in the first round, ninth overall, in 1969. He played for Montreal for a couple of years but finally joined the Rough Riders in 1973 and played through to the 1977 season inclusively, winning two Grey Cups along the way. He is a member of the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.

In the image below, sporting a different number, Foley is getting some instruction from Upton during the Western semi-final game in November against Rideau.

The mention of Upton's illness in the first picture casts a bit of a shadow on that otherwise happy occasion. Upton had suffered a heart attack during a game in 1961 and while the caption states that he was feeling great, he would succumb to a heart seizure at only 42 years of age in 1967. His obituary appeared in the March 2nd Citizen that year.

One of several articles about his passing included the November 1964 image above as an illustration of Upton "in happier times". No doubt that's true, as they won the championship that year. They would win it under Upton's guidance as well in 1965 and, as if to honour his impact on the program, in 1967 following his passing.

Nov 4th, 1938: Quilty Comes Off The Bench

I think I  saw something similar in an episode of Coach.

Now that most of the senior football championship summaries are collected, it's time to move on to semi and quarter finals.

The first sudden death playoff game at the senior high school level came in 1934 when Glebe and St. Patrick's were tied at the top of the standings at the end of regular play. Rather than leave it to some tie-breaker, the two teams met for the third time a few days later after having split their regular season meetings at a win apiece. Perhaps in (eventual) response to that situation, a shorter regular season with a semi-final playoff format was added in 1937.

The 1938 playoffs include an interesting anecdote in which St. Patrick's Johnny Quilty went from spectator to key contributor. 

Down 5-0, Quilty's efforts set up the tying score and an interception late in the game sealed the victory.

In light of how often he is mentioned in the strip above, I wish Hazel's first name had been provided.  

In any event, while the playoff system was still in its infancy and the forward pass was still somewhat viewed as a novelty, it seems that roster rules had yet to be fully worked out as well.

The 1957 United Funds Football Tournament: Fisher Park 22, Toronto Bathurst Heights 15

Well, son of a bitch, Ottawa actually brought in one of these at some point and has Fisher Park to thank for it.

Having taken some time to give a longer look at the first Panda Game in 1955 earlier today, I thought I'd move ahead with this tournament. Since the next one to cover was 1957's and I was in the neighborhood, so to speak, I took a few minutes to glance at its results. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

Ottawa schools have a history of success at this football exhibition; they usually defeat the opponent presented to them in fairly convincing manner.

However, the trophy was normally handed off to another team that also won its game that weekend so seeing it handed over to an Ottawa rep was a bit of a shock. I suspect the dramatic fashion in which the game was won played a significant factor. Good for Fisher. 

May 19th, 1988: West Defeats East in the OMFL Grads Game

I hit a wall at 1988 while gathering results for the Athletes In Action high school senior game some months ago. Being that I've been collecting scores from right around that time period for a bunch of other teams, I thought I would give it another try.

I don't know how I missed the 1988 and 1989 game articles the first time. The Citizen had full-page ads for them!

In truth, I think it's because the emphasis on Athletes In Action is not present by then. Whatever the cause, the recaps for those two contests are now included on the "AIA Game" page above. The Citizen was a very supportive partner of this endeavour for a few years. 

In tracking those down, I found something completely unexpected; a Midget All-Star game in 1988 featuring players from the four Ottawa teams competing at that level at the time.

The following year, the teams went with Red / White identification rather than a regional one.

Coverage of the Midget level gets very spotty as we enter the 1990s but I'll make a point to continue looking for summaries of these all-star games played in the spring.

1933: Tommy Daley Explodes Onto The Eastern Senior Interscholastic Football Scene

Tommy Daley's career with the local pro teams (Rough Riders and Trojans) spanned most of the ten years between 1936 and 1945 and four Grey Cup appearances including the 1940 title.

Daley's potential to excel at the highest level of the sport was in full display during his first senior high school season in 1933. Glebe's rather dominant points-for/points-against ratio is mentioned in the article below, written after Glebe had secured the senior city championship but prior to the Eastern Ontario playoffs.

Daley's dominance that season is also noted. Get a load of that ridiculous scoring summary.

Glebe's 1933 scores have been added to the high school page. The Blue and Gold would go on to win the city and EOSSA titles for that season and continue to do so over the next two.

With Daley no longer on the team in 1936, Glebe turned the title over to St. Patrick's. No doubt there were other factors at play, but Daley's departure had to have played a large part.

The 1956 Red Feather Tournament: Ottawa Tech 29, Riverdale 10

We're moving ahead a little bit with the Red Feather tournament tonight, though there's little to say about it. It concluded in its most common manner. The Ottawa team won the game in convincing fashion but the "championship" was awarded to another team.

It bears noting that the series of exhibition games was apparently known as the United Fund(s) Football Tournament that year. "Red Feather Tournament" did reveal some results in searches but United Fund (or Funds, plural) was far more common. The purpose of the event appeared to be unchanged, however.

The 1955 Red Feather Tournament: St. Patrick's 27, East York 01

In 1954, some complained when St. Patrick's did not get an opportunity to play Nepean for the right to represent the region in Toronto in the annual Red Feather Tournament.

In 1955, things fell into place a little more nicely. St. Patrick's opened the season with a couple of wins  and it just so happened that they were going to play another undefeated team a few days prior to the tournament representative being chosen. That team was Fisher Park, and though St. Pat's only won by a score of 01-00, it was enough to perceive them as worthy of being our flag-bearers, so to speak, and to make the trip to Toronto. 

St. Patrick's actually had one more game at home to settle prior to making the trip and it turned out to be against the previous year's "controversial" Red Feather Tournament participant, Nepean.  Referred to as a "tune up" match, St. Patrick's won that game as well, with a more convincing score of 13-00.

Their selection thus further justified, the following St. Pat's team headed for Toronto.

The trip alone was something of an adventure. 

Undaunted by a near-tragedy, the kids dominated their opposition...

...And yet were not recognized as tournament champions. Bloor is mentioned in the article above because they were given that honour, partially based on a 28-00 victory against a school from Timmins.

And so again an Ottawa rep excels at the tourney but the prize is awarded to another club. St. Patrick's didn't appear to be too broken up about it, however; they went on to successfully defend their 1954 senior championship and in doing so, extend their undefeated streak to 17 games.