Just Added: 1988 Bootleggers Game Summaries

Four newspaper articles have been added to the Bootleggers page, including the one below, all recapping games from the 1988 season. There have been one or two very brief ones (as they tended to be at the time, frustratingly) added for the 1992 season as well.

Coincidentally, they are all against one of two teams; either the Binghamton Jets or the Watertown Red & Black. Not surprisingly, I think all but one mentions a significant contribution by receiver Jamie Straw. 😉

Just Added: 1988 Ottawa Bootleggers Playoff Game Summaries

This was the result of finding out that the Northern Football Conference had cancelled their 2021 season already. From memory, I thought they started later in the year so I hadn't really taken the time to check until yesterday but sure enough, they made the announcement in late March, on Facebook.

Too bad, but understandable at this point. Hopefully they manage to return next year.

In the meantime, I copied the semi-pro Sooners results from 2018 but with that level of football on the brain, I tracked down the two Bootleggers playoff victories from 1988, their inaugural season.  

Strangely, the first game received better coverage than the second. Never mind that their contest  against Syracuse could put them in the league's championship game in their first season, it was a much more closely fought battle than the previous one and a come-from-behind victory with a last-second finish. 

The Bootleggers lost to Scranton the following weekend.

Since we were talking about the NFC's season cancellation earlier, the league has yet to make anything public as far as I can see, but the Jr. Riders have stated that the Quebec Major Junior Football League have also pulled the plug on the 2021 season. 

That one worries me. It had only five clubs, three of which were well established (Ottawa, Chateauguay, South Shore) and two that had only entered the league in 2019.

I can't help but question the league's viability at this point. They've played with four clubs several times before, and as recently as 2018, so I wonder if perhaps they had already determined that they weren't going to be able to reach that number for 2021.

The season normally only starts in mid-August.  Its cancellation more four months before its usual scheduled start, with no apparent attempt to delay or shorten it, is a little worrisome to me. I've seen it the timing questioned on social media without response.

I very much hope to see them back in 2022 or failing that, that the Jr Riders are able to join the Ontario Football Conference and resume their in-town rivalry with the Sooners.

1989: The Ottawa Bootleggers Playoff Run

Those of us who attended the 1989 North American Minor League Football Alliance championship game take a certain amount of pride in the fact that we did not perish that day but tend to forget what it took for the Ottawa Bootleggers to host that game in first place.

So with that in mind, we present to you summaries of the two playoff games the 'leggers had to win to earn the right to play for that crown in -15C temperatures during a snow storm. Please note that the weather wasn't a hell of a lot better for those two games either, as each article will point out.

The stated date reflects when the summary appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, not "game day".

Nov 20th: 

Nov 25th:

1989, Oct 14th: "Bootleggers Stuff Rams"

This will seem rather random...

I was collecting game results for the Carleton Ravens. I've finally got a complete list for the 1990s and was working back to the late 80s when I spotted this Bootleggers game recap, so I thought I would share it.

For those who did not get to enjoy the all-too-brief zaniness that was the Bootleggers, this type of result was not uncommon.

Bootlegger Bookends

A few days ago, I posted (on my football-related Twitter account) the first article I was able to find about the Ottawa Bootleggers. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to post it here too, but here it is for those of you who are wise enough to not have Twitter accounts. Blow it up with a click.

It is from the April 26th, 1988, Ottawa Citizen. It's certainly possible that another local paper had a story about them prior to that one but I have not come across any.

In attempting to flesh out the Bootleggers page some more last night, I realized that I had the information about their final two seasons all wrong. It was so wrong that I wonder now where I got it in the first place.

The Bootleggers had a rather terrible 1-9 record in 1991 under new ownership and new head coach Larry Cates. But they were a much better team in 1992, posting a 7-3 regular season record and, I believe, winning two playoff games (I may need to edit this part of the post later).

For a good part of the season, the 1992 Bootleggers were quarterbacked by Chris Flynn who is now in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and had been an Ottawa Rough Riders draft pick the previous year. It amazes me, looking back, that the team was not able to recapture the proverbial "lightning in a bottle" that it had from  from 1988 to 1990.

Regardless, this post began with what I believe to be the first major article about the Bootleggers so now we'll look at the back end. What follows is a brief recap of their last playoff win...

...and final game. Rather modest coverage for a team that was quite competitive.

There was a bit more coverage after that...

Since the Bootleggers are today's subject, I will take the opportunity to draw a little attention to a comment left by Warner Miles, who I suppose would be one of few people to have been on the team for at least part of all five seasons, on an earlier post.

To all my Bootlegger friends, if you haven’t read my book and are looking for a little diversion in these trying times, I’ve put a PDF version on my Google drive. You can download it (here).

Sure, now that I've paid for it. ;-)

It came as a surprise to me that some of the photography in the book comes off better in the pdf format. Go figure. Even if you're not crazy about reading an electronic version of a book, run your way through it just to check those out.

1992: Ottawa Bootleggers 17, Moscow Giants 07

In my post from November 3rd I mentioned a book, penned by Warner Miles, about the Ottawa Bootleggers senior team that played in Ottawa from 1988 to 1992.

I purchased it right around the same time, received it a few days later, and saved it for a five-night business trip which took place last week. I started it on the plane upon my departure and completed it during my last night at the hotel.

I don't know that I am qualified to offer a review but one thing that struck me is the conversational tone of it. It's an easy read, and I don't mean that as criticism. I don't know Mr. Miles but reading his book felt like I had just met him and was sitting across the table from him at a pub as he told me about the whole experience of being a Bootlegger. 

The book is nearly 200 pages long but I'm going to quote from the final paragraph.

...Memories are fading and there's no team website, no alumni association, nor a hall of fame to document the team's history.

He's right and that's wrong (but at least now there's a book...).

I had the Bootleggers on the semi-pro page but that makes them too easy to overlook on this site. Therefore I'm in the process of building a page specific to them. They still won't have a website, but they'll have that. The Sooners semi-pro team info will be moved to the Sooners own page, as will the varsity team info. The semi-pro page will cease to exist.

Administrative stuff out of the way, the Bootleggers' history is rather colourful for a team so short-lived and while he didn't dwell on it, Miles reminded me of an interesting game the team held during their final season. They hosted a team from Russia in an exhibition game.

Here's an abbreviated version of that game's recap from the Ottawa Citizen. It is from June 28th, 1992, and written by Bob Ferguson.

 

No shame in getting stung by that dreaded Isaev to Salychev connection...

That isn't quite the end of the story. The following day, the Citizen reported that more than a baker's dozen of the Russians defected.

That's a hell of a twist and might make a good book of its own. I'd be curious to know whatever happened to that bunch.

Much more to come about the Bootleggers.

1989 MFLA Championship Game: Racine Raiders 15, Ottawa Bootleggers 13

I can't attend a game in harsh conditions, such as Friday's chilly RedBlacks home closer, without being reminded of the Minor League Football Alliance championship game between the Ottawa Bootleggers and Racine Raiders from Wisconsin in 1989.

As the article mentions below, the game took place in -15c temperature. Snow blew sideways throughout the game. Having to sit through it, I can attest that the 30-minute delay described at the end felt significantly longer. The whole "It'll be fun, we can take it" mentality seemed like a good idea sitting around at home two hours before the game but after my arrival at Lansdowne, it didn't take long to realize that I'd made a terrible error in judgement. ;-)

The Bootleggers were an often-dominant semi-pro team in Ottawa from 1988 to 1992. They spent most of the existence in the Empire Football League but played an independent schedule in 1989. You can read more about them on the "semi-pro" page above.

For that matter, one of the team members at the time, Warner Miles, wrote a book about the team. It was published earlier this year and can be purchased print-on-demand through lulu.com.

Miles also has a youtube channel with several videos of Bootlegger highlights and media appearances. Highlights of the 1989 championship game in particular are included in this one.

"New Coach and High Hopes-For Ottawa Sooners Men's Semi-Pro Football Team"

The following article by Tim Baines appeared on Friday, May 24th, the day before the Sooners' first home game of the 2019 season. Unfortunately, they lost it 21-0.

What a difference a year makes. 

In 2018, Brandon Weekes was the Northern Football Conference’s fourth-leading receiver – with 18 catches for 322 yards. Now he’s the Ottawa Sooners head coach, expecting big things from his team during the 2019 season... 

From player to head coach of a football team in Ontario’s semi-pro football league, it has certainly been an adjustment for the 32-year-old. 

“Hanging up the cleats, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve done,” said Weekes, who took over as coach when Ken Evraire stepped away in the off-season. “The biggest thing is letting go of the sense of urgency to want to play.” 

The team, which had been called the Invaders, became part of the Sooners family and was renamed last year. The Sooners’ season ended in the NFC semi-finals with a 29-0 loss to the GTA All-Stars, the eventual league champs. Weekes is confident this season’s team, with an infusion of younger players – some from the Jr. Riders – can accomplish big things. 

“I’m building with a core base of 24-26-year-olds,” he said. “They’re in their prime football shape. We can wear people down. I think we’ll go further than we did last year, we’re a championship-calibre team. A championship is always the goal, but I want to get them to the level where it’s always high competition. You don’t want to go in and roll over just because it’s GTA. We have to go in and win week by week.” 

Among the key players on the defensive side of the ball will be safety Jordon Gorgichuk and middle linebacker Cameron Veck (who will miss Week 1 with an ankle injury and will be replaced by veteran Nick Lortie). 

Offensively, the team – which will lean on a pass-first philosophy – has quarterback Alex Gauthier and running back Dylan Hines, “the leader on our offence.” 

There’s also wideout Bobby Massie and slot receiver Mike Mortley who Weekes said of: “The dude’s a specimen. He’s a basketball player, now he’s a full-blown football player. He’s like 6-foot-6, 240 lbs. and he looks like a freak of nature.” 

There’s also a solid mix of vets including offensive lineman Amir Farhat, a longtime member of the squad. 

“We still have guys who are in their 40s,” said Weeks. “We need the older guys, especially in the locker room. We need that calm poise from our vets who understand that while we’re opening against a very strong team – they’re beatable.”

The Patriots were an 7-1 team in 2018 so it was a tough gig to start on. Still according to Tim Baines, the game might have been more competitive if not for a few mistakes.

The Sooners had two huge plays taken away on penalties. A punt return touchdown by Daniel McGrowder was called back for clipping and a missed field goal was returned 107 yards to the four-yard line by Austin Mackay, but the Sooners were penalized for tripping.

The Sooners next host the Tri-City Outlaws at Carleton on Saturday, June 1st.  The Outlaws wer3 4-4 last season and began their season with a 28-7 loss to the defending champion GTA All-Stars.

NOTE: The image above was posted on Keenan Photography's Facebook account. The full gallery can be found here.

NFC Quarter Finals: Ottawa Sooners 21 at Sudbury Spartans 14

This game was actually played on July 28th but having been away much of that time, I am only finding out about it now.

The recap below is an abbreviated article from the Sudbury Star and was written by one Ben Leeson. I believe he took the accompanying picture as well. I am copying it from the league's website but am unable to find a direct link to it.

Hunter Holub could have found reasons to hang his head Saturday night. 

His Sudbury Spartans had just dropped a heartbreaker 21-14 decision to the Ottawa Sooners in their Northern Football Conference quarter-final, in a game the Nickel City squad may have won, if not for a dropped TD, a pair of missed field goals and a late fumble. 

...

Hosting a playoff game for the first time since 2015, the Spartans had a slow start against the Sooners, who were missing a couple of strong starters, but remained a quality club on both sides of the ball. 

They showed that when quarterback Danny Mullins led a long first-quarter drive and finished with a short keeper for a TD. The ensuing convert made it 7-0. 

Ottawa’s offence sputtered deep in its own end near the midway mark of the second frame, however, allowing Sudbury to take over at the visitors’ 34-yard line. A 14-yard catch and run by Josh Cuomo put the locals inside the 20, where they came within a hair of scoring a major of their own when Holub found James Howatt open in the end zone, but Howatt couldn’t quite hold onto the pass. 

Spartans kicker Massimo Cimino then attempted a field goal, but booted it just wide.
Sudbury’s defence stymied Ottawa on another drive down the field, sacking Mullins to end the half. 

Holub had just missed Poirier with a long pass when the first-year quarterback aired it out for No. 20 again, this time connecting for a 87-yard score and bringing the crowd to its feet. Cimino’s PAT tied the score, 7-7, with 7:50 left in the third quarter. 

The Spartans missed on another field goal attempt later in the third. 

Ottawa restored its lead (with) Daniel McGrowder’s eight-yard reception in the fourth quarter, then scored again on an option pitch to Mike Leno. 

The Spartans embarked on a strong drive late in the contest that culminated in Holub’s wild scramble for a 21-yard TD, narrowing the score to 21-14, but could come no closer.

The Sooners will travel to Toronto on August 11th to challenge the powerful GTA All-Stars in the league semi-final. Tough gig; The All-Stars beat the Sooners at home earlier this year 39-16.

Ken Evraire Named Ottawa Sooners (Semi-Pro) Head Coach

How about that? Evraire did it for the Invaders as a start up organization, now he'll do it for one that's been established for decades.

I'd be curious to know what's being said around the Northern Football Conference.

It's good to see Evraire this invested in the local football scene still. When people discuss the poor management of the Ottawa Rough Riders, you invariably hear about drafting a dead dude and Dexter Manley. But Evraire's handling, as a rising star player, was deplorable and discouraging from a fan's perspective.  Here is his own recollection of the event.

My arrival was simply a settling of accounts with the Ottawa Rough Riders and head coach Steve Goldman. The Riders (had) gone out and spent a lot of money on free agents (Glenn Kulka, David Williams, John Mandarich, Tony Cherry) and the (league) GMs were not tickled to say the least. I had suffered a slight tear in my quad and as luck would have it the Riders tried to hide me by putting me on waivers. No team would want damaged goods or at least that is what the Riders brass thought. With a blink of an eye and a call to the league office, I was claimed by Hamilton.

More of that here.

So yeah. At the time (I don't believe these rules exist anymore) you could recall a player from waivers once...but not twice. The Rough Riders "brain trust" back then, incompetent asses that they were, recalled Evraire once but were unable to do so the second time they put him on waivers so while they thought they were being clever and evaluating interest in him, they accidentally gave him away for nothing.

In his second season with Hamilton (1992), Evraire would snatch 61 passes for 1081 yards and three touchdowns and take the trophy for most outstanding Canadian in the East.

Oops?

Some Rough Rider bungles have become legendary. Those that haven't aren't any less heinous. While defending this fan base prior to the RedBlacks finally becoming a reality, I used to point to the fact that the organization punched itself in the sack for 15 years and averaged 5 wins a season during that period yet still had a hardcore following. That's not a negative, that's an incredible positive that manifested itself when a competent organization was finally delivered to the city.

Ottawa Invaders To Play Under Sooners Brand in 2018

This is an interesting development.

To be entirely honest, I came across this news completely by coincidence. I was actually looking to find out if the Invaders were playing at all this year fully prepared for the news that they would not.

The Ottawa Invaders first took to the field in the summer of 2010 with the goal of providing a place to play for players who had exhausted all amateur options due to age. With former Ottawa Rough Rider Ken Evraire at the helm, they achieved a 3-4-1 record in their inaugural season, then reached the Northern Football Conference championship game in their second and third seasons.

I can't speak to more recent seasons because I was not involved in any way. During the early years however, I managed the team's website and can confidently state that there was no lack of effort from founders James McAllister, Richard Smith II and Erik Faucon. They genuinely wished to emphasize the "pro" aspect of semi-pro football from both an on-field product standpoint and that of the fan experience.

Evraire's high profile, as both a former pro player and a media personality, was difficult to replace following his departure in 2012 and it seemed like the team was far less visible over the past couple of seasons. They remained quite solid on the field though, posting 6-2 and 4-4 records in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Nonetheless, I feared their reduced exposure might hinder their ability to recruit and therefore sustain the team financially so I braced for the possibility that The Invaders might go quietly into that good night.

Thankfully, that doesn't appear to be the case, at least not entirely. We'll find out tomorrow whether their name and logo will remain in circulation beyond this weekend. But the good news is that a post-junior and/or CIS playing option remains available in Ottawa under the guidance of a club that has been in operation since 1960. I can't help but view that as win.

Note: Above photo copied from this nugget.ca article.