Home Again

By Frank Cosentino

Home Again is the tracking of the Canadian Football League from 1995 – 2014. The year 1995 represents the only time to this date when the Grey Cup was won by a team outside Canada. The Baltimore Stallions folded after that season and were resurrected in Montreal as the Alouettes. It was never easy. Over a 20 year period, the league reeled, staggered and went through tumultuous and some glorious times: The Grey Cup and the Canadian Football League had come home again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312745476

Book preview

Home Again

Home Again

This book, the third in my history of football teams and leagues which have competed for the Grey Cup, is dedicated to my family of 4 children and 12 grand children but especially to my wife of 55 years, Sheila.  An artist in her own right, she is a wonderful and creative person and has been a caring and loving parent and wife from day 1 of our life together.

I owe a debt of gratitude also to Dennis Brash, Kathleen O’Grady and David Parkes for their proofreading and suggestions, all of which helped improve the final outcome.  Thanks are due as well to Kelly Klinck of Bayberry Lane Designs in Barry’s Bay.  A special thank you also to York University’s Faculty of Health Dean, Harvey Skinner, for his support of this project.

Copyright © Frank Cosentino

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission  from the writer, or in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency) 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5

ISBN: 978-1-312-74547-6

Cover and interior design: Bayberry Lane Designs

Cover Photo Credits:

Background photo: Scott Mitchell

Film strip - L to R: Anthony Calvillo, Rogerio Barbosa/Montreal Alouettes; Wally Buono, CP/B.C. Lions; Geroy Simon, CP/B.C. Lions;Mike Pringle, Rogerio Barbosa/Montreal Alouettes; Lui Passaglia, CFHOF

Insert photo: Bo Levi Mitchell, Calgary Stampeders

Back cover photo: Frank and Sheila, Author’s Collection

Introduction

This is my third volume of a series on Canadian football. The first, Canadian Football: The Grey Cup Years was published in 1969. It traced the history of football clubs and leagues which competed for the right to gain the Grey Cup trophy, donated in 1909 by Governor-General Earl Grey.  Back then, it was a challenge trophy. Three trustees decided on a formula and a playoff system among different leagues, to decide the Amateur Rugby-Football Championship of Canada.  Three of the themes covered in the book were: the trends from amateur to professional, changes in style of play and in the rules of the game. By 1969 the trophy was awarded to the winner of the Canadian Football League.

The second volume was entitled A Passing Game. It followed the same general themes but concentrated almost totally on the CFL because it was the only league competing for the Cup. It covered the period 1969-1994.  In some ways it was a tumultuous time. Some clubs folded and returned under a different name. It was a time when American influences permeated throughout the land and when survival of the league became doubtful.  Expansion to the United States became a reality.  Orientation of the league shifted from east to west in Canada to a continental north to south. It wasn’t totally accepted by the fan base but it did attract franchise fees which helped prolong the life of the CFL.

This volume begins in 1995 and continues through the 2014 season. The year 1995 represents a watershed moment. The Baltimore Stallions defeated the Calgary Stampeders in the Grey Cup of ‘95.  They were the first, and to this point, the only American team to possess the Grey Cup. It was also the last year for the South division of the CFL.  All American teams ceased operations; The Stallions, faced with the return of an NFL team to Baltimore, moved to Montreal to be resurrected as the Alouettes.  The CFL was in its return mode. It re-invented itself with a few hiccups along the way. The new millennium did not provide a smooth transition in all ways. 

There was new technology.  Wireless communication between coach and signal callers was fed directly to a player’s helmet; key players were literally armed with wrist bands detailing vital information; film and videos were being replaced by digitization. It was possible for players to take home opponent breakdowns on DVDs or their ipads. Hi-tech masks simulating high altitude training effects were available.  More quarterbacks were operating from the shotgun look.  Tackling techniques were questioned; concussions became a worrisome trend. There were twists and turns as will be shown in this volume but by the year 2014 with the return of Ottawa, the League had nine teams, was talking expansion once again, had an improved television contract, new stadia and larger playing rosters. The League went through four Commissioners, in addition to those times where it functioned with interim directors. 

It was no longer a league with Americans or Canadians nor imports or non-imports. The categories in 2014 were Internationals and Nationals.  They made up a team’s roster of three quarterbacks (either International or National but invariably International), four designated Internationals, 16 additional internationals and 21 Nationals for the 44 man per game playing roster. And, yes, there were still attendance problems in Toronto

Larry Smith,

A Grey Cup for the US, and home again

The universe seemed to be unfolding as it was meant to be, at least in the minds of some.  The 1994 Grey Cup Game between B.C. Lions (26) and Baltimore Stallions (23) was a success, some thought, because of the Canadian versus American (U.S. vs. Us) theme and match-up.  It was the configuration hoped for by the League when it expanded into the United States.  It had come, perhaps, earlier than expected, but it was there and the League moved quickly to solidify it.

On January 11, 1995, the CFL confirmed a new American franchise.  Under the ownership of Art Williams, a prominent former coach and insurance executive, the Birmingham Barracudas came into being.  He promptly signed former NFL coach Jack Pardee, and lured high- profile quarterback and free agent Matt Dunigan from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  The team announced that it would play its home games at Birmingham’s Legion Field Stadium with a capacity of 75,017.  The University of Alabama had played many of its games there while attracting overflow crowds of 83,091. ¹

The announcements continued.  A second new franchise was confirmed for Memphis Tennessee on January 28, 1995.  Again, there was high profile ownership.  Fred Smith, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Federal Express Corporation, had the deep pockets that the League was looking for.  Named President and Head Coach was his partner Pepper Rodgers.  Like Pardee, he had been a successful coach, but at the university level, where he coached the University of Kentucky and Georgia Tech.  He had also coached in the defunct United States Football League (USFL) with the Memphis Showboats in 1984 and ‘85.  The Memphis Mad Dogs also had a large facility.  The team announced it would play its home games at the Liberty Bowl Stadium, capacity of 63,068.  To assist Rodgers with the nuances of the Canadian game, Adam Rita, former Head Coach of the Ottawa Rough Riders, and stints in various cities of the League, was hired.  Like Birmingham, the new club dipped into the CFL free agent market and signed quarterback Damon Allen, Edmonton’s 1994 quarterback.

A third change was announced on February 21, 1995.  The Sacramento Gold Miners, the league’s original American franchise, decided to move to San Antonio and became the Texans.  It was the name of the original San Antonio franchise which had been set to join the CFL with Sacramento but pulled out at the last moment.  Fred Anderson continued as owner as did Kay Stephenson as General Manager and Head coach.  A new addition to the coaching staff was Mark Nelson, former linebacker coach with Edmonton.  His father was Eskimo great and Hall of Famer, Roger Nelson.  The Texans also announced that they would be playing their home games in the Alamodome with its capacity of 59,000.  It too had been the site of a large overflowing crowd. The Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers played a pre-season game there August 21, 1993 and attracted an attendance of 63,285.  There was a hunger for football in all three locales.  It was up to the CFL to sell the population on its unique style of play.

With a fourteen team League, the largest in its history, the CFL decided to move from its made for Canada East-West format to the new reality and a North-South configuration.  The American presence and the enthusiasm generated for the 1994 Grey Cup game indicated that the time was ripe.  There would be two Divisions: the South with its American teams, the North with Canadian clubs.  An unbalanced interlocking schedule was to be drawn up culminating with playoffs in each division, the winners to meet in the 1995 Grey Cup in Regina, November 19.

Momentum for the American presence had been building in CFL quarters.  Baltimore Stallions had performed admirably in the ‘94 Grey Cup game.  Some thought that they would have won but for some questionable officiating.  Their defensive back, Karl Anthony, had been named Player of the Game.  Their O.J. Brigance was selected by his peers as the winner of the Tom Pate Award as the player who demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship and dedication to the League and the community.²  The Stallions’ Head coach Don Mathews was selected as the winner of the Coach of the Year award for 1994 and the Annis Stukus Trophy.  There were other impressive contributions made to the League by this first year franchise whose success the CFL desperately hoped would be a prototype for other expansion teams. It had won other player awards.  Shar Pourdanesh had been selected the Outstanding Offensive Lineman; Matt Goodwin, its outstanding linebacker was the Rookie of the Year.  Mike Pringle, a quality running back, had been awarded the newly created Terry Evanshen Award, which replaced the Jeff Russell Memorial Trophy, as the player in the Eastern Division who demonstrated the highest qualities of courage, fair play and sportsmanship.³  Baltimore, in addition, had attracted the largest average crowd in the CFL, 37,348, and had seven of the top ten attendances in the league.⁴

Indeed, Baltimore had been the success story of the CFL.  There was the general recognition that it was all being done to spite the NFL.  Yet, it was being done and if the NFL continued to be in the citizenry’s bad books, the future looked bright indeed.

Even later, when the Las Vegas Posse decided to cease operations after a fruitless attempt to re-locate in Jackson, Mississippi, the CFL was still upbeat about the new reality.  The South Division would operate with five teams.  A decision had to be made about the Canadian/American ratio or as the League persisted in calling it, the Canadian quota system.  It was to be an ongoing season-long saga.  Twenty roster spots for Canadians were thought to be too many.  They were too expensive and inferior to the many American players available. The total elimination of the distinction was bandied about; ten was thought to be a more likely number.  CFL Commissioner Larry Smith said only that their objective was not to eliminate the quota.  There was an immediate problem.  The Collective Agreement with the players was due to expire in June of 1995. The quota was one of the items to be resolved.  Somehow, the Association had to demonstrate to the many new players, the majority of whom were American, that it was more than a vehicle for preserving Canadian jobs.  All of this had to be done in an increasing climate where ‘American was automatically thought of as better, or important, and the Canadian product inferior or non-important".

Opponents of the League’s proposal argued that of the four American teams in the CFL in ‘94, three had not made the play-offs.  This was in spite of the fact that they had unlimited access to the American market and its seemingly unlimited supply of football players.  Canadian- based teams on the other hand were bound to play a minimum of twenty non-imports on their thirty-seven man roster.  Only Baltimore had been the exception among the American based teams but that was perceived to be more because it had sought out players with CFL experience and its coach Don Mathews was infinitely better versed in the CFL game than most coaches in the League.

There were real fears that the Canadian player would be eliminated over time from playing in his own country. Every American player on a Canadian team was an automatic starter simply by virtue of his being an import.  That meant the remaining nine spots were filled by Canadians or non-imports.  As few as that was, it meant that every team had to use Canadian players in starting positions.  Part of the challenge of coaching in the CFL was linked to how well a coach could deploy his talent.  Canadians developed because coaches were forced to pay the same attention to them that they paid to American starters.  It was quite simple: if excellence is a function of time, players will continue to improve and develop as they are given more of it.  Under the proposal to drop the number of Canadians to ten or fewer, a self-fulfilling prophecy would be realized.  The Canadian would become an inferior player because he had not been allowed the opportunity to make mistakes, learn from them and improve.

There were suggestions as to how the perceived advantage of American teams playing with unlimited imports could be minimized.  One which was floated suggested that the American teams should be assigned a cachement area.  Only players from a limited geographical base, for example, would be eligible to play for a team as the equivalent of non-import.  It would have the added advantage to the club of having a group of local players who would be better known to its fans.  The idea was not generally well received in the States where free- market forces reigned, and where professional meant that a team should attempt to sign and play the best they could.

There was a second level of perceived unfairness about the unlimited number of Americans that the above proposal was addressing.  Football, being a contact sport, was a breeding ground for injuries, seldom of the career-ending variety, more of the sort which meant missing a game or two.  Even though there were 37 on a roster, many more would be part of a team during the season.  Some would be released but also some hurt and placed on injured reserve lists in order to heal and return to the club.  In such cases, it was always more difficult to replace a Canadian starter with a non-import of similar quality; the supply of talent was thinner, Canadian universities were few and their football-playing graduates considerably fewer than the American counterparts.  Conversely, if an American player was injured, conventional wisdom said that there were literally thousands of players available who could step in and do as well, and occasionally better, than the import replaced.  The underlying assumption always was that the American coaches in the CFL would always have enough contacts in the United States to dip into the well of talent.

Amid all the posturing, if anyone was relatively unconcerned about the issue of American teams playing with only import players, it was the Canadian players in the CFL.  They had been playing against American talent game in and out.  Offensive linemen, most of whom were Canadian, were blocking American defensive linemen and linebackers on every down; Canadian receivers were constantly running their pass patterns against import defensive backs; Fullbacks, almost all Canadians, blocked import defensive ends, linemen and linebackers.  This wasn’t anything new for them. They were excited when the coach drew up a play and assigned them a key block on an import and they relished the opportunity to demonstrate their talent.

While the controversy festered, it appeared that the American component of the CFL was increasing in strength.  Baltimore owner Jim Speros, for one, conscious of operating in the midst of NFL country and knowing of the ticket buyers’ recognition that American football was real football, advocated the removal of Canadian from the CFL in order to de-emphasize the non-American aspect of the game.  Other ideas surfaced, all with a similar objective: How could the logo be changed?  Could the Maple Leaf be removed? Could the Grey Cup game be pushed back from its traditional November date to later in December?  The addition of warm-weather American teams meant that it was now a distinct possibility.  Would it be possible to shrink the size of the end zones from twenty yards to something smaller, say ten, as in the present American game?  After all, the new franchises all had established stadia which housed American style end zones.  Some wondered what would be next to go in the movement to re-align Canadian football with the real game?  The twelfth man?  The wider and longer field?  The unlimited motion?  The yard between the opposing teams at the line of scrimmage?  Could a fair catch and eleven man football be far behind?

Compounding all of this was the apparent lack of stability continually surfacing among the Canadian-based teams.  Ottawa fans had expressed disapproval with the Club’s decision to change its logo and colors in an attempt to spruce up its image.  Losses forced owner Bruce Firestone to seek out a buyer who turned out to be an American businessman from Chicago, Horn Chen.  Negotiations were protracted.  Unsecured creditors from the earlier regime settled for 14 cents on the dollar.  A reputed $1.25 million made its way to secured creditors, the League gaining $350,000 of that amount.⁵  Former Tiger-Cat great, Garney Henley was brought in as Director of Football Operations and Jim Gilstrap hired as Head Football Coach.

Hamilton also had its problems.  Declining attendance and a loss of favor with the public had resulted in John Michaluk’s resignation as President and CEO.  Retiring the accumulated debt seemed to be the key to attracting new ownership.  Unsecured creditors, owed $2.2 million were awarded 20 cents on the dollar, half immediately, the other half within six months.  Secured creditors again came off best.  The CFL was owed $1 million and Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Board $750,000.  They were paid in full.⁶ The Club was sold, the deal finalized in April, 1995 to a group of investors headed by David Macdonald.⁷  The new owner was later quoted as saying that after his purchase of the ‘Cats, CFL Commissioner Smith urged the Hamilton ownership to consider moving the club to Quebec:   I was asked to consider but said no.  The Tiger-Cats belonged in Hamilton, not Montreal.⁸

Meanwhile, in Calgary, where the team had drawn well in averaging 25,000 fans during the 1994 season, Larry Ryckman’s Stampeders were negotiating a new lease with McMahon Stadium.  The club wanted a better arrangement: costs were too high.  The Stadium was adamant in its refusal.  The club threatened to move south to San Antonio prior to Sacramento having done so. 

The League stepped in and made its will known in all cases.  Ultimatums were given to the fans in each location: support the team or lose it.  There seemed to be the real possibility now with prospects in the United States apparently clamoring to enter the league.  It appeared to be the incentive needed to resolve the dilemmas.  Targets for season ticket sales and corporate sponsorships were set and later met: 12,000 tickets and $1 million respectively for Hamilton; 15,000 season tickets and $1 million for Ottawa; 16,000 season tickets for Calgary. 

The league moved to settle other areas.  The Grey Cup game for 1995 was to be played in Regina, the first time it had ever been played in Saskatchewan.  Recognition of the uncertainty of the weather caused the date to be moved up to November 19 from its traditional last Saturday in November.  Continuing its practice of selling the rights to the game to its member teams, the CFL accepted the Roughriders’ tempting offer.  Based on a projection of $5.5 million from game and event revenue and expenses of $3.5 million, the remaining $2 million profit would be shared by the CFL and Saskatchewan.  In addition any cost overruns cutting into the two million dollar profit would be shared by the two sides.⁹  Promotion of the game kicked in as early as March 4, 1994.  Phones at Roughriders’ offices were being answered with: Home of the 1995 Grey Cup Game.¹⁰  It was to be a celebration for the whole country, but also it was made clear that it would be a festival for the province which had long been a supporter of Canadian football but had never had the opportunity to show how it could host the national classic.  Officials made it known that only 5,000 seats would be available to those outside the province.¹¹  Saskatchewan citizens reacted as expected.  At one point during the season, club officials put the word out through the media that they would like to have 50,000 + in attendance for the October 14 game with Calgary.  It would give them the experience of handling such a large crowd and identifying any areas still to be worked on.  A huge turnout of 55, 438 showed up from all around the province.  The Roughriders responded with a 25 -20 victory over the Grey Cup-bound Stampeders.

In other Grey Cup venue decisions, Baltimore had campaigned heavily for the 1996 Game. It had been the front runner, but tax questions and revenue sharing¹² details were unclear.  The league was unable to resolve the issues in time for a decision which would have allowed for suitable prep time for the contest.  It decided to award the ‘96 game to Hamilton; Baltimore would host the ‘97 game.¹³  It was a major coup for both cities.  Hamilton had been all but written off by many as a viable franchise.  Baltimore was impressive in its first year, leading the league in average attendance, and responsible for generating much enthusiasm and publicity for the CFL in the United States.

Regardless, there was still that nagging anxiety about what would happen if the NFL ever decided to reclaim its traditional Baltimore territory.  The State of Maryland wasn’t waiting.  It decided to support the CFL franchise with $500,000 in grants and loans to assist the Stallions in their attempt to upgrade landmark Memorial Stadium.¹⁴

The seemingly smooth path of the revitalized CFL was disrupted somewhat with the announcement early in 1995 that the Las Vegas Posse would attempt to relocate elsewhere in the United States.  CFL officials were anxious.  There was a schedule to get out; season ticket sales could not be held off much longer.  There had always been the criticism of the league that the schedule was out too late to get maximum exposure.  Many wanted it out in time for the Christmas season.  Still, the team had to be given the chance to find a new location.  Jackson, Mississippi was suggested.  Discussions proved fruitless.  The Posse, born with so much enthusiasm, was disbanded, its players made available to the rest of the League in a dispersal draft on April 18, 1995.  The South Division was down to five teams.

Attendance figures of games between American and Canadian based teams verified that they were more popular in the latter country.  When first year franchise Memphis Mad Dogs, led by Damon Allen at quarterback, played the Doug Flutie-led Calgary Stampeders on June 29, 1995, there were 25,071 in attendance.  It was a close game, 24-18 for the Stamps.  It served notice that these were not typical expansion teams.  They would be very competitive.  The next day, in Vancouver, The Lions met the Stallions in a rematch of the ’94 Grey Cup Game.  Twenty-four thousand attended, good for a summer evening but far short of the crowd that attended the championship game.  The Lions eked out a 37-34 victory much to the delight of fans who saw it as proof that the Grey Cup game result was not a fluke.  Birmingham made its debut against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on July 4.  Some 22,000 had come out to see the ‘Cudas and former Winnipeg Quarterback Matt Dunigan.  In spite of his being unable to play because of an injury, the new entry easily handled the home team in winning a resounding 38-10 victory, much to the chagrin of the disgruntled crowd.  It was the ‘Peg’s second consecutive loss and they had only played two games!

The San Antonio Texans made its debut against a North team, the Edmonton Eskimos, at home in the Alamodome.  An announced crowd of 12,856 saw the Texans defeat the previously unbeaten Eskimos 32-27.  Shreveport also opened at home against a North opponent, the Calgary Stampeders.  There, 14,000 was announced as the attendance; the Pirates fell by a 48-17 score.

The CFL was a novelty in the south as was summer football. Not only were the rules different and needed some getting used to, the names of the teams were unique as well.  There were Eskimos, two types of ‘Riders, two jungle animals rolled into one as were the Tiger-Cats, Argonauts and Stampeders, Lions and Blue Bombers.  Universities and the NFL had not even started practicing when the League began its operations.  As the season progressed, announced attendance figures ranged from a high in Baltimore of 33,200 on October 21, when the Stallions defeated B.C. 28-26, to a low of 5,289 when Birmingham hosted and defeated Ottawa 40-9 on September 17.

As the season progressed, each loss by a north franchise seemed to reinforce that the south, with its all-import teams, was stronger than its North counterpart, forced to play with twenty Canadians on the thirty-seven man roster.  Indeed when all was totaled, fifty-two games were played between the two divisions: 32 won by the south and 20 by the North.  The results seemed to provide all the ammunition necessary for those advocating an end to the quota system.  Within the figures, however, lay a different interpretation.  The top three teams in the North, Calgary, Edmonton and British Columbia, had a combined record versus the South of 13 wins and 5 losses.  Calgary was 6-1, Edmonton, 4-2 and B.C., 3-2.  At the other end of the Division, the combined record of the three worst teams was 2 wins and 17 losses.  Saskatchewan was 1-5, Toronto, 1-5 and Ottawa, 0-7.  The figures suggest some interesting questions.  Was the import component of the bottom three teams up to par, not only with the Americans of the South but also with the top three teams in their division?  So much focus had been placed on the non-import members that the question was never really addressed.  There was never any scrutiny of the American talent on those teams.  Did the comparison reflect the lack of an effective scouting system for the United States?  Interestingly enough, the one game that Calgary had lost against a South team occurred August 27.  They had been unbeaten at home for 27 games.  Two high profile players had been closing in on records: Birmingham quarterback Matt Dunigan needed 210 yards to overtake 2nd place Tom Clements behind Ron Lancaster in all-time passing yardage.  Calgary quarterback Doug Flutie needed 128 yards to lift him above the 30,000 passing yards mark.  Each succeeded in achieving his personal goal; the Dunigan-led Birmingham team defeated Calgary 31-28, the winning 82 yard drive led by the Barracudas’ quarterback who completed 6 of 7 passes during the winning march.

In a league which was becoming more and more known for its passing game, the CFL inducted into its Hall of Fame, former Winnipeg quarterback Ralph Dieter Brock and Tiger-Cat receiver Tommy Grant.  They were joined by long-time Secretary-treasurer, Greg Fulton, in the Builder category.

Calgary ended up in first place in the North followed by Edmonton, British Columbia, Hamilton and Winnipeg to round out the play-off spots.  In the five team South, the top three teams making the play-offs were: Baltimore, San Antonio and Birmingham.  The format called for the fifth place team in the North, Winnipeg, to cross over and play the first place South team, Baltimore; second place San Antonio would host Birmingham.  In the North, Hamilton traveled to Calgary while B.C went to Edmonton.  Baltimore defeated Winnipeg 36-21; San Antonio was triumphant by a 52-9 score over Birmingham.  Baltimore hosted and defeated San Antonio in the South final, 21-11, to move into the Grey Cup final for the second consecutive year.  Calgary defeated Hamilton 31-13 while Edmonton bested B.C., 26-15.  The traditional western rivals met in yet another Battle of Alberta in Calgary on November 12.  The Eskimos fell convincingly by a 37-4 score to the Stampeders.

The stage was set once again for the second Grey Cup game involving an American team.  The Baltimore Stallions, for the second time the best team in the south, would meet the best from the North in that hotbed of the CFL, Regina, Saskatchewan.  All seemed to be going according to plan.  Or was it?  Two announcements from the land of the South stunned the League.  The owner of the Cleveland Browns, Art Modell, announced on November 6 that he would be moving the football team to Baltimore!  A similar bombshell was dropped in Houston.  Officials there declared their intent to leave Texas and re-locate in Memphis for two years prior to their permanent Nashville, Tennessee base.¹⁵ The announcements created a flurry of stunned comments and brave faces.  The National Festival that was the Grey Cup helped to deflect the public’s attention.  Behind closed doors and in hushed conversations, officials pondered the implications to their master plan.

For the Baltimore Stallions, a better script could not have been written.  Calgary was the only team which it hadn’t beaten during the two years of its now threatened existence.  The last time they played was truly disheartening and yet offered a glimmer of hope to the now rested and relatively injury free Stallions.  The Stampeders had won that game on August 6 at McMahon Stadium by a 29-15 score.  Doug Flutie had thrown for 405 yards and one touchdown.  The Stallions consoled themselves with the fact that while their opponents had nine days’ rest prior to the game, they were playing their third game in a nine day road trip.  They were obviously tired, scoring only two points during the second half.  They were pleased that Flutie would be playing in the Grey Cup game.  The dominant player of the nineties had injured his elbow and had his flexor tendon surgically re-attached to his throwing arm four weeks after that August meeting.  He was a quick healer, returning for the final game of the season against the Argos.  He was in top form when the Stamps played Edmonton in the North final, leading them to a rousing 37-4 win.   Most Baltimore players echoed O.J. Brigance’s comment that he was kind of happy to see Flutie playing because the Stallions did not want any perceived blemishes on their Grey Cup title.¹⁶

Baltimore players gave the impression, more so than any title-bound team, that they were on a mission.  Winning the Grey Cup was the unfinished business of which they had reminded each other since the beginning of training camp.¹⁷

At the awards ceremony, Mike Pringle, the Baltimore running back and the CFL’s leading rusher for the last two seasons, was selected the Most Outstanding Player.  It was the first such award for an American based team.  Runner-up was Calgary’s Dave Sapunjis.  Pringle had gained 2,067 yards and was to be a free agent in 1996.  He hoped to join the NFL, perhaps with Baltimore’s new team.  When the Stallions left Memorial Stadium on Monday of Grey Cup week for the trip to Regina, players’ names were removed from the lockers and brought with the club to be re-attached to the lockers at Taylor Field’s dressing room.  Pringle, with some of his teammates, cut out the Cleveland Browns players’ names from a roster appearing in the Baltimore Sun and attached one to each locker, including his name among them.¹⁸  The Stallions’ Mike Withycombe, a thirty year old rookie became the second Baltimore player in two years to win the offensive lineman award over B.C.’s Jamie Taras.  Edmonton’s Shalon Baker, a receiver, was chosen rookie-of-the-year over Chris Wright of Baltimore.  Willie Pless of Edmonton was selected defensive player over Tim Cofield of Memphis, and Dave Sapunjis won the Outstanding Canadian award over Edmonton’s Larry Wruck.

The game offered an interesting contrast in styles.  The Stallions were more a throwback to old time football: a good offensive line leading a dominating running attack with just enough passing to keep the defense loose.  They had sound defense and a better than average special teams.  Each facet was able to dominate and win the game.  Calgary had the premier passing game in the league and of course, Doug Flutie.  He could be the difference in any game but he wasn’t the only weapon.  Like Baltimore, they had a top defense and kicking game. Their coach, Wally Buono, was acknowledged as one of the best in the league.  But so too was Baltimore’s Don Mathews.  After all, each club had an identical 17-3 record for the season.  The normally loose Mathews imposed a curfew.  Players had to be in the hotel by 11pm.  It might have reinforced the message that this was the one and only time they would all be together with the opportunity to win the Grey Cup.

There were 52,564 in attendance at Taylor Field who sat huddled in below zero temperatures made colder and more bitter by winds which gusted to 85 kph. Stadium officials had delayed fan access to 27,000 temporary stands seats for nearly an hour.  The League had announced beforehand that if wind gusts exceeded 88 kph, fans would be removed from those stands until the wind died down.  It wasn’t until after sunset in the second half that it diminished in intensity.¹⁹  At 8:27 EST, the Cup’s stay in Canada officially ended with the Stallions’ 37-20 win over Calgary.²⁰  The team had been jump-started by Chris Wright who returned a punt 82 yards at 2:20 of the first quarter.  It was a bit of revenge for the Baltimore rookie who had been runner-up to Edmonton’s Shalon Baker.  Wright was very bitter over his denial of the honors blaming the League’s north of the border media: I can’t control the Canadian voters’ decisions . . . I’m not going to let them get me down.²¹

Other Baltimore players contributed: Brigance blocked a punt which was recovered for the touchdown by teammate Alvin Walker.  Carlos Huerta kicked 5 field goals in the blustery wind.  One was for 53 yards, a new Grey Cup record.  Baltimore had only six first downs in the first half, but its defense and special teams staked it to a 23-13 half-time lead.  It was cut to 24-20 early in the third quarter on an eleven-play 75 yard vintage Doug Flutie march, finished by his one yard run for the touchdown.  Tracy Ham, the self-described "blue collar