Grey Cup Century by Michael Januska

Author:Michael Januska
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2012-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

• • •

The Grey Cups of 1961 and 1962 were notable for a number of reasons. For starters, they would be the fifth and sixth meetings between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a decade. Each had won two of those previous engagements.

On the Saturday morning before the 1961 game, the parade, consisting of 25 floats and 18 bands, wound its way through the streets of downtown Toronto.

In the afternoon, while the game was on, the streets downtown were quiet and there was little sign that Toronto was host city to the 49th Grey Cup. Everyone was either at Exhibition Stadium or watching the game on television at one of the hotels, bars, or at home.

The game got off to a powerful start after Hamilton quarterback Bernie Faloney hit Paul Dekker with a short pass deep in their territory. Dekker went on to outrun six Winnipeg defenders for 90 yards to score the first touchdown of the game. In the final play of the first half, the Tiger-Cats were sitting pretty with a first down on the Winnipeg one-yard line. Coach Trimble opted for a touchdown rather than a field goal but the ball was fumbled at the snap and Winnipeg got the single. The score after two periods was Hamilton 7, Winnipeg 1.

But the Bombers were hungry, aggressive, and Trimble knew his boys would have to be hungrier if they were going to maintain any kind of a lead and pull out a victory; at that point he was not convinced. But after Ralph Goldston caught a pass from Faloney, broke a tackle by Bomber Nick Miller, and reached the end zone after a 23-yard gallop to put the Cats up 14–4, Trimble was starting to believe. However, Winnipeg was turning on the offence: after a long drive from their own 23-yard line, the Bombers put three more points on the board with a Gerry James field goal. Late in the fourth quarter, Winnipeg’s Farrell Funston caught one from Kenny Ploen and made a 34-yard gain that put the Bombers on the Tiger-Cats’ five-yard line. James plunged for a dramatic touchdown, tying the game at 14 at the end of regulation play.

After a scoreless first overtime period, it was a Ploen touchdown in the second that won the day. He dodged a number of Tiger-Cat defenders while running the 18-yard game-winning touchdown. Gerry James got the convert and the final score was Winnipeg Blue Bombers 21, Hamilton Tiger-Cats 14.

If there was a consensus it was that it was a tough game. Both sides had the sprains and bruises to prove it. It was the first overtime win in Grey Cup history, and for Hamilton it was an historical two overtime games played in the span of a week (the first game being the Eastern final against the Toronto Argonauts — the second game of a home-and-home series). To quote Tiger-Cat lineman John Barrow, “I’m tired.”

There were the customary wild celebrations in the lobby of the Royal York, complete with music, crowds, people in wild costumes, and conga lines.

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