At every CFLOAA Huddle, on the first Tuesday of most months at Local Heroes, Jim McAuley the Ottawa Sports Historian entertains everyone with his research into what happened on a day in that month in Ottawa Football History. Since we always meet on the first Tuesday of the month, Jim has started to select dates later in the month, so he does not duplicate what he has presented at earlier Huddles.
1933 (91 years ago)
Ottawa Senators 15 Toronto Argonauts 8 at Ottawa. Burns of Argos failed to score from the one-yard line when he dropped the ball. Riders’ Andy Tommy picked up the ball and zigzagged his way to a 112-yard fumble-return touchdown. Tommy also scored another TD when he took a 40-yard pass from Lorne Johnson and sprinted another 13 yards for Ottawa’s first touchdown.
1939 (85 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders 35 Montreal Royals 13 at Molson Stadium in Montreal in front of 2,500 shivering fans. Andy Tommy and Wilf Tremblay each had two touchdowns, while Tom Daley, Rick Perley and Stan O’Neil also collected majors. Royals got both their scores from Pete Jotkus. Daley’s touchdown came on a 70-yard pass and run play from Orville Burke. The Riders remained tied for first place with Toronto Argonauts with 2-0-0 records. The Riders scored 67 points over the two games while giving up 17.
1957 (67 years ago
Montreal Alouettes 32 Ottawa Rough Riders 24 on Thanksgiving Day at Molson Stadium in Montreal before a sellout crowd of 22,864. Ottawa struck early with Ted Smale scoring a touchdown with 1:10 gone in the game. After Gary Schreider’s convert, the Als scored the next 16 points to take a 16-7 lead into the second half. In the third quarter, Bobby Judd and Bill Sowalski scored touchdowns and Schreider collected five points for the Riders.
1958 (66 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders named their imports for the remainder of the season. They were Hal Ledyard, George Brancato, Ron Quillian, Dave Thelen, Bobby Judd, Gerry Nesbitt, Tom Jones, Kaye Vaughan, Milt Graham, Hardiman Cureton, Ken Vargo and Mack Yoho.
1961 (63 years ago)
Montreal Alouettes 24 Ottawa Rough Riders 14 before 18,589 at Lansdowne Park. The Alouettes had 23 first downs rushing. Don Clark carried the ball 23 times for 168 yards, while George Dixon rushed for 129 yards on 25 carries. In total, the Als accumulated 368 rushing yards. The loss ended the Riders three-game win streak. Ottawa got a rushing TD from Ron Stewart and Bill Sowalski completed a 10-play, 105-yard march when he pulled in a Russ Jackson pass behind Als’ Ed Learn. The Riders record was 7-4-0.
1973 (51 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders 32 Calgary Stampeders 8 at Calgary for their seventh win in their last eight games. Jim Evenson had two touchdowns with Hugh Oldham and Rod Woodward getting single majors. Woodward’s touchdown came on a 62-yard pass interception return. Stamps had the ball on the Ottawa one, but three plunges into the line were unsuccessful. On the third attempt, Tom Laputka forced Bob Wyatt to fumble the ball. Jim Piaskoski came out of the scrum for the ball and wasn’t caught until he reached the Stamps 23-yard line. It was the longest fumble return of the season in the CFL with an 87-yard return. Ottawa’s record stood at 7-5-0, first place in the Eastern Conference.
1989 (35 years ago)
Three former members of the Ottawa Rough Riders—Jerry Keeling, Dave Thelen and Andy Tommy—were inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
1990 (34 years ago)
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 37 Ottawa Rough Riders 33 at Lansdowne Park in front of 23,139. Hamilton scored with 1:13 remaining with Mike Kerrigan marching the team 88 yards for the winning score, a 17-yard pass to Earl Winfield. Rough Rider Reggie Barnes carried the ball 23 times for 181 yards including a three-yard touchdown run. Damon Allen completed only 12 passes on 33 attempts, but he did run for 41-yards to set up a TD pass to Stephen Jones, his first of two majors on the day. Riders’ defensive end, John Kropke, sustained a shoulder injury that kept him out for the remainder of the season. It was Ottawa’s fourth loss in their last five games. Their record was 5-10-0, fourth in the East Division.
2016 (8 years ago)
Ottawa RedBlacks 30 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 29 at Hamilton before 23,868. Brett Maher missed a 47-yard field goal attempt with 2:35 left, but got a single to make the score 30-29. The RedBlacks took a 20-7 lead into the second half, but were outscored 22-10 in the last half of the game. Henry Burris had two rushing TDs. He also completed 27 of 39 for 393 yards, five of the completions were to Ernest Jackson for 106 yards. One of Jackson’s receptions came when TC defender Mike Daly gambled and lost as he tried to intercept the pass. The play resulted in a 62-yard score. Jeremiah Masoli threw three TD passes for the home team, the longest to Terrence Toliver for 33 yards in the first quarter to open the scoring. Ottawa’s record was 7-7-1.
2023 (1 year ago)
Toronto Argonauts 40 Ottawa RedBlacks 27 in front of 13,888 at Toronto. Ottawa led 24-20 at the half with Dustin Crum completing 11 of 13 for 170 yards and a touchdown. Devonte Williams had 16 carries for the RedBlacks for 125 yards. In the second half, Crum fumbled, threw an interception and suffered an ankle injury. He was also sacked five times. The RedBlacks suffered their third loss in a row and their 10th in the last 11 games.
BIRTHDAYS (OCTOBER 14)
1938 (86 years ago)
Ron Lancaster, Ottawa Rough Riders’ quarterback from 1960 to 1962, born at Fairchance, Pennsylvania passed away at Hamilton, Ontario, on September 18, 2008, at 70 years of age.
1975 (49 years ago)
Mike Abou-Mechrek, Ottawa Renegades’ offensive lineman from 2002 to 2004, born at Toronto, Ontario.
1976 (48 years ago)
Shawn Gallant, Ottawa Renegades’ defensive back from 2002 to 2004, born at Windsor, Ontario.
BIRTHDAYS (OCTOBER 1)
1927 (97 years ago)
Bernie Brennan, Ottawa Rough Riders’ RB in 1946 and 1951, born at Desoronto, Onatrio. He won the 1946 Gruen Trophy, given to the Eastern Rookie of the Year. He then spent the next four years at the Ontario Veterinarian College before returning to play on the Riders’ Grey Cup team in 1951.
Note: – Bernie is believed to be the oldest living Rough Rider. Bernie has been very prominent in Standardbred horse racing.
