Written by Bob McKeown
As a kid growing up in Ottawa, the place of honour on my bedroom wall was built around a single artifact, the portrait of the 1960 Grey Cup champion Ottawa Rough Riders. The Riders were my team and as far back as I can remember, I could name each and every one of the 36 players in that picture.
I still can.
1960 Grey Cup Champion Ottawa Rough Riders
In the front row are four future Hall of Famers – the quarterbacks Russ Jackson (#12) and Ron Lancaster (#16) and team captains Bobby Simpson (#70) and Kaye Vaughan (#55). Four others would also make the Hall — including our future Grey-Cup winning captain in 1973, Moe Racine (#62) and of course, the villainous Angelo Mosca (#60), our nemesis when I was the Rider offensive centre and he was the black heart of the Hamilton Tiger-Cat defence. Also there in the top row, legendary Ottawa running backs Dave Thelen (#21) and Ronnie Stewart (#11).
But this is not a story about the Rough Riders who became Grey Cup heroes and household names, though there were many. No, this is about just one of them, the fresh-faced young man wearing jersey no. 68 in that 1960 championship picture.
His name is Howie Hamlin.
At the time, CFL clubs were allowed to identify a lesser-known, lower-paid player as an ‘amateur’ on their roster, creating an extra spot for a promising youngster. In Ottawa, in 1960, that was Howie Hamlin – a 3-time high school all-star who essentially talked his way into joining the Rider veterans for training camp. What’s more, when the dreaded list of cuts was posted that spring, it didn’t include the name Hamlin.
Howard Hamlin Jr., 1960.
At 6-4, 210 pounds, Howie unquestionably had professional size, but he was still in his teens, a 12th-grader at Ottawa’s Glebe Collegiate. Looking back now, he feels the way the Rough Riders treated him then was amateurish too – forced to dress and undress in the hallway outside the main locker room. He says there were threats from the front office to cut his salary, which was ridiculous because as the team’s declared ‘amateur’, he was already the lowest-paid player on the club’s books.
That was when Hamlin told Ottawa general manager George Terlep that his first CFL season would also be his last. Terlep told him to pack his bags, that he’d just been traded to Saskatchewan.
Howie Jr. on Terlep: ‘He said ‘I’ll see you in two years.’ He was an a**hole. He didn’t have a clue.’
Howie Hamlin never made it to Regina. Instead, he studied business administration at Algonquin College in Ottawa, eventually rising to vice president of Canada’s Sun Oil Company, Sunoco. As for the Rough Riders, they defeated the Edmonton Eskimos in the Grey Cup that year, the first of 4 appearances and 3 victories in the national championship during the next decade. Soon, in Ottawa, the word ‘dynasty’ began to appear.
The Hamlins – Geof, Bill, Howard Sr., and Howard Jr.
It certainly seems appropriate for the Hamlin family.
1930 Grey Cup Champion Balmy Beach Senior O.R.F.U. Club
Their patriarch Howard Sr., was a member of the Balmy Beach Football Club in Toronto, winning Grey Cups in 1927 and 1930.
1927 Grey Cup Champions plaque
The next to see the family name engraved was Howard jr, a Rough Rider when Ottawa won in 1960.
1960 Grey Cup Champions plaque
And there’s Howie’s name on the Cup — next to that of the greatest Rider ever, Russ Jackson.
Or at least it’s supposed to be.
But here is where the plot thickens. I grew up in the same Ottawa neighbourhood as the Hamlins and attended Brookfield High School with Howie’s brothers Bill and Geof, both stellar athletes themselves. At one point the 3 boys held various Ottawa high school track and field records at the same time. Best pals at Brookfield, Geof and I won city titles in football and basketball and were on the provincial track champions, too.
At one point, I spent so much time in the Hamlins’ backyard that their mother accused me of trying to get myself adopted. In any event, by grade 9, Geof and I had both set our sights on more or less the same goals – U.S. college football, getting drafted by the CFL and of course, the Grey Cup.
Bob McKeown at Yale and Geof Hamlin at the University of North Carolina
When I arrived at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut to labour as an anonymous offensive lineman, Geof was being recruited and feted by the University of North Carolina, as a fullback and lead blocker for their All American runner Don McCauley. Geof went on to be named the outstanding blocker in the entire Atlantic Coast Conference. After signing with Ottawa for training camp, he played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1973.
But just as Howie and Geof followed the cleatmarks of their father to the CFL, the Hamlin familys’ genes – and dreams – were passed on to another generation. Geof’s older son Nathaniel, now 29, played at Carleton University, before appearing in uniform for Ottawa, BC and Edmonton, but with no Grey Cup.
Nathaniel Hamlin played for Ottawa Redblacks.
Their family story now goes back for a century … from the glory days of Balmy Beach in the 1920’s and 30’s … through the three Rough Rider championships of the 60’s … three generations of names engraved on the Grey Cup. But now this …
Howard Hamlin Jr.’s name mis-spelled on the 1960 Grey Cup
Howie says mis-spelling the family name didn’t bother him at first. But as the years passed – and that annoying letter ‘e’ kept taunting him – his attitude changed.
Geof, Margaret, and Arthur Hamlin
The latest Hamlin in the CFL is 25 year old Arthur of the Montreal Alouettes – Howie’s nephew, son of Geof. He says should his nephew Arthur win the CFL championship with the Alouettes some day, it could be a record for the most generations of one family named on the Grey Cup.
Arthur Hamlin, Montreal Alouettes
And Howie insists that spelling counts. He’s asking the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton – caretakers of the Cup — to do right by the Hamlins by erasing the offending ‘e’ from their family name.
Victory Celebration after 2024 Grey Cup
The perfect occasion could be when the big game is played next November and the Grey Cup is awarded –and engraved –once again. Howie Hamlin says it may not seem like a big thing but getting rid of that ‘e’ is the least the CFL can do for a Canadian football dynasty.
And consider this –
Jim Cain
Jim Cain is a member of the CFL Ottawa Alumni executive and from a dynastic sports family himself.
Des Smith, Boston Bruins.
And consider this: Jim Cain is a member of the CFL Ottawa Alumni executive from a dynastic sports family himself. Jim’s uncle Des Smith was a member of the Boston Bruins who won the 1940-41 Stanley Cup
But as was the case with Howie Hamlin, his name was mis-spelled on the Cup , engraved as ‘Wes Smith’ instead of ‘Des Smith’.
The Hockey Hall of Fame quickly made the correction when it was pointed out to them many years later.
The Hamlins – and the CFL Ottawa Alumni – have both asked the football Hall of Fame to fix their problem as well. But so far, with no response.
Bob: How important is the Hamlin name on the Grey Cup?
Howie Jr.: Quite important. On my list of life accomplishments in the top 10.
Bob: How should that be handled?
Howie Jr.: When the engraver is producing the 2025 team plaque, just have a new 1960 plaque engraved and installed.
Bob: Have you regretted not playing longer?
Howie Jr.: Yes and no. In looking back, I know I had the ability. I have had a fabulous life and would not trade it for anything.
Bob: Best advice for Arthur?
Howie Jr.: When you stop having fun playing, move on.
Bob: Thanks Howie.
Howie Hamlin Jr., No. 68
