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)
Hamilton Tigers 14 Ottawa Rough Riders 7 played on a frozen gridiron at Ottawa. Seymour Wilson intercepted an Abe Eliowitz pass for one of the Tigers’ touchdowns. The Ottawa touchdown came on a sleeper play when Andy Tommy was not detected along the sidelines. Eliowitz spotted him and Tommy crossed the enemy goal line 35 yards away from any defender.
1939 (85 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders 25 Hamilton Tigers 7 at Hamilton before 4,000 spectators. Diminutive Andy Tommy, giant Tony Golab as well as Stan O’Neil found the Tiger wall easy to penetrate. Tommy and Golab scored majors, while Murray Griffin and Jack Taylor did so as well. Ottawa’s record at the end of the regular season was 5-1-0 to end up in first place. They scored 145 points over the six games and gave up only 44. Hamilton ended the season at 2-4-0.
1940 (84 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders’ Andy Tommy was named the winner of the Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy awarded to the East player who combines ability and sportsmanship.
1961 63 years ago)
Toronto Argonauts 43 Ottawa Rough Riders 19 in the Eastern sudden-death semi-final at Lansdowne Park before 19,196. Ron Morris scored four touchdowns, all on passes from Tobin Rote. In all, he caught eight passes for 142 yards. Besides Rote tossing the touchdown passes, he ran for two majors himself. He completed 26 of 38 passes for 347 yards. The visitors held a 21-0 lead at halftime, but Ron Lancaster completed touchdown passes to Bill Sowalski and Bob Simpson to get the Riders close. Simpson’s touchdown covered 72-yards. Russ Jackson scored Ottawa’s final major with seven seconds remaining.
1967 (57 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders 38 Toronto Argonauts 22 in the Eastern Conference semi-final played before 20,627 at Lansdowne Park. Rough Riders held a 20-0 lead before Toronto scored eight points before half time. Ron Stewart scored Ottawa’s first two touchdowns on pass completions of 27 and 33-yards from Russ Jackson. In the second half, Jackson found Margene Adkins twice on passes of 19 and 25 yards for majors. In all, Jackson piled up 372 passing yards. Toronto’s scoring came from touchdown passes from Tom Wilkinson to Bill Symons and Mel Profit. Jim Dillard crossed the goal line from five yards out for their other major scoring.
1972 (52 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders 14 Montreal Alouettes 11 at Lansdowne Park to win Eastern Conference sudden-death semi-final before 16,548. They will move on against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Eastern Conference final. The 11-3-0 regular-season Riders were trailing 11-7 before picking up two safety touches and a 42-yard field goal by Gerry Organ to pull out the victory. Dick Adams made two interceptions on the day, one for the only Ottawa touchdown when he intercepted a George Mira pass and returned it 33 yards in the opening quarter.
1973 (51 years ago)
Rumours continue to circulate in the Capital that some Ottawa Rough Riders’ players may have been involved in one of the area’s biggest stolen cars rings. General Manager Frank Clair said he was aware of the story.
1976 (48 years ago)
Tony Gabriel was named the Ottawa Rough Riders’ Most Valuable Player as chosen by his teammates. He won the Hiram Walker Trophy.
1979 (45 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders 29 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 26 at Lansdowne Park before 25,540 in the Eastern Conference semi-final. Gerry Organ booted his fifth field goal of the game with 1.57 remaining to give the Riders the victory. His other three-pointers came from 45, 47, 14 and 41 yards out. Jeff Avery scored Ottawa’s first major on a nine-yard completion from Condredge Holloway in the second quarter. Cornerback Jon Sutton intercepted a Tom Clements pass and returned it 28 yards for the other Ottawa TD. That play gave the Riders a 20-3 lead. Clements connected with John Holland for three Hamilton touchdowns, two of them coming in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 26-26. Two-point converts were completed to Leif Patterson and Neil Lumsden. Peter Crepin intercepted a Clements forward in the final minute to seal the victory for the Riders. Hard hitting was the order of the day with Ron Foxx, Larry Brune and Ken Downing a factor in the Ottawa defensive play.
1990 (34 years ago)
Toronto Argonauts 34 Ottawa Rough Riders 25 in the Eastern Division semi-final played before 24,427 at SkyDome. The Argos entered the game with a 10-8-0 record, while Ottawa came in at 7-11-0. Mike (Pinball) Clemons scored a 24-yard touchdown with 1:10 left to play to clinch the win. Clemons ran for a total of 364 yards over the afternoon. He had 12 carries for 141 yards, had four catches covering 50 yards, five kickoff returns for 109 yards and 64 yards on eight punt returns. Glenn Kulka rocked Argos’ QB Rickey Foggie, who fumbled, and Gregg Stumon recovered the ball and took it in for a 26-yard touchdown to give Ottawa a 7-3 lead. Ottawa held a one-point advantage, 18-17, after three quarters when Damon Allen carried the ball in from the one. Lance Chomyc gave the home team a lead they wouldn’t relinquish when he booted a field goal early in the fourth. DB Don Wilson picked off an Allen pass and raced 73 yards for a TD. Riders got close at 12:37 of the fourth on a 27-yard aerial from Allen to James Ellingson for a touchdown. Ellingson caught four passes for 91 yards including his major. Along with Kulka and Stumon, Paul McGowan, Patrick Wayne and Scott Flagel were big on defense.
1993 (31 years ago)
The Gleiberman’s have approved chartering a plane for the trek to the Eastern semi-final. Gary Page, Ottawa Rough Riders’ Director of Travel, booked a 50-seat aircraft to take the team to Hamilton on Saturday morning and bring it back after the game on Sunday. The flight will arrive and depart out of Hamilton International Airport. Normal travel plans for a Hamilton trip would have the Riders fly to Pearson Airport in Toronto and then bus down the QEW.
2002 (22 years ago)
Former Ottawa Rough Riders’ George Brancato, Dr. Bernie Brennan, the late Jess Abelson, as well as Sheryl Boyle and Alison Korn, were inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame.
2020 (4 Years today)
Mark Kosmos, Ottawa Rough Riders’ linebacker from 1973 to 1977, passed away at Ottawa at age 75.
BIRTHDAYS (NOVEMBER 5)
1952 (72 years today)
Peter Crepin, Ottawa Rough Riders’ safety from 1974 to 1980, born at Ottawa, Ontario.
