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.
1886 (146 years today)
Notice of a meeting on Monday, September 18, to launch a football team, which eventually became the Ottawa Rough Riders.
1951 (71 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders acquired lineman Mel Aull. He was the only deaf player in Canadian football during his playing years.
1973 (51 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders 21 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 19 before 33,254 at Hamilton. It was the Riders fourth straight victory and evened their record at 4-4-0. QB Rick Cassata ran for a five-yard TD with three seconds to play. Art Green played in his first game with the Riders. He scored a touchdown. Andy Hopkins ran for a 97-yard TD for Hamilton, while Tiger-Cats’ Tim Beamer had an 84-yard punt return.
1979 (45 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders 22 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 19 in front of 25,644 at Winnipeg. Ottawa scored 11 points in the final 63 seconds. Jeff Avery had a 35-yard touchdown pass from Jimmy Jones. Bruce Walker had a two-point convert and Gerry Organ kicked the winning field goal from the 38-yard line with no time on the clock. Martin Cox scored Ottawa’s first TD in the first half from Condredge Holloway. Bernie Ruoff collected all the Bombers’ points with six field goals and a single. Ottawa’s record was now 5-4-1.
1985 (39 years today)
Calgary Stampeders 32 Ottawa Rough Riders 7 at Calgary before 12,076. The Riders have lost their last three games and saw their record drop to 4-6. In the final half, QB Joe Barnes led Calgary to 27 unanswered points. J.T. Hay kicked five field goals. J.C. Watts played the first three quarters of the game for the Riders.
1986 (38 years today)
Ernie Calcutt, the voice of the Ottawa Rough Riders for 20 years, will have a park named in his memory. The park is located at Springland Dirve and Mooney’s Bay Place, just east of Riverside Drive. Calcutt passed away of a stroke in January of 1984 at age 51.
1994 (30 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders introduced a fourth set of ticket prices to entice fans to their games next season. Initially, the tickets for 1994 games were 120 per cent higher than in 1993.
1995 (29 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders’ CEO Al Howell stated that the team’s finances were misrepresented when new owner Horn Chen bought the franchise in March.
1996 (28 years ago)
Ottawa Rough Riders 18 Saskatchewan Roughriders 16 at Regina. David Archer threw TD passes to Profail Grier and Bobby Gordon. The 22-yard strike to Gordon came with a little more than a minute to play. DE Jeff Cummins had five tackles, one knockdown and one tackle for loss. The win ended the Rough Riders’ 18th straight road loss and 34th consecutive loss outside Ontario.
2014 (10 years ago)
Six new players practiced with the Ottawa Redblacks following their final bye-week of the season. One of them was a running back named Jonathan Williams. He is the second Jonathan Williams on the squad joining defensive lineman Jonathan Williams.
BIRTHDAYS (SEPTEMBER 3)
1938 (86 years today)
Dave Ritchie, Ottawa Rough Riders’ defensive coordinator and secondary coach in 1991, born at New Bedford, Massachusetts. He passed away on March 9, 2024 at Ramford, Rhode Island, at age 85.
1949 (75 years today)
Donn Smith, Ottawa Rough Riders’ centre from 1973 to 1980, born at Windsor, Ontario.
1966 (58 years today)
Shawn Daniels, Ottawa Rough Riders’ fullback from 1990 to 1996, born at Montreal, Quebec.
1970 (54 years today)
Uzooma Okeke, Ottawa Rough Riders’ offensive lineman in 1996, born at Beaumont, Texas.
1974 (50 years today)
Troy Asbell, Ottawa Renegades’ linebacker in 2002, born at Tyler, Texas.
BIRTHDAYS (YESTERDAY, SEPTEMBER 2)
1936 (88 years ago)
Dave Thelen, Ottawa Rough Riders’ fullback from 1958 to 1964, born at East Canton, Ohio.
1943 (81 years ago)
Bill Cline, Ottawa Rough Riders’ DB from 1965 to 1967, born at Valdese, North Carolina.
