The Calgary native and Crescent Heights High School graduate played with the Red and White for nine seasons (1956-64) after playing college football at Montana State. Wylie played offence, defence and special teams for the Stamps and was the 1962 winner of the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian award. He was a West all-star on five occasions and was twice named a CFL all-star.

He was honoured by the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and added to the Stamps’ Wall of Fame in 1988. He’s also a member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.

Three of the six longest kickoff returns in Stamps history belong to Wylie, he had a kickoff return of at least 100 yards in four straight seasons from 1959 to 1962 and his five career kickoff-return touchdowns are three more than any other Calgary player.

In the Stamps’ all-time record books, Wylie is also second only to Wayne Harris in career fumble recoveries with 21 and runner-up to Larry Robinson in interceptions with 35 including a single-season record of 10 in 1959.

In addition to football, Wylie excelled in other sports. He played junior hockey for the Calgary Buffaloes and had a tryout for Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox. After his playing career, he worked in the oil and gas industry and spent a number of years in Dubai.

Wylie is survived by brothers Bob and Bill, son Wes and daughters Barbara and Courtney.

Just over two-minutes remaining. Score: 14-11, Calgary Stampeders leading. But a Dick Thornton interception has put the Toronto Argonauts in business on the 11-yard-line with a chance to take the lead and, quite probably, the Grey Cup.

The end zone beckons. Until, that is, tailback Leon McQuay – a runner so quicksilver, so gifted, so bordering-on ethereal that his nickname was X-Ray – accepts the handoff from Argo QB Joe Theismann.

Veering to his left, McQuay then slipped on the slick 3M-manufactured Tartan Turf, a spray of water shooting up on the skid and the ball squirming loose.

“Oh, it’s still a pretty vivid memory,’’ says 74-year-old Basil Bark. “For me, anyway.

“Our offensive guys were standing on the sidelines. It’s really wet.

“We were exhausted. We’d already played three playoff games, in the semi-final and a best-of-three West final.

“Making it worse, the field that day in Vancouver was so spongy. It was like putting your living-room carpet down, soaking it right through and then trying to play on it. Just awful.

“It’s right near the end of the game. We’re just trying to hang on. After the interception, they’re on the 11, and you’re figuring they’re going to at least be 14-14, right? And who knows from there.

“I don’t care if Larry Robinson caused the fumble, the ground caused the fumble, the rain caused the fumble or Donald Duck caused the fumble.

“He fumbled the ball. And we recovered it.

“That’s all I care about.”

Fast forward 48 years: Bark, the offensive centre on that title team, was honoured on Legacy Night at McMahon Stadium on August 17, 2019 when the Stampeders played host to the Montreal Alouettes.

Fitting, because that victory he was a part of nearly a half-century ago remains singularly important in franchise history, ending as it did a 28-year Grey Cup drought for the white horse.

“I just remember this rush of adrenalin on our bench after the fumble,’’ says Bark, an all-star centre for 13 seasons with the Als and Stamps. “We were just pumped heading back onto the field.

“We just had to hold onto the ball and let the clock run out. Try and make a couple plays.

“And it just … happened.”

The Stamps that year had something to make amends for, having lost 23-10 to the Alouettes (the field at CNE in toronto was so chopped up, Montreal quarterback picked up a large chunk of turf and tossed it before taking thesnap on one play) at the previous Grey Cup.

“After coming off ’70 and losing quite dramatically, that really knocked the spirit out of us,’’ admits Bark. “But we got together after that and vowed that if we ever got in the situation again, we wouldn’t let it get away.

“We had guys like Wayne Harris, who didn’t say a lot. Larry Robinson. Herm Harrison. Jerry Keeling. Veteran guys, a couple years from retiring. And our leaders stood up. We had pretty much the same nucleus in ’71 that we had the year before.

“In our game, if you have a couple shots at it you’d better make at least one good. No guarantee you’re gonna get a third.”

Bark continues to follow the Stamps closely.

“Two or three times a year I go and sit in Hufnagel’s box during a game and watch him work his magic, talking to the boys down below, and on his laptop,’’ says the two-time CFL West Division all-star.

“I know Dickie quite well. I wish the boys nothing but the best.

“Always.”

The Stampeders won their first ever Grey Cup, defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders 12-7 before a crowd of 20,013 at Varsity Stadium during the 36^th annual event.

That year, they also went 12-0 in the Western Interprovincial Football Union Regular season, and after remaining undefeated in playoffs, the Stamps recorded the only perfect season in CFL history.

Calgary became only the second West Division team to win the Grey Cup (Winnipeg won in 1935, 1939 and 1941) and accomplished the feat on the strength of two unusual touchdowns.

The first came after an infamous “sleeper” play. When quarterback Keith Spaith (pictured below) completed a pass to Woody Strode on one side of the field, Norm Hill flopped on the ground at the opposite side of the field. Hill essentially was hidden and when the next play began, he sprung to his feet. Before Ottawa players could react, Hill was open to catch Spaith’s hurried, fluttery pass as he fell backwards in the end-zone.

Calgary’s other touchdown came after an Ottawa turnover in the fourth quarter. Riders quarterback Bob Paffrath tossed a lateral to Pete Karpuk but the ball sailed wide of the mark and Ottawa players stopped as if the pass was incomplete. Strode picked up the ball for Calgary, looked around hesitantly and when officials didn’t stop the play, he bolted. He was stopped at Ottawa’s 10-yard line and Pete Thodos ran for a major on the next play.
Paffrath scored Ottawa’s touchdown and Eric Chipper added the convert. Tony Golab kicked a single to account for Ottawa’s other point.

Calgary’s first appearance in a Grey Cup was a tribute to head coach Les Lear, who had been to four title games as a player with Winnipeg. Lear also played in the National Football League and when it came to recruiting players, he opted for Americans with pro experience rather than Americans who were fresh out of college. Among the key acquisitions were Spaith from the Hawaii Warriors and Strode and Chuck Anderson from the Los Angeles-based teams. Lear also added Fritz Hanson and several up-and-comers from Winnipeg.

For the record, the “sleeper” play was made illegal in the CFL in 1961.

The 1948 Grey Cup remains one of the most notable championships in CFL history, thanks to the Stampeders and the Calgary fans who rode the rails to Toronto.

Stamps supporters turned the Grey Cup game into Grey Cup Week with their tireless partying in downtown Toronto. To this day, any talk of Grey Cup festivities includes those exploits, which featured cowboys, chuckwagons and pancake breakfasts on the steps of City Hall and the famed horse in the lobby of the Royal York Hotel. Calgary fans turned the Grey Cup festival into what it is today.

36^th Grey Cup Scoring Summary:

First quarter
Ott — Tony Golab single
Second quarter
Cgy — Norm Hill TD pass from Keith Spaith (Fred Wilmot convert)
Third quarter
Ott — Bob Paffrath TD run (Eric Chipper convert)
Fourth quarter
Cgy — Pete Thodos TD run (Wilmot convert)

The 1948 Grey Cup remains one of the most notable championships in Canadian Football League history, thanks to the Stampeders and the Calgary fans who rode the rails to Toronto.

36^th Grey Cup Stampeders lineup:

Calgary’s line up was: Les Lear (Coach), Normie Kwong, Woody Strode, Dave Tomlinson, Johny Aguirre, Paul Rowe, Keith Spaith, Dave Berry, Chick Chikowsky, Bill Pullar, Harry Anderson, Jim Mitchener, Chuck Anderson, Rod Pantages, Jack McGill, Jack Grogan (Past President), Rube Ludwig, Bert Iannone, Harry Hood, Fritz Hanson, , Tom Brook (President), Archie McGillis (Manager), Pete Thodos, Bill Wusylk, Cliff Kliewer, Dave Adams, Rudy Singer, Bob Leatham, Fred Wilmot, Frank Porteous (Trainer), Bill Sherriff (Equipment Manager), Harold Geddes (Asst. Equipment Manager), Norm Carter, Cedric Gyles, Norm Hill, Jim Dobbin, and Harry Irving.

However, it took 30 years before the city was able to host the prestigious game. Calgary hosted its first championship in 1975 and has since presented to the big event in 1993, 2000, and 2009.

Let’s take a look back at each of the Grey Cup games played in Calgary:

1975, Edmonton Eskimos vs. Montreal Alouettes

In the first Grey Cup at McMahon Stadium, the Eskimos and Alouettes faced some tough weather conditions, dealing with -15 C and 25-km winds. That played a factor as the tilt was one of only three touchdown-less Grey Cups games. On the leg of Dave Cutler, Edmonton was able to squeak out a 9-8 victory.

1993, Edmonton Eskimos vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers

To begin the 81st Grey Cup, the Canadian and American anthems were sung as the CFL wanted to recognize the league’s first American-based franchise, the Sacramento Gold Miners. With six field-goals made in the tilt – tying a single-game Grey Cup record – Edmonton kicker Sean Fleming was awarded the Grey Cup Most Valuable Canadian Award as his team won 33-23.

2000, BC Lions vs. Montreal Alouettes

In a close game between the Lions and Alouettes, the difference in BC’s 28-26 win was a pair of single points scored on a pair of missed field-goals in the first half of the game. Lions running back Robert Drummond posted 122 rushing yards on 10 carries and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

2009, Montreal Alouettes vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders

With both teams playing in their 17th Grey Cup, it was the Alouettes who were able to come out on top. After being down 27-11 in the fourth quarter, quarterback Anthony Calvillo and his team put up two big touchdowns and then got within field-goal range with 10 seconds left on the clock. Kicker Damon Duval split the uprights and gave Montreal the 28-27 win. The 97th Grey Cup was watched by 6.1-million Canadian viewers, making it the most-watched telecast in Canada for 2009.

Vespaziani joined the Stamps in 1986 after eight seasons as an assistant coach with Winnipeg and BC. He guided the Stamps to a 13-13 regular-season record in his 26 games on the sidelines and, in 1987, he added Wally Buono to the Calgary coaching staff.

Buono later became the Stamps’ head coach and in 1995 he hired Vespaziani for what would prove to be a five-year stint as defensive line coach. Vespaziani was part of the Stamps’ Grey Cup-championship team in 1998 and also won championships with Winnipeg in 1984 and with BC in 1985.

“Bob had a great sense of humour and he was loved both by his fellow coaches and the players,” said Stampeders president and general manager John Hufnagel, who served with Vespaziani on the Stamps coaching staff in 1995 and 1996. “He will be missed and, on behalf of the Stampeders organization, I offer deepest condolences to his family and friends.”

Prior to coming to the CFL, Vespaziani – a native of Bronx, N.Y., who grew up in the Boston area – served as head coach of the Acadia Axemen and he returned to the Canadian ranks later in his career, serving as an assistant coach at Queen’s and Carleton.

Keeling — known as “Bones” to his teammates because of his slender build — joined the Stampeders in 1961 after a standout career at the University of Tulsa. He first made a name for himself as a defensive halfback, earning CFL all-star honours in 1964, 1965 and 1967 and was a five-time division all-star on the defensive side of the ball. It wasn’t until Peter Liske left for the NFL that Keeling moved to the top of the depth chart at quarterback.

Keeling during the 1972 season (Photo by Scott Grant)

In Keeling’s first three years under centre, the Stamps were progressively more successful as they reached the West final in 1969 (a loss to Saskatchewan), the Grey Cup final in 1970 (a loss to Montreal) and won the championship in 1971 with a victory over the Toronto Argonauts.

The 1971 Grey Cup ended a 23-year title drought for the Stamps. The game, played in sloppy conditions at Vancouver’s Empire Stadium, was hardly conducive to quarterback play as Keeling threw only 16 passes but one of his throws found Herm Harrison in the end-zone for the game’s opening score. Keeling was a much bigger factor in the best-of-three West final win over Saskatchewan as he threw for a combined 537 yards and four touchdowns in back-to-back wins over the Roughriders.

Keeling played one more season for the Stamps — 1972 — before moving on to the Ottawa Rough Riders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He retired in 1975 but returned to Calgary in 1982 and 1983 to serve as an assistant coach for the Stamps.

Keeling was voted to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1989 and added to the Stampeders’ Wall of Fame in 1990.

As one of the best two-way players in franchise history, Keeling has his name in two very different places in the CFL record books. He shares the CFL’s record for the longest pass, a 109-yard connection with Terry Evanshen at Winnipeg on Sept. 27, 1966. He also has one of the longest fumble returns in league history, a 102-yarder against BC on Sept. 22, 1964.

During his 15 seasons as a CFLer — including seven in which quarterback was his primary position — Keeling completed 1,302 passes for 18,239 yards and 119 touchdowns.

Keeling was born in Paris, Tex., and grew up in Enid, Okla. He was residing in Oklahoma with his wife Vella at the time of his death.

“I think I was Wally Buono’s first-ever draft pick,” notes Covernton.

Sure enough, 1992 was the year Buono added the general manager’s portfolio to his head-coaching duties and he spent the first overall pick in that year’s draft on a big o-lineman out of Weber State.

“I came in as a rookie, I started all 18 games and we won the Grey Cup,” recalls Covernton. “It was like, ‘Hey, this is pretty easy.’ ”

Covernton is joking, of course. And any rookie naivete he may have harboured quickly disappeared in the years that followed as he battled injuries and suffered the heartbreak of some near-misses by some very good Calgary teams in the mid-1990s. It wasn’t until 1998 that he and the Stamps were able to celebrate another championship.

But in that first professional season, everything went swimmingly for the man nicknamed “Tuna.”

The colourful Covernton is one of the true characters in Stamps history and he was that way from the very beginning.

“I was one of the louder rookies,” he admits, “which means I was the target of all the pranks and the jokes by the veterans. It was pretty funny. Maybe I didn’t think so at the time but, looking back, it definitely was funny.”

Covernton remained with the Stamps through the 1998 season and the Morris, Man., native decided to make Calgary his permanent home after retiring from the CFL. He is owner and president of Big Fish Staffing, a staffing and recruiting company he founded in 2016.

He has remained in the game as a minor-football coach in the city and his larger-than-life personality has also been put to good use as an emcee for football-related events including the CUPS Stampeders Kickoff Breakfast fundraiser.

Bruce Covernton will be in the Fan Zone signing autographs from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. before tonight’s game!

During his 15-year professional football career – including 11 seasons with the Stampeders – Chevrier’s off-field work included stints as a substitute teacher, the operator of a boot camp for weekend athletes, a realtor and a salesman for BBQ accessories.

In a way, it was a reflection of his diversified playing career as the Montreal native saw action as a defensive lineman, an offensive lineman and even a fullback before settling into the long-snapper’s position.

Somehow, Chevrier found time for plenty of other interests, too. For instance, he co-hosted a weekly radio program with former teammate Sheldon Napastuk.

He also dove headlong into charity work, so much so that in 2014 he presented the Stamps’ Herm Harrison Memorial Award and the CFLPA’s Tom Pate Memorial Award for his contributions to the community.

Chevrier was honoured for his extensive involvement in the community including his service as team spokesperson for the Canadian Cancer Society and the team’s spokesman for the annual PinkPower game. Spurred by his personal experiences – his mother is a cancer survivor and a close cousin lost her battle with the disease – Chevrier attacked his role with gusto, running contests on social media and organizing a number of events including a Tickled Pink comedy night/fundraiser.

Chevrier was also involved with the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters, minor football, CUPS and the Alberta Children’s Hospital, among other causes.

Though he started his CFL career in Edmonton and ended it in Saskatchewan, the bulk of his playing days were spent with the Stamps and it was in Calgary he and his wife Tania and their three sons chose to make their permanent home.

Over 11 seasons from 2005 to 2015, Chevrier played a total of 178 regular-season contests for the Stamps, tying Hall-of-Famer Wayne Harris for eighth place on the franchise’s all-time list.

Chevrier won three Grey Cups including the 2008 and 2014 titles as a member of the Stamps. He was also part of the Eskimos’ Grey Cup team in 2003. In addition to his lengthy time in the CFL, Chevrier played a total of 13 NFL games for the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys and also spent time with the Barcelona Dragons in NFL Europe.

Randy Chevrier will be in the Fan Zone signing autographs from 5 to 6 p.m. before tonight’s game!

During his time in Calgary, one of the ongoing challenges was guessing what hue of the rainbow the linebacker would dye his hair on any given day.

Blue. Red. Pink. Green. Bleached blond. Seemingly anything but his natural brown locks.

The human paint swatch also brought the gift of gab and an upbeat personality to the Stampeders locker room during his four seasons – 2004-07 – at McMahon Stadium.

And, oh yeah, he could also play the game.

Coe sporting bleached blond hair during the 2007 season

Coe was the lone Canadian on a dynamic Stamps linebacking crew – along with George White, John Grace and Brian Clark – that was created in 2004 as part of Calgary’s 3-4 defence.

The unit was easily the highlight of what was otherwise a difficult 4-14 season for the Stamps, with Coe contributing 71 tackles, two forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, four sacks and two interceptions.

Coe remained a solid contributor throughout his Stamps career and by the time he was done, he had played 69 games for the Red and White and recorded 256 tackles, nine sacks, three interceptions, 10 forced fumbles and eight fumble recoveries.

The Winnipeg native started his career with two seasons and Hamilton and wrapped things up with one year in Edmonton but when he retired, he returned to Calgary and has been here ever since. He currently works as an associate with Hamilton and Partners.

Scott Coe will be in the Fan Zone signing autographs from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. before tonight’s game!

As a youngster in Lochiel, an Eastern Ontario farming community located in Glengarry County, Hay was a standout soccer player and also played junior B hockey for the Alexandria Glens. It wasn’t until high school that Hay got his first chance to demonstrate the kicking prowess he had demonstrated on the soccer pitch in a different sport.

After high school, Hay apprenticed with the Ottawa Sooners junior squad before signing with the Ottawa Rough Riders. Hay fared quite well during his rookie CFL season (1978) as he produced 136 points.

However, the return of veteran kicker Gerry Organ to Ottawa after a year away from the sport suddenly made Hay expendable and he was traded to Calgary in return for defensive back Doug Falconer.

Hay during the 1984 season (Photo by Scott Grant)

In his decade as Stamp, Hay established a Stampeders franchise record (since broken by Mark MacLoughlin) for career points and was added to the team’s Wall of Fame in 2006.

Upon retirement in 1988, Hay was the Stamps’ career leader with 1,275 points, 282 field goals, 320 converts (without a single miss) and 109 singles. Including the year with Ottawa, he played in 173 regular season games, with 1,411 points, 363 converts in as many attempts, 308 field goals and124 singles.

Hay was a West Division all-star in 1986 and named to the Stampeders’ 50-year Dream Team in 1995.

Hay and his family remained in Calgary at the conclusion of his career. He works in the real estate business and remains heavily involved with the Stamps alumni association.

J.T. Hay will be in the Fan Zone signing autographs from 3 to 4 p.m. before today’s Family Day game!

These two elements have forever been exquisitely embroidered in the fabric of Italian culture.

From casual get-togethers to large holiday banquets, food invariably plays a prominent role at Italian family gatherings. And we’re talking about copious amounts of food here. With the mountains of delectable options and the constant pleas – or are they commands? – of “Mangia, mangia,” it’s virtually impossible to walk away hungry from an Italian feast.

In Italian culture, you don’t eat just for eating’s sake. From the friendly arguments over cappuccinos and biscotti to the traditional five- (or more) course wedding meal to the constant, lively chatter at the mini-marathon that is Sunday dinner, meals are boisterous and joyful occasions. In short, a time to be a family.

Tony Spoletini during the 1991 season (Photo by Scott Grant)

With this unbreakable connection between Italian food and Italian families, it’s little wonder then that Tony Spoletini, Tom Spoletini and Mike Palumbo got into the sausage-making business in the early 1990s, a venture that eventually grew into Spolumbo’s Fine Foods & Deli.

In a nifty story that combines elements of the New World and Old World, these three born-and-bred Calgarians went from Canadian Football League careers with the hometown Stampeders to a food business built on a foundation of traditional Italian recipes.

And, because we’re talking food here, family plays an integral role in every step of the story.

Tony and Tom are cousins, but say the relationship is more than that.

“I grew up with my cousin Tony,” says Tom. “I call him cousin, but we’re more like brothers. We grew up right next door to each other and we’ve worked together for a long, long time and played together forever.”

Mike isn’t related by blood, but Tony’s mother Aurora refers to him as “my nephew Michael.”

Tom Spoletini during the 1990 season (Photo by Scott Grant)

The business got started in the basement of a restaurant operated by Tom’s in-laws, the Tudas, who also provided the bulk of the recipes.

“Anything that we’ve ever started,” notes Tom, “our family has always been very, very supportive. When football ended, I remember my mom said, ‘One door closes and another one opens.’ The food business was the door that opened for us. We took space downstairs in my father-in-law’s restaurant in the prep kitchen and started Spolumbo’s down there.”

The first Inglewood location was a 10-seat deli with the sausage-making facilities located in the backroom.

“I’d work the stuffer and put the casings on,” says Tony, “Mike would tie and Tom would package. So it was pretty fun.”

Out front, the tiny seating area would quickly fill up.

“Sometimes we had to put a tablecloth over a plastic tub to create a makeshift table between the bathroom and the kitchen,” quips Tony.

“It was fun. People loved that feel and that you could improvise. It was fun in those days. By Year 3, we had a pretty good reputation and that little place used to fill up. We knew that we could either stay the way we were or take a chance and get bigger because we started to bust at the seams.”

In August of 1998, the move was made to their current Inglewood location, which has room to seat 100.

As far as the partners are concerned, Spolumbo’s is a uniquely Calgary success story.

“I think we would have been hard-pressed to have this success in other cities,” suggests Tony. “I’m glad we’re Calgarians and I’m glad we did it in Calgary.”

“I truly believe Calgary is the cradle of entrepreneurship,” remarks Tom. “I believe that everybody who starts a business here and has an idea has more than just a fighting chance.”

The partners are overwhelmed by the support they’ve received from Calgarians over the years, and they received another reminder of the city’s community spirit when the 2013 flooding temporarily forced the closure of Spolumbo’s.

“We had, while we were down, probably 200 calls and emails from friends and customers wanting to come down and help clean up,” says Tony. “It just shows the love and support in this city.”

Mike Palumbo during the 1989 season (Photo by Scott Grant)

The Spoletinis and Palumbo have made a point of returning the generosity they’ve been shown. They’ve been high-profile supporters of many worthwhile causes, most notably amateur sports and football in particular, but most of their civic-minded work has been done without fanfare.

The business offers a fundraising program for schools, teams or other groups through the sale of sausages. Spolumbo’s routinely hosts amateur sports press conferences and they’ll take their show on the road to serve up food at sporting events and outdoor celebrations, with one of the partners often showing up to grill the sausages himself.

These guys were born to do this.

“We’ve been making sausage since we were six years old,” says Tom. “Making sausage was a passion that we learned as we were growing up.

“I’ve always said that playing with the Stampeders, you don’t make a whole lot of money but as Canadian kid, you love the game and it opens a lot of doors. When we first started going out flaunting our product, it opened the door and then the product spoke for itself.”

Food and family, with another “F” – football – in between.

“We got to live the best of both worlds,” says Tony. “We got to be Canadian but still experience that old world Italian culture. That’s really shaped me to be the man that I am.

“A lot of the reason that we’ve had the success that we’ve had and done the things we’ve been able to do is because of that support from our family. We couldn’t be happier. We have no regrets — We’ve had a great, great life.”

Tony Spoletini, Tom Spoletini and Mike Palumbo will be in the Fan Zone signing autographs from 11 a.m. to noon before today’s Labour Day Classic!

“I’ve never been what you’d call great at celebrating, at enjoying the moment, you know?’’ the man selected by a TSN poll as the CFL’s greatest-ever player is saying, standing in the entryway Thursday to his old (if refurbished) dressing-room digs at McMahon Stadium.

“I’m usually an all-business type guy.

“I’d come out of the game. We had it. There were a couple minutes left. I’m standing on the sideline with Sponge (Dave Sapunjis).

“We walked behind our bench, faced our crowd. Like: ‘Yeah!’

“I remember that moment as if it was yesterday. The two of us with our hands in the air.

“That’s when I got emotional. It had been a stressful year for me.

“Remember, the Calgary Stampeders had reached the Grey Cup the year before. I didn’t. And Danny Barrett was a darn good quarterback. Then I come here and suddenly there’s this expectation of winning it all.

“So there was pressure. I felt like we had to win. There was no other choice.

“Then to be there, in front of our fans, that way …

“We’d done it. All of us. Together.”

Dave Sapunjis and Doug Flutie celebrate the 1992 Grey Cup (File photo)

That moment at SkyDome, the 24-10 Grey Cup-clinching game against Winnipeg, scripted the perfect ending to a year that had started with Flutie signing here as a free agent out of BC.

“Coming to Calgary was, for me, a perfect storm,’’ says Flutie, now 54, looking tanned and fit and eager to enjoy his return to celebrate that Grey Cup victory. “You look at the explosive, big-play guys we had on offence. Allen (Pitts). Sapunjis. Carl Bland. Pee Wee Smith.

“And I was so lucky to have Huff as my offensive co-ordinator. In this league, at that time, there were coaches. And then there was Huff.

“Huff was a cut above.

“He’d been a great quarterback himself in the league. He elevated my game. The guys around me were talented. And we had a good defence.

“I couldn’t have asked for more.”

John Hufnagel (File photo)

A man who’d go on to join him among the Stampeder quarterbacking greats, Dave Dickenson, remains an unabashed Flutie fan.

“I was actually supposed to be going to Toronto my first year up here and then Doug (went to Toronto),’’ the now Stampeders head coach confesses.

“Well, that changed things for me.

“My agent and I decided: ‘Know what? This is never going to work. We’re never going to be able to beat out that man.’

“So we wanted a trade to another team. And I actually got traded to Calgary, where they had another pretty good guy waiting in (Jeff) Garcia.

“I felt Doug was perfectly suited to the CFL. Very creative. A trendsetter. He didn’t go by the standard. He didn’t want to be put into a cookie-cutter. He wasn’t worried to make a mistake.

“He was a sandlot guy. Used to make stuff up.”

After being two ships passing in the night for Toronto, the two did eventually become teammates in the NFL, at San Diego in 2001.

“There, I got to know him a little better. He’s just a great guy. I think he’s the best-ever player in Canada, for sure. Loves to be around the guys. Loves sports in general.

“Loves music, too. I remember he used to have his drums going at training camp in San Diego.

“For me, it was just fun to be around him and learn from him.”

Dave Dickenson, Jeff Garcia and Doug Flutie during their NFL days (Photo: Supplied by Dave Dickenson)

Everyone on both sides of the border, it seems, has a favourite Flutie moment.

That iconic Hail Mary for Boston College to slay Miami that launched the Magic Flutie into superstardom occurred six years before Bo Levi Mitchell was born in Katy, Tex., for instance, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t ingrained in his football-loving life.

“Oh, I’ve seen that play lots,’’ laughs Mitchell. “Lots. I mean, who hasn’t? You watch any all-time college highlight package and it’s there, right at the top of the list.

“Doug Flutie was one of those guys that created the roll-out on the Hail Mary, sat in the pocket, found a way to get out of it and then put the ball up for a receiver to go get.

“It’s just one of those iconic plays. And especially with him wearing No. 22. I mean, man, that is not a quarterback number, right? But he was always the best player on the field so who was gonna argue?

“I’ve studied a lot of film – and I’m not trying to hurt anybody’s feelings here – on the ‘old’ cats. The guys that shaped this game for us.

“Dave and Doug, they both played with so much passion. What I see in those two that’s very similar is how they hit every single play downhill.

“Both amazing players.”

Doug Flutie (Photo by Scott Grant)

Hufnagel, the mentor, was in his third year as offensive co-ordinator during that touchstone ’92 season.

“Doug,’’ he says, “is ultra-competitive. He’ll do everything he can to beat you in a game of tiddlywinks.

“That’s just how he’s built.

“With that compete level, his unique ability, vision, elusiveness, he was what people now call ‘the package.’ ”

As the latest in a long, rich heritage of standout Stampeder QBs, Mitchell understands – embraces – the attendant excellences of the past.

“Absolutely. There’s a very high standard for quarterbacks here. That’s something that drives everybody who comes to Calgary and plays the position.

“We know we have to show up on game day, lead the team, be the face of the team but at the same time not be bigger than the team.

“None of those guys – Doug, Dave, Henry (Burris), Huff, Jeff, the rest – have ever thought they were bigger,” he said, his gazing takes in a panoramic view of an empty, quiet McMahon Stadium, “than this place.

“No one’s most important than The Horse.

“But having guys like Doug Flutie as models, as examples, I know that pushes me to take my game higher.”

Doug Flutie, John Hufnagel at Dave Dickenson on July 27, 2017 (Photo: Calgary Stampeders)

Twenty-five years later, that model, that example, returns to a familiar haunt to help celebrate an important moment for him, friends, a city and a franchise.

“Yeah, it’s got a little of that visiting-the-old-neighborhood feel,’’ admits Flutie, on the lookout for long-serving equipment manager George Hopkins.

“I dunno, maybe it’s just a football thing. But you rewind 25 years and the stories, everyone’s demeanours, their personalities … it’s all the same. It’s like travelling back in a time machine. It’s a fit.

“Such a cool thing.

“You can go 10 years, 15 years, without seeing each other, jump back in and not miss a beat.

“When you go through what it takes to win a championship – a lot of work, of sweat, of tears – that whole emotional process, that feeling, that kinship, lasts forever.

“It really does.”

The Stampeders have always been a family affair for Tom Forzani.

When the Calgary native joined the Stamps out of Utah State in 1973, his big brothers Joe and John were already on the roster. Years later, his son Johnny was a member of the Red and White.

As for Tom himself, he was one of the franchise’s all-time greats. When he wrapped up his 11-year career in 1983, he was the Stamps’ all-time leader in catches (553), receiving yards (8,285) and touchdown receptions (62). His No. 22 will never again be worn by a Stampeders player and he was added to the team’s Wall of Fame in 1994.

Forzani was an exceptional athlete – his scholarship at Utah State was actually for basketball and the story goes that the football coach only offered him a tryout as a favour because his older brothers had previously played at the school. The youngest Forzani wound up making the team.

He was the Stamps’ top rookie in 1973 and on four occasions was Calgary’s nominee for the Most Outstanding Canadian award. Forzani was a West all-star on three occasions and a CFL all-star once.

After his playing career, Forzani remained active in football through the Stampeders alumni association and through coaching including a stint on the staff of the Calgary Colts juniors. He worked in real estate and also was heavily involved in the charity arm of Forzani Group Ltd.

Kellogg first joined the Calgary Stampeders in 1995.

He left to pursue opportunities in the World League of American Football, the Arena Football and the XFL but eventually, he always found his way back to Calgary. The Tacoma, Wash., native had a late-career stint with the Edmonton Eskimos but again, he wound up rejoining the Stamps one last time in 2004.

Kellogg was a two-time West all-star with the Stamps and was a member of Calgary’s Grey Cup-championship team in 1998. His name remains in the Stamps record books as he ranks among the franchise’s all-time leaders with 21 interceptions and three picks returned for touchdown. Two of the pick-sixes came during the 2000 season and he also had two interception-return TDs with the Eskimos in 2001.

After the Eastern Washington University alum walked away from the game once and for all, he settled in Calgary and he and his wife Jodi have two children – Trey and Jazmyn. Trey has followed in his father’s football footsteps as last season he was a freshman receiver for the UBC Thunderbirds.

Jackie Kellogg is heavily involved with the Stampeders alumni, serving as that organization’s vice-president and chairing the alumni golf tournament. He also coaches minor football.

His post-football career has centred on the oil industry and he is currently a sales consultant for Fedmet Tubulars.

“For lack of a better term, I think he was kind of Mr. Calgary in a lot of respects,” Stampeders longtime equipment manager George Hopkins says of Anderson.

Entering his 46th season with the team, Hopkins first met Anderson when he was just 12 years old, working as a ball boy with the Stamps in 1972.

“He was very proud of his association with the city and I think the city was very taken with Sugar. Everybody had a Sugar story and everyone’s Sugar story was slightly different, but it was all positive.”

Anderson passed away on March 8 of heart failure and it felt like the entire city of Calgary stopped and took a knee to feel the loss. Anderson played for the Stamps from 1949 to 1955 and was one of the first African-Americans to play professional football in North America. In his post-football days, the Nashville, Arkansas native chose to stay in Calgary and put his stamp on the city.

He was a constant presence around the club for the rest of his life, serving as a ticket-account representative and team ambassador. He worked construction in the city and eventually opened Royalite Gas Station. He played in a blues band (The Bluenotes) and opened the city’s eyes to jazz, blues and R&B on local radio, when he worked a disc jockey from 1950 to 1955. He was friends with other trailblazing African-American athletes from his youth, like Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis.

A brief run with a pro football team in LA before his time with the Stampeders led to him into Hollywood parties, which led to a Screen Actors’ Guild card. He had roles in 32 movies, a career unto itself, but Anderson always called Calgary home and the Stampeders family. He was a renaissance man, who used every year of his life to give back to the city that gave him a chance to play a game he loved.

“Everybody could find something about Sugar that they identified with, whether it was opening up the service station or (working in radio) and really incorporating rhythm and blues into a city that was probably (largely) caucasian at the time,” says Hopkins, a native Calgarian.

“Everyone could identify with something with Sugar. That smile was just so infectious. He was always in a good mood.”

Hopkins knew Anderson better than most, but he said it was rare to get him to open up about his life in Arkansas in the 1920s and ’30s.

“I learned a lot just from listening to (former Stampeders assistant GM) Roy Shivers and Shug talk,” he says. “Those guys would get in and there was a whole new world that they talked about, that a white kid living in small town Calgary in 1972 when I started here, that’s not anything that you’re exposed to. But for all the injustice that he had faced along the way, he never carried a grudge.”

Anderson was always regarded as a great listener. It’s something that Hopkins has tried to absorb from years of being around him.

“If there’s one thing that I learned from Sugar a long, long time ago was to not judge anyone too quickly,” he says. “He had told me that as a young guy he was judged too often on first impressions. In this position sometimes that’s hard to do, but I think that that’s a life lesson I learned from him, was to not jump to conclusions based on first impressions.”

To Hopkins, Anderson was the perfect and only choice to be commemorated on a t-shirt this weekend, whether he was still with us or not.

“What you saw with Sugar was what you got. There were no airs about him,” Hopkins says. “He was just larger than life, always had a smile on his face, never really bitched about anything. Those types of people come along very rarely.

The Stampeders will honour Anderson’s life and career with a pre-game ceremony and will have a current Stampeders player lead the team out of the tunnel with a ’00’ flag, to have Anderson’s number run out onto the field on game day once more. His family will participate in the pre-game coin toss and of course, players will wear his t-shirt on the sidelines.

“I don’t think they could have picked a better person to do a t-shirt with,” Hopkins says. “He just embodies the history of the Stampeders.”

This week, we speak with Tom Higgins, who was assistant head coach of that championship squad.

Tom Higgins
Position: Assistant head coach
In 1992: 38 years old, in eighth season on the Stamps’ coaching staff

Tom Higgins showed great survival skills as a member of the Calgary Stampeders coaching staff.

He was hired in 1985 by Stamps head coach Steve Buratto, who was fired just five games into the season. Higgins stayed on as player personnel director Bid Riley handled head-coaching duties for the remainder of the season.

Higgins remained on the scene when Bob Vespaziani took over in 1986 and was retained after another mid-season coaching chance in 1987 when Lary Kuharich replaced Vespaziani after eight games.

Kuharich was gone after the 1989 season which gave Higgins the chance to work under yet another head coach, Wally Buono.

“It’s interesting that I was to be able to survive that many head coaches,” quips Higgins. “But I think it was because I was young and I knew where the executive washroom was.”

In reality, Higgins had all the necessary credentials for the job.

As a player, he was a starter on North Carolina State’s defensive line before converting to linebacker during a professional career that included three seasons with the Stamps and one season with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

As a coach, he’d served for three years on Peter Connellan’s University of Calgary Dinosaurs squad including a Vanier Cup-championship season in 1983 before getting the call from the Stamps.

He was even a candidate to become Calgary’s head coach in 1990, with the job instead going to fellow Stamps assistant Buono.

“Wally then let me be his assistant head coach,” says Higgins, “which was really nice.”

Particularly since the Stamps were building to something important at that time after struggling through the entire 1980s without a playoff win.

Remarkably, Buono’s 1992 coaching staff featured four assistants – Higgins, John Hufnagel, Don Sutherin and George Cortez – who went on to lead their own teams.

“Just getting to that point was miraculous,” says Higgins, “because it was a nine-year span that I had with the Stampeders the first go-around and you’re thinking nine years is a long time but what happens is when you start to put that kind of consistency together, that’s when you have success.”

Calgary won two playoff games in 1991 – including a memorable victory in the West final at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium – but fell short in the Grey Cup.

The following off-season, the final piece of the puzzle settled into place.

“There’s an old joke that people still laugh at,” says Higgins. “A head coach needs a loving wife, a loyal dog and a great quarterback, but not necessarily in that order.”

Cue Doug Flutie for his entrance.

“What it comes down to,” says Higgins, “is that we had the foundation of a pretty good football team but Doug Flutie took it over the top. Our offensive line the year prior to Doug coming here was ranked somewhere in the middle as far sacks against and anything that you do to judge an offensive line. Well, all of a sudden the offensive line became the best in the CFL by whatever standards and it was because nobody could touch slippery Flutie. He’s just special.”

The Flutie wizardry was paired with Stamps domination in the trenches.

“You have to have a great offensive line and you have to have to a great defensive line,” says Higgins, “and I really do believe that the success of any organization comes down to having those two factors because you’ve got to run the ball and you’ve got to be able to protect your quarterback. Conversely, you have to be able to get after it (on defence) so to have the talent that we had on the defensive line, to me, is absolutely amazing.

“We had four Canadian defensive linemen (Stu Laird, Kent Warnock, Srecko Zizakovic and Harald Hasselbach) and we actually started three and that’s unheard of today. Then we had (Americans) Tim Cofield and Will Johnson who were our defensive ends.”

After squeezing out a win over the Esks in the 1992 West final at McMahon Stadium, the Stamps thumped Winnipeg in the 1992 championship game at Toronto’s SkyDome.

“It was unfinished business,” notes Higgins. “It was a business-like approach to the athletes going into Toronto and making sure that they didn’t squander away their greatest opportunity to have fond memories.”

After 1993, Higgins moved north to Edmonton, first as a member of the front office and then as the head coach starting in 2001. In his third season on the Esks’ sidelines, he led the team to a Grey Cup title.

Higgins returned to Calgary in 2005 and in his first season as the Red and White’s head coach he led a squad that had won just four games the season before to an 11-7 mark. After three years, he was replaced by Hufnagel and went on to serve as the CFL’s director of officiating for six seasons and in 2014 was hired to coach the Montreal Alouettes.

This week, we catch up with Greg Knox, who was a rookie on that ’92 squad.

Greg Knox
No: 8
Position: Safety
College: Wilfrid Laurier
In 1992: 22 years old, 1st with Stamps
Regular season: Played 18 games and registered 24 defensive tackles, six special-teams tackles, one interception, one fumble recovery and five pass knockdowns
Post-season: Had a combined four special-teams tackles in West final and Grey Cup

Photo by Scott Grant

As a rookie – a sixth-round draft pick, no less – joining a veteran-laden Stampeders squad that was focused on winning a championship, Greg Knox wasn’t sure what to expect when he arrived in Calgary back in 1992.

“Walking into a setting like that,” says the Wilfrid Laurier alum, “and being wet behind the ears, you’re in survival mode early on more than anything.”

And this was a time when veterans didn’t see the need to make youngsters feel comfortable.

“Well, they all picked on us pretty good as rookies,” Knox says with a laugh. “It wasn’t long after that rookies stopped getting such a hard time. So I don’t know how much help (the veterans) were.”

Knox was eventually better able to take inventory of his surroundings at McMahon Stadium and the men who worked there, but only after he learned to cope with the trials and tribulations of being a rookie in the pros.

“As I was able to look past that,” he says “it was obvious to me that there was an enormous amount of talent and it was a great group of guys. That combination – the Canadians, the Americans, the coaching staff – it was just a good group.

“I think we had a lot of fun – I know I certainly did despite being a rookie. Just being able to line up behind guys like (all-star linebacker) Alondra Johnson and watch him run around was a treat.”

Many of the Calgary players who’d been around for a while have mentioned that a championship in 1992 felt inevitable after a close call the year before. For Knox, it was only much later he could appreciate the determination of that team.

“You take things like that for granted when you’re in the midst of it,” he explains. “I’m not certain I recognized it at the time but in hindsight, after being part of some strong teams over the next decade, you realize there were certain things that were driving forces. It was a team that had a lot of drive and a lot of character.”

A quarter-century later, Knox points to the obvious when asked about his favourite memory form 1992.

“The moment for everybody,” says the Peterborough, Ont., native, “was when you raise the trophy and you get to hold that above your head, especially when it’s such a driven and focused group.”

Knox was familiar with that feeling as he had won the Vanier Cup with Wilfrid Laurier in his final university season. Then, after starting his CFL career with a Grey Cup, Knox wrapped things up the same way as he was part of the Stamps’ 1998 championship team.

Knox’s best season in Calgary came in 1994 as he led the team with 10 interceptions and earned West Division and CFL all-star honours. His career totals included 22 interceptions — with a pick-six in 1994 — 210 tackles, eight fumble recoveries and four sacks.

He’s enjoyed great success as a coach, too. As defensive coordinator for the McMaster University Marauders, he went to three Vanier Cups in a four-year period, winning a title in 2011. After a season on the coaching staff of the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, he returned to McMaster as head coach in 2016 and led the Marauders to a 6-2 record.

Two defensive linemen who played under Knox at McMaster are now members of the Stamps – Ben D’Aguilar and Michael Kashak.

It was 2007 and Instagram and Snapchat didn’t yet exist. Twitter was in its infancy. And BlackBerry still held a significant chunk of the market share in smartphones.

But it’s not as if word of Phillips’ exploits at Wilfrid Laurier University were transmitted by telegraph or carrier pigeon.

“I sent out my highlights on DVD,” he points out. “It wasn’t VHS, thank God. I’m not aging myself TOO much.”

Still, come draft day, Phillips was at the mercy of the times as live coverage wasn’t yet a reality.

“Back then,” he says, “nothing was on TV. They had somewhat of a stream but I didn’t have a laptop at the time – it’s funny how technology changes in 10 years – so I remember it was all my family sitting in my room. We were refreshing the computer screen, and it kept cutting out.”

Photo by David Moll

Then came a phone call from his agent Darren Gill to inform him the Calgary Stampeders were possibly poised to use their first-round selection, fifth overall, to grab Phillips. Not long afterwards, Stamps personnel from that era – general manager Jim Barker, defensive coordinator Denny Creehan and defensive line coach Casey Creehan – were on the horn to indeed officially welcome him to Calgary.

The calls brought clarity to a period of uncertainty leading into the draft.

“I wasn’t really sure how everything was going to work out,” admits Phillips. “When I was playing at Wilfrid Laurier, we had a fairly talented team. I mean, we won the Vanier Cup (in 2005) and multiple Yates Cups (as Ontario conference champions). To be perfectly honest, I was overshadowed by some good players – Yannick Carter, Jesse Alexander, Ian Logan, Anthony Maggiacomo. There was so much talent there that I thought maybe I was being overlooked.

“When I went to the combine, I had great testing numbers and I did well in all the drills and that kind of put me on the map a little bit more. I had a good showing at the combine but I didn’t know how much I was on teams’ radars before the combine so I didn’t know where I was going to go or what to expect.”

Phillips made the Stamps as a rookie in what proved to be the cusp of a major transition at McMahon. After a 7-10-1 season under Tom Higgins, the Stamps brought in John Hufnagel as head coach and general manager in 2008.

“I was one of the carryovers from that (2007) team into the Hufnagel Era,” says Phillips, “and it was definitely quite the run after that.”

Photo by David Moll

The Stamps captured the Grey Cup in 2008 and won at least 10 games in each season from 2008-14. Phillips played a total of 102 games for the Red and White, primarily as a special-teamer although he did make 16 starts on the defensive line in 2011.

Phillips was traded in 2014 to his hometown team – the Ottawa RedBlacks – and he played two more seasons before reaching the end of the football line and concentrating full-time on his career as a commercial insurance broker.

“Overall,” he says, “I look back on the nine years as something I’ll remember for the rest of my life and I treasure every moment of it. I got to live out a childhood dream of playing a professional sport and I got to do it with what I feel is the class organization in the entire CFL, the Calgary Stampeders. We didn’t have the most post-season success but we had some great teams and some great runs. We were able to win one Grey Cup.

“Then, to cap things off, coming to Ottawa and being able to play in front of my family and friends, it was a good way to end.”

Phillips had tough luck on the medical front over back half of his career as he was able to suit up for just 37 of 72 regular-season games over his final four seasons.

“The injuries kind of piled up on me,” he concedes, “but that kind of goes with the territory of playing professional football and playing the position I played. I prided myself on being one of the hardnosed, tough special-teams guys. I was out there blowing up wedges and being the wedge and (being involved) in just some massive collisions. I prided myself on doing that and doing anything I could to help the team.”

On Tuesday, Phillips celebrated the 10th anniversary of his draft day by offering Twitter advice to the players waiting to hear their names get called in Sunday’s 2017 draft.

10 years ago today I was drafted 5th overall by the @calstampeders in the 07 @CFL draft! Enjoy the moment to the upcoming draftees #CFLDraft

— Justin Phillips (@JPhil44) May 3, 2017

“Just enjoy the moment because you’ve put so much work and effort into this,” he elaborates, “You’ve played football your whole life and you’ve been training your butt off for years and years. Enjoy the moment because it’s quite the accomplishment.

“Looking back on it, I did realize how special it was but when those things are gone and you’re 10 years removed from the draft moment, you look back and say, ‘Wow, that really was special – I should have treasured that even more than I did.’ ”

Arthur made his debut at McMahon Stadium Friday morning as the Dinos kicked off their annual Spring Camp. The Dinos, who captured their 16th Hardy Cup title and made the program’s 10th Vanier Cup appearance last season, will be on the field all weekend, culminating with Sunday’s scrimmage beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Arthur replaces Justin Chapdelaine, who moved to the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes in the off-season.

“Jabari has a great passion for football and coaching, and great enthusiasm,” said Dinos Head Coach Wayne Harris. “His experience as a pro is so valuable to developing young athletes, and we’re looking forward to what he can bring to the room.”

A native of Montreal, Arthur joined the Calgary Stampeders in 2008, winning the Grey Cup title that season. Through his seven-year CFL career, he played 81 games – all with the Stamps – hauling in 97 receptions for 1,162 yards and six touchdowns.

“It’s a pretty awesome opportunity for me,” said Arthur. “Playing football I always had something to hunt and chase after, and getting out of football I missed that feeling of getting after something and the whole locker room environment. Coming back here with a great organization gives me that opportunity again, and this is a great team, so I’m pretty excited to be here.

“Every moment I have been here I’ve learned something new – whether it’s Xs and Os or the pace of the practice. The coaching staff has been really good to me, and I’m just going to do my part.”

A graduate of Montreal’s Vanier College, he played four seasons for the University of Akron.

Arthur is one of five Stamps alums on the Dinos staff as he joins Wayne Harris Jr. (head coach), Greg Vavra (quarterbacks coach), Kent Warnock (defensive line coach) and J.T. Hay (kickers coach).

The Dinos, who captured their 16th Hardy Cup title and made the program’s 10th Vanier Cup appearance last season, begins its annual Spring Camp Friday morning at McMahon Stadium. The weekend wraps up Sunday with the annual scrimmage, beginning at 12:30 p.m.

With files from the Calgary Dinos Athletics

This week, we hear from former defensive back Greg Peterson, who for the past 20 years has been the colour commentator for Stamps broadcasts on News Talk 770.

Greg Peterson
No: 24
Position: Defensive back
College: Brigham Young
In 1992: 32 years old, 9th and final season with Stamps
Regular season: Played 15 games and registered 20 defensive tackles, three special-teams tackles, two interceptions and two pass knockdowns
Post-season: Had 1 tackle and 1 interception in West final and 3 tackles in Grey Cup

Peterson during the 1987 season (Photo by Scott Grant)

If Greg Peterson was making closing arguments to a jury back in 1991, he could have made a compelling to case to close the books on his CFL career.

The Stampeders defensive back, after all, had already toiled for eight seasons with the Red and White and the freshly minted lawyer was faced with a growing list of legal clients and growing demands on his time.

But ultimately, the verdict was, ‘Play on.’

“If we had won (the 1991 Grey Cup against Toronto), I probably would have retired then,” says Peterson. “But we didn’t. We lost, so I said, ‘I’m going to go back.’ ”

Good move – the Stamps’ 1992 Grey Cup conquest allowed Peterson to go out a champion. In addition to a Grey Cup ring that season, Peterson picked up a pretty good story.

“The thing that sticks out most in my mind,” he says, “is that after the (Grey Cup game), almost everybody had left the locker room. I was one of the last guys left with Stu Laird and maybe Kenny Moore and a couple of other guys. I hung around because I was visiting with family and friends.

“Finally, somebody said, ‘Pete, you’ve got to get dressed. Everybody has left and you’ve got to get out of here.’ So I went back to get a towel and there sat the Grey Cup in a back room of SkyDome. So I picked it up and went back (into the locker room) and said, ‘Guys, nobody took the Grey Cup. What are we supposed to do with this?’ ”

The stragglers decided to bring the trophy to the Stamps’ post-game celebration and their arrival was met with rousing cheers. Peterson, a teetotaler who in the midst of post-game celebrations was in the best position to appear on camera, was then whisked away to a distant studio to do an interview with a Calgary TV reporter.

“When I came back,” says Peterson, “the party was kind of toning down a little bit and I connected back up with Stu and Ken and a bunch of others and we said, ‘Let’s go take our wives out to get something to eat.’ Then Kenny Moore says, ‘Let’s go get the Grey Cup. I hear it’s in (owner Larry) Ryckman’s room.’ ”

Peterson during the 1989 season (Photo by Scott Grant)

The contingent of football players enlisted the help of a hotel employee to secure the famous trophy.

“What do you do,” chuckles Peterson, “when you’re the bellboy and there’s all these six-foot-four, 280-lb. guys – I was the smallest guy there – and they’re saying ‘open up the door’? So he opened the door and there sat the Cup. We picked it up and we took it.”

Cup in tow, the group went out for Chinese food.

“Then we went back (to the hotel),” says Peterson, “and it’s really late at night and we said, ‘What are we going to do with the Cup?’ Somebody told us that Ryckman and Wally (Buono) had heard what we had done and that they were livid. So Kenny says, ‘Greg, we know this is your last year, and maybe Stu, too. So you guys should take it.’ Stu even put it on my bed and said, ‘Now you can say you slept with the Cup.’ ”

Then came the morning after and the dilemma of what to do with the evidence. Over to you, counsellor.

“I could tell Stu was worried,” says Peterson. “I knew he was going to (play the following season) so I said, ‘Stu, this is my last year, I’ll take all the heat. I’ll go give it to them.’ ”

And so Peterson tracked down Ryckman and Buono and handed over the Cup.

“I could tell they weren’t happy,” he laughs, “but I didn’t really care because I got to spend the night of the Grey Cup victory with the Grey Cup.”

To think the title and post-championship adventures all came about because of Peterson’s decision to put off full-time lawyering for one more year.

“I’m so glad I came back that year and I’m so glad that I got to spend my last night as a Stampeder with the Grey Cup,” says Peterson, who is a senior partner in Gowling WLG’s Calgary office.

“It was great for Stu and I because we were Calgary boys, we’d played high-school football against each other and we’d been roommates for almost my entire career. It was good way for Stu and I to finish off that year and for me to finish off my career.”

In the coming months, we’ll be taking a look back at the squad that snapped the Stamps’ 21-year title drought and the cast of characters responsible for the conquest.

This time, we speak with defensive lineman Srecko Zizakovic.

Srecko Zizakovic
No: 96
Position: Defensive lineman
College: Ohio State
In 1992: 26 years old, 3rd season with Stamps
Regular season: Played 15 games and registered 19 defensive tackles and 6 sacks
Post-season: Played in both the West final and the Grey Cup and recorded 1 sack

Photo by Scott Grant

The setting for the Stampeders’ 1992 Grey Cup championship – Toronto’s SkyDome – was ideal for Srecko Zizakovic.

“For me,” recalls the former Stampeders defensive tackle, “the culmination was winning it in my hometown, where I was born and raised. Being able to look up at my parents and my brother (Lubo). Well, my brother was happy but he wasn’t so happy because he was playing in Hamilton at the time and they were one game away from playing us in the Grey Cup that year.

“But having two or three of my best friends there, my high-school coaches and guys I went to high school with watching, it was quite the thrill to be able to hoist the Cup and show it off to my parents and my buddies. You’re at the best of your game and there’s nothing higher than the pinnacle.”

Like many of his colleagues that season, Zizakovic recalls the single-minded determination of the 1992 team after falling just short of a championship the year before.

“More than anything, it’s confidence,” he says. “I tell people quite often that we knew in training camp we were going to win the Grey Cup. I mean, it wasn’t even going to be an issue. Part of it is that when you looked at the nucleus of the team we had and then I think (general manager and head coach) Wally (Buono) did an exceptional job of swapping out some players who didn’t fit – let’s put it that way – and bringing in some new guys, not the least of which was Doug Flutie.

“We knew once we had him and the receiving corps we had, the o-line and the athletes we had on the defensive side of the ball . . . We were like, ‘Geez, there’s nothing stopping us.’ ”

The ’92 Stamps won the West with a 13-5 record and scored an astounding 607 points while allowing a league-low 430.

“It’s hard to go undefeated for 18 games in this league,” notes Zizakovic. “So our thought process was that we may lose a game here, we may lose a game there. A guy may get hurt and some adversity may come our way but we’re focused on what we need to do as a team.

“It was our business-like attitude. For me, it started with (defensive line coach Tom) Higgins. Tom was very business-like when it comes to his approach to getting ready for games. It was kind of like the Vikings rolling in – you see us coming and we’ll let you know we’re coming, but we’re still going to take your lunch, kick your dog and take everything of yours and we’re going to walk away. We were coming in to do a job and this is going to happen. You might not like it but we don’t care.

“It was just that game-in, game-out attitude of, ‘OK, who’s next?’ Then you do your best to prepare and to win. Ultimately, we came out with huge confidence in what we could do as a team.”

Photo by Scott Grant

Zizakovic was part of a deep and talented defensive line including a quartet of Canadians – Zizakoc, Kent Warnock, Stu Laird and Harald Hasselback – as part of the rotation at the tackle spots.

“I remember when we played, we’d go out after the game because we weren’t flying out until the next morning and you’d eventually hook up with guys from the other team,” Zizakovic recounts. “And every one of those o-linemen was just cursing you. They’d say, ‘That’s B.S. that you guys have that much Canadian depth.’

“Having Tim Cofield and Will Johnson as our two American outside guys and then having what I would like to think are four very high-quality Canadian defensive linemen to play the interior. But more importantly, any one of us could play any of those positions. That was the beauty of our d-line.”

The Stamps defensive unit was stellar in the Grey Cup, holding Winnipeg to 216 offensive yards and keeping the Blue Bombers scoreless until the midway point of the fourth quarter.

“From a defensive player’s perspective,” says Zizakovic, “of course you want to put up the goose egg and unfortunately we let them have 10 points. But we were very, very happy with the whole body of work for that game, for sure.”

Zizakovic remained with the Stamps through the 1995 campaign, getting the chance to play with his brother for the final two seasons of his career.

He remained in Calgary after his playing days and since 2008 has been with oilfield services company Baker Hughes. Zizakovic is also heavily involved with the Stamps’ alumni association and is a former president of that organization.

In the coming months, we’ll be taking a look back at the squad that snapped the Stamps’ 21-year title drought and the cast of characters responsible for the conquest.

This time, we take a look at defensive lineman Tim Cofield.

Tim Cofield
No: 90
Position: Defensive lineman
College: Elizabeth City State
In 1992: 29 years old, 2nd season with Stamps
Regular season: Played 14 games and made 24 defensive tackles, 6 special-teams tackles, 6 sacks and 5 pass knockdowns
Post-season: Had 2 sacks in the West final

Chris Schultz says Tim Cofield is the reason he retired as a player and embarked on a second career that eventually brought him to TSN’s CFL panel.

After failing time after time to block Cofield during a game, Schultz knew it was time to look at other options.

Cofield made a profound impression on Schultz and many others during a six-year CFL career that started with a couple of seasons in Calgary. The Murfreesboro, N.C., native joined the Red and White in 1991 after having played 54 NFL games over five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets.

Lining up at defensive end after playing linebacker in the NFL, Cofield was part of a ridiculously deep QB-terrorizing Stampeders defensive line that featured the likes Will Johnson, Kent Warnock, Stu Laird, Harald Hasselbach and Srecko Zizakovic.

Cofield dressed for just four regular-season games in his first season with Calgary but he was a standout in the post-season, recording nine tackles in the West final win over Edmonton and two tackles and a fumble recovery in the Grey Cup.

That was a sign of things to come as he became a regular in 1992 and finished tied for second on the team with six sacks in the regular season and added two sacks in the West final.

Cofield’s game was a potent combination of speed, technique and strength, and he reportedly could bench press 500 lbs. Still, he admits he needed a period of adjustment after the move north.

“You have to have good feet around here,” Cofield told reporters during his time with the Stamps. “You can beat the tackle but that doesn’t mean you can get the quarterback. In the NFL, you’re basically going straight ahead. The quarterbacks in the NFL are going to duck. These guys are going to try to elude you and they do it better up here than in the NFL.

“Football is football, I don’t care what level you’re at. They play just as hard, they hit just as hard and the competition is just as good here.”

Cofield was traded to Hamilton prior to the 1993 season and was a CFL all-star three consecutive seasons – twice with the Ticats and once with the Memphis Mad Dogs – as he recorded a ridiculous total of 59 sacks in 54 games over that period. In other words, Schultz wasn’t the only offensive lineman Cofield dominated in those days.

Cofield, an alum of Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, concluded his brief but distinguished CFL career in 1996 with Toronto.

In the coming months, we’ll be taking a look back at the squad that snapped the Stamps’ 21-year title drought and the cast of characters responsible for the conquest.

This time, we reminisce with standout defensive lineman Stu Laird.

Stu Laird
No: 75
Position: Defensive lineman
College: Calgary
In 1992: 31 years old, 8th season with Stamps
Regular season: Played 10 games and was tied for second on the team with six sacks. Also had 21 tackles and one fumble recovery
Post-season: Played in both the West final and the Grey Cup and had five tackles

The 1992 Grey Cup contest at the building then known as the Skydome had been over for a while and the locker room of the victorious Calgary Stampeders was nearly deserted, with the echoes of all the post-game whoops and hollers having faded away.

Only a few players remained, and they had some shiny company.

“Greg Peterson and I,” recalls Stu Laird, “we were the last ones in the locker room and the Grey Cup was still sitting there. I assume that everybody just thought, ‘Well somebody’s going to get it.’

“So Greg and myself – I believe Kenny Moore was with us – we picked up the Grey Cup and walked from Skydome back to our hotel. People were driving by and asking, ‘Is that the Grey Cup?’ They couldn’t believe it. Then we finally walked into our reception at the hotel and there was all the cheering. That was a unique and moment.”

Laird, a defensive lineman who would play a dozen seasons for the Red and White, and Peterson held on to the prized trophy after the party.

“Greg and I were roommates on the road and we wound up with the Grey Cup in our room that night,” says Laird. “I think it was because we had been there for so long and been through those (difficult) times. Both being Calgary boys who had played high school against each other (Laird for Lord Beaverbrook and Peterson for E.P. Scarlett) . . . so that was another one of those special memories.”

The Saskatchewan-born, Calgary-raised Laird made his Stamps debut in 1985 and lived through the franchise’s struggle for survival. So the 1992 championship had special poignancy, not just for himself but for his fellow Calgarians.

“We wanted to get a championship ring and the fans in Calgary had been without that championship for so long,” he explains. “We had so many great diehard fans who had supported us. I was there during that SOS (Save Our Stamps) campaign and this was a great opportunity for us to give back to the fans as well.

“It felt good to finally be able to deliver that to our great fans. There were a lot of fans who had stood by us no matter what. The fans rallied around the team in the mid-80s when we were on the verge of bankruptcy. To finally win that championship was special.”

Laird knows the wait for a title was one year longer than everyone in Calgary would have liked.

“My story about 1992,” he says, “actually starts the year before and how thrilling and exciting it was to finally beat the Eskimos in the Western Final but then how disappointing it was to lose in the Grey Cup game – a game that, defensively, we played so well.

“So the whole ’92 season, for many of us, was about getting back to that Grey Cup game and winning the game.”

The 1992 championship would prove to be the only title in Laird’s career, despite the Stamps fielding some very good teams right through until his final season in 1996.

“It just goes to show how hard it is to win a championship,” says Laird, whose No. 75 is retired by the Stampeders. “I wear that Grey Cup ring just about every day.

“You get some money for winning the Grey Cup,” he adds with a laugh, “but I couldn’t tell you where that went. But I still have that ring. I remember the great teammates, I remember the fan receptions we had after the game. Some great memories.”

Laird remained in his hometown after his playing career and is now a veteran of the Calgary Fire Department, rising to the rank of battalion chief.

In the coming months, we’ll be taking a look back at the squad that snapped the Stamps’ 21-year title drought and the cast of characters responsible for the conquest.

This time, we take a look at receiver Derrick Crawford.

Derrick Crawford
No: 83
Position: Receiver
College: Memphis
In 1992: 31 years old, 3rd season with Stamps
Regular season: Played 17 games and made 47 catches for 714 yards and five touchdowns. He also had 24 punt-return yards and 392 kickoff-return yards
Post-season: Played in both the West final and the Grey Cup and had six catches for 162 yards in the championship game

Trivia time: Who was the Stamps’ leading receiver in the 1992 Grey Cup?

The obvious answer would be all-star Allen Pitts, who led the Red and White with 103 grabs during the regular season. Another good guess would be super slotback David Sapunjis, a favourite target of Stamps quarterback Doug Flutie in those days.

A sneaky choice would be Carl Bland, a guy who was somewhat less famous than Pitts and the Sponge but nevertheless joined them in the 1,000-yard receiving club in 1992.

However, the correct response is none of the above. Move to the head of the class and give yourself a gold star if you said “Derrick Crawford.”

Make no mistake, Crawford was a fine receiver. While he was overshadowed by the trio of Pitts, Sapunjis and Bland with their 252 combined catches for 3,960 yards and 21 touchdowns, Crawford had a respectable regular season in 1992 with 47 catches for 714 yards and five scores.

Still, his performance in the championship game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers that season – six catches for a whopping 162 yards – was unexpected. In fact, Crawford had been shut out in the receiving department in the Stamps’ West final victory over Edmonton, although he did contribute 79 yards in punt and kickoff returns in that contest.

But the diminutive speedster came up big in the big game as he averaged 27 yards on his six receptions including a 41-yarder. And it’s not like the Blue Bombers shut down the Big Three – who combined for 276 yards and Pitts and Sapunjis each had a touchdown as Calgary downed Winnipeg 24-10.

Crawford played a total of four seasons with the Red and White, including 1,000-yard performances in his debut campaign with Calgary (1990) and in his final year (1993).

His CFL time also included a 1995 stint with the short-lived Birmingham Barracudas. It was the final stop of his playing career.

Prior to coming to Canada, Crawford starred for the United States Football League’s Memphis Showboats – in the same city he was born and had played college – in 1984 and 1985 and then joined the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers in 1986.

In the coming months, we’ll be taking a look back at the squad that snapped the Stamps’ 21-year title drought and the cast of characters responsible for the conquest.

This time, we reminisce with all-star linebacker Matt Finlay.

Matt Finlay
No: 37
Position: Linebacker
College: Eastern Michigan
In 1992: 29 years old, 6th season with Stamps, 7th season in the CFL
Regular season: Played all 18 games, second on the team with 88 tackles, also had 12 special-teams tackles, eight knockdowns, two sacks and two fumble recoveries
Post-season: Played in both the West final and the Grey Cup and recorded seven tackles and two special-teams tackles

Matt Finlay almost missed out on the big celebration in 1992.

The Canadian linebacker broke into the CFL with the Montreal Alouettes in 1986 and would keep going until 1995 when he concluded his time with the Stampeders, but his career almost went off the rails along the way.

“I think it was in 1989 or 1990, I was about ready to retire,” says Finlay.

He was poised to call it quits, not because he wasn’t able to perform at a suitable level or because he didn’t love the game anymore, but because almost any other career option seemed preferable to playing for Lary Kuharich, the Stamps’ head coach at that time.

Photo by Scott Grant

Kuharich was certainly a controversial figure in Stamps history, infamous for unceremoniously releasing popular players, throwing objects during post-game interviews and, at the end of his tenure, giving Calgary fans a middle-finger salute.

“I was three or four years into my career,” he says, “and I was going to retire because I wasn’t having fun. That was the low point in my career.

“For some, he was the type of guy who was good for them, I guess, but to have a coach who was good for some and not for others generally doesn’t work well. What you need is a coach who is very methodical and you know exactly where he’s coming from.”

Enter Wally Buono, who became head coach in 1990 following the stormy end of Kuharich’s tenure.

“With Wally, at least you knew exactly what you were getting,” says Finlay. “Every player felt that way. He showed he could build an organization from the ground up, which he did.”

In 1991, the Stamps made it to the Grey Cup but dropped the championship game to Toronto.

“A very good team,” says Finlay. “Very happy just to be in the Grey Cup, especially since the Stampeders hadn’t been to the game since the ’70s. Of course, leading up to that, we had beaten Edmonton in Edmonton in the West final, so we were able to overcome some hurdles that the Stampeders had never been able to do.”

But still, the Stamps fell one agonizing step short.

“After the game, everyone looked around the room and we realized we had the foundation of a great team,” he recalls. “We just needed to dedicate ourselves to winning the next year.”

That they did, with Finlay doing his part. He finished second on the team in tackles to fellow linebacker Alondra Johnson and earned West Division all-star honours.

“Doug Flutie came in and that was last piece of the puzzle for that team,” says Finlay. “It was a dominant team from beginning to end and, going into the Grey Cup, it was a very confident team and a very confident feeling, knowing we were going to win.

“With that season, it’s nice to set out in the beginning what you want to do and then achieve those goals. The character of that team was very, very strong, from the top down.”

The Cup was a glorious indication of how much Finlay’s situation had changed since the Kuharich era and the potential premature end to his playing career.

The Stamps remained a powerhouse until the end of Finlay’s career in 1995, but still experienced post-season frustration.

“We made three trips to the Grey Cup during my time with the Stamps but 1992 was the only year we won,” he remarks. “It just goes to show how hard it is to win a Grey Cup, even with that kind of talent.”

A Toronto native, Finlay chose to stay in Calgary after retiring from football.

“I’ve been a broker since I retired,” he says. “I actually became a broker while I was playing.”

Finlay is currently a senior vice-president with Richardson GMP.