A look at the Blue Bombers’ Grey Cup history

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/11/2019 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In its long football history, the Winnipeg Football Club has won 10 Grey Cups, emblematic of the Canadian football championship. In 1935, the Winnipeg Rugby Football Club, then known as the Winnipegs, won Western Canada’s first title by beating the hometown Hamilton Tigers 18-12.

The last victory happened 30 seasons ago, in 1990, when the team, nicknamed the Blue Bombers in 1936 by sportswriter Vince Leah, beat Edmonton Eskimos 50-11.
The club’s other national championships came in 1939, 1941, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1984 and 1988.

To the Bombers faithful, the Bud Grant era is seen as the glory years of the team. Grant took over as head coach in 1957 and led the team to four Grey Cups in five years between 1958 and 1962. The lineup of that team included a long list of Bomber greats including imports Kenny Ploen, Leo Lewis, Buddy Tinsley, Herb Gray, Ernie Pitts, and Frank Rigney; as well as Canadians Gerry James, Henry Janzen, Pepe LaTourelle, Ed Kotowich, Cornel Piper, Steve Patrick, Gordie Rowland, Norm Rauhaus and Roger Savoie.

Grant’s Bombers could have been on a five-year run in the Grey Cup game if the Edmonton Eskimos hadn’t upset them in the best-of-three Western final in 1960. Bombers won the first game in Edmonton, 22-16, but lost game two at home, 10-8. In the third game played on Nov. 19 at Winnipeg Stadium, the final score was 4-2 Eskimos.

The club’s drought was broken in 1984 when the Bombers defeated Hamilton Tiger-Cats 47-17 in the Grey Cup played in Edmonton. Bombers trailed 17-3 early in the second quarter after former

Winnipeg quarterback Dieter Brock passed for one Hamilton touchdown and ran 15 yards for another. Bombers then put 27 more points on the scoreboard by half-time. On the day, Tom Clements completed 20 passes, including one for a TD by Joe Poplawski, and running back Willard Reaves had two touchdowns. Jeff Boydon, on a pass from John Hufnagel and Stan Mikawos on a fumble recovery scored the others. Trevor Kennerd kicked four field goals and five converts.

In 1988, with the wind howling in Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park, the kickers led the way to a 22-21 victory over the B.C. Lions. Kennerd scored 14 points with four field goals, a single and a convert after James Murphy scored the team’s only touchdown on a pass from Sean Salisbury. Punter Bob  Cameron added two singles and kept the Lions in poor field position with his punts. He averaged 47.3 yards on 16 kicks and was named the game’s outstanding Canadian player.

In the 1990 Grey Cup at B.C. Place in Vancouver, the Bombers became only the third team ever to score 50 points in a title match. The Eskimos did it in 1956, as did the Queen’s University Golden Gaels in 1923. Bombers got two touchdowns from outstanding Canadian Warren Hudson and single TDs by Lee Hull, Rick House and Greg Battle, who was named the outstanding defensive player. Kennerd booted 12 points. Quarterback Tom Burgess, who was named the outstanding offensive player, completed 18 passes for 286 yards and rushed for 26. Ted Bartman, who served as team president that year, just died this past Oct. 27. He was inducted into the Winnipeg Football Club Hall of Fame in 2011.  

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com