64th Grey Cup

The 64th Grey Cup was played on November 28, 1976, at the Exhibition Stadium at Toronto. The Ottawa Rough Riders defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders by the score 23 to 20 in what is considered one of the most thrilling Grey Cup games and with perhaps the most exciting plays in Grey Cup history.^[1]

Attendance for the game was 53,467 - at the time a record for a Grey Cup game. The large crowd was made possible by a recently completed expansion to the stadium that had been carried out to accommodate the Toronto Blue Jays, a Major League Baseball expansion team that commenced play the following year. Attendance would have been a league record prior to the 1976 season, the first to see more than 50,000 fans attend CFL games following the completion of Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Toronto's Grey Cup attendance record would only last one season before being broken by the 65th Grey Cup, which was held at Olympic Stadium.

Scoring

Ottawa Rough Riders - 23
Touchdowns - Tony Gabriel and Bill Hatanaka
Field Goals - Gerry Organ (3)
Converts - Gerry Organ (2)

Saskatchewan Roughriders - 20
Touchdowns - Steve Mazurak and Bob Richardson
Field Goals - Bob Macoritti (2)
Converts - Bob Macoritti (2)

Game summary

After an early field goal, Ottawa increased their lead in record setting fashion, with Bill Hatanaka (a York University graduate who would later attend Harvard University) returning a punt for a 79-yard touchdown (then a CFL record.) It was 10 - 0 for Ottawa in the first quarter.

Saskatchewan owned the second quarter. CFL legend Ron Lancaster hit Steve Mazurak and Rob Richardson with touchdown passes and Bob Macoritti added a field goal. On defence, all star Ted Provost intercepted a Tom Clements pass to set up a touchdown and middle linebacker Cleveland Vann covered the field with his excellent play. Unfortunately, the Green Riders were without their longtime star running back, George Reed, who had retired, and his talented replacement, Molly McGee, left the game with an injury. The halftime score was 17 to 10.

The teams traded field goals in the third quarter (20 - 13) but excitement was provided by Ottawa kicker Gerry Organ's 52 yard fake punt run and the following interception by Cleveland Vann.

Ottawa got another field goal in the fourth quarter (20 - 16), but was later stopped on a last minute goal line stand by Saskatchewan. They got the ball back with little time remaining, and found themselves on the Green Rider 24 yard line with 20 seconds left.

Down by 4 points, Ottawa quarterback (and Notre Dame University grad) Tom Clements waved off the play from the bench. Canadian Football Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gabriel headed towards the end zone and faked a post pattern and turned to the corner. Unfortunately for Ted Provost, he fell for the fake. Gabriel's big hands brought down Clement's pass, with Provost and Ray Odums streaking to catch up. It was a spectacular play, both in its execution, game winning importance, and in the dramatic way Gabriel's fake unfolded. The play is often simply referred to as "The Catch".

Trivia

All the points were scored by Canadians.
This was the last Grey Cup championship for the Ottawa Rough Riders (the team folded in 1996) and the last playoff game for the Saskatchewan Roughriders until 1988. It was the last major sports championship of any kind for Ottawa until the Ottawa Redblacks (the third CFL franchise to play in the city) won a title forty years later. In total, Ottawa's championship drought would last for 27 seasons of CFL play (still the longest such span in 2016 by that measure for any of the CFL's traditional nine cities), or fifty total major sports seasons of play if the Ottawa Senators' 23 NHL seasons of play are included.
The ball that Tony Gabriel caught in "The Catch" ended up in the possession of Bruce Crete, who was 12 at the time. He and the other neighbourhood children played football with it until it wore out six years later.^[2]

References

"Grey Cup: 1976". Canadian Football League. Archived from the original on 2010-08-23.

↑ Sekeres, Matthew (2006-11-26). "Our last Grey Cup ever?". The Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
↑ "Mystery solved: CBC's All in a Day discovers fate of Tony Gabriel's Grey Cup-winning catch". 2015-11-26. Retrieved 2015-11-27.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

Founded in 1910 Based in Regina, Saskatchewan

Franchise	Franchise Records Players Seasons Head coaches

Stadiums	Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field Mosaic Stadium (2017)

Culture	Labour Day Classic Banjo Bowl Gainer the Gopher

Important figures	Ron Atchison Roger Aldag Bill Baker Al Benecick "Gluey" Hugh Campbell Ken Charlton Bill Clarke Ray Elgaard Edwin "Eddie" "Dynamite" James Bobby Jurasin Ron Lancaster Ed McQuarters George Reed Dave Ridgway Martin Ruby N. J. "Piffles" Taylor Ted Urness

Retired numbers	23 Ron Lancaster 34 George Reed 36 Dave Ridgway 40 Mel Becket 44 Roger Aldag 55 Mario DeMarco 56 Ray Syrnyk 73 Gordon Sturtridge

Key personnel	Owners: "Community" owned General Manager: Chris Jones Head Coach: Chris Jones

Grey Cup championships (4)	1966 1989 2007 2013

West Division championships (19)	1923 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1934 1951 1966 1967 1969 1972 1976 1989 1997 2007 2009 2010 2013

Current league affiliations	League: Canadian Football League Division: West

Ottawa Rough Riders

Founded in 1876 Folded in 1996 Based in Ottawa, Ontario

Franchise	Franchise Records Players Seasons Head coaches

Stadiums	Frank Clair Stadium

Lore	Ottawa Trojans Labour Day Classic

Important figures	Frank Clair Less Browne Tom Clements Tony Gabriel Russ Jackson Rudy Phillips

Retired numbers	11 12 26 40 60 62 70 71 72 77

Grey Cup Championships (9)	1925 1926 1940 1951 1960 1968 1969 1973 1976

Eastern Division Championships (15)	1925 1926 1936 1939 1940 1941 1948 1951 1960 1966 1968 1969 1973 1976 1981

See also	Ottawa Renegades Ottawa Redblacks Jeff Hunt

Ottawa Rough Riders 64th Grey Cup champions

Head coach: George Brancato

Grey Cup

Editions	1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Venues	Autostade BC Place BMO Field Commonwealth Stadium Civic Stadium / Ivor Wynne Stadium Empire Stadium Exhibition Stadium Hamilton Amateur Athletic Association Grounds Investors Group Field McMahon Stadium Molson Stadium Olympic Stadium Richardson Memorial Stadium Rogers Centre/Skydome Rosedale Field Taylor Field TD Place Stadium / Frank Clair Stadium / Lansdowne Park Varsity Stadium Winnipeg Stadium / Canad Inns Stadium

Statistics	Champions Most Valuable Players Most Valuable Canadians Winning head coaches Broadcasters Halftime performers

1976 CFL season by team

Western	BC Calgary Edmonton Saskatchewan Winnipeg

Eastern	Hamilton Montreal Ottawa Toronto

See also	1976 CFL Draft 64th Grey Cup

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