Robservations: Saluting the early-’90s Riders … some lonnnng plays … a nice gesture by Greg Marshall … and a book-signing in Saskatoon!
Mr. Kershaw has always been able to Phil a notepad.
That was obvious to anyone who dove into Friday’s flashback on the eventful years in which Phil Kershaw was the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ volunteer President and Past President.
We discussed a number of momentous events in franchise history, including an Aug. 27, 1993 home date with the Sacramento Gold Miners.
That game — the Roughriders’ first at home against an American-based foe — drew 33,032 spectators to 27,600-seat Taylor Field on what was billed as “Keep the Pride Alive Friday.”
Kershaw and a fellow Past President, Tom Shepherd, were two key organizers of that landmark event.
And that got me thinking … an unsettling notion, I admit.
Some of my favourite Roughriders teams were those that didn’t win a Grey Cup — or even a playoff game, for that matter.
Throughout Kershaw’s Presidency in the early 1990s, the Roughriders treated fans to an air show that may never be duplicated by any CFL team.
Beginning with the 1989 Grey Cup Game and continuing through the 1993 season, a Kent Austin-led Roughriders offence routinely produced eye-popping passing totals.
On Sept. 21, 1991, for example, Austin threw a team-record six touchdown passes to help Saskatchewan defeat the host B.C. Lions 49-47.
The following season, Austin established enduring Roughriders records for passing yards (6,225) and TD tosses (35).
It boggles the mind to think that an Austin-quarterbacked Saskatchewan team never won a playoff game after defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 43-40 in the 1989 league final.
Attribute it to bad luck, in some cases, or bad timing.
Austin’s peak years coincided with the emergence of Doug Flutie as a CFL legend and the hiring of Ron Lancaster as the Head Coach in Edmonton.
Saskatchewan fielded a series of extremely talented teams in the early 1990s, but Calgary and Edmonton were just a notch better.
“The challenge back then was that was the era of the marquee-player rule,” Kershaw said of a salary-cap exemption that allowed each team to sign one big-name, highly compensated player.
“The one thing we couldn’t afford to do was sign a Doug Flutie. There were two main guys back then. Flutie was 1A and Matt Dunigan was 1B. If you couldn’t sign Doug Flutie, you signed Matt Dunigan. If you remember, Dunigan went from Edmonton to B.C. to Toronto to Winnipeg to Birmingham to Hamilton.
“We couldn’t handle those marquee-type salaries yet, at the same time, we did have excellent quarterbacks. We were well-served with Kent Austin and Tom Burgess. Kent Austin, in his prime in Saskatchewan, put up numbers that were just as good as almost anyone else.
“And we’ve had some great Canadian receivers, and we have them now, but did we ever have a better duo than Ray Elgaard and Jeff Fairholm? Then you add Don Narcisse, who’s a Hall of Fame receiver.”
Elgaard, Narcisse and Fairholm combined to give the Roughriders three 1,000-yard receivers in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
“If the defence gave up a score, we would just sit on the bench and think, ‘OK, we’ll score again,’ ” Fairholm said earlier this week during a visit to Regina for the introduction of Harvard Media’s new Roughriders broadcast team.
“We felt like we could just do anything at will.”
Austin’s breakout game was the 1989 Grey Cup, in which he passed for 474 yards and three touchdowns.
Over the next four seasons, he threw for 125 touchdowns and 20,720 yards.
“Kent would go in at 7 o’clock in the morning and build game plans,” Fairholm recalled. “It was so funny, because we’d go in at 1 o’clock or whatever and Kent had been in all morning, working on the game plan.
“He’d come into the locker room and go, ‘Look at this! We’ve got this one to do now. This is going to be so much fun!’ He’d tell us all about it and we’d be like, ‘OK.’ We’d go out on to the practice field and execute it.
“To see it happen in the games was really the fun part. You’d come out of the huddle and get that coverage you were expecting and you’d think, ‘This is going to be fun!’ It was a riot.”
In 1999, when Austin and Elgaard were jointly enshrined in the SaskTel Plaza of Honour, the legendary Roughriders quarterback likened the offensive eruptions of the early 1990s to “playing against air.”
Chatting with Phil reminded me of what a fabulous time it truly was, regardless of the Roughriders’ playoff fortunes, or lack thereof.
No, the Green and White didn’t celebrate a Grey Cup championship in the early 1990s, but games from that era were exhilarating to watch.
Those Roughriders teams haven’t received due appreciation, in this estimation, and I felt they could use a little love.
“And we appreciate it,” Fairholm said with a smile.
GRATITUDE TO GREG
The recent appointment of Greg Marshall as the Ottawa REDBLACKS’ Defensive Line Coach reminded me of a story.
It dates back to July 29, 1984, when the Green and White defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders 46-24 at Lansdowne Park.
At 11:15 of the fourth quarter, Saskatchewan’s Dave Ridgway equalled the league record for field goals in a game (seven). The Roughriders’ Bob Macoritti had set the record against the visiting Toronto Argonauts on Aug. 27, 1978.
“I tied the record on a 50-yarder and all of a sudden there was a turnover or something,’’ Ridgway recalled in a 2009 interview with yours truly. “I went back out and time was winding down. Greg Marshall passed me as I was lining up to kick the eighth field goal.”
Marshall, at the time, was a dominating defensive lineman with the eastern Riders.
“He tapped me on the butt as I was walking by and he said, ‘Hey, good luck,’ ” Ridgway continued. “That in itself probably relaxed me and took me out of the situation more than anybody else could have done.
“I felt like I was in a groove that day, there’s no doubt, but Greg’s gesture really helped. He didn’t even look at me, but he said it loud enough for me to hear. I thought, ‘Man, what a classy thing to do.’ ’’
Ridgway’s 46-yarder at 13:29 of the fourth quarter gave him sole possession of the record.
On July 23, 1988, Ridgway matched his own mark by kicking eight field goals in a 26-15 home-field victory over Edmonton.
Robokicker’s record has since been tied by Calgary’s Mark McLoughlin (Aug. 5, 1996 versus Saskatchewan) and Hamilton’s Paul Osbaldiston (Sept. 22, 1996 at Ottawa).
The 1996 season was Marshall’s third as a Roughriders assistant coach. He remained on the coaching staff through 1999.
Marshall was also Saskatchewan’s Head Coach for the first eight games of the 2011 season.
BRAVE FACE-TIME
From the department of shameless self-promotion, we bring you “An Evening with Rob Vanstone.”
That label has been applied by the nice people at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Saskatoon, where an appearance has been planned to coincide with my visit to the city for Coors Light Roughriders Training Camp.
On May 15, beginning at 7 p.m., I will yak about all things Roughriders and also discuss my new book — Brave Face: Wild Tales of Hockey Goaltenders Before Masks.
My tribute to the maskless marvels was published in November by my friends at Triumph Books.
The result of our first collaboration hit the shelves in November of 2019, when 100 Things Roughriders Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die was published.
Copies of both books will be on sale and, of course, I will be delighted to sign them.
Please note: Autographs will be $2 — because that is the most I can afford to pay.
McNally Robinson is located at 3130 8th St. E. For more information, visit www.mcnallyrobinson.com.
ROLL CREDITS
- Nice people who deserve a plug: John Phillips, Jenna Phillips, James Trider, Lana Trider, Bill Trider, Patti Phillips, Carmen Phillips, Matt Phillips, Betty Ann Rattray, Jim Rattray, Dave Thomas, Kathryn Thomas, Ken Powers, Carrie Hopson Stewart, Tyler Hopson, Jody Peters, Brent Kloeble, Dave Pettigrew, Phil Kershaw, Jake Wieneke, Derek Bidwell, Andrew Dawson, Shea Patterson, Perry Nyhus, Aimee Kowalski, Alex Eyolfson, Mike Thomas, Brenden Bennett, Brenden Purdy, Derrick MacPherson, June Goodjer, Steve Milton, Dave Naylor, Greg Marshall, Wanda Harron, Phil Kershaw, Mike Kershaw, Kris Kershaw, Vel Kershaw, Mike Woytowich, Bob Woytowich, Adrienne Woytowich and Cruise Carson.
