British Columbia Lions

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British Columbia Lions
Image:CFL Lions.gifImage:BC Lions.jpg
Division Image:West.gif

West Division

Founded 1954
Home field BC Place Stadium
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia
Colours Orange and Black
League Canadian Football League
Head coach Wally Buono
General manager Wally Buono

The British Columbia Lions are a Canadian Football League team based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Contents

Team facts

Helmet design: White background, with a black "BC" and a profile of a mountain lion's head (orange)
Uniform colours: Orange, Black and White.
Stadiums: Empire Stadium (1954-1982), BC Place Stadium (1983-present)
Western regular season championships: 9 -- 1963, 1964, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1999, 2004, 2005
'Grey Cup finals appearances 8-- 1963, 1964 , 1983, 1985, 1988, 1994, 2000, 2004.
Grey Cup wins: 4-- 1964, 1985, 1994, 2000
2006 Regular Season Record: 0 wins, 0 losses, 0 ties. (See 2006 CFL season).

Franchise history

The 1950s

In 1951 a group led by Ken Stauffer and Tiny Radar, were inspired by Vancouver Sun columnist Andy Lyle's article to start a football team in Vancouver. To try to get a team in Vancouver, the ownership group sent their representatives to the off-season WlFU meetings to initiate Vancouver’s bid for a team. The representatives (Radar and Orville Burke) were told to return to the meetings the following year with a $25,000 good-faith bond if they could generate sufficient interest in the Vancouver area. The first meetings were held at the Arctic Club in November and a committee headed by Burke and Harry Spring set out to sell memberships at $20 each.

Even though Burke, Vic Spencer and John Davidson offered the good-faith bond to the WIFU in 1952 the idea of having a Vancouver team was rejected, when both Winnipeg and Regina voted against the idea of a fifth team. The group in Vancouver, however, did not give up and continued their efforts to have a franchise in the WIFU.

On January 22, 1953, the first annual meeting of the club was held. In that meeting, Arthur E. Mercer was hired as the first team President of the Vancouver franchise. Later in the year Mercer, Bill Morgan, Bill Ralston and Whit Matthews went back to the WlFU meetings. This time they sold the idea of a fifth team on the West Coast, and Vancouver was granted a conditional franchise, on the requirements that:

  • They would provide a 15,000 seat stadium.
  • Sell at least 6,500 season tickets.
  • And guarantee travel expenses for the visiting teams.

All the pieces began to fall into place when it was announced that Vancouver would host the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and that it would mean the building of a new stadium – Empire Stadium. By Easter of 1953, Annis Stukus was then lured away from the Toronto Argonauts, to return to the West to become the first Public Relations Manager, General Manager and Head Coach of the franchise.

During the rest of 1953, a fan contest was held by all of the local media to pick the new nickname of the football franchise. In this contest, a new nickname was chosen because it represented a local landmark and legend of the area. The nickname of the team was based on, The Lions, a twin mountain peak that can be seen towards the north of Vancouver, British Columbia. The twin mountain peaks name was based on legend that the mountains looked exactly like two lions and that they were guarding the city. Through this landmark and legend, alone, the "Lions" nickname became the ultimate winner in the fan contest to become the new name of the franchise.

After the fan contest, it was later revealed that the Vancouver label will not be part of the team name. Even though, the franchise is based in Vancouver, and the "Lions" name was based on a local landmark and legend, Annis Stukus decided to reject the idea of naming the team as the Vancouver Lions. Instead, Stukus decided that the team name should be representing and embracing the entire Province of British Columbia. In the end, Stukus introduced the team to the entire Canadian football world as the British Columbia Lions. Image:BC LIONS 50's.jpg In their 1954 inaugural season, Stukus sold football fever on the streets of Vancouver and put together a team that made history when they stepped on the field of Empire Stadium for their first ever home game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday, August 28, 1954.

In that game, Byron (By) Bailey scored the first ever touchdown in B.C. Lions history in an 8-6 loss to the Blue Bombers. Throughout the 1954 inaugural season, the B.C. Lions were only able to manage a 1-15-0 regular season record. The team was able to get their first franchise win against the Calgary Stampeders on September 18 at Empire Stadium, with By Bailey scoring the winning touchdown, in a 9-4 B.C. Lions victory. On that night, the win caused the B.C. faithful to start celebrating on the streets, however, celebrations was not common for Lion's fans during the 1950s. Image:By Bailey.jpg In their second year as a franchise, the B.C. Lions were not able to make the playoffs, but were still able to show signs of improvement with a 5-11-0 regular season record. Even with the improvements, B.C. Lions fans were surprised at the move of the team directors to ask Annis Stukus to step down as the team's Head Coach in October of 1955. While, fan reaction to his dismissal was loud and divided, Stukus still asked the fans to continue their support of the B.C. Lions. Annis Stukus' assistant Clem Crowe, was later named as the new Head Coach of the B.C. Lions for the upcoming 1956 season.

In the 1956 season, the Lions would finish fourth in the West, posting a 6-10-0 regular season record, with Clem Crowe as their Head Coach. Although this was a one game improvement from the 1955 season, they were still not able to make their first playoff appearance in franchise history.

After the 1956 season, Bill McMahan became the new team President of the B.C. Lions. As the new team President, Bill McMahan was then able to bring back Kelowna native, Herb Capozzi from the Montreal Alouettes, and hire him as the new General Manager. However, the B.C. Lions continued to struggle on the field, finishing the 1957 regular season with a 4-11-1 record, missing the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

A year later, the on-field performance went from bad to worse for the Lions as they opened the 1958 season, with five straight losses. The team's on-field struggles caused Capozzi to fire Clem Crowe as the Head Coach and replace him with interim Head Coach, Danny Edwards, who returned after playing with the club during the 1957 season. The team was only able to manage three wins during the year, causing them to miss the playoffs, once again. Although it was a season to forget, rookies, Tom Hinton and Sonny Homer, showed promising signs of being future football stars.

During the off-season, General Manager, Herb Capozzi was trying to improve the team for the 1959 season. He tried to fulfill those goals by:

  • Hiring Wayne Robinson from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to become the new Head Coach of the B.C. Lions.
  • Bringing in a corps of veteran players to add more experience and success to the team.
  • Signing new rookie Running Back, Willie Fleming to the team, adding more youth along with Tom Hinton and Sonny Homer.

These moves in the end proved to be successful. The Lions managed their first winning season with a 9-7-0 regular season record and were able to make their first playoff appearance with a final game triumph over the Calgary Stampeders at Empire Stadium. The Lions first playoff appearance ended with two straight losses to the Edmonton Eskimos. However, the team's future looks very bright heading towards the 1960s.

The 1960s

However, the high hopes of the Lions faded when the team finished the 1960 season with a 5-9-2 record, which eliminated them from play-off contention. It was disappointing considering that the team added rookie talents Steve Cotter, Lonnie Dennis, Jim Catphin and Neal Beaumont to the team that had a strong core of veteran and young players from the previous season. The only positive for the Lions happened at the end of the season when Neal Beaumont won Rookie of the Year honours in the WIFU, becoming the first Lions player to win a major Canadian football award.

The Lions started the 1961 season by signing Minnesota Viking, Tom Brown to a contract, but the team continued performing poorly on the field. In September, the team made a major trade with the Calgary Stampeders, which was considered to be a major gamble by the Lions. In the trade, the Lions got quarterback Joe Kapp in the deal in exchange for four of their players to be sent to the Stampeders. A week later, Wayne Robinson was fired from his job as Head Coach and was replaced by Assistant Coach, Dave Skrien. The year ended with a dismal 1-13-2 record.

In 1962, Dave Skrien made an immediate impact as Head Coach of the BC Lions. Even though the Lions finished the season with a 7-9 record, there were noticeable improvements. After eight years of hard work, the Lions were on the verge of success for the first time.

Before the start of the 1963 season, new optimism was voiced at the chances that the BC Lions could be a strong contender for the Grey Cup, which was to be played at Empire Stadium. Through a veteran roster that was headlined by Joe Kapp and Willie Fleming, the Lions would end up finishing the season in first place (for the first time) with a 12-4 record. After a 2-1 series victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Western Finals, the Lions would play in the Grey Cup game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. However, the Lions momentum would be sidelined as a series of injuries along the way effected the team's performance in the Grey Cup. In the Grey Cup game, star Running Back, Willie Fleming was injured after he received a late, out of bounds hit by Tiger-Cat Defensive Tackle, Angelo Mosca, which was a big blow to the Lions Grey Cup chances. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats would end up winning the Grey Cup game with a 21-10 victory, but in the following year, the Lions would get their revenge. After the season, Joe Kapp became the first B.C. Lion to receive the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference and Tom Brown became the first BC Lion to win the Schenley award as Defensive Player of the Year. In addition, Dave Skrien became the first Lion's Head Coach to receive the Annis Stukus Trophy as Coach of the Year, and Peter Kempf also became the second Lion to win the Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy for Rookie of the Year honours in the Western Conference.

After achieving an 11-2-3 regular season record and defeating the Calgary Stampeders in a three-game series in the Western Conference Finals, the Lions would advance to meet the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a Grey Cup rematch at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium. In the rematch, the Lions would get their revenge as Bill Munsey, app and Willie Fleming would give a two-touchdown, two-way starring performance. With the addition of two field goals and an extra touchdown by the field goal unit, the Lions won the Grey Cup for the first time in franchise history with a 34-24 victory. The win would end 11 years of waiting for the British Columbia faithful. At the end of the 1964 season, Tom Brown was named back-to-back Schenley award winner as Defensive Player of the Year and won the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the Western Conference.

Any hopes of the B.C. Lions becoming a dynasty team after their Grey Cup championship season, quickly disappeared in the 1965 season as the team started to recede back to the basement of the Western Conference. Before the beginning of the season, By Bailey left the team and the entire roster was starting to age as the Lions finished the season with a 6-9-1 regular season record, which caused the franchise to miss the play-offs. It was clear that Head Coach, Dave Skrien would never again experience the same success as he achieved the previous two seasons.

The situation for the Lions went from bad to worse in the 1966 season, as the team would win only one game for the first time since the 1961 season. Due to the dreadful team performance, Herb Capozzi was fired as the Lions' General Manager, just two years after he took the franchise to consecutive Grey Cup appearances; Capozzi was Lions' G.M. for nine seasons. In addition, Willie Fleming and Tom Hinton decided to retire, and Joe Kapp left the team to continue his playing career in the NFL.

In the 1967 season, Denny Vietch became the new General Manager of the club. Denny Veitch's first move as General Manager was to fire Dave Skrien as the club's Head Coach, after the Lions lost their first three games of the season. In the fourth game of the season, Veitch named Jim Champion as the team's new Head Coach, but the Lions would end up finishing the season with a 3-12-1 record. The only two positives for the club were rookies Jim Young and kicker, Ted Gerela, who would end up winning the Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy as the Western Conference's Rookie of the Year.

In the 1968 season, CFL legend, Jackie Parker was hired as an Assistant Coach for the B.C. Lions and even came out of retirement to suit up in a Lions uniform for eight games as the quarterback. However, the Lions finished the season with a 4-11-1 record; seven of those games were lost by less than a touchdown, showing some indication that the team is improving.

2005 Season

Before and during the 2005 season there was some controversy as to which quaterback should be the starter, Casey Printers or Dave Dickenson. Printers was the 2004 season MVP, but Dickenson was a veteran star destined for the Hall of Fame. Many felt that both were deserving. In the event, the team chose to go with Dickenson, despite his having been somewhat prone to injuries in the later part of his career.

The Lions came out of the gate roaring (pardon the pun). Led by Dickenson and an outstanding receiving corps, the team strung together a modern day record of 11 consecutive wins. The record-breaking win came on September 17, when B.C. pulled off a stunning fourth-quarter drive to beat the Montreal Alouettes 27-26. However, their bid for an undefeated season came to a halt the very next week on September 24, when the Edmonton Eskimos defeated the Lions 37-20 at Commonwealth Stadium. The Lions only won one of their remaining seven games of the regular season. On November 20th, the Lions lost in the Western Final to the Edmonton Eskimos. The game ended on a controversial non-call during the last play of the game. Quarterback Casey Printers threw a touchdown toss to slotback Geroy Simon. Simon was interfered with and couldn't catch the ball.

Players and Builders of note


Current Stars

BC Sports Hall of Fame


Canadian Football Hall of Famers


See also

External links

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