Inside the CFL: Before the kick, there was The Kick

By None on July 24, 2018.

FILE - In this June 26, 1974, photo, Calgary Stampeders Larry Robinson, bottom, tackles Ottawa Rough Riders' Gene Foster while Toronto Argonauts Gene Mack, right, tries to help on the tackle, during the CFL All-Star game in Ottawa. Larry Robinson, a two-way player who never missed a game in his 14 seasons with the CFL's Calgary Stampeders, has died. He was 76. His death was announced by the team Wednesday, July 19, 2018. The Canadian Press/CP

Before Dave Ridgway booted his Saskatchewan Roughriders to a Grey Cup victory in 1989, there was “The Kick.”

Larry Robinson sent his Calgary Stampeders into the 1970 Grey Cup with a last-minute field goal in a blizzard at Taylor Field.

Allow me to set the scene.

Before the start of that fabled season, Saskatchewan head coach Eagle Keys — known as the Big Bird from Turkey Neck Bend (Kentucky) — was asked how he thought his team would fare. After considerable thought, the coach who makes Chris Jones look like a chatterbox allowed, “I think we’ll win a few more games than some other people.”

Led by Ron Lancaster and George Reed, the Roughriders went 14-2, the best record in team history. They accomplished the feat with No. 34 playing eight games with a cracked lower leg bone. He still ran for 821 yards on his good leg, the only season other than his rookie year when he didn’t break the 1,000-yard mark.

Ominously, one of his team’s losses was to Calgary, a 30-0 drubbing Aug. 17 in Regina. The Stamps finished third with a record of 9-7. They knocked off Edmonton in the semifinal and prepared to meet the Riders in the best-of-three Western Final.

Despite their underdog status, the Cowboys took the first game at Taylor Field 28-11. They were trailing the Riders 4-3 in Calgary with 39 seconds left but on the enemy 23. Stamps quarterback Jerry Keeling fumbled. Ed McQuarters picked it up and ran 80 yards for a touchdown, setting up the rubber match in Regina.

Saskatchewan played without Lancaster, sidelined with broken ribs. Gary Lane was the quarterback. The game was played in the most brutal conditions imaginable, a full-blown blizzard with winds up to 60 km/h. With the home team leading 14-12 despite having two TDs disallowed, Calgary had the ball on the Rider 42. Keeling threw to Hugh McKinnis who was knocked out of bounds at the 26 with three seconds left. If the defenders had let him run another step, the game would have been over. Instead, Robinson entered the fray to attempt an impossible 32-yard field goal.

“I didn’t think I could make it, but it did go through,” Robinson remembered. “I was practising before the game from the same point and I didn’t get any of them to the goal line. I aimed it about 10 feet right of the goal posts and the wind just carried it in.”

Luck has a way of evening out. Just as Saskatchewan got no breaks in the final, the same happened to Calgary a week later when they lost the Grey Cup game to Montreal.

Calgary finished first the following year, won the Western Final over Saskatchewan and headed to Vancouver to face Leo Cahill and his Toronto Argonauts for the Grey Cup. On a rain-soaked field at Empire Stadium, the teams fought a titanic defensive battle. Calgary was leading 14-11 near the end of the game when QB Jerry Keeling was intercepted by Dick Thornton who was tackled by the same Mr. Keeling at the Calgary 14. Cahill called for a sweep to get the ball in front of the uprights for the winning field goal.

Larry Robinson described the play. “I hit him. I was forcing the sweep, we both slipped at the same time and bumped together. His elbow hit the ground and the ball popped out.” The Stamps won their second Grey Cup.

Gone are Ron Lancaster, Herm Harrison, Wayne Harris, Leo Cahill, Jerry Keeling, John Forzani among others. Last Wednesday Larry Robinson joined them on that great gridiron in the sky.

Robinson was the first player in CFL history to score 1,000 points. He had 50 interceptions. He’s on the McMahon Wall of Fame and in the Canadian Football and Alberta Sports Halls of Fame. Robinson was born and raised in Calgary, attending Western Canada High School and Mount Royal College. After playing for the hometown team, he was very active in the alumni association and was a regular at the annual United Way of Southeastern Alberta/CFL Alumni tourney in Medicine Hat. Larry Robinson was 76.