Inside the CFL: Current-day Bombers worthy inheritors of former Winnipeg dynasties

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on November 15, 2024.

Five in a row.

Five straight Grey Cup appearances for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Hamilton accomplished that feat from 1961-65, winning two Grey Cups. The Regina Roughriders represented the West from 1928-32 but lost all five championship contests, three to the Hamilton Tigers, the others to the Montreal AAA and Toronto Balmy Beach.

Do they deserve the dynasty title? Does the current Blue Bomber team? Or does it all come down to which team won the most consecutive Grey Cups?

That, of course, would be Edmonton.

With mushers GM Norm Kimbal and coach Hugh Campbell in charge, they went to the big game six-straight times, 1977-82 and won five. Under Ray Jauch they were in three straight Cups, 1973-75, winning once. They always came through in the clutch.

Edmonton made it to the title game nine of 10 years, winning six. It is hard to believe that record will ever be equalled.

The first Winnipeg Blue Bomber teams to be called a dynasty were those of Bud Grant, 1957-65. They appeared in six Grey Cups, winning four.

What made that team so good?

The Hall of Fame quarterback Ken Ploen said, “We put the emphasis on team. There was that chemistry or camaraderie, a group of guys wanting to win. The right combination was there. Bud Grant was part of that in the way he coached.”

Fellow Hall member, the late Frank Rigney, also looked to Grant.

“His No. 1 attribute was his ability to recognize talent, as opposed to being an inventive genius. Grant was such a good natural athlete himself. He had a great ability to recognize athleticism. We won because of a combination of Grant and a nucleus of pretty good football players that played together for a long time. A key element in any winning team is you’ve got to have fun together in order to win together.”

Defensive star Steve Patrick said those Bombers were so good because, “There were no great stand-outs. (Only Gerry James, Rigney and Herb Gray won awards, Grant was Coach of the Year, only seven made the Hall of Fame). We were all the same. That was what Grant would instill in us. You have to play as a unit, be friends together, no cliques. And he was an unbelievable judge of personnel.”

Added Buddy Tinsley, “He was very shrewd and he had a lot of good people around him. He had a goods taff who put it all together in a very scientific manner. We were wellcoached.”

Defender Norm Rauhaus said, “When a good team gets down, there is a sense that this is no problem, the game’s not over.”

Bud Grant, “You get the best players. There are some coaches who can mess up with the best players but there are no coaches who can win championships with the poorest players.”

He also was quoted as saying, “A good coach needs a patient wife, a loyal dog and a great quarterback but not necessarily in that order.”

Grant, who coached Minnesota to four Super Bowl appearances, passed away last year. He was 96.The above quotes come from interviews I did over the years.

Similar comments about Hugh Campbell and reasons for his teams’ success were made by several Edmonton greats.

How does Bomber boss Michael O’Shea measure up?

Winnipeg’s first appearance in 2019, they came from third place to make their way to the big game in which they beat the Tiger Cats 33-12 in Calgary. They finished atop the West Division standings the last four seasons but with the exception of this year, the finals were close.

In addition to the win in the first year of the run, they knocked off the Tabbies in Hamilton 33-25 in overtime. They lost the 2022 Grey Cup played in

Regina to

Toronto, 24-23 and to

Montreal in Hamilton last season, 28-24.

O’Shea has established a winning culture. Loyalty to teammates is paramount. No one player is more important than the team, no one gets special treatment.

He has assembled a strong staff and is an excellent judge of talent. His players credit him with their success.

Win or lose on Sunday, O’Shea and players like Zach Collaros, Brady Oliveira, Stanley Bryant and Willie Jefferson are worthy inheritors of the great Bud Grant dynasty of the past.

Graham Kelly has covered the CFL for the Medicine Hat News for 52 years. Feedback for this column can be emailed to sports@medicinehatnews.com.