Joe Kapp
November 28, 1964: The Grey Cup, the championship of the Canadian Football League, is held at the Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. It is a rematch of the previous season's final, when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beat the BC Lions, 21-10 at Empire Stadium in Vancouver.
That was the 1st time a team from the Province of British Columbia had gotten that far, and the Lions -- their geographic identifier always simply "BC," not "Vancouver," nor "British Columbia," nor even "B.C." -- were determined to avenge the defeat. Coached by Dave Skrien, and led by quarterback Joe Kapp, they had finished the season 11-2-3.
And everything went the Lions' way. Running back Bob Swift had scored a touchdown, but was subsequently injured. Bill Munsey took his place as if nothing had happened. In the 3rd quarter, he scored a touchdown on offense on a handoff from Kapp, running 18 yards; and another on defense, when he picked up a fumble and ran it in 71 yards.
The Lions even scored a touchdown on a bad field goal attempt: Holding Pete Ohler, couldn't get the snap down, had to scramble, and passed to Jim Carphin. Another touchdown was scored by one of the top black players in the CFL, Willie "Will o' the Wisp" Fleming. The Lions won the game, 34-24.
Kapp had quarterbacked the University of California into the 1959 Rose Bowl, but lost. In the 1969 season, he led the Minnesota Vikings into Super Bowl IV, but lost. He remains the only man ever to quarterback teams into the Rose Bowl, the Super Bowl, and the Grey Cup.
The Lions have since won the Grey Cup again in 1985, 1994, 2000, 2006 and 2011. They are easily Vancouver's most successful team: The NHL's Canucks are 0-3 in the Stanley Cup Finals, the NBA's Grizzlies lasted just 6 seasons before moving, and they have only been at the Class A level in minor-league baseball since 2000, having previously won 3 Pennants at the Class AAA level. Even if you count soccer, the NASL's version of the Whitecaps won just 1 title, in 1979; and MLS' version has only gotten as far as the Quarterfinals.
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November 28, 1964 was a Saturday. This was the end of rivalry week in American college football. In the biggest game of the day, Number 1 Notre Dame were upset by the University of Southern California (USC), 20-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. I have a separate entry for that event.
These other notable college football games were played:
* Rivalry: Army beat Navy, 11-8 at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia.
* Rivalry: Boston College beat Holy Cross, 10-8 at Alumni Stadium outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
* Rivalry: Georgia beat Georgia Tech, 7-0 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.
* Rivalry: Florida beat Miami, 12-10 at Florida Field (now Ben Hill Griffin Stadium) in Gainesville, Florida.
* Rivalry: Vanderbilt beat Tennessee, 7-0 at Dudley Field (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville.
* Rivalry: Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State, 21-16 at Lewis Field (now Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
* Rivalry: Texas Christian University (TCU) beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 17-6 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
* Rivalry: Arizona beat Arizona State, 30-6 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson.
Two days earlier, on Thanksgiving Day:
* Rivalry: Number 2 Alabama beat Auburn, 21-14 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. 'Bama won the Southeastern Conference title.
* Rivalry: Number 5 Texas beat Texas A&M, 26-7 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
* Idle: Number 3 Arkansas, who had beaten Texas, and won the Southwest Conference title; Number 6 Michigan, who had won the Big Ten Conference title; Number 7 Nebraska, who, despite losing the week before to arch-rival Oklahoma, had won the Big Eight Conference title; Number 8 Louisiana State University (LSU); Number 9 Oregon State, who had won the title in the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU), the league that became the Pacific-Eight (or Pac-8) the next year; Number 10 Ohio State, which had blown the Big 10 title by losing their finale to Michigan; and New Jersey teams Rutgers and Princeton.
And so, at a time when the National Championship was awarded by the Associated Press' sportswriters' poll after the regular season, with Notre Dame's loss, Alabama, coached by Bear Bryant and quarterbacked by Joe Namath, rose to Number 1.
But Texas beat Alabama in the Orange Bowl, and Arkansas beat Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl, to earn a share of the National Championship with Alabama. Michigan beat Oregon State in the Rose Bowl, and LSU beat Syracuse in the Sugar Bowl.
Baseball was out of season. Both the NFL and the AFL played the next day, plus games 2 days earlier, on Thanksgiving. There were 4 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the St. Louis Hawks, 106-91 at the old Madison Square Garden.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Cincinnati Royals, 129-98 at the Boston Garden.
* The Philadelphia76ers beat the Detroit Pistons, 101-93 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.
* And the San Francisco Warriors beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, 109-106 at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Just another day at the office for Wilt Chamberlain: 40 points and 30 rebounds.
There were 2 games played in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the Montreal Forum. The Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled.
And in English soccer, Manchester United beat Arsenal, 3-2 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.
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