ROBSERVATIONS: One cheesed-off columnist … non-Winnipeg classics! … remembering the “Ken Clark” game … the last LDC non-sellout

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ maligning of Regina-style pizza is not easily digested by this crusty, carnivorous columnist.

Perhaps the social media joust, which has been panned by Saskatchewan Roughriders supporters and connoisseurs of fine cuisine everywhere, is a form of envy.

Consider the Roughriders’ tendency toward topping the Blue Bombers in a Labour Day Classic.

Saskatchewan has won 39 of 60 Classics heading into Sunday’s game at Mosaic Stadium. The numbers do not lie.

Speaking of numbers, (most of) the following is tastefully excerpted from the Western Pizza menu:

#1. Bacon, ham, pepperoni.

#2. Pepperoni, mushrooms, bacon.

#3. Bacon, mushrooms, sausage.

#4: Ham, mushrooms, sausage. (Where is Tracy Ham when you need him?)

#5: Salami, mushrooms, bacon.

#6: Sausages, mushrooms, green peppers.

#7: Trevor Harris.

#8: Zach Collaros.

Nos. 7 and 8 — the starting quarterbacks of the Roughriders and Blue Bombers, respectively — are known for slicing opposing defences.

Hitting tight windows is not a problem for either passer. They can complete a pass even if there is not mushroom between a receiver and the nearest defender.

Deservedly, both quarterbacks earn plenty of dough, by CFL standards.

Enough of these cheesy jokes.

ANNIVERSARIES LOOM

The Bombers, as much as we enjoy their presence, are not an essential part of the recipe when it comes to a Labour Day classic.

Keep in mind that two of the Roughriders’ most memorable September long weekend games were played without any participation from Winnipeg.

We take you back to thrillers that were held on Sept. 6 — the same date as Sunday’s renewal of the Roughriders/Blue Bombers rivalry.

1976: Fifty years ago tomorrow, Saskatchewan edged the B.C. Lions 17-14 on the strength of an 18-yard touchdown pass from Ron Lancaster to Rhett Dawson.

Dawson scored the game-winner with 1:48 remaining in the fourth quarter, hauling in a payoff pitch in the back of Taylor Field’s south end zone.

“If they had asked Cape Canaveral to launch that pass, it couldn’t have been more perfect,” Dawson told Regina Leader-Post legend Bob Hughes. “It was right there. Perfect.”

Such was the capper to another classic comeback by Lancaster, who had wobbled to the sidelines on the Roughriders’ previous possession after absorbing a crunching hit from Lions defensive lineman Bill Baker.

Recuperative time was scant for The Little General. The Roughriders forced a fumble on a Lions punt return and quickly regained possession of the football.

At that point, all eyes were on Lancaster. Would he return to the game? Slowly, he limped back on to the field and, four plays later, the Roughriders were in the end zone.

1981: The Roughriders defeated the Montreal Alouettes 35-26 in the last Labour Day Classic that did not include Winnipeg.

Montreal assumed a 26-8 lead early in the third quarter after Gerry Dattilio completed long touchdown passes to James Scott and Billy (White Shoes) Johnson.

A then-record crowd of 28,526 included Alouettes owner Nelson Skalbania, who had splurged on NFL luminaries such as Scott (previously of the Chicago Bears), Johnson (Houston Oilers) and Vince Ferragamo (Los Angeles Rams).

Ferragamo had quarterbacked the Rams in their 1980 Super Bowl loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He threw 30 touchdown passes during the next NFL season, only to end up in an impasse in contract negotiations with the Rams.

Next stop: Montreal.

The introduction to Canadian professional football was so difficult for Ferragamo that he had been benched in favour of Dattilio by the time the team travelled to Regina in September of 1981.

Dattilio threw for 427 yards in the shootout with Saskatchewan. Ferragamo received some playing time in the waning minutes, going 2-for-6 with two interceptions.

John Hufnagel, who replaced struggling Saskatchewan starter Joe Barnes, threw for 240 yards and three touchdowns in the second half.

With Montreal leading 26-21, Hufnagel moved the Roughriders 81 yards in four plays to put Saskatchewan ahead for the duration. He completed passes to Greg Fieger (16 yards), Chris DeFrance (13) and Joey Walters (43) before going back to DeFrance for 10 yards and six points with 6:14 remaining in the game.

The following weekend, the Roughriders won 32-25 in Winnipeg.

THE “KEN CLARK” CLASSIC

The aforementioned Roughriders/Alouettes game included two players who suited up for the Rams in Super Bowl XIV.

Ferragamo has already been referenced. One of his teammates was Ken Clark.

Clark joined the Roughriders in October of 1980 and remained the team’s punter for three calendar years.

On Sept. 4, 1983, he also moonlighted as Saskatchewan’s placement specialist.

Double duty was required after Roughriders placekicker Dave Ridgway, a future Canadian Football Hall of Famer, was injured while making a tackle on a kickoff return.

So, as luck would have it, the game came down to a last-minute field-goal attempt by the Roughriders.

Clark, who had last attempted a three-pointer as a member of the 1976 Hamilton Tiger-Cats, calmly drilled a 41-yarder into the wind with 43 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The 32-30 score held up for the final 43 seconds.

“I knew that kick was going through,” Clark told this scribbler, then of the Leader-Post, in a 1993 interview. “I didn’t have any doubt. It was a special day. I had dedicated the game to my mother.”

Clark had returned to Regina shortly before the kickoff after spending time with his mother, Veronica, in Toronto. She was in her final hours after suffering an aneurysm and lapsing into a coma.

“During the game, I felt that my mother was there for that amount of time — and gone as soon as the ball went through the uprights,” Clark said in a story that was published 33 years ago today.

Earlier in the 1983 Classic, Clark had recorded what was then the longest punt in Roughriders history (101 yards).

Ken Clark, a truly terrific guy and the best punter I have ever seen in green and white, was 73 when he passed away on Aug. 8, 2021.

CELEBRATING SELLOUTS

Harris was precisely three months old the last time a Labour Day Classic did not sell out.

On Aug. 31, 1986, the Roughriders rallied to defeat Winnipeg 34-30 before 25,274 eyewitnesses at 27,637-seat Taylor Field.

With 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Ray Elgaard crossed the south-side goal line to complete a 56-yard pass-and-run collaboration with Joe Paopao.

Winnipeg led 23-7 at halftime before Saskatchewan stormed back, avenging the 56-0 loss they had suffered 57 days earlier in the Manitoba capital.

It just goes to show: On Labour Day weekend, you never know.

ROLL CREDITS …

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Ian Anderson, Isaac Anderson, Rhett Dawson, Bill Baker, Joe Paopao, Ray Elgaard, Nik Selimos, Thomas Siarkos, Dhel Duncan-Busby, Colin D’Amelio, Josh Idoko, Jacob Brammer, Nelson Lokombo, John Mace, Ed Tait, Michael Remis, Aubrey Miller Jr., Jaxon Ford, Alan Ford and Sally Ford.