November 3, 2005

Grey Cup Memories: 1941

1941 – Winnipeg Blue Bombers 18, Ottawa Rough Riders 16

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were once again permitted to challenge for the Grey Cup following a rule dispute a year earlier. An East-West compromise allowed linemen to block five yards from the line of scrimmage.

In a meeting of the previous two Grey Cup champions, the Blue Bombers prevailed, sending the coveted mug west for the third time. Ches McCance booted a 38-yard placement in the third quarter, giving Winnipeg an insurmountable lead.

Trailing 18-15 in the dying minutes of the game, the Ottawa Rough Riders had an opportunity to kick for three points from 20 yards out. George Fraser's field goal attempt sailed inches wide of the goal post, which Fritz Hanson let go to the deadline for a single point.

After the Blue Bombers took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, Ottawa's Tony Golab, lifting a short kick from his own 40-yard line, raced down field to recover the ball at the Winnipeg 45. He wheeled around Ken Draper and ran for the touchdown. A fumble by Hanson set up Fraser's 16-yard field goal from a difficult angle early in the second.

The Blue Bombers tied the score at 9-9 before halftime. With the Rough Riders expecting a kick on third down, Wayne Sheley pitched the ball to his left to Bud Marquardt. Marquardt raced 40 yards down the sidelines before an Ottawa player could lay a hand on him. But before he was tackled, Marquardt threw a lateral pass to Mel Wilson, who sidestepped another Rough Rider for a touchdown.

Marquardt scored a touchdown in the opening minute of the third quarter as he intercepted Burke's pass and returned it 40 yards to the end zone.

Fraser tied the score on a pair of field goals, but wasn't successful when it counted most.

As the game concluded, members of a Manitoba regiment raced onto the field and uprooted the goal posts from the north end zone, which they carried triumphantly away.

The 19,065 in attendance at Toronto's Varsity Stadium set an all-time Grey Cup record. The game was played under the best conditions imaginable, with a mid-October feel as oppose to a late-November chill.