Rick Matsumoto
Special to CFL.ca
The 1991 game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders was the first Grey Cup bash ever held in Winnipeg. And the Manitoba capital lived up to its nickname – Winterpeg.
The city was gripped tightly by a vicious cold snap and the thermometer struggled to reach -17 C at kickoff and fell to a wind-chilled -35 by halftime.
Despite the bone-chilling conditions there was a hot topic consuming the fans and media leading up to the game. That was the status of Argo quarterback Matt Dunigan. He suffered a leg injury in the regular season opener and he didn’t return to action until the end of August. Three weeks later he was hurt again, this time breaking his collar bone. He came back for the East final, a 42-3 romp over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but was hurt again and his arm was in a sling when the Argos arrived in Winnipeg for Grey Cup week. There was considerable doubt that he’d be able to play in the championship game.
Backup Rickey Foggie had guided the offence for nine games of the regular season and the Boatmen had won eight of them. Many expected Foggie would be the starter in the Grey Cup game.
Dunigan had other ideas. He was bent on not only playing, but starting as well.
So on the day before the game, while the rest of the team went through its final walk-through practice at Winnipeg Stadium, Dunigan secretly pitched passes to general manager Mike McCarthy in the ballroom of the team’s downtown hotel under the watchful eyes of team physician Dr. Robert Jackson.
Adam Rita, the current Argo general manager, was ready to start Dunigan, but only after he had discussed the situation, which included the risk of re-injury, with not only Dunigan, but Dr. Jackson, McCarthy and Foggie. He also sought out the approval of Dunigan’s parents and an assurance from Dunigan that he had his wife’s okay.
“I didn’t want the responsibility of Matt re-injuring the shoulder and ending his career or ending up crippled,” said Rita.
Dunigan, who was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame last year and at present is a game-day analyst for TSN’s CFL telecasts, said the ultimate decision to play was his.
“It was a situation (in which) I had to make a decision whether in was worth it or not and I thought it was worth it and we went for it,” he said over the din of the Argo locker room after the game with tears streaming down his face. “And I thank God for the way it turned out.”
Asked if the tears were from happiness or pain,” Dunigan replied: “both.”
Playing in the numbing cold and hampered by his medically frozen shoulder Dunigan was not his usual effectiveness.
Rita said that more than once he considered sending in Foggie to replace Dunigan.
“But each time he’d come up with a big play and so I kept him in,” said Rita.
Dunigan’s teammates also rose to take up the slack in their leader’s performance.
On the first offensive play of the game after the Stampeders had accepted the opening kickoff, Argo defensive back Ed Berry intercepted Calgary quarterback Danny Barrett’s pass and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Stampeders narrowed the Argos’ lead to 22-21 when Barrett hit Allen Pitts with a touchdown pass.
But any hopes of gaining momentum from that score dissolved on the ensuing kickoff.
Raghib (Rocket) Ismail, the Argos’ high-profile, controversial million-dollar recruit out of the University of Notre Dame, fielded the ball on his own 23-yard line and burst up field.
“I picked up the ball, looked up and took a couple of steps and broke to the middle,” Ismail related. “There was a gaping hole there, but one guy was standing there. I cut to the right and he fell or whatever. I cut to the sidelines and I saw their kicker and someone else trying to get the angle on me.
“But I knew I was going to score. I looked around and held the ball up and said ‘Yeah, yeah, I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
The speedy Ismail, who was named the game’s MVP, spent just one more season with the Argos before heading to the NFL and an undistinguished career.
Just 45 seconds after Ismail’s touchdown run, the Argos scored again when they took advantage of a fumble recovery by linebacker Keith Castello. Dunigan quickly found Paul Masotti in the end zone with a touchdown toss and the Argos’ lead was restored to 15 points.
The Stampeders had a chance to get back in the game when they marched to the Argo two-yard line. However, they elected to pass rather than run against the tough Toronto defence.
Barrett’s first pass fell incomplete and he was sacked on second down. When the third down gamble also failed the Argos won 36-21 to cap off a Hollywood story season that began with the team being purchased by the trio of Wayne Gretzky, John Candy and California mogul Bruce McNall.
