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By 1983, Lions fans were really hungry with a 19-year old drought. It seems like after 1964 everything went down with the odd bright spot in 1977, but the team never returned to the Grey Cup and never finished first in the west until 1983 with their brand new stadium. So I'd say the sold out 1983 WDF with the Lions come from behind win to finally return to the GC with so much pandemonium after that game.
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Even though the Lions came just short that season, it was good to see that the fans were very loyal and sold out the WDF again in 1984 and although the Lions didn't win that time either, fans continued to come in and win it all with their third straight sellout division final in 1985 and more pandemonium after that game.
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After that 1985 WDF, it looks like the Lions never sold out a playoff game after that as the 1986 and 1987 playoff game attendance weren't even close, and I'd rather not mention the 1999 and 2005 WDF attendance. While attendance was higher in the 2004, 2006, and 2007 WDF with 50,000+, it still didn't match the sellout 59,000+ games from 1983-85.

There I sat, an IV stuck in my arm, my tent-like hospital gown hanging loose at the backside and tears streaming down my face, which was buried deep in the comforting, starch-white uniformed bosom of an understanding nurse, as she stroked my hair and tried to stem the pain.
No, this is not a reference to a bizarre dream.
Nor is it a fantasy - at least, not one that should be admitted in public.
The aforementioned scene, pathetic as it pains me to admit, took place on a cold Sunday afternoon in November of 1977.
The cause of my emotional breakdown, at the tender age of nine, was a green and gold-clad monster with the true mark of the beast: EE.
The Edmonton Eskimos, under the tutelage of that smirking Svengali, Hugh Campbell, had just pulled the plug on the Cardiac Kids, dropping my beloved B.C. Lions 38-1 in the Western Final at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium.
The new-look Leos - under the guidance of the masterful Vic Rapp and driven by Jerry Tagge, Leon Bright, Al Wilson, Jim Young and, in his second season, a fledgling kicker named Lui Passaglia - had run out of last-minute miracles.
The fact that the Eskies would be similarly silenced a week later in a 41-6 loss to Montreal in the now-famous staple" game did little to heal this Lion fan's heart.
Today, 28 years after the Commonwealth collapse, the image remains crystal clear in my mind, as if the CBC circa 1977 is a digital channel accessible only in my memory: There's coach Rapp running across the field after the final whistle, his beautiful burnt orange and brown Lions' jacket billowing in the Alberta air as he stares down Campbell, wagging a finger to show his disgust at the Eskimo coach's obvious decision to run up the score.
It was at that point, back in the year we lost Elvis, that the tear ducts opened as I sat with an understanding nurse in a TV lounge at Langley Memorial Hospital.
I had been taken from my Grade 4 class and placed in the hospital for 10 days so doctors could fix a problem with my arm.
And it was during that specific Sunday afternoon, as the kind nurse spent a few hours with her patient, that this kid eventually wiped his tears, carried his heartbreak back to his hospital room and vowed eternal war against all things green and gold.
From that fall day to today, the Leos have been my team.
From Larry Key and Glen Jackson performing miracles in old Empire Stadium, to Roy Dewalt, Mervyn Fernandez and Doug Flutie electrifying the crowd under the Teflon dome of B.C. Place Stadium, the emotional highs and lows of the team that Annus Stukus built are etched into my very being.
From that fall day to today and into eternity, the Lime and Mustard will remain a bitter, bitter colour scheme
Damn the Eskimos and roar, you Lions, roar.

Kamloops Lion wrote: From that fall day to today and into eternity, the Lime and Mustard will remain a bitter, bitter colour scheme
Damn the Eskimos and roar, you Lions, roar.

Luv that cartoon, Man.

Great story.

Don't remind me of the 38-1 thrashing at the hands of the Evil Empire. A group of us at work had plan to attend the Grey Cup the following week even though we had no tickets. We were going to buy the tickets from scalpers to watch our beloved Lions. The loss put an end to that plan.

TheLionKing wrote:Don't remind me of the 38-1 thrashing at the hands of the Evil Empire. A group of us at work had plan to attend the Grey Cup the following week even though we had no tickets. We were going to buy the tickets from scalpers to watch our beloved Lions. The loss put an end to that plan.

It's unfortunate and unlucky over the fact that at the end of the 1977 regular season, BC, Edmonton, and Winnipeg all finished with the same 10-6 record in the west and the Lions actually won the three game season series over the Eskimos 2-1, but the awkward tiebreaker scheme still gave Edmonton first in the west while BC finished second and hosted their very first ever WDSF (second overall) game. Of course, it would have been a lot better had the Lions hosted the WDF instead. In that season, Al Wilson won Most Outstanding Lineman, Leon Bright won Most Outstanding Rookie, and QB Jerry Tagge was an all-star and was the runner-up for Most Outstanding Player, losing out to Hamilton's Jimmy Edwards.

Had the Lions made it to the Grey Cup, would they have won the Ice Bowl against the Alouettes? Perhaps, given the fact that the Lions won the lone regular season game against the Alouettes.

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Howdy David,

1963. I was 8 years old. Joined the Quarterback Club at Woodward's in New Westminster. My Dad had a seasons ticket on the 35 yard line. I was relegated to the end zone. I witnessed my first Kapp to Fleming long bomb and I was hooked. I've been wearing a #15 jersey ever since.

It was back in 1981, I was in junior high and recall Devon Ford visiting our school and promoting the Lions. Couldn't believe how small he was in real life! From '81 and to present, I was bleeding orange and cheering on the likes of Larry Key and John Henry White. Harry Holt, Swervin Mervyn, Roy Dewalt, Joe Paopao, Andre Francis, Ty Crews, Ron Robinson, Anthony Parker, Larry Crawford, Keith Gooch, Nick Hebbeler...... those were the fondest memories growing up in the Fraser Valley!

Ty Crews is living in Vancouver. Met him in the gym couple of years ago. Total gentleman and easy to talk to

mws wrote:Howdy David,

1963. I was 8 years old. Joined the Quarterback Club at Woodward's in New Westminster. My Dad had a seasons ticket on the 35 yard line. I was relegated to the end zone. I witnessed my first Kapp to Fleming long bomb and I was hooked. I've been wearing a #15 jersey ever since.

Great memories, mws. Although the Woodward's Quarterback Club was a little before my time, it's a baffling to me how this Vancouver "institution" for so many youths has been largely forgotten. Sure, there are a few Lionbackers who became Lions "lifers" because of the experience (QB Club 63 comes to mind), but if it made an indelible mark on other British Columbians, you sure don't hear about it much.

Equally surprising is that the football club has never tried to resurrect this end zone section for parents with kids. I don't know if anyone owns the "Woodward's" trademark (I should think it is still the domain of the family), but it sure would be cool to see a "Woodward's Quarterback Club" section for their 60th Anniversary.


DH

David wrote:

mws wrote:Howdy David,

1963. I was 8 years old. Joined the Quarterback Club at Woodward's in New Westminster. My Dad had a seasons ticket on the 35 yard line. I was relegated to the end zone. I witnessed my first Kapp to Fleming long bomb and I was hooked. I've been wearing a #15 jersey ever since.

Great memories, mws. Although the Woodward's Quarterback Club was a little before my time, it's a baffling to me how this Vancouver "institution" for so many youths has been largely forgotten. Sure, there are a few Lionbackers who became Lions "lifers" because of the experience (QB Club 63 comes to mind), but if it made an indelible mark on other British Columbians, you sure don't hear about it much.

Equally surprising is that the football club has never tried to resurrect this end zone section for parents with kids. I don't know if anyone owns the "Woodward's" trademark (I should think it is still the domain of the family), but it sure would be cool to see a "Woodward's Quarterback Club" section for their 60th Anniversary.


DH

be even better if they could have a $1.49 day sale for one game.

I have always been a Lions fan for as long as i can remember,I guess i became a lions fan because i prefer the sport of football over hockey.My favorite lions team is the Roy dewalt era team.And my favorite player back then was #24 swervin mervin.

As a new canadian (1956) in 1960 , there was only one game in town the lions, so started to go to the games , bus from the avalon hotel in north van, and came back to the bar and we cried in our beer, bur I was hooked for good, ofcourse since moving to the island no longer attend games, but watch on TV, and in the days when the Lions has training camp in courtenay went to see them every day (merv Fernandez etc, I miss those days.
ken

ve7da wrote:As a new canadian (1956) in 1960 , there was only one game in town the lions, so started to go to the games , bus from the avalon hotel in north van, and came back to the bar and we cried in our beer, bur I was hooked for good, ofcourse since moving to the island no longer attend games, but watch on TV, and in the days when the Lions has training camp in courtenay went to see them every day (merv Fernandez etc, I miss those days.
ken

You must have lived in North Van as I did then. I was 11 in '56 and yes, it was the only game in town. Some 5,000 seats for the WHL Canucks - went as a teen to Friday night games to Exhib. Gardens at the PNE and it was brutally cold inside even on a spring night. Some touring soccer groups came to Empire from the UK and that got one night great crowds but the Lions simply were the toast of the town. Very much a downtown team with players living in the city or on the North Shore (Al Pollard, By Bailey, Norm Fieldgate, Sonny Homer, Jerry Gustafson) and they were visible with businesses too like Willie Fleming - the Lions Den on Granville and later Kapp with the pub/hotel on Broadway.

Ed Sharkey getting into the fight at the old Capilano Grill - great looking restaurant - where a couple of local toughs misjudged who he was and how tough he was.

The media were full of the Lions stories. Firing a coach was front page full page news it seemed.

Knew sonny homer on a personal base, he was rep for western gypsum, later went to Nob beamers place I think it was out on Kingsway somewhere. Night club, not like the Cave or Izzys, but fun, man I knew a lot of Nightspots in those days, Rolph Harris at the Arctic club, few good places in China Town

ve7da wrote:Knew sonny homer on a personal base, he was rep for western gypsum, later went to Nob beamers place I think it was out on Kingsway somewhere. Night club, not like the Cave or Izzys, but fun, man I knew a lot of Nightspots in those days, Rolph Harris at the Arctic club, few good places in China Town

I didn't recall Beamer having a place but Bill Lasseter had Lasseter's Den next to Safeway as it was then on Broadway and Commercial (a few doors east). I knew Sonny as he dated a girl up the street from me on East 13th and also came to John's Pool Hall (15th and Lonsdale) as did his brother Don.

In those days the CFL was attractive for two reasons. The salaries were better or equal to down south. Secondly you could get another job and firms loved having football players in marketing roles then.