It was raining interceptions for Dale West on Aug. 15, 1963 — 60 years ago today.
On a wet weekday evening at Taylor Field, West registered three picks to help the Saskatchewan Roughriders squeeze out a 5-3 CFL victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
That landmark evening was part of a spectacular 1963 campaign for West — the kind of season that cannot be duplicated, considering everything that he did on both sides of the ball and the evolution of the game toward specialization.
In addition to registering 10 interceptions, then a team record, he caught five passes for 174 yards.
Average yards per catch: 34.8!
Three of his five receptions produced a touchdown.
One of his TD catches — an eight-yard connection with Ron Lancaster — capped The Little General’s first classic comeback as a member of the Green and White.
All of this happened to a young man who was only four days past his 22nd birthday when the Tiger-Cats, quarterbacked by a future Hall of Famer, made their first regular-season appearance at Taylor Field. (Interlocking play had been introduced by the CFL in 1961.)
“The weather was lousy,” recalls West, 82. “It was rainy and windy and really ugly.
“Given the conditions, Bernie Faloney just had trouble throwing the ball, so I kind of lucked into it.”
Faloney was picked off four times — Gene Wlasiuk had the other interception — before being shaken up in the third quarter and forced to leave the game. Frank Cosentino and Joe Zuger split the quarterbacking the rest of the way.
It was such a miserable day, climate-wise, that neither team was able to reach double digits in points or first downs.
The Roughriders and Tiger-Cats each moved the chains nine times. Not once did either team infringe upon the opposition’s 25-yard line, as was noted by John Robertson in the game story he filed for the Regina Leader-Post.
The one stat that did jump off the page: West’s first three interceptions of the season.
West had registered one previous pick, in 1962, but he had been most conspicuous on offence during his rookie season.
His 1962 stat line as a receiver: 13 catches for 306 yards (23.5 yards per catch!) and three TDs as a member of the Steve Owen-coached Roughriders.
Owen, whose legendary status as an NFL coach was such that he entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966, was the Roughriders’ field boss in 1961 and 1962.
Following the latter season, Owen was named the CFL’s Coach of the Year. Even so, some nuances of the Canadian game did create a few challenges.
“After our last week of two-a-day workouts at training camp in ’62, Steve Owen came up to me and said, ‘I’ve been coaching in the States all this time, so I don’t know what to do with that 12th man, but you’re it,’ ” West says with a chuckle.
West certainly possessed the speed that is required of a wide receiver.
In 1959, while attending Bedford Road Collegiate in Saskatoon, the Cabri-born West won the senior boys 100-yard dash at the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association track and field championships.
His blistering time of 9.8 seconds endures as an unbreakable provincial record. Long ago, the change was made from 100 yards to 100 metres so, barring the abolition of the metric system, his sprint standard is safe.
West treated fans to a 79-yard sprint on Sept. 12, 1962, when he scored his first CFL touchdown — on a bomb from Bob Ptacek — to help the Roughriders defeat the visiting Montreal Alouettes 24-10.
“I remember walking back to the bench and I was just prancing,” West says. “Here I was, in the CFL, and I had just scored my first touchdown.
photo courtesy: Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame
“Well, Steve Owen was a little blind. When I got to the sideline, Steve was looking at the other end of the field, standing beside (assistant coach) Len Younce. He turned to him and said, ‘Len, what the hell happened?’
“But he did see it on the film, which arrived two days later.”
West truly arrived in 1963, when he enjoyed a banner season that resulted in recognition as the Western Conference’s Most Outstanding Canadian.
He was also named a West All-Star for the first of three consecutive years.
Also in 1963, the Roughriders welcomed four players who would be key contributors to Saskatchewan’s first Grey Cup winner — the 1966 edition.
Fullback George Reed joined the Roughriders for training camp.
No. 34 was joined in the offensive backfield by Ed Buchanan when the speedy halfback was claimed on waivers from the Calgary Stampeders on Oct. 11, 1963.
Lancaster had been obtained from the Ottawa Rough Riders on July 29, 1963. His first starting assignment as a Roughrider was on Aug. 15, 1963, when West stole the show with his three thefts.
The aforementioned fourth-quarter comeback — the first of 50 Lancaster authored as a Roughrider — unfolded on Sept. 21, 1963.
With the Roughriders trailing Edmonton 7-1, Lancaster piloted a 16-play, 109-yard march that was punctuated by a TD toss to West with 1:35 remaining in the game. Reg Whitehouse’s convert proved to be the difference as Saskatchewan won 8-7.
The story doesn’t end there. Edmonton’s final hope was extinguished when Lynn Amadee was intercepted on Saskatchewan’s 33-yard line by … wait for it … Dale West!
Also noteworthy from Sept. 21, 1963: Hugh Campbell’s debut as a Roughrider.
Having just been released by the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, Campbell quickly found a home in Saskatchewan and a kindred spirit in Lancaster. A telepathic relationship helped Lancaster and Campbell slice secondaries for much of the 1960s.
Campbell’s presence bolstered the receiving corps and also reduced the workload for West, who was able to focus on his defensive duties for the remainder of the 1963 season and, for that matter, his career — one that has been celebrated by the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame (1989) and the SaskTel Plaza of Honour (1997).
It is a career of which he is understandably proud, especially in light of the fact that all 106 of his CFL regular-season games were spent with a team that represented his home province.
“That really made it significant,” West reflects. “Where else would you want to do it?”
