Today’s theme: (Little) General delivery.
Ron Lancaster was born 85 years ago today in Fairchance, Pa.
Nothing against Fairchance, but the late Saskatchewan Roughriders icon was always quick to emphasize that he grew up in Clairton — part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
He was the oldest of Elmer and Dorothy Lancaster’s 10 children. Somehow, the family was able to shoe-horn itself into a two-storey rowhouse.
“Upstairs, there were three bedrooms. You do the math with 12 people,’’ Bill Lancaster, one of Ronnie’s three brothers, told me during an interview for West Riders Best — my book on the 1966 Roughriders.
The Lancasters lived in an 84-block, government-subsidized project for low-income families. The rent was $65 per month.
Most of the residents had an affiliation to a Clairton-based U.S. Steel plant. A week in the life of Elmer Lancaster typically consisted of six 16-hour shifts. His peak salary: $17,000.
“One time I asked, ‘Dad, why did we never have a car?’ ” Bill Lancaster said. “He said, ‘We didn’t need one. If it’s a nice day, I can walk a mile and a half to the steel mill. If it’s cold out, I can take the bus.’ That was the way it was.”
As far back as he could recall, Lancaster loved sports — football and baseball in particular. Once upon a time, he dreamed of playing shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
At age 10, he was introduced to life behind the centre.
“Ronnie was a quarterback at 10 years old,’’ Bill Lancaster said on Oct. 7, 2008. “My mother tells the story where he came home and said, ‘They’ve got me at some position called quarterback. I don’t know what to do, but that’s where they put me.’ ”
With the Clairton High Bears, Lancaster started at quarterback as a junior and a senior. He was also a defensive back and a left-footed punter.
Next stop: Springfield, Ohio, home of Wittenberg College (now Wittenberg University).
Next stop after that: Ottawa, home of the Rough Riders.
The eastern Riders’ General Manager at the time was George Terlep, who had been fired as Saskatchewan’s Head Coach on Sept. 30, 1959.
Wittenberg field boss Bill Edwards recommended the diminutive Lancaster to Terlep and, well, the rest was history.
For three years in Ottawa, Lancaster shared the quarterbacking position with a fellow legend in the making, Russ Jackson. Hence the need for versatility.
On Aug. 20, 1960, Lancaster’s second CFL game was noteworthy due to three interceptions.
He didn’t throw them. He made them!
In fact, one of Lancaster’s three picks was returned 20 yards for a touchdown to help Ottawa defeat the host Hamilton Tiger-Cats 35-6.
Lancaster also made his mark at quarterback as a CFL rookie.
In the finale of the two-game, total-points Eastern Conference final against the Toronto Argonauts, Lancaster threw two long passes to Bobby Simpson — for gains of 80 and 54 yards — to help Ottawa register a come-from-behind, 21-20 win.
The Rough Riders won the two-game set, 54-41, en route to capturing a Grey Cup title.
Lancaster saw some duty at quarterback in the league final, but Jackson took most of the snaps as Ottawa defeated the Eagle Keys-coached Edmonton side 16-6 on Nov. 26, 1960 at Empire Stadium in Vancouver.
Precisely six years later, at the very same venue, Keys coached Saskatchewan to a 29-14 Grey Cup victory over Ottawa.
Lancaster, whom the Rough Riders had traded to the Green and White three years earlier, threw three touchdown passes to help Saskatchewan win the first championship in franchise history.
Ten years later, at age 38, Lancaster became a second-time winner of the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award. He was previously honoured in 1970.
Ronnie kept playing until 1978. Fittingly, his final appearance as the Roughriders’ No. 23 was punctuated by a come-from-behind, 36-26 victory over Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium.
The opposing Head Coach on Oct. 29, 1978 was Hugh Campbell, with whom Lancaster had connected for the game-winning touchdown pass in the 1966 Grey Cup game.
Two days after his final game as a player, he was named the Roughriders’ Head Coach.
The Little General was 69 when he passed away on Sept. 18, 2008.
HAPPY 41st, RONNIE!
Lancaster celebrated his first CFL head-coaching victory on his 41st birthday, Oct. 14, 1979.
In Year 1 of a massive reconstruction project, the Roughriders lost their first 12 games before meeting Edmonton in what seemed to be a formality of a mid-October game at Taylor Field.
Edmonton would soon win its first of an unprecedented five consecutive Grey Cup championships. Saskatchewan, meanwhile, was just hoping to somehow avoid the ignominy of a winless season.
Miraculously, the ice-breaking victory was at the expense of a formidable Edmonton team.
Trailing 11-2, the Roughriders caught fire when Danny Sanders replaced a struggling Lloyd Patterson at quarterback. Sanders quickly found Joey Walters for a 52-yard touchdown bomb.
On the afternoon, Walters would catch nine passes for a career-high 212 yards.
Ultimately, it came down to the final play.
Dave Cutler, a future Hall of Famer, lined up to attempt what everyone thought would be a rudimentary 32-yard field goal.
With the score tied 25-25, Cutler’s kick was wide. The Roughriders’ Emil Nielsen retrieved the football and, in a frantic attempt to prevent Edmonton from registering a game-winning route, booted the pigskin out of the end zone.
Edmonton quarterback Tom Wilkinson, who was Cutler’s holder, caught Nielsen’s punt and hoofed the ball back into the end zone.
Roughriders placekicker/punter Bob Macoritti caught Wilkinson’s kick and launched one more return punt before being clobbered and suffering a season-ending knee injury.
As Macoritti writhed in pain, his punt sailed out of bounds outside of the end zone to preserve the Roughriders’ one-point lead.
Make the final: Saskatchewan 26, Edmonton 25.
ROLL CREDITS …
- Nice people who deserve a plug: Kathy Haroldson, Boston Davidsen, Don Narcisse, Clint Morin, Brit Dort, John Knisley, Larry Dean, Jacqueline Hurlbert, Craig Reynolds, Rhonda Ekstrom, Travis Currah, Max Parkinson, Tom Bedard, Melanie Bedard, Connor Bedard, Blake Tiedeman, Dr. Mike Nicholls, Trevor Harris, Anthony Vitale, Jock Wilson, Randy Nicolle, Donna Spencer, Ryan Meskell and Marc Mueller.
