ROBSERVATIONS: Remember B.C. in ’63? … waking up on game day … Rider roommates … Buck stops here … welcome, Tom and Suzanne Harris!
Born in 1964, I am proud to have attended Game 1 of the 1963 Western Final.
My mom, Helen Vanstone, was expecting yours truly when the B.C. Lions visited Taylor Field to oppose the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Nov. 16, 1963 to begin a best-of-three series.
Until today at 5:30 p.m., that will stand as the most-recent Roughriders-Lions Western Final matchup in Regina.
Hard to believe, indeed, but today’s game is the first of its kind in nearly 62 years.
Here is everything I recall from the lidlifter of the 1963 Western Final.
Nothing.
Except that Mom was there.
She never missed a game.
Thanks to the miracle that is newspapers.com, I can reluctantly inform you that B.C. defeated Saskatchewan 19-7 a mere 22,638 days ago, with 16,262 eyewitnesses in the stands.
Ron Lancaster threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Hugh Campbell for Saskatchewan’s lone score.
The Green and White evened the series four days later, winning 13-8 at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. The Lions took the deciding game, 36-1 — one day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
The capper to the 1963 Roughriders-Lions series concluded a three-games-within-one-week whirlwind.
Saskatchewan and B.C. have met in three subsequent Western Finals — all in Vancouver. Those games were played in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
Buck Pierce, who was a quarterback with the Lions during the latter two years, will be the visiting Head Coach later today when the Roughriders play host to B.C. with a Grey Cup berth at stake.
It boggles the mind to think that in a division consisting of five (occasionally four) teams, two of those clubs have collided so infrequently in a Western Final.
But, as we all know, this league we love so dearly is not without its quirks.
For the record, the Roughriders have played a Western Final home game 19 times heading into today.
Calgary has been the opponent nine times, including the multi-game scenarios. Edmonton has provided the opposition five times. Winnipeg, four times. And B.C., as mentioned, has been here once.
We still owe ’em one for ’63!
Not much of a rallying cry, I admit, but …
GOOD MORNING, RIDERS!
What is it like to wake up on the morning of a big game?
I asked Brett Lauther that question.
“I hadn’t really thought about it too much until you brought it up,” the veteran kicker replied heading into his seventh post-season game as a Roughrider.
“I’ve been through a few now but, for me, it’s exciting. You’re excited to play any game. Obviously, the bigger ones you’re a little more excited for.
“You hope to get a good night’s sleep. There’s all the things you try to preach to the kids. There’s no special secrets or anything like that. Stay hydrated and get some good food in you.
“Go out and remember, at the end of the day, to have fun — but also lock in mentally that it’s a bigger time of year for a lot of people.”
So it could be a pressurized environment.
“I think if you make it to be more pressure, there will be,” Lauther said. “I can’t sit here and lie and not say it’s a bigger game or a bigger deal, because someone’s going home after.
“But at the end of the day, a lot of us have been playing football for a long time. We’re still lucky enough to be playing a kids’ game. A lot of stuff in my life has definitely been put in perspective with my daughter (two-month-old Townes) and my family.
“There is stuff outside football that is bigger, but right now I’m just locked in on Saturday and trying to win a football game.”
The Roughriders’ middle linebacker echoed those sentiments.
“For me, personally, it’s another regular game,” Jameer Thurman said. “I understand all the outside noise. They hype this game up to what it’s supposed to be and everything, but you just treat it like another regular game.
“You don’t need to add any other pressure on yourself. Just go out there and do what you’ve been doing all season.”
Win, in other words.
Saskatchewan posted a league-best 12-6 record during the 2025 regular season. The slate, as impressive as it is, obscures the fact that the team was 12-4 in games that had a bearing on its playoff fortunes.
First place in the West — and hosting privileges for today’s game — was clinched nearly a month ago, on Oct. 10.
It seemed for quite some time that the Western Final was off in the distance.
After securing top spot, the Roughriders played two regular-season games in which several regulars were rested. Then came Round 1 of the playoffs.
Then, suddenly, it was “go” time. The signs are everywhere.
“When you’ve got the spider-cam hanging and the crowd is going crazy and you’ve got tons of ads and more media, you know the environment you’re in,” Roughriders Head Coach Corey Mace said. “You realize that this is a little bit different than a regular-season game.
“But when the ball is snapped, it’s football.”
RIDER ROOMIES
Lately, quarterback Trevor Harris and running back A.J. Ouellette share more than a huddle and a locker room.
They share a home.
Ouellette is living with the Harris family for the tail end of the 2025 season.
“He tries to run me over in my house,” Harris said of the bruising running back. “He can’t help himself.”
How did this temporary living arrangement come to be?
“Well, it gets cold here, right?” Ouellette said. “The campgrounds turned off their water and I had to send the camper home (to Ohio).
“I was living on the street and he said I could just move in with him.”
No problems whatsoever.
“The people who I stay with, Lois and Brian Schatz, have been tremendous,” Harris said. “I asked if A.J. could stay in the basement and they were like, ‘It’s your house. You got it,’ and it has been cool.”
THE BUCK STOPS HERE
Buck Pierce, the Lions’ first-year field boss, has a deep appreciation for football in Saskatchewan even though he has never played or coached here — not as a member of the home team, anyway.
He was introduced to dear old Taylor Field as a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who annually embark for Regina to play in a sold-out Labour Day Classic.
Pierce was also the Lions’ backup quarterback on Nov. 10, 2013, when Darian Durant rallied the Roughriders from a 25-16 deficit and led them to a 29-25 victory in the Western Semifinal.
So Pierce gets it, as much as any visitor can.
“There’s a playoff atmosphere anytime you come here,” he said on Friday. “There’s a sense of pride that runs deep here, obviously, with this organization. They do a good job of representing the CFL. (The fans) show up every week. They’re loud.
“As a player, you’re excited to play in these types of games. You’re excited to run out there on the field. They make it difficult for opposing quarterbacks, for sure. A lot of prep goes into that. We know it’s going to be loud.
“But it’s those games that you remember. I played nine years. I can probably remember every game that I played, coming here or to old Taylor Field.
“It has just been great experiences and I’m looking forward to one (today).”
PRIDE IS APPARENT
One more indicator that this is a bigger-than-usual game: When Harris met the media on Friday, there were some non-reporters in the back of the room.
Trevor’s parents, Tom and Suzanne, are visiting from Waldo, Ohio.
They are the nicest people.
When you meet them, you fully understand how Trevor Harris turned into such an exemplary person.
Suzanne, bless her heart, asked how my dog is doing.
Candy, for the record, is fine.
ROLL CREDITS …
• Nice people who deserve a plug: Suzanne Harris, Tom Harris, Brian Schatz, Lois Schatz, Rod Smith, Claire Hanna, Dave Naylor, Irene Deck, Isaac Wegner, Dohnte Meyers, Tommy Stevens, Rob Harrison, Nelson Lokombo, C.J. Reavis, Bryan Sarauer, Carey Orr, Mark Guy, Tony Champion, Albert Brown, Jon Massey, Lindsey Hoemsen, Jordan Howie, Tony Racioppo, Joe Couch, Jorgen Hus, Payton Collins, Brett Lauther, Micah Johnson, Dave Thomas, Buck Pierce, Adam Auclair, Thomas Siarkos, Nik Selimos and, with slightly belated birthday wishes, legendary Roughriders receiver Jeff Fairholm. No. 18 celebrated No. 60 on Friday. And, yes, he is here for the game.
