Lionbackers.com

Hey all,
Firstly, I got to say I love Lionbackers! I am new to the forum and have really appreciated the feedback to my questions and the quality of people's posts. Great insight and well-thought posts; makes following the Lions all the better.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a written history of the Lions? I would love to expand my collection of Lion's gear to include more historical stuff. And I want to learn more about the players my parents loved to watch and the "cardiac kids".

Thanks, Dave

Hands down, you'll want to have all 4 of John Wirtanen's books in your collection.

Thrown To The Lions
The 1st 50 Years
BC Lions Memorabilia Pt 1
BC Lions Memorabilia Pt 2

All 4 books are an outstanding compendium of team history, photos, incites, stories, anecdotes, and (in the case of The 1st 50 Years) year-by-year accounts. Each book is roughly 400-500 pages. Money well spent if you're a fan of the club.

If you're a fan of the Cardiac Kids (columnist Jim Taylor coined "Jerry and the Cardiacs" for their late game heroics, but the '77 team is more commonly referred to now as the "Cardiac Kids"), look for a colour CFL book called "Yards." It came out late 1977 and features extremely rare photos of that team, as well as the other 8 CFL teams that year.




DH

And of course, there's the book written by Bob Ackles himself:

The Water Boy: From the Sidelines to the Owner's Box: Inside the CFL, the XFL, and the NFL


As a reminder though, the book doesn't contain a lot of factual BC Lions history but instead on his recollections as he states himself in the preface:

Bobby Ackles wrote:This is not a history of the B.C. Lions, although it contains my recollections of the considerable time I spent with the team: from 1953 through 1986 and then again from 2002 until who knows when.

Here are a few more books related to Lions history:

"Countdown to Grey Cup" by Dave Skrien and Dick Beddoes (Lions' coach, Skrien's account of the 1964 season, including their Grey Cup victory.

"Dirty Thirty" by Jim Young and Jim Taylor - Lions hall-of-famer, Jim Young's autobiography.

"Flutie" by Doug Flutie with Perry Lefko - Doug Flutie's autobiography, which includes his 1990 and 1991 seasons with the Lions.

""Goin' Deep" by Matt Dunigan and Jim Taylor - Matt Dunigan's autobiography, which includes the 1988 and 1989 seasons with the Lions.

I have three of Wirtanen's books: the 'original' "Thrown to the Lions" (2000), the update w/Toppy Vann on cover and "Collecting Lions Memorabilia - part 2" w/Lonnie Dennis on Cover. The first purchased directly from John W. The other two bought at MVP Sports in Victoria this past summer. But I cannot for the life of me find the "Collecting Lions Memorabilia - part 1" anywhere and feel I'm missing something by not having it!! I've tried E-mailing JW but no response (possibly wrong E-mail?) Anybody know how/where I can find 'Collecting - part 1".
Many thanks

Finally ordered "Collecting Lions Memorabilia - part 1" from the man himself.. John Wirtanen.
All's good there.
But.. still PO'd about the West Final last year v. Stampeders!!! (No, no Cauchy!!! Over there dammit!!! Over there!! :-(
Cheers..