Throwback Thursday

[David]

Starting today, I am adding a new segment to Lionbackers. It's called "Throwback Thursday." On Thursdays, you or I will add a 'retro' pic and write a little blurb about it.

Today, I am posting part of the team photo from 1972, the club's first season in orange home jerseys since the 1950s. Hard to believe the club finished 5-11 that year with all of the big names from US colleges that they had on the roster! Guys like Ray Nettles, Ron Estay, Johnny Musso (all rookies, mind you) as well as quarterbacks Don Moorhead (Michigan) and Rose Bowl MVP Don Bunce (Stanford). It was also the first full year in orange and black for actor Carl Weathers who played linebacker but was often injured.

Pictured (Back Row) - Hunsperger, Estay, Boice, Wilson, Ekdahl, Sugarman
(Middle Row) - Nettles, Anderson, Weathers, Dejanovich (Ass't Coach), Keys (Head Coach)
(Front Row) - Evenson, Guthrie, Gerela, Holm, Wilson




DH

[Qman]

Eagle Keys ... made the ESKIMOS into a dynasty through poor personnel decisions

[TheLionKing]

Eagle Keys ... made the ESKIMOS into a dynasty through poor personnel decisions

Like trading away Don Warrington, Ron Estay, David Boone and Tom Wilkinson.

[DanoT]

#55 Weathers, Isn't he the guy from Rocky movies?

[Hambone]

#55 Weathers, Isn't he the guy from Rocky movies?

One and the same.

[Hambone]

Eagle Keys ... made the ESKIMOS into a dynasty through poor personnel decisions

Like trading away Don Warrington, Ron Estay, David Boone and Tom Wilkinson.

No necessarily trades. Wilkie was cut after his one season in BC likely to make room for Moorhead to move up into the starting role. Others who were part of the pipeline to Edmonton while Eagle was in charge included Larry Highbaugh, Bob Howes and Wayne Matherne.

[Coast Mountain Lion]

Eagle Keys ... made the ESKIMOS into a dynasty through poor personnel decisions

Like trading away Don Warrington, Ron Estay, David Boone and Tom Wilkinson.

No necessarily trades. Wilkie was cut after his one season in BC likely to make room for Moorhead to move up into the starting role.

Kind of ranks up there with the Canucks trading Cam Neely for Barry Pederson.

[Hambone]

Kind of ranks up there with the Canucks trading Cam Neely for Barry Pederson.

That's another one of those 20/20 Hindsight deals. At the time Neely was a promising 21 year old power forward with seasons of 31, 39 and 34 points on his resume. He was also had a combined 263PIMs and -56 in his last 2 years in Vancouver. Pederson was still only 25 at the time of the deal. At 21 he was just finishing a 92 point rookie campaign, ironically matching what would be Neely's career best. Pederson followed it up with seasons of 107 and 116 points in his 2nd and 3rd full year. Granted those came on a much better team. I think what Milford misread in that deal was that despite Pederson bouncing back with a 76 point season after having that growth removed from his arm during the 84-85 season he was never the same player. What made that deal even worse was that the Canucks also gave up their 1st round pick which would turn into 3rd overall and land the Bruins Glen Wesley. At the time of the deal though I don't think anybody expected the pick would be that high. After back-to-back 59 point seasons they did improve by 7 points to 66 but dropped from 7th worst record to 3rd worst.

[Robbie]

Since it's throwback Thursday, here's my addition.

Several years ago, a member posted a question for Lionbacker member Toppy Vann when that member noticed a former BC Lion named Toppy Vann. Then member Toppy Vann explain why he chose that screen name.

Here's some more information about Lion Toppy Vann. Toppy is actually his nickname and his first name is actually Ronald.

Here's a face to a name:


Ronald "Toppy" Vann played QB for 5 games during the 1957 season for the BC Lions. He was born in Rossville, GA in 1936, stood 5'11", weighed 190 pounds, and for college he played for Georgia Tech. Vann threw for 254 yards in his Lions career, completing 18 of 33 passes with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He also ran for 12 yards in 16 attempts with 1 rushing touchdowns.

Any additional information about Ron "Toppy" Vann, Toppy Vann?
Such as why he got the nickname "Toppy" and what did he do after 1957?

[David]

.....Wilkie was cut after his one season in BC likely to make room for Moorhead to move up into the starting role. Others who were part of the pipeline to Edmonton while Eagle was in charge included Larry Highbaugh, Bob Howes and Wayne Matherne.

In the 2000's, we have the Kinder Morgan pipeline that transports crude oil and bitumen from Alberta to BC. In the early 1970s we had the Eagle Keys pipeline that transported good football players to the Alberta capital.

To me the most egregious mistake was letting go of Larry Highbaugh. Larry signed with the Lions mid-way through the 1971 season. The Indiana native ran a lightning fast 9.2 seconds in the 100 and looked very promising for us at receiver and running back, scoring 7 TDs in 12 games and had a 27.0 yard average running back kicks.

But in 1972, Eagle didn't seem to know what to do with him as he was a 2-way player. Cut, released, re-signed, and put on the reserve roster, Larry was eventually picked up by the Eskimos who made him a full-time defensive back and a lethally dangerous returner. He starred with the Esks for 12 years, finding his way to the Hall Of Fame. He was a 4-time Western All-Star, a 3-time All Canadian, intercepting 66 passes along the way. He played in 9 Grey Cups, winning 6 times.



DH

[WestCoastJoe]

To me the most egregious mistake was letting go of Larry Highbaugh. Larry signed with the Lions mid-way through the 1971 season. The Indiana native ran a lightning fast 9.2 seconds in the 100 and looked very promising for us at receiver and running back, scoring 7 TDs in 12 games and had a 27.0 yard average running back kicks.

My recollection ...

Eagle Keys did stimulate hope in Lions' fans, it seems to me. He created some sensational ground games. Jim Evenson. Lou Harris. Monroe Eley. Johnny Musso. Quarterbacking? Not so much. Win/loss/tie record: 25/42/3.

Re Larry Highbaugh ... My recollection is that Keys said it came down to Highbaugh or Rocky Long for a position on the club. Keys showed a preference for Long, who soon headed off to the coaching ranks in the U.S. In preseason, Long came in and took the team on a long march down the field ... Keys was most impressed with his leadership.

This fan recalls the exodus to the Eskimos: Highbaugh, Estay, Matherne. It seems like Keys brought in some great talent, and then let it go.

It seems Rocky Long is still coaching. And Larry Highbaugh is in the CFL Hall of Fame. Ouch. Bad decision, Eagle.

https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=6wW ... rocky+long

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Long

[Robbie]

In this edition of Throwback Thursday, how about some very short-term Lions who tried to replace legend Lui Passaglia at the start of the 1988 season? Because of the competition cap, a lot of long-term veteran Lions left the team perhaps most notably Roy Dewalt. But shortly afterwards, then GM Joe Galat decided that Lui Passaglia could not be signed either and was released. Lui was given an offer to try out for the Cleveland Browns which he did.

In the meantime while the 1988 season started, three kickers attempted to replace him as starting punter and placekicker.

First, it was the Lions 1988 first round draft choice, Tony Martino. But as his rookie season he encountered serious difficulties and was eventually released. Through more experience he did better as a Stampeder.


And then they tried inconsistent Roy Kurtz a second chance when he didn't get the starting job in 1985. He only survived two games before being released.


And finally they tried a third kicker and veteran Bernie Ruoff, who at that time was third in the all time scoring list behind Passaglia and Dave Cutler. He survived a little longer at five games and after Passaglia was cut from the Cleveland Browns tryout, he returned to the Lions and finally Joe Galat realized how valuable he was and signed him again. Originally it was decided that Ruoff would do the place kicking while Passaglia would do the punting. But then after Ruoff missed several field goals in a particular game, Ruoff was released and Passaglia was given all the kicking duties.

[David]

Any additional information about Ron "Toppy" Vann, Toppy Vann?
Such as why he got the nickname "Toppy" and what did he do after 1957?

It was quite a bit before my time Robbie, so I don't know a lot about him. But you do raise an interesting point about nicknames. My belief is that good nicknames are a dying breed.

It seems hockey has the lamest nowadays. Just add a "Y" to the guy's surname and presto! That's his nickname. A contraction is about as creative as it gets (i.e. "Stech" for Stecher or "Burr" for Burrows).

The Lions have a deep and colourful nickname history. There were those that were so ingrained, they became their de facto first name! For example, Lynn Hendrickson was better known by all as "Lefty." Clarence Beamer was always just "Nub," and fans and teammates didn't call Lawrence Homer as anything other than "Sonny." For some of the younger fans, Derek Lewis was better known as "Bo," Llewellyan Murphy was just "Yo," and Talmadge Armour is best remembered from the '85 Grey Cup (and now a Coast Mountain bus driver) as "Ned."

Some of my favs:

"Neon" Leon Bright
Will O' The Wisp (Willie Fleming)
The Throwin' Samoan (Joe Paopao)
Quick Six (Cory Philpot)
Al "Dirt" Wilson
Dirty 30 (Jim Young)


DH

[TheLionKing]

Sean "The Diesel" Millington
James "Quick" Parker
Neal "The Crusher" Beaumont
Bill "The Undertaker" Baker

[Gridiron Ernie]

Nick "Orange Shoes" Hebeler
"Swervin' Mervyn" Fernandez
(Perhaps a bit wordy -- not so wonderfully succinct as classic sporting nicknames like the already-mentioned Nub Beamer and Sonny Homer -- but these were apt descriptors just the same.
And as a bonus, they happen to all (all four) be among my all-time favourite BC Lions, regardless of what we called 'em!
btw, Does anyone know if "Buck" is Buck Pierce's true given name? Another hero of mine.