Rob Vanstone: History of a history book — Rider Pride

04/01/2024 22:08

The barnacles are routinely sandblasted off the gnarled fingers of this grizzled Saskatchewan Roughriders historian to facilitate the retrospectives that appear on this website.

While looking back, I turn to various sources in addition to relating personal reminiscences pertaining to the Green and White or, once upon a time, Black and Red.

One invaluable tool of the trade has been Rider Pride: The Story of Canada's Best-Loved Football Team.

Written by Bob Calder and Garry Andrews, Rider Pride was released in 1984.

Forty years ago.

Time does fly.

I vividly remember receiving my first copy of the book, which was a gift from Mom.

Mom, bless her heart, bought in bulk. When I cleaned out her condo, following her passing in December of 2019, I found several copies of Rider Pride. She carefully wrapped them in plastic, ensuring that they have that hot-off-the-presses look.

My 40-year-old version is unavoidably tattered, due to the frequency with which I have turned to it as a fan, a sports writer with the Regina Leader-Post and, now, as the Roughriders' resident Senior Journalist and (cobweb alert!) Historian.

"Rider Pride was, for both Garry and me, a labour of love — lots of work but, like you now with the Roughriders, something that hardly seemed like work," Calder says via e-mail from his home in Saskatoon.

"The research was done in the age before Newspapers.com and other electronic search engines, and I can remember spending months in the university microfilm room reading through the sports pages of every Leader-Post issue through each football season.

"Because the Regina Rugby Club/Roughriders have such a special place in the province, we wanted the book to be a lot of social history as well as an account of the games, the victories and the losses.

"I think we succeeded, and I still think that it's one of the best histories of a Canadian sports club (though there may be better ones about the Leafs and Canadiens)."

This gem of a hardcover, published by Western Producer Prairie Books, resulted from a close collaboration with the Roughrider Executive Alumni Book Committee.

In the preface, it is noted that the committee's first chair, Mel Douglas, "provided the initial momentum for the collecting of historical materials."

Considerable credit is also given to Dr. Rafe Chadwick, "who later assumed much of the responsibility for the project."

Dr. Chadwick is duly lauded for his "unflagging assistance in obtaining written records and interviews."

The committee also included Dr. Carl Bolen, Bill Dedman, Wilf Gee, Swain Smith, Ken Preston, Gordon Barber, Bill Clarke, George Reed, Beattie Martin, Peter Byars, Doug Alexander, Bill Argan, R.C. (Scotty) Livingstone, Sully Glasser, Paul Dojack, Jon Hammond, Bob Pelling, Alan Ford, Gordon Staseson and Ken Wade.

Martin, a long-time broadcaster, also helped out by conducting several interviews and opening his personal vault of tapes and memorabilia.

John Lee chipped in by poring over microfilmed copies of newspaper coverage from the early years.

Forty years later, many of the people who were interviewed for the project or served on the committee have passed away.

Thanks to Rider Pride, we will be forever blessed with their first-hand recollections, which were preserved for all time by Calder and Andrews.

Although our favourite football team has played more than 700 games since the publication of Rider Pride, it remains indispensable and eye-catching.

The front cover, for example, shows Reed accepting a handoff from Ron Lancaster. Both players are shown in glorious green and white.

Equally striking is the back cover, on which Dwight Edwards is shown catching a touchdown pass at Calgary's McMahon Stadium.

For the purposes of this retrospective, I decided to dive into the files and find out when, exactly, Edwards made that reception.

And … I … was … stumped.

During Edwards' time with the Roughriders, the team played four regular-season games in Calgary. He did not reach the end zone in any of those four contests.

So what was the deal with the picture? Was the apparent touchdown toss called back due to a penalty?

Then it hit me: What about the pre-season?

Sure enough, Edwards caught a five-yard touchdown pass from John Hufnagel on June 13, 1982, when the Roughriders won 33-32 at McMahon Stadium.

Also shown in the picture is the Stampeders' Ray Odums, who had played for the Roughriders in 1975 and 1976.

From 1977 to 1983, Odums and Stampeders teammate Terry Irvin formed one of the best cornerback duos in CFL history. Irvin subsequently made two notable contributions to Roughriders history.

Notable contribution #1: Irvin is the rare player who was, in essence, traded for a coach. He joined the Roughriders on Feb. 7, 1984 as compensation after the Stampeders plucked Gerry Hart from Saskatchewan's coaching staff and named him the Defensive Co-ordinator.

Notable contribution #2: In 1984, Irvin intercepted 11 passes — still a Roughriders single-season record.

Forty years later, Rider Pride also stands the test of time.