Hamilton Tiger-Cats

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Division	East Division
Founded	1950
Home field	Ivor Wynne Stadium
Based in	Hamilton, Ontario
Colours	Black and Gold
League	Canadian Football League
Head coach	Charlie Taaffe
General manager	Marcel Desjardins

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a Canadian Football League team based in Hamilton, Ontario.

1 Team facts
2 Franchise history
3 Players and coaches of note
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Team facts

Founded: 1950, a merger of the Hamilton Tigers (merged with the Hamilton Alerts) and the Hamilton Flying Wildcats.

Formerly known as: The Hamilton Tigers and Hamilton Flying Wildcats.

Helmet design: Black background with a leaping tiger

Uniform colours: Black, Gold and White.

Home stadium: Ivor Wynne Stadium (1950-present), Hamilton Amateur Athletic Association Grounds (1872-1949)

Current Owner: Bob Young

Eastern regular season championships: 18 — 1950, 1952, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1998

Grey Cup final appearances:: 18 — 1953 (won), 1957 (won), 1958 (lost), 1959 (lost), 1961 (lost), 1962 (lost), 1963 (won), 1964 (lost), 1965 (won), 1967 (won), 1972 (won), 1980 (lost), 1984 (lost), 1985 (lost), 1986 (won), 1989 (lost), 1998 (lost), 1999 (won)

Main Rivals: Toronto Argonauts (see Labour Day Classic).

2006 Regular Season Record: 4 wins, 14 losses, 0 ties.

Note: There is some contention regarding the number of times that this franchise has won the Grey Cup. Many people include all the teams that merged to form the team: Hamilton Tigers (5 championships), Hamilton Flying Wildcats (1 championship) and the Hamilton Alerts (1 championship) in addition to the 8 as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. While others do not agree about this history and limit the wins to those of the merged team.

[edit] Franchise history

[edit] Early Years

The Hamilton Tigers circa 1906

The Hamilton Tigers playing an unknown Ottawa team, 1910

Hamilton Tiger-Cats vs. Toronto Argonauts, October 27, 2005 at Rogers Centre

On Wednesday, November 3, 1869, in a room above Nick Lawrence's Sausage Factory, the Hamilton Football Club was formed.

In 1873, the Toronto Argonauts were formed, and it was that year in the first HFBC–Argonauts game ever played, which the Argonauts won, that Hamilton first wore yellow and black. Hamilton won the rematch the following Saturday, and it was in the reporting of that game that they were first referred to as the Tigers. [1]

In 1908, the Tigers won the dominion championship, a year before the Grey Cup was first awarded. The colours of yellow and black were well represented and the present philosophy of tough football was established in those early days. The only times that Hamilton football was interrupted as a spectator sport was during World War I and World War II.

After World War II the Tiger Football Team started competition again. At the same time, a new group in the city was formed and they became known as the Hamilton Wildcats. As it can well be imagined, competition was high on and off the field. The Hamilton Tigers were able to induce players like Frank Filchock and Merle Hapes in the late 1940s to come up and play for no more than athletic awards.

The competition for fan participation was so great that both teams were unable to operate on a sound financial basis. Under the guidance of Mr. Ralph W. Cooper, Mr. F.M. Gibson and many other prominent Hamilton citizens, including the late Mr. C.C. Lawson and the late Mr. Sam Manson, it was decided that the two clubs should amalgamate and form one representative team for Hamilton.

The present name, Tiger-Cats, and what is known as the modern era of football started in 1950. In order that the two groups could work favourably together they selected Mr. Cooper as president to bring these two factions to work under one roof.

[edit] A Steel Town Dynasty (1950-1972)

The Ti-Cats had great success throughout the 1950s and 1960s, they finished first in the East thirteen times from 1950 to 1972. During that same timespan, they also appeared in eleven Grey Cup finals winning the championship six times. Players, such as Angelo Mosca, Bernie Faloney, Joe Zuger and Garney Henley became football icons in the Steel City. Their 1972 Grey Cup win, 13-10 over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, were led by two sensational rookies, Chuck Ealey who had an outstanding college career at the University of Toledo and Ian Sunter, an 18-year old kicker who booted the deciding field goal that gave Hamilton the cup.

[edit] Later Years

The Tiger-Cats contended on and off during the rest of the 1970s and 1980s, reaching the Grey Cup final in 1980 and winning the East Division by a mile in 1981 with a 11-4-1 record under head coach Frank Kush, but were stunned by the Ottawa Rough Riders, who finished a distant second at 5-11, in the East final. The Tabbies' defense was very stout, talented and hungry that decade, led by standouts Grover Covington, Ben Zambiasi, Howard Fields and Mitchell Price. They were complemented very well on offense with quarterbacks Tom Clements and Mike Kerrigan throwing to Rocky DiPietro and Tony Champion leading to three straight trips to the Grey Cup in 1984, 1985 and 1986, the latter resulting in winning the title over the Edmonton Eskimos by a score of 39-15. Hamilton returned to the Grey Cup in 1989, but were on the losing end of a 43-40 thriller to Saskatchewan.

The 1990s were marked by financial instability, and constant struggles on the field. Quarterback was a weak spot for the Ti-Cats, as in the first half of the decade had names like Don McPherson, Damon Allen, Timm Rosenbach, Matt Dunigan, Lee Saltz and Todd Dillon taking their turns at the pivot. Despite the excellent play of Eastern All Star Earl Winfield rewriting the team's record books for pass catching, Hamilton struggled to attract crowds to Ivor Wynne Stadium. It wasn't until 1998 with the arrival of head coach Ron Lancaster and the pitch-and-catch duo of Danny McManus and Darren Flutie plus the pass rush abilities of Joe Montford that led Hamilton back to the CFL's elite, reaching the Grey Cup finals in 1998 and winning the cup the following year.

Native Hamiltonian Bob Young has owned the Tiger-Cats since 2004, and although the team has had a resurgance in home attendance, corporate sponsorship plus a brand new "Tiger Vision" scoreboard at Ivor Wynne have struggled with their on field product. Last place finishes both in 2005 (5-13) and 2006 (4-14), have resulted in a overhaul of the coaching staff for 2007.