Football Hall of Fame Profile: The standard-setting 1960 team
The largest class of inductees in Gee-Gees Football Hall of Fame history will be enshrined this year; three teams and two individuals have been selected for the honour. There are five decades of Gee-Gees history being celebrated; the 1960, 1970, and 1980 championship-winning teams will all go in to the Hall of Fame this year along with defensive standouts Steve Glenn and Sébastien Tétreault.
The 1960 team marks an important turning point in the history of Gee-Gees football; it began a new era of dominance by the Gee-Gees, reviving the championship tradition and winning attitude which would carry forward for decades.
The 1960 team was the first of Matt Anthony's undefeated regular seasons, with the Garnet and Grey playing to a 7-0 regular season record in the Ontario Intercollegiate Football Conference. The team then defeated Loyola for the Ontario-St. Lawrence Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championship, winning by a score of 49-13 in the title game at Lansdowne Park.
Over the course of the season, the Gee-Gees outscored opponents 259-78 before travelling to Halifax for the Atlantic Bowl.
The team was considered the favourite to win the OSLAA league coming into the season, having finished second in 1959. Bill McIntyre, a medical student who had led the league in scoring in 1959 was returning, as was Brien Benoit who was considered the league's best lineman.
Both were local Ottawa players, as the majority of the roster was made up of grads from Lisgar, Fisher, St. Pat's, Glebe, and U of O high schools. Glenn Robinson hailed from Arnprior, Earl Blackadder from Cornwall, and Dick Barch was an American import.
"When anyone would complain about an injury, Coach Anthony would say, 'just run it out and take two laps'. Although that was not formal injury protocol, the connotation of it shows how the tough the team really was," recalls Benoit.
"The years I spent playing football with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees were great years, especially 1960," says Ron Verrall. "The team had a talented group of players who with the coaching staff made a strong commitment to succeed that year.
As the wins began to pile up, Matt Anthony declared his fedora hat to be lucky and refused to replace it prior to the Atlantic Bowl. The players started calling him Matt the Hat.
In the scouting report that St. FX coach Don Loney, a former teammate of Matt Anthony's with the Ottawa Rough Riders, shared with reporters in advance of the Atlantic Bowl, he called the Gee-Gees "a big team – bigger than us. They're hard-running."
With a sold-out crowd of 5,000 at the Wanderers Grounds in Halifax under the sun, Ottawa took a 6-0 lead into halftime of the Atlantic Bowl but were shut out in the final two quarters.
As OSLAA Champions the Gee-Gees were invited to the Rough Riders Grey Cup celebration dinner which was also attended by Prime Minister Diefenbaker, and received a loud ovation when introduced to the crowd of over 2600 at the Coliseum.
1960 Game Results:
W 29-19 vs McMaster at Lansdowne, Oct. 1 - TDs by Pete Barnabe (2 receptions from Earl Hendy), Earl Blackadder, Bill McIntyre
W 28-6 at Waterloo, Oct. 8 - TDs by McIntyre (3), Barnabe (70-yard reception from Rick Charbonneau)
W vs Carleton, Oct. 15 - TDs by McIntyre (3), Pete Barnabe
W 27-13 at RMC, Oct. 22 - TDs by Bill Hendy, McIntyre, Tony Malloy, Earl Blackadder
W 15-2 at Guelph (OAC), Oct. 29 - TDs by Blackadder (2)
W 34-18 vs Carleton, Nov. 5 - TDs by McIntyre (2), Blackadder, Glenn Robinson, Rick Carbonneau (90-yard INT return)
W 49-1 vs RMC, Nov. 12 - TDs by Barnabe (2), McIntyre, Hendy, Malloy, Blackadder, Robinson.
W 49-13 vs Loyola (OSLAA Championship)
L 6-21 at St.FX (Atlantic Bowl) - two field goals by Don Myles
Team Roster:
Bill Auger, Dave Preston, Ward Adams, Andre Primeau, Bob McEvoy, Bill Hendy, Guy Duford, Dick Barch, Avrum Smith, Rich Hutchings, Paul Benoit, Dennis Lynch, Bill McIntyre, Pete Barnabe, Andre Cadieux, Glen Robinson, Ron Verrall, Len Shore, Jim Allen, Tony Malloy, John Thompson, Pete Radley, Brian Benoit, Pete Benoit, Paul Desjardins, Rick Carbonneau, Earl Blackadder, Mike Ninninger, Don Myles, John Bonhomme, Tom Kritsch.
Coaches and staff:
Matt Anthony (head coach), Fred Kijeck (assistant coach), Andre Cousineau (manager), Fern St. Pierre (assistant manager), F. Clouthier (assistant manager), Jack Park (trainer).