Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a prominent Canadian Football League (CFL) team based in Calgary, Alberta, with a rich history dating back to their establishment in 1945. Named after the city's famous Calgary Stampede, the team quickly rose to prominence, finishing the 1948 season undefeated—a unique achievement in Canadian football history. Over the decades, the Stampeders experienced a mix of success and challenges, including a notable drought from 1949 to 1992, during which they claimed only one Grey Cup championship. However, since the 1990s, the Stampeders have reestablished themselves as a powerhouse in the CFL, with eight Grey Cup victories between 1990 and 2024.
McMahon Stadium serves as their home field, where fans enjoy the team's traditional red, white, and black colors. The Stampeders have been home to many legendary players, including quarterbacks Doug Flutie and Bo Levi Mitchell, both of whom have set numerous franchise records. The team has garnered significant support from the local community, fostering a festive atmosphere surrounding their games. As of 2023, the Stampeders faced a transition, having missed the playoffs for the first time since 2007, which may signal a new chapter in their storied history.
Calgary Stampeders
Team information
- Inaugural season: 1945
- Home field: McMahon Stadium, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Owner: Calgary Sports and Entertainment
- Team colors: Red, white, and black
Overview
The Calgary Stampeders are a Canadian Football League (CFL) team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders were founded after World War II and quickly became one of the best teams in the CFL’s precursor leagues. In 1948, Calgary finished the season undefeated, a milestone that has never been matched in the history of Canadian football. Calgary has not been able to match its early success, winning just one Grey Cup from 1949–1992. Propelled by a succession of high-powered offenses, Calgary has been one of the CFL’s elite teams since the 1990s. From 1990–2024, the Stampeders have made fifteen Grey Cup games and won eight championships.
History
The first rugby-style football clubs were formed in eastern Canada in the 1860s and 1870s. Rugby football was a precursor to modern football and based on English-style rugby. The sport slowly made its way westward and was being played in the province of Alberta in the mid-1880s. By the start of the twentieth century, western teams began to form leagues. Calgary’s first team was the Calgary Tigers, who won a championship in 1911 before the league folded during World War I (1914–1918). The city was home to several short-lived football teams over the next two decades. By 1938, teams from Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton, and Calgary had joined together to form the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU). Calgary’s team was called the Bronks, a shortened form of Broncos. The Bronks folded in 1940, and a year later, the WIFU suspended operations during World War II (1939–1945).
After the war ended, the WIFU reformed, and a group of local investors put together a team to represent Calgary. They named this new team the Stampeders after the city’s annual Calgary Stampede, one of the largest and most famous rodeos in the world. The team immediately became one of the best in the WIFU, making the league championship game three straight seasons, but falling short each time. In 1948, Calgary finished the regular season unbeaten and advanced to the Grey Cup game against the Ottawa Rough Riders. That season, the game was played in Toronto, Ontario, and Calgary fans descended on the city in droves. They brought with them a western flair for partying, holding pancake breakfasts, wearing cowboy hats, riding horses, and staging parades. The Stampeders won the game 12–7, finishing off the only undefeated season in Canadian football history. The festive atmosphere brought by the Calgary fans is also credited with starting the traditional week-long celebration held before future Grey Cup games. The Stampeders also made the 1948 Grey Cup but lost to Montreal.
The Grey Cup was introduced in 1909 as a trophy to be presented to Canada’s best football team. By the 1940s, the cup was generally awarded to the winner of a game between the WIFU champion and the champion of the Interprovincial Rugby Union (IRFU), an eastern league that formed in 1907. In 1958, the WIFU and IRFU joined together to form the Canadian Football League. Since then, the Grey Cup has been the official championship trophy of the CFL.
The Stampeders tailed off badly in the 1950s, losing almost twice as many games as they won. While the team bounced back somewhat in the early to mid-1960s, it still failed to advance to a Grey Cup final. That changed from 1968–1971 when Calgary made three championship games and won the 1971 Grey Cup. The victory, by a score of 14–11, was over a Toronto Argonauts team led by quarterback Joe Theismann, a future Super Bowl winner with the NFL’s Washington Redskins and the 1983 NFL Most Valuable Player.
After that brief success, the next decade and a half brought more disappointment as the team struggled and fan attendance began to drop. Facing bankruptcy in the mid-1980s, the Stampeders resorted to a fan campaign to boost ticket sales and keep the team in Calgary. The team slowly improved in the late 1980s but was never able to make it back to the Grey Cup game. The team’s fortunes began to turn around in 1990 when defensive coordinator Wally Buono was named head coach. Buono led Calgary to six Grey Cup final appearances from 1990–2002, winning championships in 1992, 1998, and 2001. Buono won a franchise record 158 games with Calgary and 129 games with the BC Lions. His career total of 282 is the most in CFL history and earned Buono a spot in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Much of the team’s success during the era was built on the arms of quarterbacks Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia, and Henry Burris. All three were prolific passers who still hold many of the team’s passing marks. Flutie and Garcia would go on to have successful careers in the NFL. Calgary won its sixth Grey Cup in 2008 and made the championship game in 2012, only to lose. In 2014 and 2016, the Stampeders set a franchise record with 15 regular season wins. They won the Grey Cup in 2014 but fell victim to an upset in the title game in 2016. After a loss in the 2017 Grey Cup, Calgary won the 2018 championship for its eighth overall Grey Cup and second of the decade.
In 2021, after a hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Stampeders had an 8-6 record. They reached the playoffs but were defeated by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in overtime, 33-30. The team reached the playoffs again in 2022 with a record of 12-6 but lost to the BC Lions 30-16. They did not qualify for the playoffs in 2023, the first time the Stampeders had a losing season since 2007.
For the Stampeders’ first two years of existence, their uniforms were a gaudy yellow-and-blue combination. In 1948, the team switched to its traditional red and white design. Calgary’s original logo featured a cowboy riding a bucking bronco, but in 1972, the logo was changed to a galloping white horse. The horse was later outlined in black and remains the team’s logo as of 2024. Since 2012, the team has been owned by Calgary Sports and Entertainment, a group that also owns the NHL’s Calgary Flames.
Notable players
The Calgary Stampeders have had more than forty players, coaches, or officials associated with the team inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. The franchise’s first star was running back Paul Rowe, the team captain on the 1948 undrafted squad. Rowe played for Calgary from 1945–1950 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1964. Linebacker Wayne Harris played his entire career for Calgary from 1961–1972. He was the only four-time winner of the Outstanding Lineman Award in CFL history and was named the MVP of the Stampeders’ Grey Cup championship. Harris is one of seven Stampeders to have his number retired and was named to the Hall of Fame in 1976.
During the franchise’s struggles of the 1970s and early 1980s, running back Willie Burden was one of the team’s few shining lights. Burden played for Calgary from 1974–1981 and set the single-season franchise rushing mark with 1,896 yards in 1975. In addition to having his number retired by Calgary, Burden was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001. Calgary’s career leader in rushing yards is Joffrey Reynolds who amassed 9,213 yards from 2004–2011. Kelvin Anderson ran for 8,292 yards from 1996–2002, placing him second on the franchise list. Anderson set a CFL record by rushing for more than 1,000 yards in eight consecutive seasons.
Wide receiver Allen Pitts is the Stampeders’ all-time career leader in receiving yards with 14,891, good enough for third place in CFL history. He also holds team marks for career receptions with 966 and his 2,036 receiving yards in 1994 is a CFL record. Pitts was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006 and has also had his number retired by the team. Wide receiver Nik Lewis, who played with Calgary from 2004–2014, is second in franchise history with 11,250 receiving yards. Lewis caught 1,051 passes in his career, more than anyone else in CFL history.
From 1992–1995, the Stampeders were led by quarterback Doug Flutie who won the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player Award for the first three of those seasons. Flutie holds the franchise mark for most passing yards in a season with 6,092 in 1993 and the single-season record for passing touchdowns with 48 in 1994. Flutie threw for more than 41,000 yards with three CFL teams before leaving for the NFL in 1998. His longest tenure with a CFL team was with Calgary, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.
Flutie was replaced as quarterback by Jeff Garcia, who played for the Stampeders from 1994–1998. Garcia led the team to the 1998 Grey Cup championship and was named the game’s MVP. In 1999, Garcia left to join the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers where he made four Pro Bowls. Quarterback Henry Burris spent two stints with Calgary from 1998–1999 and 2005–2011. Burris is the franchise leader in career passing yards with 32,191 and was the MVP of the 2008 Grey Cup game.
In 2014, Bo Levi Mitchell became the Stampeders’ starting quarterback and quickly asserted himself as one of the all-time franchise greats. Mitchell won the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player Award in 2016 and 2018 and was MVP of the 2018 Grey Cup game. As of 2024, Mitchell is the team’s all-time winningest quarterback and is the franchise leader in career passing yards with 32,541.
Bibliography
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Austin, Daniel. “Calgary Stampeders.” Canadian Encyclopedia, 26 Nov. 2018, thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/calgary-stampeders. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.
Austin, Daniel. “Stamps Notes: Mitchell Becomes Winningest Stamps QB.” Calgary Sun, 7 Sept. 2019, calgarysun.com/sports/football/cfl/calgary-stampeders/stamps-notes-mitchell-becomes-winningest-stamps-qb. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.
Brunt, Stephen. 100 Grey Cups: This Is Our Game.McClelland & Stewart, 2012.
“Calgary Stampeders Team History.” Sports Team History, 2024, sportsteamhistory.com/calgary-stampeders. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.
Creamer, Chris. “Canary & Horseshoes: The History of the Calgary Stampeders Uniforms.” SportsLogos.net, 23 Nov. 2018, news.sportslogos.net/2018/11/23/canary-horseshoes-the-history-of-the-calgary-stampeders-uniforms/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.
“Grey Cup Winners.” Canadian Football Hall of Fame, 2022, www.cfhof.ca/grey-cup-winners/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
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