Ottawa Redblacks

Team information

• Inaugural season: 2014
• Home field: TD Place Stadium, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• Owners: Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group
• Team colors: Red, black, and white

Overview

The Ottawa Redblacks is a Canadian Football League (CFL) team based in Ottawa, Ontario. Traditionally, Ottawa has had a long and storied football history, with teams dating back to 1876. After the city lost two CFL franchises in the 1990s and 2000s, the Redblacks were established to bring a team back to the nation’s capital. The new team drew heavily on Ottawa’s football past, adopting the colors of the previous franchises as its name. The Redblacks began play in 2014, and after a disastrous first season, quickly became one of the CFL’s best teams. Ottawa made three Grey Cup finals in its first five years of existence and won the championship in 2016.

History

The first football team in Ottawa was the Ottawa Football Club, which began play in 1876. The team changed its name to the Rough Riders in 1898 in honor of the US cavalry regiment led by future US president Theodore Roosevelt. The regiment had become famous fighting in the Spanish-American War. The Ottawa Rough Riders not only took the regiment’s name, but also adopted its colors—red and black. The team played as the Rough Riders until 1925, when it changed its name to the Senators. As the Senators, Ottawa won back-to-back Grey Cups in 1925 and 1926. The Grey Cup is the trophy awarded to the Canadian football champion. Despite its success, the team ditched the Senators name in 1930 and returned to the Rough Riders.

Ottawa won the Grey Cup in 1940 and again in 1951. In 1958, the two main Canadian football unions merged to officially form the modern CFL. After winning another championship in 1960, the Rough Riders enjoyed the franchise’s most dominant period from 1968–1976. The team made four appearances in the Grey Cup championship, winning all four times. The Rough Riders’ 1976 title would be its ninth Grey Cup. It would also be its last. For the next two decades, Ottawa struggled to win games and draw fans until the team was ultimately forced to cease operations in 1996. A new CFL team—the Ottawa Renegades—returned to the city in 2002 but failed to post a winning record and folded after the 2005 season.

In 2010, Ottawa city officials began plans for revitalizing the downtown’s Lansdowne Park area and Frank Clair Stadium in hopes of attracting a new CFL team. The league had agreed to award the city a team on the condition that the playing facilities receive an upgrade. The franchise ownership was to be the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), an investment partnership led by Canadian businessperson Jeff Hunt. The $300 million project began in 2012 and renovated the former home of the Rough Riders and Renegades. The refurbished Frank Clair Stadium was renamed TD Place Stadium.

Team ownership sought fan input for a new franchise name with the stipulation it be something unique to the city of Ottawa. They also wanted something that began with the letter “R” as a connection to both the Rough Riders and Renegades. In the end, the team chose the name Redblacks in honor of the traditional colors of past Ottawa franchises. The logo featured a white “R” surrounded by a red circle and set on a black sawblade. The “R” was a callback to the logo on the Rough Riders’ helmets from 1975–1991, while the sawblade represented Ottawa’s logging history.

The team began play on July 3, 2014, with a loss to Winnipeg. The rest of the season followed a similar pattern as the Redblacks finished with a league-worst 2–16 record. Despite its poor performance on the field, the franchise was a hit with fans, selling out all its home games. The franchise’s sellout streak continued during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The team’s second season was remarkably different than its inaugural effort as the Redblacks went 12–6 and won the CFL’s East Division. Led by a potent passing offense, Ottawa advanced all the way to the Grey Cup championship game before losing to Edmonton. The CFL noted the team’s sudden turnaround by naming head coach Rick Campbell Coach of the Year.

After fighting through injuries in 2016, the Redblacks managed to scrape up enough wins to make the playoffs with an 8–9–1 record. The team defeated Edmonton in the playoffs to advance to its second consecutive Grey Cup final. Its opponent was the Calgary Stampeders who posted the CFL’s best record at 15–2–1 and led the league in most points scored and fewest points given up. Ottawa jumped out to a 27–7 lead, but Calgary stormed back, kicking a tying field goal with seconds left to send the game into overtime. In overtime, Redblacks’ quarterback Henry Burris threw a touchdown pass to Ernest Jackson and Ottawa’s defense held Calgary off the board, giving the Redblacks the championship. It was the city’s first Grey Cup title in forty years. For his performance, Burris was named Grey Cup Most Valuable Player.

Ottawa made the playoffs again in 2017 only to fall short of another title game. At the end of the 2018 season, Ottawa once again made the Grey Cup final, but lost to Calgary, 27–16. The 2019 season was a disappointment, as Ottawa finished 3–15 and missed the playoffs. After the season, the team announced that head coach Campbell would not return. Former Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice was hired as Campbell's replacement. The team was eliminated from playoff contention in 2021. During the same year, the Redblacks fired general manager Marcel Desjardins.

Notable players

Upon their formation, the Redblacks announced that they would be retiring ten jersey numbers that had previously been retired by the Rough Riders. These include running back Ron Stewart and quarterback Russ Jackson, both of whom won three Grey Cups with Ottawa in the 1960s. Jackson was the team’s all-time leader in passing yards with 24,593. Their teammate, wide receiver Whit Tucker, was part of two of those championship teams. Kicker and offensive tackle Moe Racine won four Grey Cups and was the Rough Riders’ all-time leader in games played. Kicker and wide receiver Gerry Organ won two championships and finished as the Rough Riders’ all-time leading scorer with 1,462 points. Other players to have had their jerseys retired were lineman Bruno Bitkowski, offensive tackle Jim Coode, defensive back Bobby Simpson, running back Tony Golab, and tight end Tony Gabriel.

In the short history of the Redblacks franchise, ruining back William Powell is the team’s all-time rushing leader. Powell played for Ottawa from 2015–2018, rushing for 2,835 yards during that period. As of 2020, wide receiver Brad Sinopoli holds the team mark for most career receiving yards with 5,127 and most receptions with 455. Sinopoli was one of four Ottawa wide receivers who set a CFL record in 2016 by amassing 1,000 receiving yards in back-to-back seasons. Joining him in accomplishing the feat were Greg Ellingson, Chris Williams, and Ernest Jackson. Ellingson set the franchise mark for most receiving yards in a season with 1,459 in 2017.

Much of the team’s early success was built upon the arm of Henry Burris, a CFL veteran who had won two Grey Cups when he signed with the Redblacks in 2014. During the 2015 season, Burris set the franchise record for most passing yards in a season with 5,693. That same year, he won the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player Award. Burris retired after leading the Redblacks to the 2016 Grey Cup. During his twenty-year career, Burris threw for 63,227 yards, third-most in CFL history. After his retirement, Burris was inducted into the team’s Wall of Honour.

Burris’s backup, and later, his replacement, was Trevor Harris, who signed with the team prior to the 2016 season. When Burris went down with an injured hand at the start of the season, Harris stepped in and led the Redblacks to three wins and a tie. With the 2017 starting job all to himself, Harris threw for 30 touchdown passes, a single-season franchise high. In 2018, Harris threw for 5,116 yards—the second-best season in team history—and set a CFL record with six touchdown passes in a playoff game against Hamilton. He was under center for Ottawa in their 2018 Grey Cup loss to Calgary. Harris left the Redblacks after the 2018 season, but holds franchise records for most career passing touchdowns with 68 and most passing yards with 13,096.

Bibliography

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Hunt, Jeff. “Ottawa RedBlacks President Jeff Hunt Writes Why the Name Was Chosen for the CFL Team.” Ottawa Sun, 8 June 2013, ottawasun.com/2013/06/08/ottawa-redblacks-president-jeff-hunt-writes-why-the-name-was-chosen-for-the-cfl-team/wcm/da007b1a-10fc-4ec0-8a4b-124848298e3c. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

King, Betty Nygaard. “Ottawa Redblacks.” Canadian Encyclopedia, 6 Dec. 2016, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ottawa-redblacks. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

“Ottawa Redblacks Team History.” Sports Team History, 2020, sportsteamhistory.com/ottawa-redblacks. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

“Red, Black & Grey: Ottawa Captures First Championship in 40 Years.” CFL, 2024, www.cfl.ca. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

“Taking a Look at the Ottawa Redblacks History, Ottawa Redblacks All-Time Team: Offensive Depth Chart.” Lil’ Z, Big R, lilzbigr.blog/2020/03/25/taking-a-look-at-the-ottawa-redblacks-history-ottawa-redblacks-all-time-team-offensive-depth-chart/. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.