Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1930
• Home field: Investors Group Field, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• Owners: Community owned
• Team colors: Royal blue, metallic gold

Overview

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers is a Canadian Football League (CFL) team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The city of Winnipeg had been home to several football clubs since the 1880s but did not achieve national success until the predecessor of the Blue Bombers was formed in 1930. Winnipeg became the first team west of Ontario to win a Grey Cup title in 1935 and would go on to become one of the most successful teams in Canadian football over the next three decades. Since the 1960s, the franchise has struggled to match its early dominance, except for a stretch in the 1980s when it won three championships. Since 1987, Winnipeg has bounced back and forth between the CFL’s Western and Eastern divisions before finally settling in the West in 2014. In 2019, the franchise broke a nearly thirty-year drought by winning its first Grey Cup since 1990.

History

Rugby-style football first became popular in eastern Canada in the 1860s and 1870s before moving into the western provinces in the 1880s. Rugby-style football was based on English rugby and eventually evolved into modern football. In 1888, several Winnipeg teams were established and formed a league with other teams from Manitoba. By 1911, Winnipeg-based teams were competing against squads from Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1925, one of those teams, the Winnipeg Tammany Tigers, became the first team from the city to play for the Grey Cup, the trophy awarded to the best football team from Canada.

In 1930, the Winnipeg Rugby Football Club was formed out of the Tammany Tigers and several other teams from the city. Simply known as the Winnipegs, or ‘Pegs, the club adopted the colors blue and gold and began playing exhibition matches against American universities. This relationship led to the franchise signing nine American players to play for Winnipeg in the 1935 season. Powered by its US-based imports, the ‘Pegs won the 1935 Grey Cup, becoming the first western team to capture the championship trophy. However, Winnipeg’s use of so many Americans caused controversy among Canadian football officials who instituted limits on the number of international players who could play on each team.

During the 1935 exhibition season, a Winnipeg sportswriter dubbed the franchise the “Blue Bombers of western football,” a reference to famed boxer Joe Louis’ nickname, the “Brown Bomber.” The term stuck and was adopted as the team’s official name in 1936. That same year, Winnipeg joined teams from Calgary and Regina in forming the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU). Winnipeg returned to the Grey Cup game in 1937 and 1938 but lost to Toronto both times. The Blue Bombers won championships in 1939 and 1941 before the WIFU suspended operations during World War II (1939–1945). When the league reformed in 1945, Winnipeg played for the Grey Cup three straight seasons and five times in eight years, falling short each time.

In 1958, the WIFU merged with the eastern Interprovincial Rugby Union (IRFU) to form the modern CFL. Representing the league’s Western Division, the Blue Bombers won four Grey Cups in a five-season span from 1958–1962. By this time, the Grey Cup was exclusively awarded to the champion of the CFL. The franchise’s seven championships to this point were second only to Toronto’s ten. During the Blue Bombers’ dominant run, the team was coached by former player Bud Grant, who won 118 games as head coach with Winnipeg from 1957–1966. Grant left the CFL in 1967 to take a head coaching job with the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). From 1967–1985, Grant won 168 games with Minnesota and led the Vikings to four Super Bowls. In 1983, Grant was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and in 1994, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Winnipeg would make another Grey Cup in 1965 but would not play in another championship game for nearly two decades. Winnipeg began to build a strong team in the 1980s, winning sixteen consecutive home games from 1983–1985 and capturing the Grey Cup in 1984. Three years later, the Montreal Alouettes franchise folded and Winnipeg was moved into the Eastern Division to balance out the league. As a member of the Eastern Division, the Blue Bombers won Grey Cups in 1988 and 1990, beating former division rivals BC and Edmonton in the process. Because of various teams folding and CFL realignment, Winnipeg would be shuffled back to the Western Division for the 1996 season and again from 2002–2005. After the Ottawa Redblacks joined the CFL in 2014, the Blue Bombers returned to the Western Division.

During the 1990s and into the twenty-first century, Winnipeg often fielded competitive teams that always came up short of winning another Grey Cup. The Blue Bombers made the Grey Cup game in 1992, 1993, 2001, 2007, and 2011, each time losing to a Western Division team. By 2019, Winnipeg had gone the longest among existing CFL franchises without winning a Grey Cup. However, the Blue Bombers shed that dubious distinction by defeating Hamilton 33–12 to capture the franchise’s eleventh championship.

Winnipeg is one of three community-owned teams in the CFL, joining Saskatchewan and Edmonton. The team played at the former Canad Inns Stadium from 1953–2012, until that was replaced by the 33,500-seat Investors Group Field in 2013. The original Blue Bombers’ logo featured the city of Winnipeg’s old coat of arms, before later being reworked to include the image of a jet bomber in 1966. Two years later, the jet was removed and a block “W” letter was introduced into the design and combined with a football. The logo was modernized in 1995 and the football given a lightning-bolt appearance. In 2012, the team ditched the football element, and the logo became a white block “W” with a blue outline.

Notable players

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have had more than thirty-five former players, coaches, or officials associated with the team inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. While the team has not officially retired any jerseys, it has designated several numbers as off-limits out of respect for the players who used to wear them. These include no. 28 in honor of Jeff Nicklin who was killed in World War II; no. 75 in honor of Tommy Lumsden who died of a gallbladder attack in 1955; and no. 11 for Ken Ploen who played both offense and defense for Winnipeg during its dominant stretch of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Ploen quarterbacked the Blue Bombers to four Grey Cup victories during that time and also played defensive back. His 16,470 passing yards still rank fourth on the team’s all-time list. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975.

The Blue Bombers’ all-time leading pass is Dieter Brock, who played for Winnipeg from 1974–1983. Brock threw for 29,623 yards with 187 passing touchdowns. He was a two-time CFL Most Outstanding Player and elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995. Another Hall of Fame quarterback, Matt Dunigan, only played in Winnipeg from 1992–1994; however, on July 14, 1994, Dunigan placed his name in the CFL record book by throwing for 713 yards in a 50–35 victory over Edmonton. The total still stands as the most passing yards in a single game in league history.

Running back Charles Roberts was a member of the Blue Bombers from 2001–2008 and finished as the franchise leader in rushing yards with 9,987. Running back Andrew Harris, who signed with Winnipeg in 2016, rushed for 1,380 yards in 2019 and was the MVP of the team’s Grey Cup victory. Offensive lineman Chris Walby played in Winnipeg from 1981–1996 and was a key member of three Grey Cup-winning teams. Walby was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2003. His teammate on the 1984 squad was wide receiver Joe Poplawski who made five All-Star teams with Winnipeg from 1978–1986. Poplawski is third all-time on the franchise receiving list with 8,341 yards. Poplawski was named to the Hall of Fame in 1998. Second on the franchise receiving list is James Murphy who put up 9,036 receiving yards from 1983–1990 and was named to the Hall of Fame in 2000.

At the top of the receiving list is Milt Stegall, who is also widely regarded as the best player in Blue Bombers’ history. From 1995–2008, Stegall hauled in 15,153 receiving yards, the second most in CFL history, and his 144 career receiving touchdowns are 27 more than anyone else in league history. In 2002, Stegall set a CFL record with 23 receiving touchdowns and was named the league’s Most Outstanding Player. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.

Bibliography

“Blue by the Numbers.” Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 2020, www.bluebombers.com/blue-by-the-numbers/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

Brunt, Stephen. 100 Grey Cups: This Is Our Game. McClelland & Stewart, 2012.

Daniel, Steve. “Blue Bombers History.” Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 2020, www.bluebombers.com/blue-bombers-history/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

“Fans Have Spoken: The Top 5 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Players Ever Are…” Global News, 15 May 2018, globalnews.ca/news/4206557/top-5-winnipeg-blue-bombers-players-ever-are/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

“Grey Cup Winners.” Canadian Football Hall of Fame, 2020, www.cfhof.ca/grey-cup-winners/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

King, Betty Nygaard. “Winnipeg Blue Bombers.” Canadian Encyclopedia, 25 Nov. 2019, thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/winnipeg-blue-bombers. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

“Winnipeg Blue Bombers Team History.” Sports Team History, 2020, sportsteamhistory.com/winnipeg-blue-bombers. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

Wyman, Ted. “Top-10 Significant Moments in Blue Bombers Championship Season.” Winnipeg Sun, 27 Nov. 2019, winnipegsun.com/sports/football/cfl/winnipeg-bluebombers/top-10-significant-moments-in-blue-bombers-championship-season. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.