Ottawa Rough Riders

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Ottawa Rough Riders

Founded	1876
Folded	1996
Based in	Ottawa, Ontario
Home field	Frank Clair Stadium
League	Canadian Football League
Division	East Division
Colours	Black and red
Grey Cup wins	1925, 1926, 1940, 1951, 1960, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1976

The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. One of the oldest and longest lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine times. Their most dominant era was the 1960s and 1970s, a period in which they won five Grey Cups. The team's fortunes waned in the 1980s and 1990s and they ultimately ceased operations following the 1996 season. Five years later, a new CFL team known as the Ottawa Renegades was founded.

1 Team facts
2 History
3 Helmets
4 Players of note
- 4.1 Other stars

Founded: 1876

Folded: 1996

Formerly known as: Ottawa Football Club 1876 to 1897, Ottawa Senators 1925 to 1926.

Home stadium: Frank Clair Stadium, formerly called Lansdowne Park

Uniform colours: Black, red, and white

Helmet design: Black background with a face of a Rough Rider with an arrow or log driver's (rough rider's) pike in the background.

Eastern regular season championships: 15 -- 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978

Grey Cup finals appearances: 15 -- 1925 (won), 1926 (won), 1936 (lost), 1939 (lost), 1940 (won), 1941 (lost), 1948 (lost), 1951 (won), 1960 (won), 1966 (lost), 1968 (won), 1969 (won), 1973 (won), 1976 (won), 1981 (lost)

The team was organized in 1876 as the Ottawa Football Club. The club absorbed the Ottawa St. Pats when the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union formed in 1907. It adopted the name Rough Riders in 1898. Although in later years the name was said to derive from logging, the team played from 1925 on in the colours of Teddy Roosevelt's regiment in the Spanish-American War, which, with the date of the renaming, suggests that the name comes from the war. The team did change its nickname to Senators in 1925 and 1926.

For much of the team's history it played in the same league as the Saskatchewan Roughriders, confusing many, and also attracting general ridicule to the CFL for being a league with only eight or nine teams but two of them being named "rough riders" (although spelled differently). Those heaping such scorn did not know that the teams historically belonged to separate leagues ('unions'), which were not truly merged until the late 1950s; they were allowed to keep their long-standing nicknames. On four occasions, the two teams met in the Grey Cup, prompting joking predictions that "the 'riders" would win.

In the first season of the CFL, the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats made history when they played the first regular season CFL game at Philadelphia's Franklin Field on August 23, 1958. This was the first and only time that two Canadian football teams would play a regular-season game on American soil. Hamilton defeated Ottawa, 13-7. (The Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders played an exhibition game in Portland, Oregon in 1992.)

Legendary quarterback Russ Jackson circa 1969

The 1960s and 1970s were the Rough Riders' glory years. With coach and general manager Frank Clair at the helm along with players Russ Jackson, Whit Tucker, Ron Stewart, Tom Clements, and Tony Gabriel, the Riders were one of the CFL's best teams, winning the Grey Cup five times in that span and including their last victory in 1976, where Tony Gabriel made the game-winning touchdown catch in the end zone in a 26–23 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Rough Riders' last and final appearance in the Grey Cup game was 1981 against the heavily favoured Edmonton Eskimos. The game started out as a shocker when the Riders jumped out to a 20–1 halftime lead over the Eskimos. But a controversial double interference call against Riders receiver Tony Gabriel in the second half proved to be costly, as the Eskimos, led by backup quarterback Tom Wilkinson, came from behind to beat the Riders 26–23 on a game-winning field goal by kicker Dave Cutler.

Throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s, despite having two even 0.500 records (8–8 in 1983 and 9–9 in 1992) along with hosting the 1988 Grey Cup, the Riders struggled with losing seasons, poor ownership, mismanagement, and decreased fan support. In 1995, Ottawa management showed its quality by drafting Derrell Robertson--who had died the previous December. Falling attendance ultimately led to the team folding in 1996.

Football fans in Ottawa lived without CFL football for the next five years until 2002, when the city regained a CFL team, this one called the Renegades. Although there was sentiment toward resurrecting the Rough Riders name, the final owner of the previous franchise expected payment for the rights to it; the new franchise declined the request, and went with a 'fresh' name for the new team. Since the suspension of the Renegades for the 2006 season, there has been some interest in purchasing the rights to the Rough Riders name by several groups looking to return a CFL franchise to Ottawa. However, the logo chosen by the Renegades shows similarities to the logo used by the Rough Riders for much of their existence up until 1992 and most fans believe that is where the similarities should end.