From free dinners at Curly Joe’s Steakhouse on Metcalfe Street, to getting the royal treatment on Crescent, or to having access to great discounts on three-piece suits, it was a good time to be a Montreal Alouette in the 1970s.
When the Als took off for Vancouver for Grey Cup week in 1974, there was excitement throughout the province of Quebec and the city of Montreal. But when they arrived in British Columbia in the early hours of the morning, all the swanky perks they enjoyed at home disappeared.
“We got (to Vancouver) at about one in the morning,” former Alouettes defensive back Phil Price. “The league picked out the hotel for us in the playoffs back then. They put us in a crummy hotel. You wouldn’t believe this crummy hotel they put us in.”
The owner of the franchise at the time, Sam Berger, stepped in and decided to take matters into his own hands to ensure that his players were comfortable heading into the championship game.
“(Head coach) Marv Levy told us that we were going to pack up our bags in the morning and get out of this place,” Price explained. “The beds were way too small for us, and it was just lousy. They moved us to the Bayshore Inn. We got to the Bayshore Inn and Carl Crennel was my roommate. I opened the curtains, and I saw a big ship coming into the harbour. I said: ‘Holy cow, Carl, look at this! Look where (owner) Sam Berger put us up. Hey Carl…we have to win this Grey Cup for Sam Berger.’”
That’s how Grey Cup week began for the Als in 1974. Not only did they have to worry about an Edmonton Eskimos team that was led by star quarterback Tom Wilkinson, but they also needed to deal with challenges like lousy hotels and a week’s worth of rainy weather.
“It poured every single day,” said Price. “We used umbrellas during practice. Have you ever heard of that?
“We had umbrellas in practice on the sidelines. The next day, the Vancouver Sun had a photo of us holding umbrellas in the paper (laughs).”
The wet conditions continued into game day. It was wet and slushy at Empire Field, which meant that the defences had a clear advantage. Just to put it in perspective, at half-time, the Alouettes had gained 79 yards while Edmonton had 78. It was difficult to hang on to the football. Multiple players fumbled, including Esks running back Calvin Harrell, who scored dropped the ball but recovered it in the end zone to give his team a 7-0 lead in the first half.
So, it’s no surprise that the play that changed the game in Montreal’s favour came on the defensive side of the ball thanks to a big hit that pried the ball loose.
“It was raining,” defensive end Junior Ah You recalled from his home in Hawaii 50 years later. “I think that’s what got me to the league. Here I am, from Hawaii, but I’m playing in games that are below zero degrees in Calgary and Winnipeg. I just thought it was great to be here. Once your thoughts go negative, it affects your whole performance. You have to think positive. Everyone was wearing a lot of clothes (during the game). I tried it all on, but I couldn’t move around in them. I wasn’t used to wearing all that winter clothing. So, I just told myself that I was going to be a crazy man and run and dive everywhere to keep myself warm (laughs).”
And that’s exactly what Ah You did.
With under eight minutes remaining in the second quarter and the Als trailing by one score, the defence jumped on the field. The Esks offence was backed up into their own half and they were also without Wilkinson, who hurt his shoulder on a hit by Ah You earlier in the game. Bruce Lemmerman was under centre for Edmonton. He took the snap, handed the ball off to Roy Bell, who had run for over 1,300 yards during the regular season. Bell was met by a pair of Alouette defenders before he got to the line of scrimmage. One of those guys was Ah You, who hit Bell and dislodged the ball. Price recovered and brought the ball down to the Edmonton eight-yard line.
“I’ll try to put my thoughts together. It’s been a while and there are so many games,” Ah You said when he was asked about that particular play. “Unbelievably, I can feel the adrenaline as we talk about it. I can visualize it. I can visualize me lifting my head up and seeing Phil Price running down the field.”
Given the magnitude of the play he made in ’74, it was a no-brainer to name him the Most Valuable Defensive Player of the game.
That’s what Ah You did. He was the face of the Alouettes defence for years, and he was one of the most impactful defensive players in CFL history. The 75-year-old spent nine seasons with the Als. He finished as a two-time CFL All-Star and a four-time East Division All-Star. The 1974 Grey Cup was the first of his two titles with the Als.
“I’m back-peddling and I’m looking because my man wasn’t doing anything,” Price said of the play that led to that key turnover. “I saw them hand the ball off to Bell. I realized it was a running play, and I saw Junior go around the guy that was supposed to block him like a cat. I knew that Junior was going to hit Bell and Bell didn’t even know he was going to get hit. So, I got ready because I thought there could be a fumble coming.
“He (Ah You) was one of the best defensive ends because he was one of the quickest guys I’ve ever seen. What fascinated me about Junior is that he was quick. He played on my side of the field, so teams didn’t come to our side a lot. We had it made (laughs). They weren’t coming to our side a lot because of Junior.”
The two players combined to make many plays for the Alouettes over the years, but none was bigger than the fumble Ah You forced that Price recovered against Edmonton on Nov. 24, 1974.
Price, who now lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, is still a little frustrated with himself for not scoring a touchdown on the play. He says he should’ve high-stepped his way into the end zone. That way, he wouldn’t have been tripped up before the goal-line.
Three plays later, Larry Sherrer scored a touchdown for the Alouettes. The team would go on to score 20 unanswered points to win, 20-7.
That was the franchise’s third Grey Cup (1949 and 1970) and their first under Levy, who is widely considered to be one of the great football coaches of all-time. Under his watch, the Alouettes became a model franchise in the CFL. His impact on the 1974 Grey Cup can’t be forgotten either. He was able to bring the group together and because of that, they had success in ’74 and beyond.
“Marv changed the whole DNA at the Alouettes,” Ah You said of his head coach. “When he came, he brought great coaches. He was a team man. He had a lot of team activities for families, and he understood how important it was for players to be tight and close and how important family was. He kept us together.
“We wouldn’t have been there, and we wouldn’t have had the success we had if it wasn’t for Marv. He was perfect for the Alouettes at the time. We had a lot of great players who were family oriented. Beside being great players, they were also great people. You have to have that kind of unity and closeness to be successful because you have to care for each other. You can’t just play for yourself. You’re playing for everyone…they were all like brothers. On the field and off the field.”
