Lefko on CFL: Grey Cup nostalgia

VANCOUVER – The B.C. Lions will be chasing history trying to win the 2011 Grey Cup at B.C. Place Stadium this Sunday against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and nobody knows more about the challenge that lays ahead for the home team than Lui Passaglia.

The Canadian Hall of Fame kicker, who was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame this month, has experienced the highs and lows of playing for the Lions in the Grey Cup at home, losing by one point in 1983 in the first year the game was played at B.C. Place Stadium, and winning in 1994 with the 38-yard game-ending field goal that he kicked.

Passaglia, who played 25 years for the Lions and might be their most popular figure in team history, booted the winning three points with time expired and placed himself in the pantheon of Lions’ history.

“You still have to go out and execute, but that crowd will help if they’re creating havoc (for the opposing offence),” he told Sportsnet.ca on Tuesday. “I always remember in those two games that you’re being uplifted by the positive uproar of the crowd. These guys are football players. They know how to prepare for football games. I know this is bigger than most, but you’ve still got to be even-keeled. When it’s time to work, you’ve got to bear down and know what your assignments are and you have to execute on Sunday and forget about all that extracurricular stuff.

“We did it the two times we played at home. In ’83, maybe we faltered in the second half, but we used the crowd to our advantage against Toronto, but they found a way to hang on and we didn’t put them away (losing 18-17 after leading 17-7 at the half). And the same thing with the Baltimore game in 1994: We used the crowd to our advantage to take a bit of a lead and create some momentum and hung in there, and then near the end we started to get some breaks going our way.”

While the Grey Cup is the biggest game the players will experience each year, Passaglia said that trying to win at home makes it that much more important.

“As much as you play to win a championship for yourself, you also want to share it with family and friends, and in this case everybody in the province of British Columbia and so forth,” he said. “When you win in front of your home town fans there’s no bigger thrill, but when you lose it, it makes for a long, long off-season.”

Passaglia said the ’83 game was special playing the first Grey Cup ever at B.C. Place Stadium and knowing the hometown fans would be on the Lions’ side.

“We knew they would have our back and they did,” he said. “All game long they were cheering us on. We just fell a point short. I can’t speak for all the players, but if you’re asking me if you had a chance to play a championship game you’d want to do it in front of your fans. I don’t think there’s any more or less pressure. You want that extra man making noise in your favour. Whatever benefits you can derive from playing in front of your home fans, you want that.”

He said his winning field goal in the ’94 game has made for some immediate conversation among fans who want to talk to him about his career.

“The majority of the time when somebody comes up to me, especially in Grey Cup week wherever I am in the country, it’s always ’94, 94. Yeah, it comes up a lot,” he said. “There’s moments in every Grey Cup game that fans burn in their memory and somebody will do that this Sunday, too. That’s one I was fortunate enough to be on the positive side of. I’m grateful. I love it when a fan comes up to me and says, ‘I saw that kick and it was great to see you guys win the Grey Cup.'”

Passaglia will be out and about during Grey Cup week participating in alumni events and will be in attendance for the game.

“It’s a different perspective but it is still fun being a part of,” he said.

Passaglia worked for a long time for the Lions in community relations after his career ended. Since 2007 he has been involved in his own company, Number 5 Enterprises, which makes use of his famous Lions’ jersey numeral, and with his brother’s company, Passaglia Developments, building homes in Port Coquitlam.