39th Anniversary of 1983 Grey Cup

[Will]

Today marks the 39th anniversary of the Argos Grey Cup win over BC. Their first since 1952, the Argos defeated the Lions 18-17 at the new stadium at BC Place. Here are some tidbits about the 1983 season:

1/ The QB duo of Condredge Holloway and Joe Barnes combined to throw for 5,497 yards with 30 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Coach Bob O'Billovich was willing to use these guys interchangeably and no-one tried to manufacture a QB controversy either. It was Barnes who came into the Grey Cup at halftime and led the comeback as Holloway had suffered from the flu.

2/ The Argos were 12-4 that year which was the best record in the CFL and were 4 games ahead of the Ottawa Rough Riders in the East. The Argos improved their defense from 1982-1983 shaving off 100 points over the course of the season. The other two prolific offenses of 1983 were the BC Lions and the Edmonton Eskimos. However, the Argos were 5-0 against the Lions and Eskimos (including playoffs) and held the Lions and Eskimos to under 20 points in each of those games. In fact, the Argos were the first team to beat the Lions at BC Place winning 32-14 on Sept. 10.

Ironically, the team the Argos defense had trouble with was the Calgary Stampeders who were not world beaters. The Argos defeated them 45-30 in the season opener, but lost 49-20 to Calgary at Exhibition Stadium in September.
3/ The Argonauts had not won in Hamilton in several years prior to 1983, but on September 18, 1983 they trashed the Ticats 50-16. The Argos were up 33-1 at halftime on the back of Condredge Holloway TD's to Emanuel Tolbert x 2 and Cedric Minter. Carl Brazley also had a pick-six in his second game with the Argos.

4/ Terry Greer was the first pro football player to record 2000 receiving yards in a season. He had three straight 200 yard games during the course of the regular season. This was a 16-game season keep in mind. Emanuel Tolbert also had 1,225 receiving yards while Paul Pearson and Cedric Minter were factors in the receiving corps.

5/ The 54,530 who attended the Eastern Final against Hamilton still, I believe, constitutes the highest attendance for a Toronto sporting event. Remember that, for football, the CNE (post-renos) sat as many people as Skydome did for football. The noise when Cedric Minter scores the game winning TD was awesome.

["Issues"Mcgee]

This happened before I was born, so I appreciate the description. Thanks for posting!

[Argo57]

What a wonderful season that was, great attendance, atmosphere and finally a Grey Cup after a 31 year drought.
I wish I was 18 again!

[AngeloV]

Greatest parade ever. I remember skipping grade 10 afternoon classes to go. It was wild. You just don't see tickertape parades anymore in this digital world.

[paulwoods13]

I guess since I didn't start this thread, I can put in a plug for Bouncing Back:

https://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-woods...e=1&pageSize=4

[ArgoRavi]

What a wonderful season that was, great attendance, atmosphere and finally a Grey Cup after a 31 year drought.
I wish I was 18 again!

I turned 14 just days after that great game. Where have all the years gone? I believe that Paul posted lots of great footage of the parade on YouTube too.