On my mother’s 42nd birthday, she bought me a present.
My first Saskatchewan Roughriders season ticket!
The date: March 24, 1976 — 50 years ago today.
On the same day legendary NFL quarterback Peyton Manning was born, the Roughriders were front and centre during what was then an annual televised season-ticket blitz.
Target 2000 aired from 7 to 11 p.m. on CKCK Television, which is now known as CTV Regina.
Back then, we called it Channel 2.
The only alternative was Channel 9 (CBC).
Cable TV? It was merely a dream back then.
Colour TV? I remember watching the Green and White in black and white, on a 12-inch screen in my bedroom.
The portable TV was a Christmas present I received in 1975. Three months later, I was pleading for another great gift.
“Mom? Can we get season tickets? Please? Pleeeeeaaase?”
On and on it went until Helen Vanstone finally relented, dialled the number that was anchored at the bottom of the TV screen, and purchased two season tickets during the sell-a-thon.
Looking back on it, I suspect that Mom was messing with me.
We would have gone to every game, anyway, so why not buy season tickets?
Prior to 1976, Mom was a devoted single-game ticket buyer. She rarely missed a game. It was also a rarity for her — or us — to sit in the same seat(s) for two games in a row.
In 1975, for example, I routinely took the bus downtown after struggling in my (remedial) classes at Massey School. I would visit the Roughriders ticket office on Rose Street, just south of what was then The Bay and what is now Harvard Media headquarters.
Upon using Dad’s money to purchase two tickets for the next game at Taylor Field, I would return to the Vanstone residence on Acadia Drive and studiously avoid homework once again.
I did do plenty of studying, mind you.
I knew all the names, all the numbers, all the heights, all the weights, of everyone who played for — or aspired to play for — my beloved Roughriders.
Two of the hopefuls for 1976 were named Cleveland Vann and Alonzo Emery.
Their signings were announced on the morning of March 24, 1976, a few hours before Target 2000 — a live program that was designed to sell 2,000 season tickets.
Early in the show, the Roughriders touted the additions of Vann and Emery. Film footage was shown of big plays they made for the Southern California Sun of the short-lived World Football League (1974-75).
Emery looked like a breakaway running back in the mould of Ed Buchanan, Bobby Thompson, Silas McKinnie and Peter Watson.
Vann quickly loomed as the answer at middle linebacker.
Sure enough, he was.
A Roughrider from 1976 to 1980, Vann was enshrined in the Plaza of Honour in 2000 … as in Target 2000!
He scored two touchdowns as a first-year Rider, returning an interception for six points in Ottawa and retrieving an onside kick and taking it to the house versus the arch-rivals from Edmonton.
Mom and I had a great view of the latter score. The moving Vann motored 36 yards down Taylor Field’s east sideline before reaching the northern end zone.
We weren’t too far away. From my vantage point — Section 10, Row 10, Seat 10 — I was looking straight ahead at the northern 10-yard line.
We could have occupied seats that were closer to the centre-field stripe had Mom been willing to sit on the east side.
A stadium diagram, published in the Regina Leader-Post on March 24, 1976, showed that most of the available seats were on the same side as the visitors’ bench.
That was a non-starter for Mom, whose list of non-negotiables included two items:
• “I want to sit on the same side as the Riders bench.”
• “I don’t want to look into the sun.”
Thankfully, she was much more amenable to watching alumni of the Southern California Sun.
So the deal was done.
We were, at long last, season-ticket members.
My 12th-birthday present, if you will, arrived six days early.
Then the countdown began until June 25, 1976, when the Roughriders were scheduled to begin their pre-season schedule against the visiting B.C. Lions.
The season-ticket package included two home pre-season games, eight regular-season games and (fingers crossed) a playoff-exchange voucher.
The latter ticket was put to good use before the Roughriders faced — and ultimately defeated — Edmonton in the 1976 Western Final.
After the 23-13 win, we were part of the throng outside the stadium that congratulated the players as they walked toward buses that would transport them to the exhibition grounds (now REAL District), where the dressing room was located.
One well-wisher displayed a banner that was also conspicuous during the game.
WHY is 25 > 76?
BECAUSE DAWSON IS BETTER THAN McGOWAN
Future Canadian Football Hall of Fame pass-catcher George McGowan wore No. 76 for Edmonton back then.
The Roughriders’ No. 25, Rhett Dawson, was the West’s leading receiver in 1976.
There was more to come during what still stands out as a banner year.
As we sat in the car, listening to the post-game show and waiting for traffic to disperse, Mom sprung a surprise on her gormless son.
Mom: “We’re going to the Grey Cup.”
Robert: “I know. We just beat Edmonton.”
Mom: “No. We’re going to the Grey Cup.”
Without me suspecting a thing, she had booked a trip for two to Toronto — contingent on Saskatchewan advancing to the 64th Grey Cup Game.
Cleveland Vann, for the record, was named the climactic contest’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player after (sniffle) Ottawa won 23-20.
And, yes, we sat behind the Roughriders’ bench.