Kadie Smith
In December 1981, then University of California Golden Bears coach Joe Kapp made a promise to his team that he would quit drinking his favoured tequila until the team reached the Rose Bowl. They never did, so he drinks rum now.
It’s the perfect anecdote for the man who made a name for himself on the field with his ability to take a hit as much as his ability to find a receiver with glaring accuracy, for a man who light up the franchise as a player, but struggled as a GM, albeit, while signing Doug Flutie, for the man Peyton Manning remembers as, “a great Canadian QB who kicked the crap outta some guy on YouTube.”
He’s also the man with whom Manning holds the record for most touchdowns in a single game in the NFL (7).
When the Lions acquired Kapp from the Stampeders in 1961, they gave up four starters for the burly pivot, a deal that some thought lopsided. In his first year, the Lions finished with a dismal 1-13 record, a season captured by the image of Kapp dropping back to pass and then running like Hell. But he and his teammates began the process of building a winning team. There was grit and talent there.
Things began to turn around the next year with Kapp finishing the season with 28 TD passes for 3,279, adding 183 yards on the ground. Kapp was one the first QBs who really wasn’t afraid to run…and by run, we mean bulldoze over defenders.
While most pivots try to avoid being hit, Kapp welcomed it, running right over tackles, right through blocks. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say he enjoyed it, and it earned him the accolade of one of the toughest QBs to ever play the game, an unofficial title that still applies.
In an interview for CFL.ca Former Argonaut Dick Thorton said of Kapp, “He’d rather run over and through you than try and deke you. He was also tough as nails.” On a blitz play, Thorton remembered, he caught Kapp looking the other way, and hit him blindside with everything he had.
“Two things immediately went through my mind,” Thorton said. “He ain’t going to get up and for sure he coughed up the ball. Well, Kapp jumps right back up, flips the ball to the referee and with that s…eating grin of his, looked at me and simply said…’Tricky, where the hell did you come from?’ I’ll never forget that.”
By 1963, Kapp, Norm Fieldgate, and Willie Fleming had turned the Lions into to contenders. The Lions They gave up only 232 points all season. Kapp passed for 20 touchdowns while giving up only 15 interceptions. The bruiser added 438 yards on the ground with 5 TDs. Add in Fleming’s season of 1000 rushing yards and the Lions offence that racked up 387 points, and the Lions were nearly unstoppable on their way to the franchise’s first Grey Cup appearance.
It was not to be in the ’63 season and the Grey Cup game was of course marred by the Tiger-Cats Angelo Mosca’s infamous hit on Willie Fleming, a sore spot to this day for many fans of that era.
That was heavy on the team’s minds when they returned to the Grey Cup in 1964 for a rematch with the Ticats. It was the Lions game from the start as Kapp marched his team down field on successive drives with pint-point-accurate passes and the team settled into a 34-8 lead in the third quarter. Hamilton managed to come back 34-24, but the Lions came away with the team’s first Grey Cup win, and the first major championship win for Vancouver.
Kapp left the Lions in 1966 for the Minnesota Vikings in “The Trade”, the oh-so complex deal with the NFL that sent Joe south and brought Jim Young north, but Lions fan will always remember him in Orange, the leader who brought them from dead last to glory.
By The Numbers:
3rd all-time on the Lions in passing yards with 16,675
3rd all-time in touchdowns with 98
Tied with Dave Dickenson for most touchdowns in a game with 6
Career Accolades:
Canadian All-Star (1963, 64)
Western All-Star (1963, 64)
Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy
Number 22 retired by the BC Lions
Canadian Football Hall of Fame (1984)
BC Lions Hall of Fame (1999)
Pacific- 10 College Coach of the Year (1982)
Seattle Times National Coach of the Year