With quarterback Doug Flutie signing with the Argos and his counterpart Matt Dunigan recently signing with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and with the Grey Cup set to be played in the Steel City, 1996 is shaping up to be the year when the rivalry between the two Golden Horseshoe teams will heat up again. It may even reach the proportions of the 1970's, when packed stadiums greeted both teams whenever they played. During that era, one player who felt what both Flutie and Dunigan will be feeling this year was quarterback Chuck Ealey.
As a CFL Rookie-of the-year winner, Ealey led the Tiger-Cats to the Grey Cup title in 1972, the last year that they hosted the championship game. Three years later, with a stint in Winnipeg also under his belt, Ealey came back east to perform for the Argonauts, thereby experiencing the CFL's most bitter rivalry from both sides.
"From an atmosphere standpoint, it was different; the stands were so much closer in Hamilton," said Ealey. "(The rivalry) probably was more intense from the Hamilton viewpoint. With Toronto, it was just the game itself, but in Hamilton, it struck to the core of their being."
During Ealey's time with the Double Blue, it was also the Ti-Cats, who couldn't match the Argos for talent on paper, who prevailed in most of the big games, usually deciding a playoff spot in the process.
"We had some all-star players come in, guys like Anthony Davis and Terry Metcalf, but the biggest problem was the change in personnel and coaches," said Ealey, who usually overshadowed the big stars, including outrushing Davis 613 yards to 417 years in 1976. "We had a lot of names, but no stability."
While they were more often than not losers on the field, the Argos were winners in the stands, as Ealey saw the crowds grow from 33,000 a game to over 50,000 in the newly expanded Exhibition Stadium.
"It was an entertaining type of atmosphere to play in," said Ealey. "We still had fun in the midst of (losing)."
After his football career ended, Ealey entered the business world, where he worked at John Deere for a period of time, before joining the Investors Group as a regional manager, a position he has held for the past nine years. He has lived in Mississauga ever since his Argo days with his wife Sherri, daughters Skye and Jael and son Damon, a former high school all-star quarterback who is now attending his dad's alma mater, the University of Toledo, where he was switched to running back last year.
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