Feature: 1996 Yates Cup Team

Championship teams can be built in a variety of ways. Some are overpowering and dynamic. Others are resilient and refuse to be outworked. The 1996 Yates Cup-winning Guelph Gryphons football team was a squad that fell into the latter category. There was no shortage of talent and an abundance of experience on this balanced, innovative team. But the ’96 Gryphons had a collective motor that would ultimately enable them to climb the OUA mountain that season with a thrilling 23-13 win over the Waterloo Warriors in the hostile atmosphere of University Stadium.

“The key word is ‘work,’” says Pat Tracey, the Gryphons’ assistant head coach and defensive coordinator in 1996, who now runs the defence for the UBC Thunderbirds. “It takes a tremendous commitment from the staff, coaches and players to win a championship. Leadership, talent, athleticism, grit – we had it all.

“They had a special bond strengthened by the disappointments in previous seasons.  They were players who were willing to learn and improve, a determined group that was composed under pressure. The 1996 team had outstanding leadership from the senior class, who were instrumental in building the concept of team first and a culture of winning.”

The roots of the 1996 Yates Cup win were actually planted in the 1995 season when Guelph limped its way to a 1-6 record. There was a strong belief that Head Coach Dan McNally’s team was much better than their dismal record would indicate. Many components were in place, including a standout defence and a special teams unit that could make a huge impact on any game. What was missing was some stability at a key position.

Quarterback Wally Gabler, the Dalt White Trophy winner when the Gryphons hoisted the Yates Cup in 1992, had some eligibility remaining after spending 1995 on the sidelines as a young member of the coaching staff. His decision to put the pads back on proved to be the right one for both he and his team. Gabler’s fellow fifth-year teammates – defensive end Bill Vastis and defensive back/future U of G head coach Kyle Walters (both All-Canadians), in addition to defensive grinder Brent Dallimore and talented wide receiver Kip Wigmore – all had the championship pedigree from their demolition of Western in the Yates Cup four years earlier.

“We had the right pieces,” says Gabler. “Having people who had done it before, that can bring experience and that realized belief that you can win, was really important.”

Gabler says that Coach McNally had a deep trust in his players. He and fellow quarterback Nathan Body, who went on to do an NFL tryout with the Oakland Raiders, called their own plays and Gabler recalls that McNally would say that his ultimate goal was to prepare his players enough that he could go sit in the stands and let them call their own game on each side of the ball. That freedom was liberating for the Gryphon players – it just took a while for the results to come.

“The season started off slow and things were not looking good for us,” says Gryphon Football Advancement coordinator Bill Brown, then a third-year defensive back, who paced the conference in interceptions in 1996. “I'd say the turning point that year was the game against York. We were down 24-0 at the half, we were in shock. But it was that halftime that proved to be the turning point in the season. I remember All-Canadian, Chris Camboia throwing a Gatorade jug in frustration. He rallied the players in a speech, one that had all the brothers in the room convinced that we had enough of not playing to our potential and that it was our time to take back the season.

“We came back that day and beat York 27-24.”

The Gryphons hit their stride after that victory. With a tenacious defence led by Vastis and Walters, and an innovative zone-run scheme that McNally patterned after the powerhouse Buffalo Bills, Guelph began to rack up the W’s.

“Our defence wasn't complex,” says Brown. “By no means does it match the complexity we see in current football. But it was a defence that was designed to let the athletes play downhill and fly to the ball. Our defensive front was littered with all-stars, our linebackers were mean, and our secondary was smart and athletic. We were gritty and had a perfect balance of toughness and intelligence. There were many big plays on defence that year – interceptions, forced fumbles, and tackles in the backfield.” 

The qualities of the defence perfectly complemented an offence that typically ran the ball about 40 times a game through one of the program’s best ever backs, Gerrit Stam. Stam, like so many players, made their mark. He led the league with 11 rushing touchdowns. There was also speedster receiver Brad Bunn, cover specialist Matt Hammer, and of course, the legendary 6-5, 400-pound athletic nose tackle rookie Jeremy Oxley, who Gabler recalls, required team trainer Tony D’Angelo to order special practice pants to fit his huge frame.

Guelph finished the OUA regular season with a 6-2 record. The next stop was a semi-final meeting at J.W. Little Stadium with the reigning two-time defending Yates Cup champion Western Mustangs. In that game, the mantra was “pay the price.” And the Gryphons produced a master class defensive performance by holding Western to nine points scored. Bunn ran a kick back for a touchdown and Hammer had a key interception in what was a character win.

One of the downsides of the semi-final victory was that Gabler injured the ligaments in the thumb on his right throwing hand when he collided with a Western defender on a fourth-quarter slant to Bunn.

“Adrenalin got me through to the end of that game,” Gabler says, noting that his thumb was bent all the way back. “Then we realized how serious it was.”

The Warriors were going through the best period in their program’s history at the time and a Yates Cup win would require an even bigger effort than the Western game. Brown says Waterloo’s triple-option approach gave teams fits but Guelph made its adjustments after seeing the hosts in action earlier in the season.

The first setback of that day at University Stadium on November 9, 1996 came when Gabler threw an early interception. He and the team trainer Gunner Obrascovs worked all week trying to prepare his hand but he could not grip the ball. He pulled himself, saying he couldn’t go, which paved the way for the talented Body. Gabler went right to work on the sidelines like he had the previous season and the team didn’t miss a beat.

Waterloo built a 7-0 lead with two field goals and a single before the visitors responded with a crucial touchdown right before the half. A big return but Guelph in position for a 10-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter but one of the key plays in Tracey’s mind was a brutal hit that Gryphon linebacker Ryan Strom delivered to the Warriors’ two-time All-Canadian running back Jarrett Smith.

“It was a bone-jarring collision that stopped a game-winning drive,” says Tracey. “On the next series, Chris Camboia forced a fumble deep in Waterloo territory and it was recovered by linebacker Nick Gallo.” 

Stam, who would run all over the Warriors en route to capturing the Dalt White Trophy, punched one in for a 17-7 Gryphon lead and the underdogs closed it out from there.

“It was another classic game, two outstanding defenses, skilled offensive stars and gifted special teams units,” adds Tracey, who remembers linebackers coach Rob Pagan grabbing the Yates Cup out of the hands of D-line coach Brian Cluff and initially keeping it from the players. “This may sound cliché but it was a game of inches.”

“It was a true team win,” says Gabler. “Everybody who needed to contribute and step up, did. That’s my fondest memory about that group in ’96. There were some superstars but we were just a bunch of guys with a common purpose.

“When people know their roles and stay within them, then you can work as a true team because everybody has their place. It was just a great experience.”

Brown says that the heart of the Gryphons made the difference that November afternoon in Waterloo. He’s not one for memorabilia, noting that they didn’t get rings back then, VHS tapes don’t work, and that trophies collect dust. What Brown clings to is the life-changing belief created by that great victory.

“Winning the Yates as a player and achieving some personal recognition along the way helped mould me into the coach that followed for the next 20 seasons,” says Brown. “I witnessed what it took to be a winner. It's a recipe of commitment, teamwork, and a belief in the football family.

“Our brotherhood was strong and still is.”

The victory secured Guelph’s reputation as a U SPORTS powerhouse and marked the first time in OUA history that a team went from last place to champions in a single season. Despite a national semi-final loss to Saskatchewan, the program had won the Yates twice in five years after knocking on the door many times before that. The Gryphons had indeed arrived.

But one of the most unique legacies of the 1996 championship team was the revolutionary way in which they went about it. Coach McNally implemented new concepts that the league hadn’t seen. There was, for example, the zone-run scheme and the fresh three-step drop and quick release for Gabler and Body.

The staff had also spent the entire previous off-season breaking down every single play from 1995 in order to identify trends and build the offence around them. This use of computer technology and analytics is the norm in football now. So is mental preparation work. Back then, the Gryphons utilized professor Dan Yarmey to perfect visualization and meditation techniques.

It all paid off.

“People thought those things were weird back then,” says Gabler. “Dan was always pushing the envelope as to how to get better and what we could do.

“The facts are that he was an innovator.”

written by: david dicenzo