One Game from Glory: The Untold Story of the Detroit–Port Huron Raiders
The 113th Grey Cup takes place this weekend at Calgary's McMahon Stadium between the Montreal Alouettes and the Edmonton Elks. Most of us know that the Baltimore Stallions became the first U.S.-based team to win the Cup in 1995, but not many know of another U.S.-based team that almost pulled off a similar feat 35 years earlier.
The Ontario Rugby Football Union was formed in 1883, but was barely hanging on as a league by 1960. The oldest football league in Canada, or the United States, had been banned from competing for the Grey Cup in 1955 and was down to a handful of teams.
The Raiders were not the first US-based franchise in the loop. That distinction belonged to the Rochester Rockets, who played four games before folding in 1956. The following year, a proposed team in Buffalo never got off the ground, and after 1957, the Toronto Balmy Beach team folded, dropping the league to three clubs.
Faced with the possibility of having a three-member league, the ORFU admitted its second US franchise, the Detroit Raiders. The team would play four away games, and each contest would be worth 4 points in the standings; the rest of the league would be worth two points.
Former Detroit Lions Gus Cifelli was hired as player-coach, and after only five weeks of practice, the team geared up for its first game on August 22 against the Sarnia Golden Bears. The Raiders built a 20-9 halftime lead, but wound up losing 35-32. That was the closest they came to victory that year, as they were mauled 41-6 against the Kitchener- Waterloo Dutchmen the next week and then fell 27-14 at the London Lords.
Detroit finally played a home game against the Dutchmen on October 5 at the University of Detroit Stadium. Depending on reports, the crowd was either 1,600 or 3,000. Whatever the numbers were, the fans were bewildered by the Canadian rules; many didn’t know what a rouge was when it was scored, and often booed favorable calls.
The Raiders held on to a slim 8-6 lead with three minutes left in the game until Dale Creighton scored a touchdown for the Dutchies. The extra point was good, and the visitors won 13-8. Detroit wound up the year with a 0-7 record, but representatives were optimistic about the next season when the team would play a regular number of home games.
“This game will sell anywhere in the world… Just wait until next year and see the kind of team we’ll be throwing out there. It will be a different story for the season.”
The Raiders called the aging U-D Stadium home for games in 1958 and 1959. File Photo.
In January 1959, Raiders GM Ben Benton announced a campaign to raise $50,000 so that his team could be on par with other members in the league. His club played a 9-game schedule, with three of them being at home. After a week-one loss, they played an official home game in front of 7,000 people in Detroit on August 22. Sarnia spoiled the celebration with a 33-13 victory at U-D Stadium.
The Raiders would drop their next 5 games and play one more at home in front of a sparse 500 fans. This prompted the league to switch its final home date to London in fear of even lower attendance. Then the unthinkable happened on October 4.
Then, in front of 2,500 shocked fans in Sarnia, the Raiders beat the Golden Bears 16-15 on a Mario Pizanelli 23-yard field goal with 2:40 left in the game. It was the first victory in franchise history and the first in 15 games. It was also the first victory by an American-based football team in a Canadian league, a feat not to be duplicated for another 34 years.
The Raiders announced that they would be back in Detroit in 1960, but after failed attempts to stage exhibition games against the Toronto Argonauts, Detroit Lions, and the Dallas Texans, plus losing 12 players to the newly formed Buffalo Bills of the American Football League, the team moved four of its games an hour north to Port Huron, Michigan.
The goal was to have the Raiders move full-time to Port Huron in 1961 and work with the Junior Chamber of Commerce to help sponsor the club. The Raiders moved four of their home games to the 5,600-seat Memorial Stadium, while the other two games would be split between Detroit and Toledo, Ohio.
“In Detroit, our identity is lost,” added Benton. “We’re competing with college teams and the Detroit Lions. In Port Huron, we’d be part of the community like the other teams in the league.”
The Raiders opened the season at home on August 28 against the Sarnia Golden Bears. They delighted the crowd of 4,200, trailing 15-14 in the fourth, but Sarnia prevailed by the score of 23-14. After 1-3, they won four straight to finish as regular-season champions at 5-3. The team that had gone 0-13 was now getting ready to appear in the total-point championship series with the London Lords.
Championship Aspirations
The first game was scheduled in London on Tuesday, November 1, and the second game was set for Saturday, November 5, at Port Huron. It would mark the first time in the close to 80-year history that an American entry had a chance to play for the title.
The first game was postponed due to rain and wet grounds at Labatt Park in London. This irked Cifelli, who arrived with his team in the late afternoon expecting to play. He claimed that he was not notified in time of the postponement and that the rescheduled date of Thursday would be difficult for some of his players to return to London.
“I know I won’t be able to come back Thursday; I had to come from Columbus, O. I work for the Columbus Recreational Department,” said Raiders halfback Lee Williams.
London Lords president Ken Lemon claimed that the Public Utilities Commission told them that the field was too muddy, but Cifelli added, “that he never heard of a game being called off because of bad weather.” Cifelli wanted the game ruled a forfeit. However, ORFU VP Ralph Duffus disagreed.
“Gus knew in plenty of time about the postponement and could have stopped his players from making the trip for the game. It’s a lot of nonsense. I just hate to see things like this happen. It smells of the worst possible bush league.”
The Thursday game was also postponed due to weather, and the league made the previously scheduled game in Port Huron the first game of the series. The two teams would play in London two days later.
Raiders halfback Joe Reeves looks for yardage in the opening game at Port Huro.n
Cifelli might not have been wrong with his assessment of postponement, and that London now had the final game at home. Sarnia’s PR Director Mauric Chilton added that he has never seen anyone get away with as much as the Lords have this year.
“This club has done everything but run the league, and it has severely hampered its prestige and possibilities for expansion in future years.”
Port Huron Mayor Robert Patterson proclaimed Saturday as Port Huron Raiders Day to open up the championship series. However, when the game took place, the Raiders were a bit sloppy, turning the ball over five times. It kept the game even, but a Bill Bennett 26-yard field goal with 2:21 left in the game sealed a 24-23 victory.
The Raiders were one win away from capturing the ORFU championship, but the Lords prevented history with a convincing 35-20 victory. They dominated in almost every category, outrushing the Raiders 287-79. The two teams had played four times, with the margin of victory no more than 3 points. The loss left a bitter taste in Cifelli’s mouth.
“We played these two games under conditions to suit the Lords. They make the rules, it seems, not the league. They make the rules and pick personnel to suit themselves. I think it’s a shame.”
A banquet was held on November 14 to honor the Raiders for their regular-season championship. The gala was attended by 8 of the 37 players in front of a crowd of 150 people. Halfback Don Horn was presented with the People’s Choice trophy as favorite player, and tackle Leroy Davenport received the Outstanding Lineman trophy.
Coach Cifelli added, “Our boys never enjoyed much support in the last two years in Detroit. I hope we can sell enough playoff tickets in advance to fill the park.”
The league would change its name to the International Football League in 1961, but never played a down. It wasn't able to find a fourth team, causing the champion Lords to close operations in June. Quickly, Sarnia and Port Huron joined the American Football Conference, and just like that, the oldest football league in North America ceased to exist.
The Raiders spent one season in the AFC, starting the year 5-1, but after players stopped getting paid, many left. The team finished 5-4, cancelling its last game and refunding season-ticket holders. The club announced a move to Flint in November, but quietly folded along with the league before the 1962 season.
Now one of the many forgotten football franchises, the Raiders came close to making history, rising from winless beginnings to championship contenders, a story worthy of being remembered even if time has already dimmed it.
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Follow all of Marc’s stadium journeys on Twitter @ballparkhunter and his YouTube channel. Email at Marc.Viquez@stadiumjourney.com
