Hamilton Tiger–Cats seasons (1970–1979)

:

1970 - 1971 - 1972 - 1973 - 1974 - 1975 - 1976 - 1977 - 1978 - 1979

__NOTOC__

1970

The Tiger-Cats offense had 318 points for, while the defense had 322 points allowed

Schedule

Week

Opponent

Final Score

Record

1

Rough Riders

17-15

1-0

2

Roughriders

22-23

1-1

3

Argonauts

3-29

1-2

4

Blue Bombers

27-6

2-2

5

Alouettes

17-12

3-2

6

Alouettes

23-38

3-3

7

Stampeders

39-18

4-3

8

Lions

26-14

5-3

9

Eskimos

13-34

5-4

10

Argonauts

14-33

5-5

11

Rough Riders

24-17

6-5

12

Rough Riders

22-15

7-5

13

Argonauts

27-7

8-5

14

Alouettes

18-18

8-5-1

Postseason

Week

Opponent

Final Score

Record

15

Alouettes

22-32

8-6-1

16

Alouettes

4-11

8-7-1

Awards and honors

  • Tommy Joe Coffey, CFL All-Star
  • Angelo Mosca, CFL All-Star

1971

The Tiger-Cats offense had 290 points for, while the defense had 290 points allowed. On September 6, 1971, Joe Zuger and Dave Fleming set a franchise record with the longest single play passing yard. It was a 108 yard passing play against the Toronto Argonauts. Tony Gabriel’s rookie season was with Hamilton in 1971. He caught 20 passes for 285 yards.

Schedule

Player stats

Receiving

Player

Games Played

Receptions

Yards

Average

Long

Touchdowns |- align="center" bgcolor=""

Tony Gabriel

14

20

285

14.3

36

1

Awards and honors

  • Garney Henley, CFL All-Star
  • Leonard P. Back was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a Builder, on November 25, 1971.
  • Hal Patterson was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a Player, on November 25, 1971

1972

The Tiger-Cats offense had 415 points for, while the defense had 299 points allowed. Ralph Sazio became Tiger-Cats President in 1972, a year in which Hamilton hosted and won the Grey Cup. In 1972, Tony Gabriel improved his receiving numbers to 49 catches for 733 yards, finishing second in the East in passes caught. It would be Tommy Joe Coffey’s final season with the Tiger-Cats. Ellison Kelly would be in his final season with the Tiger-Cats. During his 13-year career, he never missed a game, playing in 175 consecutive regular season games.

Schedule

Week

Opponent

Final Score

Record

1

Roughriders

17-24

1-0

2

Lions

17-24

1-1

3

Eskimos

17-24

1-2

4

Alouettes

17-24

1-3

5

Alouettes

17-24

2-3

6

Rough Riders

17-24

3-3

7

Argonauts

17-24

4-3

8

Rough Riders

17-24

5-3

9

Argonauts

17-24

6-3

10

Rough Riders

17-24

7-3

11

Stampeders

17-24

8-3

12

Alouettes

17-24

9-3

13

Blue Bombers

17-24

10-3

14

Argonauts

17-24

11-3

Postseason

Week

Opponent

Final Score

Record

15

Rough Riders

7-19

11-4

16

Rough Riders

23-8

12-4

Grey Cup

Teams

1 Q

2 Q

3 Q

4 Q

Final

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

10

0

0

3

13

Saskatchewan Roughriders

0

10

0

0

10

Player stats

Receiving

Player

Games Played

Receptions

Yards

Average

Long

Touchdowns |- align="center" bgcolor=""

Tony Gabriel

14

49

733

15.0

49

3

Awards and honors

  • CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award - Garney Henley (WR)
  • CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award - Chuck Ealey (QB)
  • Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player, Chuck Ealey (QB)
  • Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian, Ian Sunter (K)

CFL All-Stars

  • Dave Buchanan, Running Back

1973

The Tiger-Cats offense had 304 points for, while the defense had 263 points allowed. In May 1973. the club was sold to Mr. Michael G. DeGroote, chairman and chief executive officer of Laidlaw Transportation Limited.

Schedule

Week

Opponent

Final Score

Record

1

Alouettes

9-18

0-1

2

Alouettes

14-21

0-2

3

Rough Riders

25-16

1-2

4

Argonauts

38-4

2-2

5

Lions

44-24

3-2

6

Argonauts

7-16

3-3

7

Rough Riders

19-21

3-4

8

Eskimos

17-22

3-5

9

Stampeders

31-29

4-5

10

Blue Bombers

21-18

5-5

11

Rough Riders

13-16

5-6

12

Argonauts

16-11

6-6

13

Roughriders

25-34

6-7

14

Alouettes

25-13

7-7

Player stats

Receiving

Player

Games Played

Receptions

Yards

Average

Long

Touchdowns |- align="center" bgcolor=""

Tony Gabriel

14

40

535

13.4

52

1

1974

The Tiger-Cats offense had 298 points for, while the defense had 334 points allowed. It was Dave Flemming’s final season with the Tiger-Cats. He finished his Tiger-Cats career with 50 touchdowns. In 1974, Tony Gabriel had a career year as he caught 61 passes for 795 yards to lead the East in pass receiving. It was also Gabriel's last season in Hamilton. Hamilton sent Gabriel to the Ottawa Rough Riders at the end of the season because Gabriel suggested that the players should get a raise when the East increased the number of games played from 14 to 16 in 1974.

Schedule

Player stats

Receiving

Player

Games Played

Receptions

Yards

Average

Long

Touchdowns |- align="center" bgcolor=""

Tony Gabriel

16

61

795

13.0

46

3

Awards and honors

  • CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award - Tony Gabriel (TE)
  • Former Ticats quarterback Bernie Faloney was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame on May 6, 1974.

1975

The Tiger-Cats offense had 296 points for, while the defense had 430 points allowed. Tiger-Cats president Ralph Sazio became president of the Canadian Football League in 1975. . It would be Garney Henley’s last season with the Tiger-Cats. Henley finished with 56 touchdowns. At the time, it was the franchise record for most touchdowns in a Tiger-Cats career. Long-time CFL star Jerry Keeling would join the Tiger-Cats midway through the season, as it would also be his final season in the CFL.

Terry Evanshen set a Tiger-Cats record (since broken) for most Touchdowns in one season by a Tiger-Cats player with 13. Four of those touchdowns were in one game. On September 7, Evanshen scored four of those touchdowns in one game against the Ottawa Rough Riders. He tied Garney Henley’s record for most touchdowns in one game by a Tiger-Cats player. In the same game, Evanshen would set a franchise record with most points in one game by scoring 26 points.

Tragedy struck the CFL in October, when 23-year old, Hamilton Tiger-Cats star Tom Pate suffered an aneurysm in the fourth quarter against the Stampeders at McMahon Stadium. Pate was not able to regain consciousness and eventually died two days later. A year later, the CFLPA announced the Tom Pate Memorial Award in his honour to be awarded to the player who best personifies a unique combination of outstanding sportsmanship and dedication to the league and the community.

Schedule

1976

The Tiger-Cats offense had 307 points for, while the defense had 365 points allowed. Bob Shaw would become the team’s general manager in 1976.

Schedule

Postseason

Player stats

Passing

Player

Attempts

Completions

Pct.

Yards

Touchdowns

Interceptions |- align="center" bgcolor=""

Rick Cassata

7

89

46

51.7

543

4|5

Awards and honors

  • CFL's Coach of the Year - Bob Shaw

CFL All-Stars

  • Jimmy Edwards, Running Back
  • Lewis Porter, Defensive Back
  • John Barrow was elected as a Player into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame August 5, 1976.

1977

The Tiger-Cats offense had 283 points for, while the defense had 394 points allowed. Frank M.Gibson would be in his final season as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Tiger-Cats. A trophy, bearing his name, was instituted by the CFL in 1977 recognizing the Outstanding Rookie in the Eastern Division. Coming off a season as Toronto’s outstanding defensive player, he was also an Eastern Football Conference All-Star in 1977. Ray Nettles would spend one season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before moving on to the Ottawa Rough Riders.

Schedule

Week

Opponent

Final Score

Record

1

Argonauts

21-20

1-0

2

Stampeders

11-13

1-1

3

Alouettes

11-21

1-2

4

Argonauts

1-22

1-3

5

Rough Riders

17-31

1-4

6

Eskimos

27-22

2-4

7

Blue Bombers

19-20

2-5

8

Rough Riders

18-33

2-6

9

Argonauts

25-12

3-6

10

Roughriders

17-38

3-7

11

Alouettes

20-19

4-7

12

Argonauts

2-43

4-8

13

Rough Riders

28-36

4-9

14

Lions

31-21

5-9

15

Alouettes

11-18

5-10

16

Rough Riders

24-25

5-11

Awards and honors

  • CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award - Jimmy Edwards (RB)
  • Tommy Joe Coffey was Elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a Player on, June 25, 1977.

1978

The Tiger-Cats offense had 245 points for, while the defense had 438 points allowed. In February 1978, the club was purchased by President and majority shareholder of Maple Leaf Gardens Limited, Harold Ballard. Mr. Ballard became the team president that year and would keep the strong tradition of pro football in that City. Rocky DiPietro was in his rookie season with the Ti-Cats. Ed George spent four seasons in the NFL before returning to the CFL in 1978 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Through two seasons with the Tiger-Cats he played 34 games. Quarterback Jimmy Jones was in his final season with the Tiger-Cats and he finished his Tiger-Cats career with 861 career pass attempts, good enough to rank in the top ten.

Schedule

Week

Opponent

Final Score

Record

1

Argonauts

22-34

0-1

2

Rougriders

27-23

1-1

3

Alouettes

12-24

1-2

4

Lions

22-22

1-2-1

5

Blue Bombers

7-29

1-3-1

6

Rough Riders

6-32

1-4-1

7

Rough Riders

8-36

1-5-1

8

Argonauts

19-16

2-5-1

9

Eskimos

16-56

2-6-1

10

Alouettes

4-14

2-7-1

11

Alouettes

17-6

3-7-1

12

Rough Riders

25-5

4-7-1

13

Argonauts

7-21

4-8-1

14

Stampeders

1-35

4-9-1

15

Rough Riders

9-34

4-10-1

16

Argonauts

23-16

5-10-1

Postseason

Week

Opponent

Final Score

Record

17

Alouettes

20-35

5-11-1

Player stats

Receiving

Player

Receptions

Yards

Avg.

Touchdowns

Long |- align="center" bgcolor=""

Rocky DiPietro

29

363

16.0

2

42

Awards and honors

  • Ben Zambiasi, Linebacker, CFL All-Stars Defense

1979

The Tiger-Cats offense had 306 points for, while the defense had 367 points allowed. Star quarterback Tom Clements came to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. University of Western Ontario quarterback Jamie Bone attended Tiger-Cats training camp but was cut. He took the Tiger-Cats to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, alleging that he was never given a fair chance to compete for a quarterback position because he was Canadian. During the proceedings, the Tiger Cats admitted that they had made up their mind on who the starters would be. Bone won his case, and the tribunal awarded him $10,000. The Tiger-Cats were awarded to give him a 14 day tryout in 1980.

Schedule

Week

Opponent

Final Score

Record

1

Rough Riders

19-30

0-1

2

Argonauts

11-18

0-2

3

Alouettes

24-20

1-2

4

Argonauts

8-21

1-3

5

Argonauts

0-25

1-4

6

Blue Bombers

21-27

1-5

7

Lions

16-22

1-6

8

Rough Riders

16-9

2-6

9

Rough Riders

4-44

2-7

10

Alouettes

14-21

3-7

11

Eskimos

21-22

3-8

12

Argonauts

17-16

4-8

13

Argonauts

42-3

5-8

14

Stampeders

26-16

6-8

15

Rough Riders

21-3

5-8

16

Alouettes

20-41

5-9

Postseason

Week

Opponent

Final Score

Record

17

Rough Riders

26-29

Player stats

Passing

Player

Games Played

Attempts

Completions

Yards

Pct.

Touchdowns

Interceptions |- align="center" bgcolor=""

Tom Clements

8

211

130

1809

61.6

10|7

Awards and honors

  • Tom Clements, All-Eastern Quarterback
  • Ben Zambiasi, Linebacker, CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award
  • Garney Henley was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a Player, on June 30, 1979.
  • Peter Neumann was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a Player, June 30, 1979.