By Stampeders.com staff
Keith Spaith was the first. Bo Levi Mitchell is the latest.
In between were Jerry Keeling, Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia, Marcus Crandell and Henry Burris.
They are the men who have quarterbacked the Calgary Stampeders to a Grey Cup championship.
They are all part of Red and White lore but Keeling’s story is especially remarkable in that he started his Calgary career in 1961 but didn’t become the starting quarterback until 1969.
Keeling — known as “Bones” to his teammates because of his slender build — first made a name for himself as a defensive halfback and earned CFL all-star honours in 1964, 1965 and 1967 and was a five-time division all-star on the defensive side of the ball. It wasn’t until Peter Liske left for the NFL that Keeling moved to the top of the depth chart at quarterback.
Before Liske, it was Eagle Day who handled the quarterbacking chores for the Red and White.
In Keeling’s first three years under centre, the Stamps were progressively more successful as they reached the West final in 1969 (a loss to Saskatchewan), the Grey Cup final in 1970 (a loss to Montreal) and won the championship in 1971 with a victory over the Toronto Argonauts.
In his first season as the No. 1 QB, Keeling led the West Division with 229 completions for 3,179 yards.
The 1971 Grey Cup ended a 23-year title drought for the Stamps. The game, played in sloppy conditions at Vancouver’s Empire Stadium, was hardly conducive to quarterback play as Keeling threw only 16 passes for 111 yards, but one of his throws found Herm (Ham Hands) Harrison in the end-zone for the game’s opening score.
Keeling was a much bigger factor in the best-of-three West final win over Saskatchewan as he threw for a combined 537 yards and four touchdowns in back-to-back wins over the Roughriders.
Keeling played one more season for the Stamps — 1972 — before moving on to the Ottawa Rough Riders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He retired in 1975 and was voted to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1989.
As one of the best two-way players in franchise history, Keeling has his name in two very different places in the CFL record books. The Paris, Tex., native shares the CFL’s record for the longest pass, a 109-yard connection with Terry Evanshen at Winnipeg on Sept. 27, 1966. He also had the second-longest fumble return in league history, a 102-yarder against BC on Sept. 22, 1964.
During his 15 seasons as CFLer — including seven in which quarterback was his primary position — Keeling completed 1,302 passes for 18,239 yards and 119 touchdowns.