This Saturday, the Tiger-Cats will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 1999 Grey Cup championship team. Ticats.ca spoke to several members of that team to discuss their memories of the 1999 season that ended with a 32-21 victory over the Calgary Stampeders in the Grey Cup final.
By Brian Snelgrove
It was, hands down, the finest season by a quarterback in Hamilton Tiger-Cat history.
The year was 1999 and in that Grey Cup season, Danny McManus rewrote the Black and Gold record book. McManus established a club mark for most yards passing in a single season with 5,334. He set the team standard for both attempts (612) and completions (365) in a season. He was named the league’s Most Outstanding Player and capped off an incredible year by being named Most Valuable Player in the 87th Grey Cup.
“It all started with our ‘O’ line and it was like I couldn’t miss,” says McManus a decade later. “The biggest thing was training camp. (Coach) Lancaster showed us a replay of the ’98 game and then never said another word about it. It sort of set the tone for the season. We had the proper mind set as a team and everybody was a role player. Anything less than a trip to the Grey Cup would have been a disappointment.”
McManus was good on 22 of 34 pass attempts for 347 yards and two touchdowns in the final as he led the Cats to a 32-21 victory over the Stampeders. It was the first Grey Cup for the Tabbies since 1986.
“We got out quickly in that game and never let up,” says McManus. “We moved the ball well, the whole game. The Stampeders had a good defense but we never slowed down. We didn’t slack up.”
“The thing I will always remember most is the celebration after the game. It was a great joy for me… watching my teammates celebrate up on the platform holding the Cup. A lot of these guys had been there from that terrible season in ’97 and it was great to see.”
“It was great for the city, there was a huge parade and I have never seen that many people at one time in Hamilton,” says the former Ticat pivot. “And we did it as a team. Hamilton will always be home to me.”
McManus is unquestionably the greatest quarterback in Ticat history. He dominates the all-time passing records section of the club media guide: most career passing yards (33,841), nearly double Mike Kerrigan (17,761); most attempts (4,257); most completions (2,368) and most career touchdown passes with 164.
He is the only Ticat QB to throw for more than 5,000 yards and McManus did it twice- he threw for 5034 yards in 2004. He holds the team record for most touchdown passes in a season with 29 also set in 2004.
McManus is currently the Tiger-Cats Southeastern Region Scout and lives in Sarasota, Florida with his wife and three children. He spends the football season in Canada and also finds time to conduct camps and clinics for young aspiring quarterbacks.
“We knew we had a very good team back in ’99,” he says. “We just tried to get better and better each week. It paid off with the Grey Cup.”
