Gryphon Grey Cup Winners

There’s a razor-thin line between being pumped up for a championship game and being out of control. Johnny Augustine found that balance critical to success on Grey Cup Sunday. The former Gryphon Football running back legend was more than fired up when his Winnipeg Blue Bombers took the field against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 107th Grey Cup last month at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium. Augustine had been in big football games before but nothing like the CFL finale, where the Blue Bombers were looking to end a 29-year drought for a city desperate to celebrate a winner.

It was the last stop in a campaign fueled by the mantra “On to the next.” This was, as Augustine puts it, a business trip.

“We weren’t going to be satisfied with just being there,” says the 26-year-old Welland, ON native, who played in the backfield and on special teams this season. “The locker room was initially pretty quiet. You could tell guys were getting ramped up. It just continued to get louder and from the get go during warm-ups, I was jacked up. I felt that much faster, that much quicker. I was embracing the whole moment.

“As much as we had the emotion, we had to control it on the field and find that balance so we were aware, able to look at schemes, and compute everything.

“Opening kickoff, I got the first tackle of the game. I was jumping and on a high.”

Winnipeg set the tone early in the game with a big interception. And after taking a 21-6 lead at halftime, the hungry Blue Bombers closed the deal and defeated Hamilton 33-12.

The city finally had its’ Grey Cup. And a contingent of all-time Gryphons – Augustine, John Rush, Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea, and General Manager Kyle Walters – once again tasted what it was like to lift a trophy.

“It was pretty surreal to be part of something that big,” says Rush, a former President’s Trophy winner, who has been known to reminisce about the university days with Augustine in the Blue Bombers’ special teams meetings. “The whole time I was just thinking, ‘We’re really doing this!’ It was crazy.

“After the game, all I could think about is how much we had and overcome to get to that point and how happy I was for everyone involved because I knew how much it meant for them. It’s awesome to be able to share experiences like that with guys you love to play with.”

Rush says there is a brotherhood, culture, and love for one another in the Winnipeg room. He’s seen it before, with similar results. Almost five years ago to the day, Guelph came out on top in an emotional 23-17 victory over the Western Mustangs in the 108th Yates Cup.

It’s like that meeting with a guidance counselor or in a job interview when you’re asked, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’ Augustine might not have answered ‘Grey Cup champ’ but he was certainly confident that he would be showcasing his skills as a professional football player.

“When you’re young and trying to make it, you don’t think about championships,” says Augustine, who got to spell the Grey Cup MVP running back Andrew Harris at various points through the season. “It’s one step at a time. I knew in five years I would be playing in the CFL but for me to win that Grey Cup in only my second season, it’s definitely special.”

A central theme to both Guelph’s Yates Cup win and the recent Grey Cup victory was overcoming adversity. The Gryphons had to come back to win in London and put their demons to rest after previous attempts at securing the OUA banner fell short. Winnipeg was in control of the Grey Cup out of the gate but the challenges they faced came in a different form – a tough road in the playoffs (wins over Calgary and Saskatchewan) before a matchup with a dominant Hamilton team that pundits thought would be difficult to beat but more importantly, a championship drought almost three decades long.

“They were pretty similar in the sense that in both places, we’d been deprived for years of a championship and for at least the four years I was on each team, we had worked towards and gotten closer to the goal,” says Rush.  “So to see it come to fruition in both circumstances has been pretty incredible.”

That Rush and Augustine did it under the guidance of Gryphon Hall of Famers O’Shea and Walters made it even that much more special. Augustine says at that beginning of the year, players introduce themselves and tell the group where they played in university. O’Shea, whose Grey Cup win was his first as a coach after experiencing three in his playing days, has acknowledged those Gryphons with a “Go Guelph!

“I have the utmost respect for Coach,” says Augustine. “He has done so much for the league.

“It was very humbling afterwards, we all got together and took a Guelph pic. We did it, we’re proud Gryphons.”

“I don’t think I can say enough good things about this man,” Rush adds of O’Shea. “He has helped mould me not only into a better football player, but a better man. He has a personal connection to each of his players and takes the time to get to know you and how you learn.

“Every time he talks in a meeting, whether it’s to you or someone else, you’re learning something new because he’s so intelligent.”

The former Gryphons have been thrilled with the Grey Cup win. But they aren’t satisfied. Augustine says that the story could not have been written better this season, though he has envisioned what a future championship might look like. He has worked hard to get where he is and that effort was rewarded as his role on the team behind the workhorse Harris expanded over the course of 2019.

Augustine takes pride in his preparation. It’s what helped make him Guelph’s second all-time leading rusher and what got him to the CFL. The goal next time is for him to be the main man leading his team to a title.

“I’ve been through ups and downs, not getting drafted, bouncing back and forth,” Augustine says. “That’s why we all have a special bond in the locker room – it’s not easy to be a professional athlete. Guys go through a lot. It’s a business at the end of the day. To be able to hold that trophy, it shows all the hard work I put in and believing in myself paid off.

“Going forward, I want more. I’m enjoying the win but I want this feeling as much as I can.

“I just want to be ready for that moment.”

Written By: David Dicenzo