50TH VANIER CUP INTERVIEW SERIES: 1987
A conversation with...
Floyd Salazar, cornerback, McGill University Redmen
In Vanier Cup XXIII, at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, the McGill Redmen upset the heavily-favoured, defending champion UBC Thunderbirds 47-11 to capture the lone national title in program history. Floyd Salazar, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound hard-hitting cornerback from Mississauga, Ont., was named defensive player of the game after he helped the Redmen keep UBC and Hec Crighton Trophy-winning quarterback Jordan Gagner out of the end zone until the midway mark of the fourth quarter. The 36-point margin of victory still stands as a Vanier Cup record.
What is your one major lasting memory of the Vanier Cup game?
The level of focus on my teammates no matter how cold it was. I believe the temperature was -17 Celsius at game time. We were so pumped to play that it did not matter. Our offence was grinding the UBC defence down with punishing runs by Michael Soles and Gerry Ifill. The play-calling by our offensive and defensive coaches, Pat Sheahan and Larry Ring, was perfect. We dominated UBC in every facet of the game no matter the conditions and we were just pumped to get on the field at every turn to play.
(Note: The Redmen ran the ball on 86% of their plays on offence (48 of 56) and finished the game with 344 yards on the ground, compared to 120 for UBC. Soles was named game MVP thanks to his 203 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries, while Ifill racked up 64 yards and two majors on 11 runs, in addition to catching a 27-yard TD pass)
What do you remember as the key play of the game?
After our second touchdown, in the second quarter, we were kicking off to UBC. We were facing the south end of the stadium and we knew their tendencies on kick returns. We kicked directly to their dangerous returner. This was perfect because our cover scheme was devised to channel that player into a certain hole for us. My teammates, Robin Bélanger and Vincent Gagné, and myself talked about meeting at the back on the return. The UBC player received the ball deep to the right and took off, looking to break through a channel on our left side. That is when we all read what they were doing and we seemed to all shed our blocks and get to the hole before he did, around the 25-yard line. We hit him right at that point and stopped him in his tracks. We all got up and were ready to play but he seemed a little discouraged because he thought that he was going to break one.
The series following that play, we completely shut them down and then went on to score a field goal on our next possession.
(Note: The Redmen took a 17-3 lead to the locker room at halftime and had increased their advantage to 40-3 by the time UBC scored its lone touchdown of the game, with 7:24 left in the fourth quarter)
What was your personal greatest play or moment?
Several of our tackles in the game were designed to make the receiver know that there was more to come each time they stepped on the field. One memory is stepping up from my right cornerback position on an under-pattern where I was supposed to follow the targeted receiver inside. We were playing man-on-man coverage under and zone coverage over top, but I peeled off my mark and saw their wide-out coming across my face for the catch. It was a good read because he caught the ball and turned to see me right there. With my face in his chest, I wrapped my arms around him, lifted and dumping him on his back. Great fun!
Another play was the ‘wheel route’ that they tried up the sidelines on me, on the right side. I knew they liked that play, and of course I was positioned to wait for the receiver coming out in my dropped zone coverage since it was a ‘Cover-2’ scheme. I set up and reacted on the play, tackling the same receiver and putting him out of bounds behind the TV camera cart which was covering the play. Oh yeah!
How did the team react to the stadium, the crowd, the weather conditions?
It was the coldest Vanier Cup on record and when we went out for the pre-game warm-up, the field was frozen and slippery. A lot of our players didn’t have the right footwear, so Coach (Charlie) Baillie asked someone from our support staff - Rob Watt - to go out and buy as many pairs of broomball shoes as he could. As the story goes, he took the team bus and his credit card and went for a drive down Yonge Street and eventually saw a store named something like “Soles Shoes”. With Mike Soles as our star running back, it was a perfect fit. He bought every pair he could find and they were delivered to us just before the game. There were only enough shoes for the linemen and the linebackers. I didn’t get a pair but I guess that they helped physically and, perhaps more importantly, mentally, to be more confident in our footing.
Did the coaches do anything different from normal routine in the preparation for the game?
The coaches used the entire week of preparation to apply some different cover schemes to isolate players or remove their major threats. The countless hours that we spent in the video room helped identify the major tendencies which UBC had and we were very well-prepared to adjust and attack their strengths. Overall the week of preparation was great with our coaches because they were really charged to be in the Vanier Cup game and they were so confident with our offensive and defensive schemes to help combat the strengths of UBC.
(Note: UBC had won 21 consecutive games overall - a CIAU record at the time – heading into the 1987 Vanier Cup, including a perfect 11-0 season in 1986 and a 10-0 mark in 1987. The Thunderbirds had outscored their WIFL opponents 232 to 101 in eight games during the 1987 regular season, while the Redmen had barely outscored their OQIFC rivals, by a 143-129 margin, on their way to a 5-2 league record)
Did anything unusual or out of the ordinary happen during the game or during Vanier week?
We were a collection of characters and the media really enjoyed that angle. Our quarterback, Bryan “Pee Wee” Fuller, showed up to the game in his grandfather’s tuxedo and starting feeding his ‘Crazy Dogs’ offensive line dog biscuits after they began barking, and that kind of kept things loose.
What are your memories of the post-game celebrations on the field and/or in the dressing room?
What I remember most about the post-game celebration was jumping up and down, hugging my teammate Vincent Gagné, because we were so happy about winning the national championship. I honestly believed we were so charged up that we could have continued playing. Then I recall going to a special celebration dinner that night at Molson’s Brewery in Toronto – there were so many well-known McGill alumni in attendance, congratulating the team and the coaches for achieving a very special moment for the school.
What are your memories of the trip back home?
Just joking around with my teammates but fully realizing just how dehydrated I was from the game. I was respectful of the moment but only thought of it as just another game won. The older veterans were pumped and overjoyed. We sang songs for most of the trip home but we were relaxed about things and we were extremely happy to have completed our goal.
What was the reaction on campus when the team returned?
There was a buzz across the campus and the city about our victory. The school administration and our alumni were overjoyed. The post-game celebration literally lasted for months. We were honoured at many venues, including a Montreal Canadiens game and the St. Patrick’s Day parade. We were even invited by the mayor to sign the Golden Book at City Hall.
Were the guys aware that this McGill team was the first Quebec-based school to win the Vanier Cup?
We were indeed aware that we were the first Quebec school to win the Vanier Cup so it was perhaps extra special to accomplish that feat. It’s amazing to think that here we are, almost three decades later, and no Montreal-based school has won since we did. It just shows how hard it is to win a national championship.
At the time, how did winning the Vanier Cup change your everyday life?
It provided the impetus to always push to achieve in every way. The win reinforced, no matter what challenges are put in front of you, that showing perseverance, focus and dedication as an individual will provide opportunities to achieve success.
How often to you reminisce about your Vanier Cup win?
Having two teenagers of my own now, who compete in sports, I do not reflect on the win very much but the joy and energy that I brought – to playing football and the journey to the Vanier Cup game – I apply in teaching to my children today, which has translated to how they compete in their sporting endeavors.
What did you study at McGill and what career paths did you follow after graduation?
I earned a science degree and have had a lengthy career as a data, network and technology architect with numerous telecommunication companies, including Sprint, AT&T, 360 Networks, Bell and currently, with TELUS in Vancouver.
MORE ABOUT FLOYD SALAZAR:
Salazar, who was in his third season with McGill in 1987, was selected in the fourth round (31st overall) by Toronto in the 1988 CFL draft and went on to play with the Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.