50TH VANIER CUP INTERVIEW SERIES:Shawn Olson, UBC (1997)

50^TH VANIER CUP INTERVIEW SERIES: 1997

A conversation with...

Shawn Olson, quarterback, University of British Columbia Thunderbirds

In Vanier Cup XXXIII, the UBC Thunderbirds won the program’s third national title thanks to a 39-23 victory over the Ottawa Gee-Gees at SkyDome in Toronto. Two days after being presented with the Hec Crighton Trophy, running back Mark Nohra was a game-time decision for the T-Birds due to a knee injury, but he was in the starting lineup come Saturday and rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Shawn Olson, a sophomore quarterback from Surrey, B.C., had the best seat in the house to watch the “Nohra Show” as he handed him the ball 29 times on the day, while throwing for 170 yards and one score.

What is your one major lasting memory of the 1997 Vanier Cup game?

There are actually two for me. I remember feeling very anxious in the final minutes of the game even though we were up by 32 points and I don’t know why. I just couldn’t wait for the final whistle to blow.

I also remember one specific play because it was a key play in the game for us. I called an audible on Frank Luisser’s touchdown catch that put us up 17-4 midway through the second quarter. We practised it during the week and wanted to change the play to a quick out if Ottawa showed a soft corner. It wasn’t a difficult play, but it was something we had schemed for and then executed on game day. It should have been just a five-yard gain, but Frank broke a tackle and ran 29 yards for a touchdown. I remember that being the first time in the game where I thought we were going to win for sure.

(Note: Trailing 39-7, Ottawa scored two touchdowns in the last 2:28 of the contest to make the final score closer)

When did you know Hec Crighton Trophy winner Mark Nohra would be playing?

To be honest, I thought he was going to be play a week earlier in the Atlantic Bowl because that’s what the coaching staff was telling us. At the Vanier Cup, we knew he was going to play fairly early on in the week; it was just a matter of how healthy he was going to be.

(Note: In the 1997 regular season, Nohra had scored a CIAU-leading 11 rushing touchdowns in eight games and finished second in the country with 1,216 yards en route to player-of-the-year honours and his second straight selection as a first-team all-Canadian. A fifth-year senior from Toronto, he was wearing the UBC uniform for the last time in the Vanier Cup and his 29 carries, the second most in game history at the time, still rank third on the all-time list)      

Did having Mark Nohra in the game take pressure off you?

At the time, Coach (Casey) Smith did a good job of insulating me from the pressure. That was one of the reasons he had told me, the week leading up to the Atlantic Bowl, that Mark was going to play. I had gone into that game thinking that it wasn’t going to be all on my shoulders and by the time I realized Mark wasn’t dressing, I wasn’t even thinking about it.

(Note: Olson was named MVP of the Atlantic Bowl after he threw for 402 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-29 win over Mount Allison in Halifax)

Did anything unusual or out of the ordinary happen during the game or during Vanier week?

It was interesting because we were on the road for two weeks. We didn’t go back to Vancouver, we went directly from Halifax to Toronto, so it was almost surreal living in hotels and not going to school. It was like we were professional athletes.

The weather was wacky as well. Being from BC, we weren’t accustomed to all the snow. It snowed in Halifax prior to the Atlantic Bowl and then, when we got to Toronto, there had been a big dump so we had multiple days of practice in a foot of snow on an uncleared field in the middle of Toronto.

Did the coaches do anything different from normal routine in the preparation for the game?

We didn’t do anything that different, other than a few more meetings. However, the meetings did get a little more entertaining as the days went by. After a couple of days at the Westin, the guys were feeling pretty good and started to come to meetings in the robes the hotel supplied. By the end of the week, for the night meetings where we watched film in somebody’s room, the mandatory dress code was a hotel robe.

How did your team react to playing in SkyDome?

It wasn’t that big a deal for us because we regularly played at a CFL stadium in Calgary, McMahon Stadium. Once we had our first practice in there, the mentality was: okay, no big deal, let’s focus on the game.

What are your memories of the post-game celebration on the field and/or in the dressing room?

I remember I had to go to bathroom very badly, so as soon as the game was over I sprinted to the bathroom and probably missed the first five minutes of celebrating.

Overall, it was a feeling of relief that we were able to accomplish what we had set out to do. It was one of those things where everybody is all over the place; guys are hugging and sharing in the moment, which is special and chaotic all at the same time. In the locker room, I remember there was more celebration and champagne and even Coach Smith doing a dance for the guys, which was pretty cool.

What are your memories of the trip back home?

I remember we left Ryan Hecker in Toronto. He was one of our freshman receivers and he had fallen asleep after a hectic night of celebration. He ended up not getting up in time for the bus to the airport and eventually missed our flight home.

What was the reaction on campus when the team returned?

To be honest, it was a complete blur. Having been away for two weeks, guys were focused on catching up with classes and getting ready for exams. I remember they honoured us at the men’s basketball game on our first weekend back.

At the time, how did winning the Vanier Cup change your everyday life?

Anytime you achieve something difficult, it gives you a sense of accomplishment and confidence, which is key to an individual’s development. That is the biggest thing to know, that if you set out to do something, you can get it done.

How often to you reminisce about your Vanier Cup win?

It pops in my mind quite a bit. You refer back to lessons learned, as well as realize any championship team, as good as they are, has a lot of luck along the way. The older I get and the more I’m exposed to how fragile winning and losing is, I think back to all the little bounces we got or created and appreciate how fortunate we were to have achieved the ultimate goal.

The Vanier Cup was the last game Casey Smith ever coached. 

My memories of Casey are of a really strong individual who could be very intimidating when he had to be, but at the same time garnered respect. I had a very high opinion of him, even though he was hard. My last memories of him are that juxtaposition of that image I have of him compared to the next year, when he came out to one of our practices, when he was really sick, and seeing just how fragile he was at that point. It was my first real experience dealing with cancer and how devastating it can be and how you can’t take anything for granted.

(Note: Casey Smith died November 28, 1998 of liver cancer, six days after the one-year anniversary of UBC’s 1997 Vanier Cup win)

MORE ABOUT SHAWN OLSON (courtesy of UBC Athletics):

Olson played five years for UBC from 1996 to 2000. He the coached one year at the University of Calgary before moving to Austria to play professional football for the Vienna Vikings from 2002 to 2005, leading his team to three straight Euro Bowls. Following the 2005 season, he retired as a player and became a coach with the Vikings for another two years. He returned to Canada in 2007 as the offensive coordinator at Simon Fraser University. In 2010, he was named the head coach of the Thunderbirds and spent five years at the helm of the program, meriting Canada West coach-of-the-year honours in 2011.