Courtesy Calgary Herald

TORONTO - A stunning development from Thursday’s Grey Cup media conference in Toronto was the discovery of two Saskatchewan men who have never seen Dave Ridgway’s Cup-winning field goal from 1989.

And they happen to play for the Roughriders.

Not only that, the guilty parties are the team’s place kicker and the holder - the men who might be called upon Sunday to duplicate the work of Robokicker Ridgway, who nailed a 35-yard kick that marks a high point of Saskatchewan sports history, and holder Glen Suitor.

“I’ve heard about it and everything, but I’ve actually never seen it,” Rpughriders kicker Luca Congi sheepishly admitted. “But I understand the importance of it.”

Holder Andy Fantuz basically turned red and went mute after admitting he hasn’t seen the kick.

But defensive tackle Scott Schultz compensated for Fantuz’s silence.

“What a bunch of idiots,” Schultz howled, when informed of his negligent teammates. “Part of your responsibility in your position is to know the history of your position.

“I know all about Gary Lewis and Chuck Klingbeils, the Bobby Jurasins and all that. To hear that kind of makes me want to shed a crocodile tear for Luca.”

It also inspired Schultz to hunt down a copy and show it to the young duo.

“Someone’s gotta have it,” he said. “Google it, it’s gotta be on YouTube or somewhere. I’m sure if you bumped into Glen Suitor, he’ll have a copy of it in his backpack.”

Congi flunked his history test, but the second-year kicker has been aces this post-season.

He made six of eight field-goal attempts in last week’s West Division final against the B.C. Lions and was four-for-four in the West semifinal against Calgary Stampeders.

The playoff success obviously is terrific from a team point of view and it’s a nice vindication for the way Congi’s regular season ended.

Congi was named the West Division all-star kicker before the CFL admitted making a tabulation error, stripped him of the honour and handed it to Calgary’s Sandro DeAngelis a few days later.

“My family found out that I won before I did, so they called to congratulate me and stuff like that,” said Congi. “I was happy, then when it was reversed, I thought it sucked for a while. But you forgive and forget. Everyone makes mistakes every day.”

DeAngelis received the individual recognition, but Congi’s team is in the Grey Cup.

That’s a nice exchange.

Now, he needs to do something about those history lessons.

“I don’t blame them for not knowing,” said Roughriders head coach Kent Austin. “I’ve never seen a lot of great ‘Rider moments from before we won it in ‘89. I’m probably guilty of the same thing.

“Now, if you told me it was Gene Makowsky, a 13-year veteran born and raised (in Saskatchewan), then that would be odd.”

Tags: Football Quiz, history, Roughriders