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Five of Ticats' legend Angelo Mosca's most memorable moments

andrew bucholtz

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are doing something exceptionally rare for their franchise Thursday night against the Montreal Alouettes (7:30 p.m. Eastern, TSN/ESPN2), retiring a jersey number. They'll be retiring the #68 jersey of legendary defensive tackle Angelo Mosca, only the second jersey they've ever retired. (The first was the No. 10 of famed quarterback Bernie Faloney, who was the best man at Mosca's wedding.) Mosca is an incredibly deserving candidate here as he's long been one of the Ticats' (and the CFL's) most memorable face. He was one of the league's best and nastiest players during his prime, and he went on to substantial post-career success as a professional wrestler. He's still hugely popular, too; an Alzheimer's fundraiser he and his family put together Wednesday night (Mosca was diagnosed with the disease earlier this year) attracted hundreds and caused #StillMosca to trend nationally. Ahead of "Angelo Mosca Night" and his jersey retirement Thursday night, here's a look at five of Mosca's most memorable moments.

5. Leaving the CFL on top (1972 Grey Cup): Mosca had a remarkable CFL career, heading to Canada in 1958 after a successful run in college at the University of Notre Dame and turning down the NFL to do so, and he'd be a force in the league for over a decade. He started with Hamilton in 1958 and 1959, then was traded to the Ottawa Rough Riders, winning his first Grey Cup with them in 1960. Mosca then went to Montreal in 1962 before returning to the Ticats in 1963, and it was in Hamilton where he found most of his success. He'd appear in nine Grey Cups overall (tied for a CFL record with Ticats' teammate John Barrow), winning five (four with Hamilton), and he was a big part of getting the team to that 1972 Grey Cup. That game was played at the Ticats' home field, Ivor Wynne Stadium, and Mosca and the defence were a big part of their 13-10 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the first home-field Grey Cup win in the CFL's modern era. Winning another Grey Cup, and doing so at home, was a perfect way to cap off a remarkable career. Perhaps showing how important Mosca and the defence of that era were to their success, the Ticats wouldn't win another Grey Cup until 1986.

4. The Pat Patterson water bottle incident (September 1981): Mosca also had an impressive wrestling career, starting part-time in 1969 and then taking up wrestling full-time after retiring from the CFL. He started his wrestling career in Canada, but soon rose to international fame, and was an important figure in the WWF, both as a heel wrestler ("King Kong Mosca") and as a commentator. He had plenty of notable matches, including several against the Iron Sheik (one a tag-team match with Ric Flair against the Iron Sheik and Greg Valentine) and a six-man tag-team match where he teamed up with Andre the Giant and Steve Collins, but one of his most memorable was this 1981 WWF match in Baltimore against Victor Mercado. Mercado wasn't anywhere as known as many of Mosca's opponents, but it's what happened during and after this match that made it special. Here's the video:

Mosca had several opportunities to pin Mercado early, but elected not to take them to prolong the match. The commentators start blasting him for that, calling it "really disgusting" around 1:55. Eventually, the referee disqualifies him, and Mosca hits the referee (2:30). After getting in some more kicks on Mercado and some shoves on the ref, Mosca leaves the ring at 2:50. It's what happens next that's the best part, though; commentator Pat Patterson (in the blue suit) approaches the ref and congratulates him, saying "I think King Kong Mosca got what he deserved. It's a good job." Mosca then sneaks up on Patterson, hits him with a water bottle, kicks him and socks the ref who tried to defend him. It's quite the twist, and one that set the stage for Mosca to later crash a different match and cut this promo about his feud with "Little Boy Blue" Patterson:

That's remarkable, even if it's not the best outside-the-ring fight Mosca was ever involved in (see #1 below).

3. 24-1 (1967 Grey Cup): The best example of Hamilton's defensive dominance may have come in the 1967 Grey Cup, where they thumped Saskatchewan 24-1. It was the lowest Grey Cup point total by a losing team since Winnipeg was shut out in 1950. Mosca and the rest of the front four were a huge part of that, and this was one of the best games they played.

2. The hit on Willie Fleming (1963 Grey Cup): Mosca's most famous (or infamous) moment as a CFL player came in his first Grey Cup with Hamilton, where he was accused of delivering a dirty hit to star B.C. running back Willie Fleming and then kicking Fleming when he was down. Fleming left the game and the Ticats won, 21-10. B.C. got some revenge in the next year's championship game, beating Hamilton 34-24, but the grudges against Mosca stayed strong, eventually leading to No. 1 on this list.

1. The brawl with Joe Kapp (2011 Grey Cup): Mosca and Joe Kapp, who was the Lions' quarterback in 1963, were both featured guests at a CFL alumni luncheon in Vancouver in 2011 as part of the Grey Cup festivities, and that led to a cane-swinging brawl over Mosca's hit on Fleming 48 years earlier. Video of that can be found here. That fight, between the 74-year-old Mosca and the 73-year-old Kapp, got the CFL some of the most publicity it's ever seen, from ESPN to the BBC to The New York Times, and it even got Mosca's wrestling buddies like the Iron Sheik weighing in. Mosca's accomplishments on the field and in the ring were perhaps more impressive, but it's his brawl with Kapp that will be hardest to forget.