The 1961 Hamilton Tiger-Cats season was the fourth season for the team in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and their 12th overall. The team finished in first place in the Eastern Football Conference with a 10–4 record and faced the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup for the fourth time in the last five seasons. The Tiger-Cats lost the 49th Grey Cup game by a score of 21–14 and was the first Grey Cup game to be decided in overtime.
Notably, this was the first season to introduce a regular season interlocking schedule with the Western Interprovincial Football Union teams. The Tiger-Cats had a 5–0 record in these games and therefore won the first regular season meeting against each of the CFL's Western teams. The club also played an exhibition game against the American Football League's Buffalo Bills where the Tiger-Cats won 38–21. It was the first meeting between a CFL team and an AFL team and it was the only time a CFL team had defeated a team from the present day's National Football League. This was also the last time that a CFL team played an NFL or an AFL team.
Exhibition Week Date Opponent Results Venue Attendance Score Record A Bye B Fri, July 21 at Edmonton Eskimos L 9–17 0–1 10,000 B Mon, July 24 at BC Lions L 27–38 0–2 18,769 C Mon, July 31 at Montreal Alouettes W 25–16 1–2 17,635 D Tues, Aug 8 vs. Buffalo Bills (AFL) W 38–21 2–2 12,000
Regular season Season standings + Eastern Football Conference Team GP W L T PF PA PtsHamilton Tiger-Cats 14 10 4 0 340 293 20 Ottawa Rough Riders 14 8 6 0 359 285 16 Toronto Argonauts 14 7 6 1 255 258 15Montreal Alouettes 14 4 9 1 213 225 9
Season schedule Week Game Date Opponent Results Venue Attendance Score Record 1 Bye 2 1 Tues, Aug 15 vs. BC Lions W 30–21 1–0 17,103 3 2 Sun, Aug 20 at Toronto Argonauts W 28–24 2–0 27,809 4 Bye 5 3 Thurs, Aug 31 at Winnipeg Blue Bombers W 30–9 3–0 18,951 5 4 Mon, Sept 4 vs. Toronto Argonauts W 21–19 4–0 26,533 6 5 Mon, Sept 11 vs. Edmonton Eskimos W 32–15 5–0 27,646 7 6 Sat, Sept 16 at Calgary Stampeders W 37–36 6–0 16,707 7 7 Mon, Sept 18 at Saskatchewan Roughriders W 22–15 7–0 10,152 8 8 Sat, Sept 23 vs. Montreal Alouettes L 7–28 7–1 25,291 9 9 Sat, Sept 30 at Ottawa Rough Riders L 21–47 7–2 22,400 10 10 Mon, Oct 9 vs. Ottawa Rough Riders L 10–14 7–3 25,273 11 11 Sun, Oct 15 at Toronto Argonauts W 37–10 8–3 29,553 12 12 Sat, Oct 21 vs. Montreal Alouettes W 15–5 9–3 22,723 13 13 Sat, Oct 28 vs. Ottawa Rough Riders W 44–29 10–3 20,271 14 14 Sat, Nov 4 at Montreal Alouettes L 6–21 10–4 16,199
Post-season Schedule Round Date Opponent Results Venue Attendance Score Record Eastern Semi-Final Bye Eastern Final #1 Sat, Nov 18 at Toronto Argonauts L 7–25 0–1 33,161 Eastern Final #2 Sat, Nov 25 vs. Toronto Argonauts W 48–2 1–1 22,671 Grey Cup Sat, Dec 2 Winnipeg Blue Bombers L 14–21 1–2 32,651
References