As the rain poured down on tricoloured fans, the Queen’s Gaels football team concluded their first game on the turf of the revitalized Richardson Stadium with a less than stellar result – falling 27-13 to the Western Mustangs. 

But for Gaels Football Hall of Famers like Bill Sirman, Law’72 (Arts’63, MA’06) and Peter C.P. Thompson, QC, Law’65 (Arts’62), who took part in a pregame opening ceremony honouring past championship glories, neither the weather nor the scoreboard could dampen their spirits. For them, being here in a new stadium is a reminder of past lessons learned, and what football is really all about. 

Bill Sirman played football during his undergraduate years at Queen’s.

“When I played there were four teams: Toronto, Western, McGill and Queen's. And the games were really well attended. I mean, we would have 6,000 to 8,000 in Kingston regularly.”

Back then the Gaels played at the old Richardson Stadium, located beside Macdonald Hall and where Tindall Field and Robert Sutherland Hall are now. Sirman says he has a “great deal of fondness” for the old stadium.

“It was quite a compact, little stadium, right on campus. And students were always all around. It wasn't that big, but it did hold several thousand people, and the field was very close to the stands. And it was quite an atmosphere,” he says. 

“Opposing players would tell me years later when I'd meet them at a function, when they came to Kingston to play Queen's, they were seven points down when they stepped on the field.”

On the November 4, 1961, game against Toronto, Sirman set a school record for receiving touchdowns that lasted 17 seasons.

“I remember going to Toronto, and the Argos were playing the same day. We played at the old Varsity Stadium on Bloor Street, and the Argos were downtown at the old CNE stadium by the waterfront, and we outdrew them. Queen’s versus Toronto outdrew the Argos; we had 15,000 fans and they had slightly less.” 

This was at a time when Queen’s had under 5,000 students.

“Over half the school went to that game in Toronto.”

That 1961 team went on to defeat McGill in the Yates Cup. Sirman led the league in scoring and was selected as a First Team All-Star. 

“McGill at the time had a number of American boys that had played in the States, and they would come up to do graduate work in one of the professional schools, quite regularly dentistry,” Sirman recalls. 

“So we'd be playing these guys who were two or three years older than we were, generally, and who had played football in the States ... So they could have eight to 10 Americans on their team; some were allegedly all American nominees. It was quite a rivalry.”

Quite a rivalry indeed. The previous year, Queen’s had lost to McGill in a playoff. The year after, they also lost to McGill. Then Queen’s went back-to-back with two Yates Cups in 1963 and 1964.

Peter Thompson played for six years during that run. Several of those years were with Sirman, and the two remain friends. He says the new Richardson Stadium “has a great feel to it.” The grand re-opening is part of Queen’s University’s 175th anniversary celebrations.

“I think that the designers of the place have been able to duplicate, to a large extent, the ‘feel’ of the old Richardson Stadium,” he says.

“My wife (Fran Thompson, Arts’64) and I were in the third row on the east side just behind the Western bench – a perfect position to heckle the opposition, should that be necessary!”

“The concourse and promenade on the top level of the stadium is a fantastic feature,” he added. Fans fled to the covered concourse as the rained poured down. 

“I was an All Star in ’62, ’63, and ‘64, and played for a few years in the pros with the Ottawa Rough Riders” Thompson says. “We made it to the Grey Cup in 1966. I was doing all this while articling and going to the bar admission course, and I did it one year while I practised law. I then ran out of gas. Football was good to me, it really was.”

Thompson managed to balance law school, elite football and a young family while at Queen’s and in Ottawa.

“You put your mind to it, and it sounds like a lot, and I look back and ask myself, ‘How did I do that?’ I was married at the time and had two kids – one when I was at Queen's and then we had another one when we went to Ottawa. It was quite a time.”

Thompson was the Johnny Evans MVP Memorial Trophy winner in 1962. He plays it down, crediting his teammates. 

“I managed to eke it out over other great ball players. There were a lot of great guys who played at Queen's. It was an honour then and now, and I look back fondly.” 

Thompson cherishes the “lifelong camaraderie that stems from participating in intercollegiate football.” It’s a sentiment Sirman shares. Their friendship has stood the test of time.

“The guys you meet and play with, some of them become your friends virtually for life,” Sirman says.

“And one of them, in my case, is Peter Thompson.”

By Jeremy Mutton

Peter Thompson, Law’65 (Arts’62), played offensive end and tackle during Queen’s most successful football decades since the 1920s. A competent receiver and devastating blocker, he contributed a great deal to the team’s championships of ’61, ’63 and ’64. He was named the Johnny Evans MVP Memorial Trophy winner in 1962. Following his law school graduation, Peter went on to play for the CFL’s Ottawa Rough Riders, and began a successful law practise that culminated in his becoming managing partner with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP’s Ottawa office. He now runs his own mediation service and is a member of the Ontario Energy Board.

Bill Sirman, Law’72 (Arts’63, MA’06), who in 1961 led the OQAA in scoring with 42 points, set a school record for receiving touchdowns and was selected as a First Team All-Star. Though he was drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, he returned to Queen’s in 1969 to study law, and went on to enjoy a successful four-decade career as a lawyer in Napanee, Ontario. He came back to his alma mater again in 2006 to complete a Master's degree in Classics. Bill has made a life-long commitment to Queen's and to the football program.