Nearly 15 years ago to this day, the Carleton Ravens football program came crashing down.
No more smashing of pads, no more touchdown celebrations, no more football, just like that.
It was easy to see why the original incarnation of the program failed.
In its latter years, the team was simply not very good.
With only one winning season in their final decade of existence, to say success did not come easily for the Ravens would be an understatement.
Generally entertaining less than 1,500 people at Frank Clair Stadium, the Ravens stumbled to a pitiful 13-58-1 regular season record in their last ten years of action. During that time, they made only one playoff appearance—a 1996 loss to the rival University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Between 1945 and 1998, Carleton compiled a record of 128-221-6.
That poor track record on the field led to indifference within the Carleton community. People didn’t care about a team that couldn’t put wins on the board.
“The only people that seemed to be upset were members of the football community, both on and off campus,” said Drew Love, when reminiscing about his time as Director of Recreation and Athletics during a conversation in 2009. “The student body did not seem too alarmed by the decision.”
Carleton students sealed the fate of the football team when they voted against an increase in the school’s athletic fee by a margin of 2-1. The community had spoken, they no longer valued the Ravens gridiron gang.
“This is a very dark day here at Carleton,” former head coach Donn Smith told the Charlatan after the team was officially shut down on March 4, 1998.
Humiliating losses, few playoff appearances, short coaching tenures and a stadium collapse. There were few bright spots to come out of the program.
Thomas Timlin was one of them.
A two-time all-Canadian linebacker, Timlin played five seasons with the Ravens (1981-1985) and holds many of the team’s defensive records, including his mark of 17 career interceptions.
Inducted into the Carleton University Hall of Fame in 1991, Timlin is the only player in the history of Carleton football to ever have his number retired, something he said is “very special” to him.
When the Ravens return to action in 2013, you won’t find number 37 on the field. For that, you’ll have to go into the school’s athletic complex. Timlin’s jersey is on display alongside other football memorabilia, and with good reason.
His list of accolades includes a President’s Trophy in 1983 as the best defensive player in the country, being named to four conference all-star teams, and captaining the Ravens in four of his five seasons.
But the one accomplishment he said he is proud of is being a member of the 1985 team that won a conference championship.
The Ravens hoisted the Dunsmore Cup in Timlin’s last season with a 46-21 win over Concordia University—one of only two trophies ever won by the team in its 52-year history (Carleton didn’t field a squad in 1951).
“When I was at the school in my first year we were coming off a no-win season, so we progressed over my five years and grew our fan base and got people excited about football,” he said.
Timlin said his time with the Ravens taught him lessons that he has carried with him throughout his life, and that he wants to share those experiences with today’s students.
That’s exactly why he returned to the team and served as an assistant coach through the early 1990s and is now on board as the team’s linebacker coach.
“I think I have a lot to offer,” he said. “It’s not just about what’s on the field, it’s off the field too. There are opportunities on the field, in the classroom and in the community, and I think I can help these kids recognize that.”
When head coach Steve Sumarah talks about being “committed for life” to the program, this is the example he uses.
Bringing Timlin on board as the linebackers coach not only adds another quality football mind to he team, it also allows Sumarah and the players to revel in the history of the program—the parts worth remembering, anyway.
With so much of that history being a disappointment, it is only fitting that Timlin—one of the few beacons of success for the Ravens—is involved today.
He understands what it takes to win, and Sumarah hopes to be doing a lot of that during his time in the nation’s capital.
The last time the Ravens celebrated a victory, Bill Clinton and Jean Chrétien were leading their respective countries.
Cher was sitting atop the charts with her hit, “Believe.”
It’s been that long.
The team’s last win came on Sept. 27, 1998, when 16 unanswered points in the third quarter saw the Ravens storm back and upset the No. 6 Laval Rouge et Or with a 19-17 victory.
In that game, defensive tackle Cameron Legault—who is one of only 13 Ravens players to ever receive all-Canadian honours—put together one of the more impressive defensive performances in Carleton history.
The Ottawa native, who went on to play eight seasons in the CFL with four different franchises, had six assisted tackles, two tackles for a loss and three sacks on the day against Laval.
Those sacks represented a single-game high in the Ontario Quebec Intercollegiate Football Conference (OQIFC) that season—another piece of Carleton history.
Now, finally, it’s time to add to that history.
