CFL Flashback: The 1995 CFL Draft

By Chris Lawton

The CFL Draft is coming. The 2025 version of the annual draftniks delight will soon be upon us. To mark that here at Touchdown Towers in the CFL wing we have already taken a look at recent first overall draft picks as well as looking beyond the headline act to think about the mechanics of the CFL Draft process. But we also thought it might be quite interesting to board a time capsule and take a look back at a past draft.

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The 1995 CFL Draft seemed like an intriguing place to go. Partly because this year is the 30th anniversary of that draft. So, all the players selected are long retired and we can judge how teams did. But also, because this was the final season of the short but much beloved US expansion era. The US based teams did not participate in the 1995 CFL Draft as it was for Canadian players only and they were not subject to the same Draft restrictions as their northern counterparts.

The 1995 CFL Draft owns the unique distinction of being the only CFL Draft to have been held in Saskatchewan. It was held in Saskatoon as part of a marketing push for the 83rd Grey Cup that was set to be played at Taylor Field in Regina. You can see a video of the festivities here.

Aside from the Draft proper in 1995, there was also a ‘dispersal draft’. This followed the folding of the Las Vegas Posse following their lone season in 1994. A 5-round draft of Posse players was held with 48 players available. We know there was some tremendous talent threaded through the expansion teams. First pick in this dispersal draft here Antony Calvillo, who would go on to be the all-time passing leader in CFL history is a case in point. In a strange twist, the final selection in this draft, made by the Ottawa Rough Riders was of a player who had passed away, Darrell Robertson. Legend has it that they had discussed Robertson with Posse staff but were not aware he had passed in a motoring accident when they selected him. Either way it feels like a touching tribute that he would be the final name called here.

The First Pick

The 1995 Draft also started with a ‘bonus round’. With picks awarded to teams based on compliance with league spending rules.  That gave the Hamilton Tiger-Cats the first pick and they selected Tom Nutten who would spend one year with the team in 1997, one year with the Amsterdam Admirals in 1998 and then the majority of his time in the NFL with the St Louis Rams from 1998-2002 appearing in two Super Bowls and winning a ring at the end of the 1999 NFL season.  

The next pick saw the Rough Riders select Stefen Reid who would go on to play just one season in Ottawa but would be with the Montreal Alouettes from 1996 to 2002 and following a career with over 400 tackles who would win the Grey Cup in 2002. Reid was probably the best pick of the round but the best pick, for the team who picked him, came at number 4 when the Saskatchewan Roughriders selected Troy Alexander. Reid had the better overall CFL career, but he only played in Ottawa for a year, whilst Alexander was with the green and white for three seasons (1995-97) before leaving for the BC Lions in 1998.

The Best Pick

The 1995 CFL Draft would provide four Division All-Stars. Stefen Reid (Bonus round, second overall Ottawa); Rob Lazeo (First round, twelfth overall Saskatchewan); Jude St John (Second round, twentieth overall, Hamilton); and Wade Miller (Fourth round, thirty seventh overall Winnipeg Blue Bombers). As well as one CFL All-Star Rob Hitchcock (Second round, seventeenth overall Hamilton). Hitchcock still sits second all time with the Ticats for tackles made with 484.

Clearly teams were swinging and sometimes missing but also finding the occasional gem like the players listed above. It was the Saskatchewan Roughriders however who hit the biggest home run in the 1995 CFL Draft. In the second round with the twenty third pick overall they selected O-lineman Gene Makowsky. He would spend his entire career in Saskatchewan.

Makowsky spent seventeen seasons running from 1995 to 2011 with the Roughriders. The University of Saskatchewan product was named the League’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman in 2004 and 2005 as well as being a finalist in 2008. He was a 5-time CFL All Star and a West Division All Star for seven consecutive years (2004-2010). Makowski most often played tackle but moved to guard and even centre when needed. He was a member of the Roughrider team that won the Grey Cup in 2007. (Only the third win in franchise history). He would make 16 playoff game appearances, appear in four Grey Cup games and finish with 284 regular season games as a Roughrider – still a franchise record. He was elected to the Roughriders Plaza of Honour in 2013 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2015.

Aftermath

Things changed considerably following the 1995 season. The Baltimore Stallions became the only non-Canadian team to ever win the Grey Cup at the end of the 1995 season itself. However, in many ways they were victims of their own off-field success. Easily the most successful US based franchise their loyal support proved to the NFL that the city was a great base for football, and they tapped into that by launching the Baltimore Ravens and having them on the field by 1996.

At the same time the league-wide US experiment was over. All of the remaining US teams were disbanded and despite overtures to relocate in some cases, that was the end of the US experiment. Arguably without the expansion fees they generated the CFL might not be here today. Whether the whole thing was a success or not is a difficult one to gauge from this distance but there a plenty of opinions out there.

One major bonus that did come out if it was the return of the Alouettes to Montreal. After a decade without their team, Als fans were delighted when the Stallions ownership decided there was no point in trying to take on the might of the NFL in Baltimore. Instead, they shut up shop and headed north to revive the Alouettes franchise. Built from the ashes of the champion Stallions, the Alouettes would go onto appear in eight Grey Cup finals between 2000 and 2010 winning three times (2002, 2009 & 2010). The Ravens of course would go on to claim two Super Bowl titles and you could potentially argue that five championships were borne out of the on and off field success of the CFL’s Baltimore Stallions. Oh, and who was leading those Als to their Grey Cup wins? None other than 1995 dispersal draft top pick Calvillo!

CHRIS LAWTON

CFL ANALYST

Chris originally started following the NFL with the ‘first wave’ of fans when it was shown on Channel 4 in the 1980’s. He has been a keen supporter of the Miami Dolphins since 1983. Chris first encountered the CFL in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the Canadian game. He has been writing about the CFL 2017. Chris has a degree in history, postgraduate degree in librarianship and can be found on twitter as @CFLfanUK

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