# 1963 BC Lions season

The 1963 BC Lions finished the season in first place in the Western Conference for the first time ever with a 12–4 record.
Over the course of the season, the Lions' defense allowed an average of only 14.5 points per game while running back Willie Fleming rushed for 1,234 yards and an astounding 9.7 yard average. It was first time the Lions finished with a perfect home record. A total of seven Lions would make the CFL all-star team and Tom Brown would win the Schenley for Most Outstanding Lineman.
On September 7, a crowd of 36,659 watch the Lions versus the Calgary Stampeders, the largest crowd ever to watch a CFL regular season game at that point in time.
After claiming first place, the Lions earned a bye into the West Finals where they beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders two games to one. They made their first Grey Cup appearance in franchise history, losing to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats by a score of 21–10 at Empire Stadium.
The Lions changed their jerseys. The orange and black stripes were replaced with thick orange shoulder stripe with TV numbers including within.

## Regular season
### Season standings

Western Football Conference :
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pts |
| BC Lions | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 387 | 232 | 24 |
| Calgary Stampeders | 16 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 427 | 323 | 22 |
| Saskatchewan Roughriders | 16 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 223 | 226 | 16 |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 302 | 325 | 14 |
| Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 220 | 425 | 4 |

### Season schedule

| Game | Date | Opponent | Results | Results |
| Game | Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 1 | Aug 8 | at Saskatchewan Roughriders | W 16–7 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Aug 12 | vs. Edmonton Eskimos | W 31–12 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Aug 19 | vs. Toronto Argonauts | W 22–12 | 3–0 |
| 4 | Aug 26 | at Calgary Stampeders | W 22–19 | 4–0 |
| 5 | Aug 29 | at Winnipeg Blue Bombers | L 15–16 | 4–1 |
| 6 | Sept 7 | vs. Calgary Stampeders | W 37–21 | 5–1 |
| 7 | Sept 9 | at Saskatchewan Roughriders | W 8–2 | 6–1 |
| 8 | Sept 16 | vs. Montreal Alouettes | W 20–9 | 7–1 |
| 9 | Sept 21 | at Hamilton Tiger-Cats | L 21–38 | 7–2 |
| 10 | Sept 23 | at Ottawa Rough Riders | L 17–23 | 7–3 |
| 11 | Sept 30 | vs. Calgary Stampeders | W 32–14 | 8–3 |
| 12 | Oct 5 | at Edmonton Eskimos | W 40–1 | 9–3 |
| 13 | Oct 12 | vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders | W 26–6 | 10–3 |
| 14 | Oct 19 | vs. Edmonton Eskimos | W 32–6 | 11–3 |
| 15 | Oct 27 | at Winnipeg Blue Bombers | L 26–34 | 11–4 |
| 16 | Nov 3 | vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers | W 28–10 | 12–4 |

## Playoffs
### West Finals

Western finals – Game 1 :
| BC Lions @ Saskatchewan Roughriders ||||
| Date | Away | Home |
| November 16 | BC Lions 19 | Saskatchewan Roughriders 7 |
Western finals – Game 2 :
| Saskatchewan Roughriders @ BC Lions ||||
| Date | Away | Home |
| November 20 | Saskatchewan Roughriders 13 | BC Lions 8 |
Western finals – Game 3 :
| Saskatchewan Roughriders @ BC Lions ||||
| Date | Away | Home |
| November 23 | Saskatchewan Roughriders 1 | BC Lions 36 |
* BC wins the best of three series 2–1. The Lions will advance to the Grey Cup Championship game.

### Grey Cup

November 30
51st Annual Grey Cup Game: Empire Stadium – Vancouver, British Columbia :
| Western Champion | Eastern Champion |
| BC Lions 10 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats 21 |
| The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are the 1963 Grey Cup Champions. ||||

### Offensive leaders

| Player | Passing yds | Rushing yds | Receiving yds | TD |
| Joe Kapp | 3011 | 438 | 0 | 5 |
| Willie Fleming | | 1234 | 539 | 12 |
| Nub Beamer | | 914 | 128 | 12 |
| Sonny Homer | | 0 | 608 | 3 |
| Jerry Janes | | 0 | 390 | 3 |
| Pat Claridge | | 0 | 377 | 3 |
| Mack Burton | | 0 | 352 | 3 |

## Awards and records

* CFL's Most Outstanding Lineman Award – Tom Brown (LB)
* CFL's Coach of the Year – Dave Skrien
* Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy – Joe Kapp (QB)

### 1963 CFL All-Stars

* QB – Joe Kapp, CFL All-Star
* RB – Willie "The Wisp" Fleming, CFL All-Star
* OG – Tom Hinton, CFL All-Star
* OT – Lonnie Dennis, CFL All-Star
* DE – Dick Fouts, CFL All-Star
* LB – Tom Brown, CFL All-Star
* LB – Norm Fieldgate, CFL All-Star