VANCOUVER — Time does not necessarily heal all wounds.
Former CFL legends Joe Kapp and Angelo Mosca became involved in a fight Friday during a CFL alumni luncheon. A video of the incident on YouTube showed Kapp attempting to give Mosca flowers as an apparent peace offering and Mosca rejecting the gesture with an expletive.
Kapp, 73, a former B.C. Lions quarterback, then shoved the flowers in Mosca’s face, prompting the 74-year-old Mosca, a former Hamilton Tiger-Cats defensive lineman, to attempt to shove them away with his hands.
Kapp then swatted Mosca with the flowers, and Mosca retaliated by swinging his cane and striking Kapp in the head.
Kapp then landed a right hand to Mosca’s jaw, then a left that felled Mosca.
“It was the most bizarre thing that’s happened to me in 31 years in the game,” said comedian Ron James, who was serving as the luncheon’s host.
“It’s unfortunate because lost in all this was the great work Leo Ezerins (CFL alumni association head) did to set this up to bring attention (to post-concussion syndrome in pro athletes).”
The bad blood between Kapp and Mosca goes back 48 years from Hamilton’s 21-10 win over B.C. in the 1963 Grey Cup.
In that game, Mosca delivered a controversial hit on Lions running back Willie Fleming, knocking Fleming out of the game.
Kapp and Mosca were supposed to talk about the hit at the luncheon.
The plan was for the audience to vote on whether it was a good or bad hit afterwards, James said.
What the video didn’t reveal, James added, was earlier when the two were seated at a table, Mosca extended his hand to Kapp but the former Lion didn’t accept it.
Once Mosca was helped up on to a nearby chair, Kapp apologized to the crowd for the incident. But shortly afterwards, he relayed a bizarre story about Fleming having a dog he named Angelo and how he beat the animal daily.
“I don’t want to pass judgement on Angelo Mosca or Joe Kapp but I think there is a lesson to be learned here,” James said.
“The trick to life is to lighten the road, not pile it on.
“But these guys, despite their age, what is bred in their bones is a warrior’s streak.”