In 1961 the WIFU changed its name to become the Western Football Conference.  The CFL season schedule was partially interlocked to allow teams of the Eastern Football Conference to play regular season games against the teams of the Western Football Conference. Beginning this season, teams played opponents in their own conference three times and opponents in the other conference once, meaning the length of the regular season remained unchanged in both conferences (i.e. sixteen games for Western teams and fourteen games for Eastern teams).  The format remained as such until 1974 when the Eastern Conference extended its schedule to sixteen games.  The top three teams in each conference would qualify for the playoffs.  On the field, Winnipeg would finish with an impressive 13-3-0 record, good enough to take the Western Conference by 2.5 games over second place Edmonton (10-5-1).  In the East, it was Hamilton (10-4-0) with a comfortable 2 game cushion over second place Ottawa (8-6-0) to take the Eastern Conference.  In the first round of the playoffs, it was the Toronto Argonauts rolling over the favored Ottawa Rough Riders 43-19, while the Calgary Stampeders would win a two-game series over the Edmonton Eskimos with a razor thin 27-26 total-point win.  In the Division Finals, it was the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with a best-of-three sweep over the Calgary Stampeders 14-1, and 43-14, while the Hamilton Tiger-Cats would win a two-game point total series win over the Toronto Argonauts 55-27, setting up the match-up for the 49th Grey Cup Championship.  The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 21 to 14 at CNE Stadium in Toronto before 32,651 fans, on December 2, 1961.  It is considered to be one of the 10 greatest Grey Cup Games of all time.  The Bombers were stinging from a loss in the 1960 West Final when the ’61 season opened.  Winnipeg had posted a league-best 14-2 record in 1960, a winning percentage that remains unmatched by any other Bomber side in club history.  But in the three-game divisional final the Bombers beat the Edmonton Eskimos 22-16 and then fell 10-5 and 4-2 — the key play in the clincher a fumble by quarterback Ken
Ploen.  But Ploen would more than redeem himself in ’61 after hammering the Calgary Stampeders 14-1 and 43-14 in the West Final.  Not surprisingly, the Bombers — 13-3 that season — would meet the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the Grey Cup.  The Ticats, led by quarterback Bernie Faloney — who was 25 of 41 — would hold a 14-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter after the star pivot connected with Paul Dekker for a 90-yard TD in the first and a 23-yard scoring strike to Ralph Goldston in the third.  But the Bombers, led by superb two-way lineman Frank Rigney, would limit the Tabbies to just 25 yards rushing.  And while Ploen and Hal Ledyard would combine to complete only 12 of 22 passes, the ground attack of Leo Lewis and Roger Hagberg were able to rumble for 268 yards.  As the game wore on, the Bombers grew stronger.  And when Gerry James slammed home from three-yards out in the fourth quarter, the game was sent to extra time — to this day still the only Grey Cup to be decided in OT.  Ploen would play the hero in overtime in one of those moments that will be forever etched in Bomber and CFL history as one of the greatest single plays in the loop’s annals.  In the second overtime Ploen dropped back to pass but, finding no one open, opted to run.  His 19-yard scramble to pay dirt — in which he eluded several would-be Ticat defenders — is one of the most spectacular runs football fans will ever see and part of an effort that made Ploen the game’s MVP.