Vancouver Blue Bombers


Quarterback / End
1944-1948

Assistant Coach
1949

Head Coach
1950-51; 56-64; 66-67

Vancouver Cubs

Head Coach / Quarterback
1953 - 1955

Canadian teams have a long history with semi-pro football involvement with the US-based teams going back to the 1940's.  Lorne Cullen had been part of that relationship for a large part of that time period, developing relationships with the greats like Elmo Hudgens and Don Sprinkle of the Seattle Cavaliers and Ramblers respectively.  In Canada, the under-21 year olds play in the current Canadian Junior Football League programs.  During Cullen's day, college football in British Columbia was not nearly as popular as the junior and later, intermediate level teams and the Canadian Football League as a professional venture, was primarily an eastern phenomenon.  With US-based team a few hours away in Bellingham and Seattle, many cross-border games were played over the decades using various rules.  For example, some games would play the first half under Canadian rules, while the second half would be played under American rules.  Game officials and referees had to be well versed in both.

Beginning in 1944, Cullen, a then 15-year-old receiver and quarterback at King Edward High School under Ranji Mattu, was recruited to the Vancouver Blue Bombers junior team, then the senior team of 1946.  The first season of the Canadian "Big Four" in 1947, Cullen led the undefeated Bombers to the first ever Canadian championship by a British Columbia-based team.  Vancouver defeated Hamilton in a two-game total points series 19-8.  Cullen and the Bombers suffered heartbreak the prior season in an 8-7 loss to Calgary for the title.  After his playing days were completed, Cullen tutored under Mattu as an assistant coach in 1949, before taking the reigns as head coach in 1950 at the age of 21.

As a coach, he became legendary in the Canadian Junior Football League where he won 8 BC Conference titles and amassing a 68-28-2 record including a 13-6 record in the playoffs.  He was the first coach in British Columbia Conference history to reach 50 wins.  While coaching the Bombers from 1948-1951, Lorne was also an assistant coach at his alma mater King Edward High, taking over as head coach in 1951.

In 1953, Cullen was named head coach of the Vancouver Cubs, a newly formed brainchild of Annis Stukis that would become the British Columbia Lions of the professional Canadian Football League in 1954.  The 1953 Cubs would take on the Seattle Ramblers, Fort Lewis 4x4s and Bellingham All-Stars in blended American-Canadian rules games.  The Cubs lost to Fort Lewis, but defeated the legendary Seattle Ramblers 7-6.  The 1954 Cubs played in what became the "Intermediate" League, a step above the CJFL and serving as a feeder team for the BC Lions.  The Cubs would continue to play US-based semi pro teams through 1955 with Cullen playing quarterback as well as serving as coach.  The Lions dropped their sponsorship and support of the Cubs in January of 1956 deciding the would-be college aged players were not ready for pro football and investing in the junior league would be more fruitful.

Cullen returned to the Blue Bombers as head coach for 1956 and continued the domination of the BC Conference.  Throughout the 1960's, variations of the Bombers and Cubs would come together to play the Seattle Cavaliers with all-star rosters of current and former Bombers and other Junior League alums.

Lorne married in 1967 and opened Cullen Sports in 1975 supplying sporting goods to community and school teams until his retirement in 2007.

Today, the BC Conference Champion of the CJFL is awarded the Cullen Cup, named for Lorne Cullen in 2001.  In 2006 Cullen was inducted into the British Columbia Football Hall of Fame.

As a player:

1946 B.C. Junior Trade Champions
1947 B.C. Big Four Champions
1947 Canadian Junior National Champions
1948 B.C. Big Four Champions

As coach:

1950 B.C. Big Four Champions
1951 B.C. Big Four Champions
1953 B.C. Intermediate Champions (Cubs)
1958 B.C. Conference Champions
1960 B.C. Conference Champions
1962 B.C. Conference Champions
1963 B.C. Conference Champions
1964 B.C. Conference Champions
1967 B.C. Conference Champions



Members of the West Shore Rebels hold the Cullen Cup after their 2016 CJFL Championship win.