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Old Fogey Fracas! Check Out the Cane-Swinging Brawl Between Two Gray-Haired, Ex-Football Stars

Old Fogey Fracas! Check Out the Cane-Swinging Brawl Between Two Gray-Haired, Ex-Football Stars

"Stick it up your a**"

They may be gray-haired, a bit rickety, and long-since retired, but ex-football stars Joe Kapp, 73, and Angelo Mosca, 74, still have some fight left in 'em.

Check out the recent onstage meeting between the grumpy old rivals that erupted into a brawl, complete with swinging cane and haymaker to the kisser:

The incident took place during a Canadian Football League alumni luncheon in Vancouver last week, the latest and easily the most public chapter of a feud that's simmered between the septuagenarians for nearly half a century.

The whole thing started during the 1963 Grey Cup (the Canadian Football League's version of the Super Bowl) when Mosca—then a Hamilton Tiger-Cats defensive tackle with a rep for nastiness—delivered a controversial out-of-bounds hit to Kapp's teammate, star running back Willie Fleming. With Fleming done for the day, Hamilton went on the beat Kapp and the B.C. Lions, 21-10.

But this time it was Kapp who delivered the knockout blow.

After Mosca slowly made his way onstage—aided by a cane and a serviceman's arm—Kapp attempted to give Mosca a flower, presumably as a peace offering. But the gruff Notre Dame alum replied, "Stick it up your a**." (It was reported that  Mosca attempted to shake Kapp's hand earlier in the banquet, but Kapp refused.)

Amid the roar of laughter from the audience, Kapp—the only player to have quarterbacked the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Grey Cup—pressed the flower upon Mosca's face. Mosca brushed Kapp's hand away, Kapp swung the flower at Mosca, and Mosca swung his cane at Kapp.

The crowd's laughter morphed into hoots of disbelief when Kapp socked Mosca on the chin with a right cross (such as it was), knocking Mosca—who did time as pro wrestler "King Kong" Mosca after his football career ended—to the ground. Things got more bizarre when Kapp yelled to the audience, "Sportsmanship!" after realizing his revenge.

Believe it or not, the onstage ceremony continued once order was restored, with Mosca and Kapp trading verbal jousts. You can check out the full exchange here (beware of some salty language):

Mosca was drafted very late by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1959 but instead headed to the Canadian Football League, where he starred as a bruising pass rusher and tackler for more than a dozen seasons. The CFL Hall of Famer then entered the pro wrestling circuit. He recently released a biography, "Tell Me to My Face."

Kapp played for the University of California in the 1950s. Drafted by the Washington Redskins, Kapp never got a call from the franchise, and—like fellow American, Mosca—he entered the Canadian Football League, where he starred as a signal caller for eight years. In 1967 Kapp finally entered the  NFL, where he was named a pro bowler in 1969 and led the Minnesota Vikings to a berth in Super Bowl IV (they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.)

Like Mosca, Kapp earned a reputation as a tough player, with one publication calling him "aggressive, mean and nasty."

Years away from the gridiron apparently haven't mellowed either of them.

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