The franchise was founded as an expansion team of the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) in 1954.
Rapp won the Annis Stukus Trophy in the 1977 season, the only Lions head coach to do so without winning a Grey Cup championship.
[7] He led the Lions to a Grey Cup championship and was named the Annis Stukus Trophy winner in the 1985 season.
During this time, the Lions won the Grey Cup championship twice: under head coach Dave Ritchie in 1994 and under Steve Buratto in 2000.
Buono coached the Lions to their fifth and sixth Grey Cup championships and was awarded the Annis Stukus Trophy in the 2006 and 2011 seasons.