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The 1990s was in many ways a not-so-glorious era for the CFL.

It lurched from economic crisis to crisis, hatched an ill-conceived expansion plan to the United States that died after three unsuccessful seasons and it lost a century-old team in Ottawa.

And on at least one occasion after the 1996 season, it appeared the entire league might collapse.

But amid all of the chaos, the on-field product during the 1990s was perhaps never better, a point driven home by this year's Hall of Fame class that features Doug Flutie, Michael (Pinball) Clemons and Mike Pringle, three stars from the 1990s who rank among the very best of all time and who played on some of the greatest CFL teams in memory.

"Those were some tough times for the league, but player-wise it may have been one of the strongest times for the athletes," Pringle said. "The competition during that time — I could be biased — was greater than in recent memory. It was a real good era."

Pringle may indeed be biased, but anyone cracking open the CFL record book will find names from the 1990s atop nearly every offensive category.

And though several great offensive players from the 1990s have already entered the Hall of Fame and several more will follow, few experienced as much uninterrupted success as Flutie, a six-time CFL most outstanding player, Pringle, the league's all-time leading rusher, and Clemons, who set the single season all-time mark for total yardage.

The three will be inducted at a dinner in Hamilton tonight, along with former Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive lineman John Bonk and builder Tom Shepherd.

"There were some great defensive players in the '90s, but I think you would sum it up as an offensive bunch," Clemons said. "It was an absolutely offensive group, especially if you were a defensive player."

The 1990s, however, was an era in which off-field news often overshadowed the great player accomplishments. For much of the decade, the CFL was in a fight for its survival and Flutie, Pringle and Clemons had their part in that story.

Clemons played in Toronto when the Argonauts struggled with ownership, struggled at the gate and struggled for attention. The diminutive but electric running back was the one player who could always attract the spotlight and give the team a face.

Flutie was the leader of a Stampeders juggernaut in Calgary. As the league's only marquee American name, he was an involuntary central figure in the league's expansion plans.

"The thing that became challenging was the league was trying to expand to do something good," Flutie said. "I thought it was a great idea and would have loved to see it take off. But the bottom line is as long as people of Canada embrace this league, it will flourish."

Pringle entered the league briefly in Edmonton and Sacramento but didn't hit pay dirt until 1994, with the Baltimore Stallions, who that season became the first American team to reach a Grey Cup game. The next season, they became the first team to win one when they hammered a Flutie-led Calgary team in the Grey Cup.

"That Baltimore team that beat us in [1995], we had one of the most talented teams we'd ever had and they beat us," Flutie said.

Pringle's Stallions partially disbanded after that season with the core of players relocating to Montreal as the reborn Alouettes. The NFL's Cleveland Browns had announced they were moving to Baltimore as the Ravens and the CFL's only American expansion success story was snuffed out.

"That was an amazing team and a great group of guys," Pringle said, standing next to the quarterback from that team, Tracy Ham, who was also on hand at Ivor Wynne Stadium last night. "Not only talent, but also personality-wise, we were always on the same page. Everyone loved to win and loved to compete and we had such a great time."

Pringle remembers getting to Montreal late in the 1996 season, after a brief stay in the NFL with the Denver Broncos, to join a team playing before a handful of fans in cavernous Olympic Stadium.

"I was like, 'I think I'm still looking for a home,' " he said. "I said 'I don't know if this is going to work.' "

But against seemingly insurmountable odds, Montreal did work after a change in venue to Percival Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University.

In 1997, Pringle's Alouettes went 13-5, but still finished second in the East to a 13-5 Argonauts team headlined by Flutie and Clemons. The Argos knocked of Montreal in the East final en route to their second-consecutive Grey Cup and a claim as one of the best teams ever.

"It is, respectfully, the best team I know of," Clemons said. "I wasn't around for the five consecutive Grey Cups by Edmonton from '78 to '82, but that '97 team I was on was the best I know of. I don't think we would have been intimidated by those Eskimos."