| Perhaps
now — with the recent demise of the XFL — is as good a time as any to take a
glance over one’s shoulder at other upstart professional football leagues. Leagues
that at one time or another had aspirations of usurping the established NFL, or at least
attaining equal footing. If not that, at the very least surviving and coexisting. The
NFL has been around since Sept. 17, 1920, when a group of hardy pigskin pioneers formed
the amalgamation on a steamy Friday night while sitting on the running boards of Canton,
Ohio, auto dealer Ralph Hay’s Hupmobiles, sipping from buckets of lemonade or beer,
depending on who was telling or writing the story.
After Red Grange’s successful Bears debut and barnstorming tour of the nation in
late 1925 and early ’26, Grange and his "agent," Charles C. "Cash
& Carry" Pyle, wanted their own NFL franchise. The request was denied. Grange and
Pyle were instrumental in forming the first of several leagues that would be known as the
American Football League. Grange’s New York Yankees were the bell cow of the AFL
— other teams were located in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles (though always a
"road" team), Chicago, Boston, Rock Island (Ill.), Brooklyn and Newark. Grange
got hurt, and the AFL went away after one disastrous season.
The next contender, or pretender, was the 1936 AFL. It had teams in Boston, Cleveland,
New York, Pittsburgh, Rochester (N.Y.) and Brooklyn. In ’37, Cincinnati replaced
Cleveland, and in ’38, the entire AFL was replaced by a void.
Just like the school-yard bully constantly has to defend his territory, the NFL always
was facing new challenges. The next came along in the form of another AFL in 1940.
Columbus, Ohio, Milwaukee, Boston, New York, Buffalo and Cincinnati were the chosen
cities. The AFL operated in ’41, minus Boston, before folding.
The battles of World War II usurped the battles of the gridiron through the first half
of the 1940s, but the new-kid-on-the-block All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was
ready to go to war with the NFL once world peace was restored. So good were Paul
Brown’s Cleveland Browns that it has been said their supremacy actually caused the
demise of the AAFC. They handily won all four championships — 1946 to ’49.
When the rival leagues "merged" before the 1950 season, the Los Angeles Dons,
Chicago Hornets-Rockets and Buffalo Bills were left out in the cold, although for a time
it looked as though the Bills would be folded into the "new" NFL. Most writers
mention the Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts (who replaced the charter
member Miami Seahawks after the ’46 season) as the only AAFC teams joining the NFL.
Not so.
The AAFC Brooklyn Dodgers-New York Yankees, who were combined for the ’49 season,
were also brought into the NFL — after they had been stripped of such stellar players
as Harmon Rowe, Otto Schnellbacher and future Hall of Famers Tom Landry and Arnie
Weinmeister. The stripped-down version played as the ’50 New York Yanks and became
the Dallas Texans in ’52 and the Baltimore Colts in ’53.
All was quiet on the western and other fronts until 1959, when the Foolish Club, a name
the original AFL owners gave themselves, formed a new challenger league that was
spearheaded by young Texas oilmen Lamar Hunt and K.S. "Bud" Adams. This column
may win you a barroom bet if you wager someone that he can’t name the original
’60 AFL teams.
They were the Houston Oilers, New York Titans, Buffalo Bills, Boston Patriots, Los
Angeles Chargers, Dallas Texans, Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos. Most casual fans will
miss on the Chargers playing 1960 in L.A., New York being the Titans and not the Jets, the
Chiefs starting in Dallas and the Patriots being Boston before New England. Cheers!
After bickering and a monetary war of attrition, the AFL and NFL merged in ’67 to
begin a combined playing schedule for the ’70 season. Relative peace ensued —
until ’74.
A California surfer-huckster named Gary Davidson came up with a folly disguised as
football — the World Football League. It had more eccentrics than sportsmen, more
money than brains — but way too little money. After a 1974 that saw all kinds of
weird happenings on and off the field, the WFL folded in mid-’75. Leaving the sports
scene — and many unpaid bills — were teams such as the Birmingham Americans
(later Vulcans), Charlotte Hornets (nee New York Stars), Chicago Fire (later Winds),
Detroit Wheels, Florida Blazers, The Hawaiians, Jacksonville Sharks (later Express),
Memphis Southmen or Grizzlies (take your choice), Philadelphia Bell, Portland Storm (later
Thunder), Houston Texans (later Shreveport Steamer), San Antonio Wings and Southern
California Sun.
The United States Football League came along in 1983 as an out-of-season league. The
USFL tried to become a fall league and challenged the NFL on the field in ’85. The
USFL also challenged the NFL in court. For its trouble, the USFL won an antitrust suit and
was awarded treble damages amounting to a miserly $3.
Next, Vince McMahon of WWF bombast and Dick Ebersol of NBC. With an unbelievable (key
word) amount of hype and financial backing, the XFL was to debut only days after Super
Bowl XXXV with a newer and bolder brand of "smashmouth" football. Will someone
kindly tell me how anyone can hit harder than NFLers? Please?
After better-than-anticipated TV ratings the first week, the XFL seemed surprisingly
well-accepted. The big ratings proved to be a result of curiosity seekers. Ratings soon
dissolved into the worst ever for a primetime network program. First, NBC said it
wouldn’t televise next season’s games. Then McMahon euthanized his brainchild.
Perhaps future challengers could learn from the Arena Football League or NFL Europe. If
you can’t join ’em (NFL Europe), don’t fight ’em (Arena).
Jim Campbell has been an observer of the pro football scene for half a century,
including stints with the Hall of Fame, NFL Properties and NFL Alumni. |
