The AFL: A Football Legacy (part two)

[TheShadow]

sportsillustrated.cnn.com


Off-the-field competition yields game-changing merger


By B. Duane Cross, CNNSI.com


The American Football League survived its 1960-64 incubation period with
high expectations. But not even trailblazers Lamar Hunt of Kansas City and
Bud Adams of Houston could fathom what lay on the horizon.

NBC began televising league games in 1965, the result of a five-year, $36
million deal. It was the beginning of the end of the AFL; the financial
muscle now wielded by the league ultimately led to the AFL-NFL merger.

Also in 1965, New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin signed University of Alabama
quarterback Joe Namath to a stunning $427,000 contract. It was the league's
most high-profile signing since Adams' Oilers signed Heisman Trophy winner
Billy Cannon ($100,000) in '60.

In his autobiography Butkus: Flesh and Blood, former Chicago Bears
linebacker Dick Butkus recalls the bidding war between the AFL and NFL.

Denver scout Red Miller, who would later become the Broncos' head coach,
approached Butkus after his final regular-season college game and said
Denver was interested in signing the Illinois star. Miller said the Broncos'
owners -- the Phipps brothers -- were intent on bringing defense with a
capital D to the free-wheeling, pass-happy AFL. After word leaked to the
media, Butkus remembers, "mere buckets" of money became "wheelbarrows."

Merger talks begin

Dallas president-general manager Tex Schramm says, "After the 1965 season, I
was convinced the structure of pro football was in trouble. Teams in both
leagues were no longer drafting the best players. The draft became
predicated on which players you could sign."

In fact, AFL teams were so certain Heisman Trophy winner Mike Garrett would
sign with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams that none bothered to draft him until
Kansas City in the 20th round. Garrett signed with the Chiefs.

Joe Foss, a former two-term governor of South Dakota, stepped down as AFL
commissioner in 1966. Al Davis, general manager and head coach of the
Oakland Raiders, replaced him April 8. "I guess they [AFL owners] thought
I'd be a catalyst," says Davis. "It was a situation that called for some
constant pressure to be put on the other side."

"Joe Foss was the perfect image guy for the AFL in the early years," says
Jerry Magee, a sportswriter for the San Diego Union-Tribune. "He was a
folksy kind of guy." However, by the mid-1960s, the AFL was primed to
challenge the NFL for gridiron supremacy. And the AFL's new maverick
commissioner fired the first volley. Davis immediately began stepping up the
bidding war, raiding the NFL for players.

"When Davis took over, clubs started signing up some of the NFL's talent,"
says Magee. "The rationale was the AFL signings were a way to get back at
the NFL for the Pete Gogolak signing. [Davis] was the master of guerilla
warfare."
Gogolak, professional football's first soccer-style kicker, jumped ship from
Buffalo in the AFL to the NFL's New York Giants.

In retaliation for the Gogolak signing, Adams offered San Francisco 49ers
quarterback John Brodie a 10-year, $750,000 contract. The Oilers also signed
tight end Mike Ditka, and Oakland signed Rams QB Roman Gabriel with a
reported $100,000 down payment. None of the players ever suited up for their
AFL suitors.

"Al Davis taking over as commissioner was the strongest thing the AFL ever
did," remembers Magee. "He thought the peace [AFL-NFL merger] was a
detriment to the AFL because they had to pay reparations to the 49ers and
Giants."

Two months after Davis took the league's reins, the AFL and NFL agreed to an
alliance that included a common draft, championship game and a complete
merger by 1970. On May 31, 1966, Schramm and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar
Hunt hammered out the framework for the merger, which was announced June 8.

Included in the merger was an $18 million indemnity to be paid by the AFL to
the NFL over 20 years. Under the merger agreement, NFL commissioner Pete
Rozelle would oversee both leagues.

"Davis was the man who would be king," says Magee. "It was a disappointment
to him that they merged."
Davis stepped down as AFL commissioner on July 25, 1966, rejoining the
Raiders as managing general partner. Milt Woodard was named president of the
league.

On Sept. 2, 1966, the Miami Dolphins, the first expansion franchise in AFL
history with Minneapolis attorney Joe Robbie and entertainer Danny Thomas as
partners, made a splash in their inaugural game. Joe Auer returned the
opening kickoff 95 yards for the team's first touchdown. Nonetheless, the
Dolphins were defeated 23-14 by Oakland.

Off to a Super start

Following the 1966 season, Kansas City and Green Bay played in the AFL-NFL
World Championship Game (Super Bowl I). Vince Lombardi's Packers downed the
Hank Stram-led Chiefs 35-10 at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.
"Super Bowl I was the true war of the world," says Magee. "This year will be
my 33rd Super Bowl, and a lot of them run together. But I remember
everything about Super Bowl I.

"My most vivid memory is of the morning of the game. It was very foggy and
players were standing around the bus, hugging their wives, like guys going
to war. In effect they were."

Stram, whose Chiefs would win Super Bowl IV against Minnesota -- the final
title game before the merger took effect in 1970 -- was a linchpin for the
AFL. "He was a good guy for the league," says Magee. "He was a very good PR
guy and a good coach.

"The AFL introduced a lot of new things to pro football. They played zone
football. Stram did a lot of things, such as the floating pocket."

The first AFL-NFL draft occurred in 1967. The Baltimore Colts traded with
New Orleans for the overall No. 1 choice and selected Michigan Sate
defensive end Bubba Smith.

The AFL's most impressive individual accomplishment in 1967 came from
Namath. He passed for a record 4,007 yards and 26 touchdowns. Green Bay also
won Super Bowl II, a 33-14 victory over Oakland at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
It was Lombardi's final game as head coach of the Packers.

The 1968 season may have brought the two most famous AFL games -- both
involving the Jets.

On Nov. 17, Oakland defeated New York 43-32 in the "Heidi Game." The Raiders
trailed 32-29 with 65 second remaining in the fourth quarter, and NBC
switched from the game (except areas west of Denver) to the children's
classic.

What fans -- including more than 10,000 callers to NBC's switchboard in New
York -- missed was a 43-yard touchdown pass from Raiders QB Daryle Lamonica
to Charlie Smith and a 2-yard fumble return by Preston Ridlehuber on the
ensuing kickoff.

On Jan. 12, 1969, the investment in Namath paid off for New York. The Jets
stunned the heavily favored Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III. Three
days before the game, Namath told an audience at a Miami Touchdown Club
dinner: "We're going to win Sunday, I'll guarantee you."

Ironically, it wasn't the strong-armed Namath who was most responsible for
the victory, though he was named MVP (17 of 28 passing for 206 yards). Jets
running back Matt Snell rushed for 121 yards and New York's only touchdown
and Jim Turner kicked three field goals.

"This was a victory not just by the Jets," recalls Magee, "but the whole
league. [The Jets] substantiated the league. I know everybody in the AFL
felt that way."