DECEMBER 20, 1964
A RIVAL GRID LEAGUE EMERGES
National Football Association Debuts as Rival to AFA The American Football Association, long the undisputed monarch of the autumn sports scene, suddenly found itself staring at a fresh challenge to its supremacy. For the first time in nearly 15 years, the AFA is not alone atop the professional gridiron world.
Founded in 1920, the venerable AFA has weathered storms before. The most notable came in the postwar years, when the Continental Football Conference tried to stake its claim from 1946 through 1949. Though the CFC folded after a brief but spirited run, it left behind a lasting footprint: three of its clubs were absorbed into the AFA, with two of them—the Kansas City Cowboys and San Francisco Wings—still going strong on the league map today.
Since 1950, the AFA has enjoyed an unchallenged hold on the pro football public. That unbroken run ended in the fall of 1964, as the brand-new National Football Conference burst onto the scene in September with eight ambitious franchises and designs on carving out its own place in the Sunday spotlight.
Only two of the eight NFC teams would go head-to-head in the same city as an AFA club. That would be Los Angeles and New York, markets considered essential by the new loop in order to be truly considered "big-league." Thus the Los Angeles Olympians and New York Titans were born. They would be joined in the NFC by the Cincinnati Riverman, who would be the second team to call the Queen City home as the AFA's Los Angeles Tigers had spent the 1940's based in Ohio. Rounding out the NFC were the Dallas Stallions, Denver Mountaineers, Miami Mariners, Minnesota Lakers and San Diego Admirals.
*** Quick Deal on Championship Game ***
Unlike the American Football Association's relationship with the old Continental Conference, which was icy from the get-go and never did thaw, the AFA owners seemed to grudgingly accept the newcomers, even in Los Angeles and New York, where there would be direct competition with a club from each loop.
Whether it was to prove its superiority or to take advantage of the television revenue a football version of the "World Championship Series" might generate, the AFA quickly agreed to a true championship game that would feature the champion from each league. A championship classic between the winners of the two leagues was something the CFC asked time and again from the original grid loop but was continuously rebuffed. The AFA did get something in return for agreeing the play the title game with the National Football Association - an agreement that the NFA clubs would honour AFA contracts and not attempt to raid players from the established circuit, something that sent salaries spiraling the last time the AFA had competition. The two sides also agreed to a shared draft of collegiate players, which would further eliminate the bidding wars that caused heavy expenses when the CFC made its debut.
The two loops would play completely separate regular seasons and hold their own league title game between the division winners. The only meeting between the two leagues, aside from a few preseason exhibitions, would be that best on best championship game in late December.
With the eight new clubs representing the NFA, it was decided that a weighted lottery would be used to determine the selection order. The top choice in the college draft ended up going to the Washington Wasps, who opted for Whitney College safety Don Larson. Larson would start all 14 games for the Wasps as a rookie and record 72 tackles. Larson would receive some consideration as defensive rookie of the year but the nod went to another Great Lakes Alliance graduate in linebacker Ed Hardy, who was selected 8th overall by the Los Angeles Tigers. It was little surprise that seven of the eight NFA clubs selected quarterbacks in the draft led by the Miami Mariners who had the third choice. Miami opted for Steve Giles from Eastern Kansas, who officially became the NFA's first player.
RAMBLERS ONCE MORE CLASS OF AFA
The addition of a championship game with the NFA winner meant getting off to a fast-start was essential for AFA clubs as league decided against three weeks of playoffs and eliminated the old semi-final week which meant only the winner of each of the two divisions would qualify for the playoffs, not the first and second place clubs that had been the norm for more than a decade.
The St. Louis Ramblers, who won their first-ever league title last year, were adapters of the quick start philosophy and won 10 of their first 11 games. St Louis had the most prolific offense in the league led not only by halfback Dean Turgeon, who was the playoff MVP in their title win a year ago and rushed for 1,352 yards this season, but also by the return of quarterback Jim Driver. The 1959 first round pick out of Liberty College was limited to just 5 games a year ago but was healthy and appeared in all 14 regular season games for the third time in the past four seasons. Driver was second in the AFA with 2,132 passing yards and topped the loop with 18 touchdown throws.
Counted in those 10 wins in the first 11 weeks for the Ramblers was a pair of victories over Houston. They would prove key as the Ramblers stumbled down the stretch with back-to-back losses in Kansas City and Pittsburgh before rebounding with a season ending victory in San Francisco. The Drillers were just 7-3 after ten games, including the two losses to St Louis, but their offense finally caught up with their dominant defense and Houston finished the season on a 4-game winning streak which left them tied with the Ramblers for top spot in the West Division at 11-3. In the past that meant they would meet in the divisional playoff, but no longer as St Louis claimed the tie-breaker on head-to-head record and went straight to the AFA championship game for the right to face the winner of the NFA.
Detroit was third in the West at 8-6 as the Maroons broke in a new quarterback in 1963 first overall selection Dave Owen. With Owen ready to play every day the Maroons long and rocky road with Sled Hicks came to an end as the 28-year-old, who never quite seemed to live up to his potential in Detroit, was cut and signed with the Los Angeles Olympians of the NFA. All Hicks did was lead the new loop in passing yardage and was named to the end of year NFA All-Pro team, something he never did accomplish in the Motor City.
The Los Angeles Tigers finished fourth in the West after going 6-8 for the third straight season while the 5-9 Chicago Wildcats missed the playoffs for the second year in a row, something that had only happened once before since 1953. San Francisco and Kansas City rounded out the division as each has had its struggles in recent years.
The Philadelphia Frigates were the class of the East Division, going 10-4 and returning to the postseason after a three year drought. Only the Ramblers scored more points than the Frigates who were led by fifth year quarterback Jack Osterman. The former first rounder out of College of San Diego made the All-Pro game for the 5th year in a row while throwing for a league high 2,585 yards. Ed Tunstall was Osterman's favourite target and he accumulated 1,106 receiving yards, more than 400 more than any other player in either the AFA or NFA. Rounding out the big offensive trio in Philadelphia was veteran Frigates halfback Doug Lucy became just the sixth player in modern AFA history to surpass 10,000 career yards after gaining 1,233 in this his 12th season with the Frigates.
The New York Stars beat the Frigates twice in 1964 but at 9-5 overall, lost the division by a single game to their Philadelphia rivals. The Stars featured linebacker Billy Board, an 11 year veteran out of Central Ohio who was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year. The New York offense had some struggles, particularly late in the season when they dropped three of their final four games including a devasting 17-14 loss to the 3-10-1 Pittsburgh Paladins at Gothams Stadium which cost them a division title.
The Washington Wasps, at 8-6, finished third in the East Division followed by Buffalo and Boston, both at 7-7. For the Americans it ended a two-year streak of reaching the league championship game. Cleveland and Pittsburgh rounded out the East and for the two rust belt rivals there has been little to cheer about in quite some time. Paladins have gone a dozen years without postseason action while for the Finches it is 17 and counting with Cleveland having to go all the way back to their only title team -in 1947- for their last playoff berth.
*** Record-Breaking Season For Lakers Herrod ***
The NFA was without a doubt a far inferior product compared with the brand of football played in the AFA. The eight teams were comprised of cast-offs from the established loop along with a few high-profile rookies selected in the 1964 draft. Two of the cast-offs made history as, with quality quarterbacking at a premium, NFA clubs found success running the ball. As result a pair of AFA backs rewrote the record book with Minnesota's Harmon Harrod rushing for a pro record 1,938 yards and Duffy Knotts of the Los Angeles Olympians gained 1,933.
Entering the season the AFA record for rushing yards in a season was 1,649 established by Bryan Mitre of the New York Stars in 1957. It was not just the new loop that focused on the run this season as in 1964 no less than five players, highlighted by Harrod, surpassed the high-water mark entering the season. Jerry Walsh from the NFA's debutant New York Titans had 1,761 but the other two to surpass Mitre's mark came from the AFA as Chicago's George Hornback ran for 1,827 while Greg Heller of Detroit's gained 1,657.
Harrod was the top dog as the former St. Magnus star returned to the state he played his college ball in by joining the Minnesota Lakers after three seasons as a backup with the Detroit Maroons. Harrod also established a new mark for rushing touchdowns by scoring 18 as he, along with rookie quarterback Jody Lofgren - a first round pick out of Rainier College- led the Lakers to a league best 12-2 record. The Los Angeles Olympians chased the Lakers all season but fell just short. The Olympians were led by former Detroit signal-caller Sled Hicks and Duffy Knotts, who spent the previous four seasons as the backup halfback of the Pittsburgh Paladins.
The Miami Mariners topped the East Division with a 10-4 mark, relying on a strong defense and a pair of rookie quarterbacks in first rounder Steve Giles along with a surprising undrafted local product from Western Florida by the name of Sam John. The New York Titans, featuring veteran back Jerry Walsh who ran for over 1600 yards for Washington two years ago before retiring only to be lured back by the Titans after sitting out the 1963 campaign, finished second at 7-7.
PLAYOFFS
Dean Turgeon was the most valuable player of the playoffs last season as he helped the long-suffering St. Louis Ramblers to finally win their first AFA title after 30 years in the league. Turgeon, a 29-year-old halfback who started his career in Washington before joining the Ramblers four years ago, came up with another dominant post-season effort in the AFA playoff game between the Ramblers and the East Division champion Philadelphia Frigates. Turgeon ran for 143 yards on 21 carries and scored two touchdowns to pace the Ramblers to a 41-13 drubbing of Philadelphia.
The NFA playoff also featured a dominant rusher as Harmon Harrod, who had set the regular season rushing record the week before, ran over around and through the Miami Mariners as his Minnesota Lakers claimed a 20-10 victory. In all Harrod carried the ball 28 times for 153 yards and scored the game's first touchdown.
Doing the same thing a week later against the Ramblers was another story as Harrod and the Lakers were dumped 27-3 as St Louis claimed its second consecutive title. Give the debutant Lakers some credit, as most expected the outcome to be even more lobsided. Minnesota did keep St Louis off the scoresheet for the first quarter and only trailed 10-0 at the break.
The Gateway City had now won 3 World Championship Series in baseball and two football titles in the past three years. Harrod was held to 50 yards rushing by the Ramblers defense. Turgeon rushed for 86 yards against the Lakers and that showing, combined with his huge effort the week prior against Philadelphia, earned the veteran Ramblers star his second straight playoff MVP award.