A Look Back At The AFL
The Formative Years of the American Football League
The idea for the American Football League was born out of the frustration of a man looking to put a pro football team in his town, and was turned down from buying a franchise and relocating. He then tried expansion, and was turned down there too. The man was Texas oil millionaire Lamar Hunt. His story is of a man who turned around the old saying: If you can't beat them, join them.
He finally joined them, but not until after he beat them.
The Beginning of the AFL
In 1958, the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL were on shaky financial ground. Their owners, the Wolfner family, were looking to sell the franchise. Lamar Hunt approached the Wolfners about the possibility of selling the franchise to him, then he would move the team to the Dallas-Ft Worth area. The Wolfners turned down the proposal with the idea of keeping the team in Chicago. Hunt then thought of the idea of approaching NFL commissioner Bert Bell about expanding the league into Dallas. Bell turned him down. Hunt again went to the Wolfners, and was told no. He found out at that time that he was not the only man to approach the Wolfners about buying and relocating the Cardinals. Hunt found out that fellow Texas oilman Bud Adams in Houston had approached them, as well as Denver businessman Bob Howsam and Minneapolis businessman Max Winter.
On his plane ride home to Dallas, Hunt began thinking. If men like Adams, Howsam, and Winter were interested in buying the Cardinals, maybe there is enough interest to start a new league to go up against the NFL. Hunt contacted Adams, and the idea was met with great enthusiasm. The same when he approached Howsam and Winter. Hunt received recommendations for other owners, and was able to bring in Barron Hilton in Los Angeles, Ralph Wilson of Detroit to run the Buffalo franchise, William Sullivan in Boston, and Harry Wismer in New York.
Original American Football League Coaches
The new league needed a name, so Hunt thought about it and decided if baseball could have an American and National League, why not football. Again, great enthusiasm greeted the idea of the AFL as the name. The owners sought a commissioner, and decided on a businessman named Joe Foss. The first TV network to air AFL games was ABC.
The teams needed coaches. The Los Angeles Chargers chose a Rams assistant coach named Sid Gillman. The New York Titans picked NFL great Sammy Baugh. The Dallas Texans went into the college ranks and picked up Hank Stram, who had been an assistant with several colleges, including SMU and Notre Dame. Denver picked an Canadian coach, Frank Filchock. Houston hired Lou Rymkus. Boston chose Lou Saban, the first of the three teams Saban would coach over the life of the AFL. Buffalo chose Buster Ramsey.
The NFL Expands to Dallas
Up to that point, the NFL had been showing no resistance to the idea of a competing league. The NFL then dropped a bombshell by announcing the formation of an expansion team in Dallas, to be named the Cowboys, owned by another Dallas oilman, Clint Murchison. The Cowboys were formed with the idea of running the Texans, and the AFL, out of business.
If the AFL thought that was the end of the NFL's resistance. They found out different when they assembled in Minneapolis to discuss drafting players.
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