The Ten Years Of The AFL
The Struggle To Start And Keep The League Going
Rumors had been going around prior to the meeting that the owners of the Minneapolis franchise had been talking to the NFL about jumping to their league. Whenever the other owners asked Max Winter or William Boyer about the truth of the rumors, they were told there was nothing to it and they sticking to the AFL. On the day of the meeting, the word was out in the newspapers and radio. Minnesota was being granted membership in the NFL, and to be operated by the owners of the AFL franchise. This time, Boyer and Winter were backed into a corner and forced to admit, yes we are jumping to the NFL.
The remaining AFL owners hurriedly searched for a new eighth franchise and agreed to take in Wayne Valley of Oakland. The Raiders were born.
Now the owners were ready for their first head to head battle with the NFL. The signing of college draft picks.
AFL Does Well With First Draft, Other DraftsNot surprisingly, the odds were against the AFL in signing the top talent. They were an upstart, unknown league going against the established, well known NFL. However the AFL performed well in signing picks.
The first high level talent to sign with the AFL was Heisman Trophy winning running back from LSU, Billy Cannon, who was taken by the Houston Oilers. The Dallas Texans signed Cannons' backfield mate Johnny Robinson, who was turned into an all AFL safety by coach Hank Stram, and all american wide receiver Chris Burford from Stanford. The Los Angeles Chargers made some big picks of their own, signing monsterous defensive tackle Ernie Ladd from Grambling and a big play wide receiver from Arkansas, Lance Alworth.
In later years, the competition between the leagues to sign players became very intense due to the use of baby sitters to stay with a prospective signee until he signed with that leagues' team. One of the more celebrated cases came in the signing of Prairie View wide receiver Otis Taylor. A team of baby sitters had Taylor holed up in a Dallas hotel. Kansas City Chiefs scout Lloyd Wells posed as a magazine writer doing a story on Taylor, arranged to get Taylor out of the room, and flew him to Kansas City to sign with the Chiefs.
AFL Signs NFL RejectsThe saying goes that one man's trash is another's treasure, and it certainly applied with the AFL.
The Chicago Bears supplied the AFL with some early top talent when they released quarterback George Blanda and defensive back Lionel Taylor. The Houston Oilers signed Blanda, and with him quarterbacking and place kicking, won the first two AFL championships. Denver signed Taylor, converted him to wide receiver, and he became a bright star on an otherwise talent poor team.
The Green Bay Packers didn't have room for 6'8" defensive end Ben Davidson, so they released him. Oakland picked him up, and he became the leader of a group known around the league as the "eleven angry men".
Quarterback Len Dawson was getting rusty sitting on the bench in first Pittsburgh, then in Cleveland. After the 1961 season the Browns released him. The Dallas Texans needed a quarterback to take them to the championship level and coach Hank Stram knew all about Dawson, having been his position coach in college. Dawson signed with the Texans, and won three AFL titles along with three passing titles.
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