Tales from the American Football League
Preserving the legacy of the AFL
Last week I posted an official game summary from the 1963 AFL championship game. Readers seemed pleased to be able to view the information, and I received a few requests for more summaries. Well, I have plenty of them, and need to figure out the best way to set up some sort of game summary gallery. [...]
There is a feeling among AFL fans that the American Football League players are consistently overlooked for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In truth there are many players, the bulk of whose careers were spent in the AFL, that deserve serious consideration, if not outright induction. In an effort to spark some [...]
Yesterday we shared Dave Steidel’s study on the process by which Billy Cannon joined the Houston Oilers. Today Steidel takes a look at Cannon’s contributions on the field during his first few years of professional football. Thanking Cannon for forging a path to the AFL for the many college stars who signed on may have come [...]
One of the most important of early American Football League players was Houston Oilers running back, Billy Cannon. In a two-part study, Dave Steidel takes a look at how Cannon came to the Oilers, and what he meant to the AFL. When asked what one player, more than any other, saved the AFL from peril [...]
On this day in 1961, the Houston Oilers, led by the rushing of Charlie Tolar and Billy Cannon, and the passing of George Blanda, won their second consecutive American Football League championship. The Oilers defeated the San Diego Chargers by a score of 10-3. Though San Diego’s Jack Kemp threw for 226 yards, the Oilers secondary [...]
There is a feeling among AFL fans that the American Football League players are consistently overlooked for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In truth there are many players, the bulk of whose careers were spent in the AFL, that deserve serious consideration, if not outright induction. In an effort to spark some [...]
Jim Norton came late to the 1960 Houston Oilers, having first endured training camp with the NFL’s Detroit Lions. The Lions released him with the second-to-last cut, but he was able to catch the attention of the Oilers who invited him to camp. Described by his college coach as, “skinny as a rail, but a real football [...]
Some of the early success of the AFL can be attributed to players with previous NFL experience who signed on with the new league and helped lend immediate leadership on the field. George Blanda was one of those players. Formerly a quarterback for the Chicago Bears, Blanda had been out of football for a year when the [...]
In collecting autographed sets of the 1960s AFL cards, I have come across several former players for whom I have needed multiple signed cards. I am often able to locate the athlete, and mail the cards to them to be signed. Such has been the case with dozens of former players. However, there are times [...]
It would have been a big one. San Diego Chargers defensive stars Earl Faison and Ernie Ladd to the Houston Oilers in exchange for John Baker, Gary Cutsinger and Pete Jaquess. The Oilers would receive a dominant pass rush, and the Chargers in return would get three fine defenders. The deal was signed and sealed, but was [...]
