The American Football League (AFL) was a major Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when it merged with the established National Football League (NFL). The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence. Though downplayed by the NFL as inferior, the AFL signed half of the NFL's first-round draft choices in 1960, including All-American Billy Cannon, perennial All-Star Johnny Robinson, and Hall of Famer Ron Mix. Overall, AFL teams signed 75% of the NFL's draft choices that first year. It continued to attract top talent from colleges and the NFL by the mid-1960s, well before the Common Draft which began in 1967.
In 1966, a merger between the two leagues was announced, but was not finalized until 1970. During its final two years of existence, the AFL teams won upset victories over the NFL teams in Super Bowl III and IV, the former considered among one of the biggest upsets in American sports history. When the merger took place, all ten AFL franchises became part of the merged league's new American Football Conference (AFC), with three teams from the original 16-team NFL (the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, and Baltimore Colts) joining them. The remaining 13 original NFL teams became the inaugural members of the National Football Conference (NFC). The AFL logo was incorporated into the newly minted AFC logo, although the color of the "A" was changed from blue and white, to red. The NFL retained its old name and logo and claims the rights to all AFL products including the eagle logo.
League history
The National Football League had grown to become one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the United States. One franchise that did not share in the success of the league was the Chicago Cardinals, who were overshadowed by the more popular Chicago Bears. The team was reportedly for sale (with the intent of relocation), and one of the men who approached the Cardinals was Lamar Hunt, son and heir of Texas millionaire oilman H. L. Hunt. Hunt offered to buy the Cardinals and move them to Dallas, Texas, where he had grown up. While Hunt negotiated with Cardinals ownership, similar offers were made by Bud Adams, Bob Howsam, and Max Winter.
When Hunt, Adams, and Howsam were each unable to secure a controlling interest in the Chicago Cardinals, they approached NFL commissioner Bert Bell and proposed the addition of expansion teams. Bell, wary of expanding the 12-team league and risking its newfound success, rejected the offer. On his return flight to Dallas, Hunt conceived the idea of an entirely new league and decided to contact the others who had shown interest in purchasing the Cardinals. He contacted Adams, Howsam, and Winter (as well as Winter's business partner, Bill Boyer) to gauge their interest in starting a new league. Hunt's first meeting with Adams was held in March 1959. Hunt, who felt a regional rivalry would be critical for the success of the new league, convinced Adams to join and found his team in Houston. Hunt next secured an agreement from Howsam to bring a team to Denver, Colorado.
After Winter and Boyer agreed to start a team in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the new league had its first four teams. Hunt also approached Willard Rhodes of Seattle, Washington, but that effort failed when Rhodes was turned down by Husky Stadium and had no place for his team to play. Hunt also sought franchises in Los Angeles, California and New York City. During the summer of 1959 he sought the blessings of the NFL for his nascent league, as he did not seek a potentially costly rivalry. Within weeks of the July 1959 announcement of the league's formation, Hunt received commitments from Barron Hilton and Harry Wismer to bring teams to Los Angeles and New York, respectively.
On August 14, 1959, the first league meeting was held in Chicago, and charter memberships were given to Dallas, New York, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis-Saint Paul. On August 22 the league officially was named the American Football League. Although Bell had given his public approval, individual NFL owners soon began a campaign to undermine the new league. AFL owners were approached with promises of new NFL franchises or ownership stakes in existing ones. Only the party from Minneapolis accepted, and the Minnesota group joined the NFL the next year, with the Vikings. No actual AFL team ever existed in Minnesota. The older league also announced on August 29 that it had conveniently reversed its position against expansion, and planned to bring NFL expansion teams to Houston and Dallas, to start play in 1961.
Two more cities were awarded AFL franchises later in the year. Ralph Wilson, who owned a minority interest in the NFL's Detroit Lions, announced he was placing a team in Buffalo, New York after he had been rejected by Miami. Buffalo was officially awarded a franchise on October 28. During a league meeting on November 22, a 10-man ownership group from Boston, Massachusetts (led by Billy Sullivan) was awarded the AFL's eighth team. On November 30, 1959, Joe Foss, a World War II Marine fighter ace and former governor of South Dakota, was named the AFL's first commissioner. Foss commissioned a friend of Harry Wismer's to develop the AFL's eagle-on-football logo. Hunt was elected President of the AFL on January 26, 1960.
The AFL Draft
Further information: American Football League DraftThe AFL's first draft took place the same day Boston was awarded its franchise, and lasted 33 rounds. The league held a second draft on December 2, which lasted for 20 rounds. Since the Raiders joined after the AFL draft, they inherited Minnesota's selections (read next section). A special allocation draft was held in January, 1960, to allow the Raiders to stock their team, as some of the other AFL teams had already signed some of Minneapolis' original draft choices.
Crisis and success (1960–61)
In November 1959, Minneapolis owner Max Winter announced his intent to leave the AFL in order to accept a franchise offer from the NFL. In 1961, his team began play in the NFL as the Minnesota Vikings. Los Angeles Chargers owner Barron Hilton demanded that a replacement for Minnesota be placed in California, in order to reduce his team's operating costs and to create a rivalry. After a brief search, Oakland was chosen and an ownership group led by local real estate developer Chet Soda was formed. After initially being called the Oakland "Señores" , the Oakland Raiders officially joined the AFL on January 30, 1960.
The AFL's first major success came when the Houston Oilers signed Billy Cannon, the All-American and 1959 Heisman Trophy winner from LSU. Cannon signed a $100,000 contract to play for the Oilers, despite having already signed a $50,000 contract with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams. The Oilers filed suit and claimed that Rams general manager Pete Rozelle had unduly manipulated Cannon. The court upheld the Houston contract, and with Cannon the Oilers appeared in the AFL's first three championship games (winning two).
On June 9, 1960, the league signed a five-year television contract with ABC, which brought in revenues of approximately $2,125,000 per year for the entire league. On June 17, the AFL filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL, which was dismissed in 1962 after a two-month trial. The AFL began regular-season play (a night game on Friday, September 9, 1960) with eight teams in the league — the Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Texans, Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Titans, and Oakland Raiders. Raiders co-owner Wayne Valley dubbed the AFL ownership "The Foolish Club," a term Lamar Hunt subsequently used on team photographs he sent as Christmas gifts.
The Oilers became the first-ever league champions by defeating the Chargers, 24-16, in the AFL Championship on January 1, 1961. Attendance for the 1960 season was respectable for a new league, but not nearly that of the NFL. Whereas the more popular NFL teams in 1960 regularly saw attendance figures in excess of 50,000 per game, AFL attendance generally hovered between 10,000-20,000 per game. With the low attendance came financial losses. The Raiders, for instance, lost $500,000 in their first year and only survived after receiving a $400,000 loan from Bills owner Ralph Wilson. In an early sign of stability, however, the AFL did not lose any teams after its first year of operation. In fact, the only major change was the relocation of the Chargers from Los Angeles to San Diego.
On August 8, 1961, the AFL, desperate to prove its legitimacy, challenged the Canadian Football League to an exhibition game. It was decided that the game would be between Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Buffalo Bills. The Bills, who had finished near the bottom of the league in 1960, and Ticats, one of the best teams in the CFL at the time, were chosen because they were geographically close to one another (less than 50 miles apart). It was thought that beating a CFL team would prove that the AFL was at least the second-best football league in North America. After all, the NFL had sent several teams against teams from the CFL and had won every game so it was thought that victory against the CFL would be easy. Playing at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, the game proved to be a disaster for the AFL as the Ticats defeated the Bills 38-21 playing a mix of AFL and CFL rules. The Bills returned to Buffalo and it marked the only time a pro football team from Canada defeated a pro football team from the United States. No team from a U.S.-based football league has since competed with a team from a Canada-based league (U.S./Canadian professional team match
Hockey Alliance
Welcome to the Hockey Alliance Welcome to the Hockey Alliance. This is a consortium of hockey ... Dallas Morning News; Denver Post; Detroit Free Press; Edmonton Journal; Edmonton Sun
Alliance Hockey
Mail Check to : Alliance Youth Hockey 3 on 3 Tournament P ... Who will be the next Dallas Star to Enter the Hockey Hall of Fame?
New Page 3 [www.alliancehockey.org]
After utilizing www.alliancehockey.org from the beginning, Alliance Hockey is pleased to announce that we will begin ...
Welcome to the 2006 Dallas Cup Tier I Invitational Hockey Tournament,
2010 Alliance “Dallas Cup” Tier I Invitational _____ Dallas Alliance Bulldogs Phone: 817 909-5427
Alliance Bulldogs 2009 Spring Training Program | Dallas Stars Care
“Unprecedented on-ice hockey training coordinated with an innovative off-ice program” - The Alliance Youth Hockey Association is excited to announce their
Alliance to Host 2009 Nationals | Dallas Stars Care
The official hosts and sites for the 2009 USA Hockey National Championships have been announced by USA Hockey, and the Alliance Youth Hockey Association (AYHA)
Dallas Stars Blog | Sports News | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas ...
Tournament Chairman Rick Hall (Alliance Youth Hockey) and Co-Chairman Bob Smith ( Dallas Stars Selects) are both long time dedicated volunteers of the Dallas, Fort Worth youth ...
Coaches
Kent comes to Alliance with a wealth of youth hockey coaching experience, having been with the Dallas Stars Select for the previous seven (7) seasons.
Alliance Cup Tournament 2010 | Alliance Bulldogs Home Page | Alliance ...
The Dallas Alliance Bulldogs are pleased to invite you to the 9th Annual Dallas Cup Invitational Hockey Tournament, held this coming January 22-24, 2010.
Alliance Dallas Cup - Topic Youth Ice Hockey Forums
2008 Alliance Dallas Cup Announced... The 6th Annual Alliance Dallas Cup Invitational Tournament will be held January 24-27, 2008 in Dallas, Texas.