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AFL History: The Abner Haynes and Clem Daniels Connection

In spite of the reputation of the AFL as primarily a passing style of professional football, the fact is that the league itself was also replete with a host of highly talented running backs. There were powerful runners such as Cookie Gilchrist and Jim Nance; speedy elusive backs like Paul Lowe and Abner Haynes; and other powerful all around performance backs including Billy Cannon and Clem Daniels. These are but a few of the top running backs of that era, and the debate as to the best of the lot makes for an interesting discussion. There is however the undeniable and statistically sustained fact that the AFL career leaders in the two primary benchmark standards for running back performance are native North Texans Clem Daniels and Abner Haynes.

Born two months apart in 1937 in neighboring North Texas counties; McKinney’s Clem Daniels and Denton’s Abner Haynes were teammates on the 1960 Dallas Texans. Raised 30 miles apart, Daniels was a quarterback at Prairie View A&M after leaving McKinney; while Haynes along with his Dallas Lincoln High teammate and friend Leon King had broken the Lone Star State’s collegiate men’s athletic color barrier by playing for North Texas State in Haynes’ hometown of Denton. Daniels was unable to experience even remote playing time as the back up to the 1960 AFL MVP Haynes, and then when the Texans attempted to move him to the defensive side of the ball, Daniels requested and was granted his release.

After being released, Daniels signed with the Oakland Raiders. Although initially used primarily as a kick returner; Daniels became the Raiders starting halfback by 1962; and established his place as one of the AFL’s elite players with a league MVP performance in 1963. That season he led the league in rushing yards as he also became the first 1,000 yard rusher in Raiders history. Daniels was an AFL All Star for four years from 1963–1966; is a member of the AFL All Time Team, and holds the distinction of being the All Time AFL rushing yardage leader.

Haynes meanwhile won the original AFL rushing title during his 1960 AFL MVP performance season. Like Daniels, Haynes was also a four time AFL All Star. He holds both the AFL single game record for touchdowns scored with five, and the single season record for touchdowns scored with 19. His 19 touchdown performance was in 1962, the same year that he scored the only two touchdowns in the Texans 1962 AFL Championship 20–17 victory over the two time defending champion Houston Oilers. A versatile back and skilled receiver, Haynes is a member of the AFL All Time Team and also holds the prestigious distinction of being the AFL’s career all purpose yards leader with over 12,000 yards during his eight year career.

These two native North Texans from neighboring counties then hold the distinction of being the AFL’s all time leaders in the two benchmark standards of running back performance. Daniel’s durability and slashing running style netted the most rushing yards ever in the 10 year history of the AFL. Meanwhile, Haynes versatility and speed led him to yield more career all purpose yards than any other AFL player.

In addition to their athletic accomplishments, Daniels and Haynes were each AFL All Star teammates in 1964; the year of the historic players strike. The 1964 All Star Game was originally scheduled to take place in the city of New Orleans. However; after several of the black All Stars from each squad were subjected to extreme racist treatment by citizens, taxi cab drivers and local bar owners, a meeting was held that included all 21 black players. Daniels and Haynes were among those who voted to refuse to play in the exhibition contest, essentially withholding their labor due to the atmosphere surrounding the game. The risk to their careers and livelihood was not enough to justify their participation in the game under those conditions, and Daniels and Haynes were among those with the most to lose at this point in each respective star’s career. Yet principle prevailed as the socially slighted players maintained solidarity and did not back down from their decision to withhold their services from the pending contest. Prominent white stars Ron Mix and Jack Kemp likewise supported and helped deliver the players’ decision to the AFL Commissioner Joe Foss.

Under the conditions, the AFL was forced to either cancel the All Star Game altogether, or relocate the event in deference to the players. The league opted to acquiesce to the concerns of the players, and the game was moved to Houston. The fact that the game was relocated was a major victory for the cause of racism awareness, and deserves to be chronicled among the many other human rights struggles and victories of the Civil Rights movement of the ’50s and ’60s. Daniels, who passed away in 2019, was among the key leaders at the famous meeting that led to the players’ decision to take a stand against the maltreatment that they had endured in New Orleans. Haynes, who was interviewed on the topic of players’ strike as recently as 2020, remains proud of his fellow players who stood in solidarity against racism at such a sensitive time in the history of the Civil Right movement.

Although there were several outstanding running backs who played in the AFL during its 10 year history; Clem Daniels and Abner Haynes stand out as the league’s career leaders in rushing yards and all purpose yards respectively. Their athletic achievements notwithstanding, the major contribution of these two native North Texans to sports in general was their role in forcing the awareness of social and systematic racism in the midst of the Civil Rights movement.

Long live the memory of Abner Haynes and Clem Daniels.

Long live the memory of the AFL.

The AFL: The Advanced Football League

In many ways, the post 1970 merger NFL assumed the character of the AFL as its own, even as the identity of the AFL was discarded and abandoned. In fact, those of us who grew up watching post 1970 merger NFL football, may have been unaware that we were watching elements of AFL football under the NFL label. In my case, the first NFL season that I recall following as a nine year old sports fanatic was 1970; which was in fact the very year that the two leagues merged. Now I knew at the time that Monday Night Football was a new format; but I was otherwise unaware of the historical significance of that particular season in terms of the recent merger between the AFL and the NFL. All I really knew was that my favorite team was the Dallas Cowboys, and that they played in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the NFL. I also knew that there was another conference called the American Football Conference. But as to the historical background of how those two Conferences came to be, I was both clueless, and at the time frankly apathetic. All I really cared about was enjoying the experience of watching and following the exploits of professional football.

Over the course of that season however, I learned that the AFC consisted primarily of teams that had collectively constituted a separate professional football league that had been called the American Football League. And I discovered that three of the 13 teams; namely the Baltimore Colts, the Cleveland Browns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, had originally been NFL teams that became AFC teams after the 1969 season. And so as an entry level football fan, I had a somewhat limited understanding that the NFL had been restructured as of 1970. But what I did not realize at the time was that the nature of the game itself was being transformed in the image of the AFL, even though the identity of the AFL was negotiated away as a term of the 1970 merger.

Now there were two immediate changes to NFL games beginning with the 1970 season which were clearly adopted from the AFL. For commencing in 1970 the names of the players were displayed on their uniforms, and the official game time was reflected on the stadium scoreboard clock. These procedural changes were new to the NFL, but each had been the routine practice of the AFL. The fact is that the AFL had already established itself as the standard bearer with regards to several elements which has made the NFL the fan friendly, entertaining and exciting game that it is today.

In this regard, the AFL was in many ways the “advanced football league”. In fact there were several technical and procedural practices that were routine to the AFL which were adopted by the NFL even before the 1970 merger. The AFL was the first of the two leagues to have weekly broadcast of regular season games; and the first professional football league to broadcast games in Color. The AFL also utilized mobile cameras on the sidelines showing a variety of angles in the broadcast of their games, even while the NFL still only had one stationary camera at the 50 yard line. The AFL teams had flashy uniforms and helmet logos while the NFL was still in basic colors with somewhat bland helmet decals.

Yet the distinctions between the two leagues transcended the technical and procedural. For the AFL was likewise ahead of the NFL with regards to tactics and style of play; namely aggressive passing schemes. The AFL was airing the ball out so to speak while the NFL was still relying on the run as their primary offensive strategy. Consequently, the AFL offered a fan friendly, exciting style of play which featured more yardage and higher scores than the NFL. After the 1970 merger the NFL slowly began opening up their offensive game as well, and today’s on the field product reflects the fan friendly style of open and aggressive offensive strategies which the AFL had demonstrated over 50 years ago. But it even took the NFL 24 years after the merger to introduce an offensive strategy as basic as the Two Point Conversion as a post touchdown scoring option; whereas the AFL had utilized the Two Point Conversion for the entire 10 years of its existence.

The AFL was not only the advanced league in terms of technical, procedural, and tactical elements of the sport of football; but was even ahead of the NFL as to scouting and staff demographics. The social demographics of the AFL revealed the cultural conflicts of the era between advanced thinking as contrasted to establishment ideology. While the NFL was still very slow to draft and sign African American players, the AFL went so far as to scout talent from small Black schools to recruit, draft and sign players based upon skill with disregard to race.

The subsequent demographic of AFL teams in fact led to one of the most significant collective players strikes in sports history when players from the 1964 AFL All Star teams refused to play in New Orleans after several of the African American players were the victims of bullying and racial bigotry by some of the locals in the days leading up to the game. When the players; both black and some white, refused to play the game under such circumstances, the venue was moved to Houston. Even then, some of the key players involved in the strike were labeled for their role in the collective action, so much so that Kansas City star Abner Haynes actually received a disciplinary letter from his own team regarding the matter. Despite the negative response from certain teams after the fact, the collective players strike of the AFL 1964 All Star Game nonetheless brought attention to racial bigotry in our country at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. In this consideration, the openness of the AFL to the inclusion of African American players to a sport heretofore disproportionately white, created an integrated demographic which challenged conventional ideology, and which in a moment of call to integrity, led to one of the most principled collective players strikes in sports history.

In conclusion, the post 1970 merger NFL has involved decades of ongoing development of technical, tactical, and social practices which were basic to the AFL; the forerunner and standard bearer of highly entertaining fan friendly football. The identity of the AFL may have ended in 1970 when the merger occurred, but it’s influential role as the Advanced Football League lives on in history, and is demonstrated each season that the NFL continues to implement AFL style football even into the 21st Century.

Long live the memory of the AFL

Primary Source:

remembertheafl.com, Ange Coniglio

“Full Color Football: The History of the American Football League”; NFL Films, 2009; Showtime