1963: Transitional Season In The AFL

1963 was a year of transition for the AFL. Before the season even began there were team makeovers, name changes, and an unexpected relocation. There were name worthy personnel changes and noticeable power shifts. And the season ended with an unanswered challenge which could have potentially featured the first ever Super Bowl. In 1963:

The Texans became the Chiefs.

The Titans became the Jets.

The Raiders became the Raiders. (The redundancy will be explained)

And the Chargers became the Champs.

When the 1962 AFL Champion Dallas Texans departed from Dallas a mere few months after they had defeated the two time defending AFL champion Houston Oilers on December 23, 1962 in that season’s AFL Championship Game, the trend was set for the variety of changes that the league was to experience throughout the 1963 season. By abandoning the city of Dallas to the Cowboys, Big D from that time forward became an NFL town. But the departing organization was welcomed by a city that was enthusiastic for a professional football franchise, and so began the era of the Kansas City Chiefs. The relocation of the defending AFL Champions was but one of many changes to come within the league.

Two teams experienced makeovers intended to distance each respective organization from their early years of ineptness both on the field and at the highest level of team management. The Titans of New York; aka the New York Titans, initially enjoyed moderate success on the field of play, posting a 7-7 record in each of the league’s first two seasons of play in 1960 and again in 1961. But in 1962, as their record slipped to 5-9, the Titans’ lack of gridiron success was further surpassed by the financial woes of the ownership. Struggling to even cover payroll, responsibility for the team was assumed by the league itself before the completion of the 1962 season. When a new ownership took over after that fiasco, the primary owner Sonny Werblin changed the name of the team and the color of the uniforms. And so beginning in 1963 the Titans of New York became the Kelly green clad New York Jets. Although the new look did not net immediate results on the field, the hiring of NFL Champion Weeb Ewbank as the new Head Coach laid the groundwork for the historic success that the revamped AFL New York franchise would experience in the years to come.

The origin of the Oakland Raiders was a haphazard affair through no fault of their own. The Oakland franchise had replaced the Minneapolis organization which sold out to the NFL shortly after the initial AFL Draft, and so the Raiders originated as a group of players who were still available after the league Draft secured the best talent that had been available in the Autumn of 1959. The effects of their humble beginnings bottomed out when they were 1-13 in 1962. But in early 1963, the Raiders hired a young Chargers Assistant, Al Davis to be their new Head Coach. Davis immediately changed the atmosphere of the Raiders organization, and the positive results were instant. In their new silver and black clad uniforms, and with the addition of Titans receiver Art Powell, the remade Oakland Raiders utilized Sid Gillman’s vertical game that Davis had learned while on the Chargers coaching staff. Subsequently, the revamped Raiders immediately became one of the most lethal and productive Offenses in the AFL, and actually finished second in the West, with a record of 10-4. The entire attitude of the team was recreated in the image of their new brash Head Coach, who was recognized as the Coach of the Year due to the team’s turnaround. In essence, the Oakland Raiders “commitment to excellence” and “just win baby” attitude originated in 1963, the year the Raiders as they have been known ever since initially came to be.

In 1963, there was a notable power shift within the AFL. Whereas all three of the league champions to date had been from Texas, the 1963 AFL Championship Game was the first ever without a representative of the Lone Star State. The Texans had relocated to Kansas City, and finished third in the West to the revamped Oakland Raiders and the three time West Champion San Diego Chargers. Meanwhile the aging Houston Oilers relinquished their three peat East Title as they likewise descended to a third place finish. In fact, the two best teams of 1963 were the Chargers and the Raiders, as the power within the league shifted from the Lone Star State to the West Coast.

The 1963 AFL Championship Game pitted the West Division Champion San Diego Chargers against the Boston Patriots, who won the East Title in spite of posting their worst record since 1960. The Patriots were only 7-6-1 for the season, but they did boast an aggressive and stingy defense that specialized in brutalizing opponents with Red Dog blitzes. The game turned out to be a mismatch as Gillman’s game plan to confuse the blitzing Boston Defense with pre snap backfield in motion maneuvers was executed flawlessly and to perfection. From the outset, the Chargers seemingly scored at will. Keith Lincoln’s 329 all purpose yards performance is the most ever accumulated in a regulation professional football game. The versatile Lincoln in fact had over 100 yards receiving to complement his 206 yards rushing. In addition, Chargers tail back Paul Lowe gained 94 yards on the ground, including a 58 yard touchdown run in the first quarter. The Sid Gillman game plan to stretch the field and utilize every available space in order to advance the football was realized in its most effective manner that day as the Chargers crushed the Patriots by the score of 51-10 and claimed the AFL Title.

But for the innovative and competitive Gillman, the claim to the AFL Title was only a step to the ultimate quest. For the day after his Chargers had conquered the Patriots, Gillman sent a telegram to Pete Rozelle, challenging the NFL Commissioner to authorize a game between the NFL Champion Chicago Bears and his AFL Champion San Diego Chargers. In essence, Gillman was suggesting an AFL-NFL Championship Game before the fact. With minimal explanation, Rozelle declined the challenge. Not to be outdone, the irrepressible Gillman had the AFL championship ring of each member of the Chargers team inscribed “1963 AFL and World Champions.” Gillman went on to explain “If anyone wants to dispute that claim, just let them play us.”

1963 was indeed a transitional season for the AFL, with notable implications that directly affected the duration of the history of the league itself. The decision to relocate the AFL’s charter team, the Dallas Texans, to Kansas City may very well have salvaged the very existence of the franchise itself. The Chiefs would subsequently represent the AFL in two Super Bowls, including a victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the last game ever played by an AFL team. Likewise the purchase of the New York Titans by Sonny Werblin probably salvaged the existence of the renamed Jets franchise, and the subsequent hiring of Head Coach Weeb Ewbank paved the way for their historic victory over the NFL’s Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III after the 1968 season. The hiring of Head Coach Al Davis by the Oakland Raiders not only led to instant respectability for the AFL’s Bay Area team, but also to his selection as AFL Commissioner in 1966, which indirectly resulted in the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. And Sid Gillman’s unanswered challenge to NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle to play a postseason inter league Championship Game put the NFL on notice that the AFL would no longer accept the role of inferior league.

Ironically enough, Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a-Changin’” was recorded in 1963, and then released a week after Sid Gillman’s unanswered challenge to the NFL to put up or shut up. For the AFL, 1963 was a transitional season, and in the world of professional football, the times were indeed a-Changin’.

Long live the memory of the AFL

AFL History: The Productive and Principled Art Powell

Art Powell was one of the most productive receivers in the history of the AFL. Playing during the era of 14 game schedule; Powell netted career numbers that would be regarded as worthy of the Hall of Fame had he played in the NFL. In fact, Powell is the only receiver from the 14 game era with over 80 touchdown receptions who is not in the HOF. Furthermore, Powell has almost equally as many career receptions as recent NFL Hall of Fame inductee Drew Pearson, yet he had more career yards and substantially more career touchdowns than the Dallas Cowboys great. Powell also had over a hundred more receptions in addition to more yardage and touchdown receptions than Bob Hayes, another Dallas Cowboy star who has been enshrined in pro football’s Hall of Fame. The fact that he played his entire career in the 14 games per season era, and has better statistical achievements than NFL Hall of Fame greats like Pearson and Hayes sustains the case that Art Powell should have been inducted into the HOF decades ago. The truth be told though, he will likely never be honored on the scale of Pearson, Hayes, and others.

Art Powell would qualify to some as an NFL reject. Granted he signed with the New York Titans (later Jets) after only one season with the Philadelphia Eagles. Yet Powell’s departure from the NFL was by no means based upon any lack of productivity. In fact, as a Defensive Back/Kick Returner, Powell intercepted 3 passes while averaging over 27 yards per kick return including a 95 yards touchdown during his rookie season of 1959. His release by the Eagles was due to applied principles rather than a lack of productivity. Powell had refused to participate in a 1960 preseason game against Washington in Virginia because he and the other black players were not allowed to stay in the same hotel as their teammates. Subsequently, he was released.

Shortly thereafter Powell signed with the Titans in time for their inaugural 1960 season. When Head Coach Sammy Baugh converted him to a receiver, the results were historic. Powell teamed up opposite Don Maynard to become the first pair of 1,000 yards receivers in the same season, then for good measure the duo repeated the feat again two years later in 1962. Powell led the AFL in touchdown receptions in 1960, as well as 1963, which was his first season with the Oakland Raiders. The fact is that his acquisition by the Raiders gave rookie coach Al Davis the key component to implement the vertical aerial assault Offensive plan that he had learned while on Sid Gillman’s Chargers coaching staff from 1960-1962. The newly acquired Powell had his best season in 1963; leading the league in both receiving yardage and touchdowns. It was the second time in his career that he led the AFL in each category, and the second year in a row that the former Titan led the league in receiving yardage.

Even after he signed with the AFL, Powell had continued to take a stand against systemic racism. While with the Titans he withheld his services from a preseason game that was played in South Carolina due to the segregated and deplorable lodging conditions of the black players. Later with the Raiders, Powell led a four player strike that actually resulted in a change of venue for a game that was originally scheduled to be played in Mobile, Alabama. Credit Raiders Coach and General Manager Al Davis for moving the game to Oakland after listening to the concerns expressed by Powell and three other principled players who all four refused to play in the game due to segregated seating. Powell had even more peer support when he and 20 other black players united in solidarity and refused to participate in the 1964 AFL All Star Game after being subjected to undue racist treatment by the locals upon arrival in New Orleans. The winds of social change were evident as the league reluctantly moved the entire venue to Houston.

Art Powell was an accomplished professional football star whose 8,046 career receiving yards and 81 touchdown receptions constitute a Hall of Fame worthy career. He was likewise a principled individual who lived in accord with the courage of his convictions. In an era when the black male was expected to comply with the standards of systemic racism, Powell refused to acquiesce to the social prejudices to which he and others were subjected.

Long live the memory of the productive and principled Art Powell.

Long live the memory of the AFL.

AFL History: The Dutchman’s Folly and Broadway Joe’s Bold Prediction

“Hey I’ve got news for you. We’re gonna win Sunday. I’ll guarantee you”
Joe Namath; “Broadway Joe”
January 9, 1969

“I’ll tell you what I think of Namath after he plays his first pro game”
Norm Van Brocklin; “The Dutchman”
January 11, 1969

“It ain’t bragging if you can do it”
Dizzy Dean; St Louis Cardinals Pitcher 1930’s

On the evening of January 9, 1969; a few days prior to Super Bowl III between the AFL Champion New York Jets and the NFL Champion Baltimore Colts, the Miami Touchdown Club hosted a dinner at the Miami Villas honoring Joe Namath as professional football’s outstanding player of 1968. Namath had guided the New York Jets to an 11-3 record and the organization’s first ever AFL Championship, a mere one year removed from being the first person in the history of professional football to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a single season. The recognition that Namath received that evening was based on the merits of his gridiron accomplishments.

While Namath was at the podium to speak, a heckler from the audience yelled:

“the Colts are going to kick your ass”

Namath instantly responded to the heckler, “Whoa, wait a minute. You guys have been talking for two weeks now. And I’m tired of hearing it. Hey I’ve got news for you. We’ll win on Sunday. I’ll guarantee you”

The local media response to Namath’s reply to a loud mouthed heckler was instantaneous. The next morning Namath’s guarantee that the 18 point underdog New York Jets would defeat the 13-1 Baltimore Colts in the upcoming Super Bowl was a headline in the Miami Herald, and local reporters hounded the young superstar for a clarification. Namath clarified his perspective by doubling down on his prediction.

Two days after Namath’s verbal exchange with the heckler at the Miami Villas, and on the very eve of Super Bowl III, Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Norm Van Brocklin was asked his thoughts on the Jets quarterback. Van Brocklin, a legendary quarterback himself, spoke with the predictable arrogance of the NFL traditionalists of his day when he replied:

“I’ll tell you what I think of Namath after he plays his first pro game”

To my knowledge, Van Brocklin’s derision of the entire AFL hardly merited a media response. The Dutchman as he was known, merely stated with typical disdain and disregard for the American Football League what most NFL people actually thought. For in the eyes of NFL establishment folk, the AFL was as they had been labeled with snide derision, “The Mickey Mouse League”.

But unlike Van Brocklin, Namath was not trash talking when he made his bold prediction. Rather, Broadway Joe was asserting an informed prediction. Namath was not the only Jet player that believed that they were going to win against the Colts. He was merely the only one to publicly say so. The fact is that the Jets team had carefully studied tape on the Colts, and they noted flaws in the Colts defensive and offensive tactics that they felt could be exploited and overcome. The New York Jets coaching staff designed a game plan that the Jets players themselves were prepared to implement and execute on the field of play, where all pregame talk is settled once and for all.

The next day, January 12, 1969; the New York Jets made professional football history by soundly defeating the NFL Champion Baltimore Colts, 16-7. Namath engineered a mere flawless offensive game, behind Matt Snell’s 121 yard rushing and George Sauer’s eight receptions; and the underrated Jets defense dominated the hyped Colt’s offense. In fact, the Colts did not even score until the game was comfortably out of reach late in the 4th quarter.

As Namath jogged off the field after the one sided contest, he pointed one finger to the sky to confirm that for the first time ever, his New York Jets and the entire AFL were Number One. The photo of that moment captures the iconic nature of what had just transpired in the Orange Bowl. For when the New York Jets became the first AFL team to ever defeat an NFL team in a Championship Game, they won not only on behalf of their faithful fans of the Big Apple but they also won on behalf of each and every AFL fan, player, and league personnel who like Namath, were tired of hearing the arrogant talk of NFL superiority. After January 12, 1969; there was no more NFL superiority.

Long live the memory of Super Bowl III.

Long live the memory of the AFL.