who was your favorite USFL player?
- Thread starter wareagle
- Start date
Reggie White of the Memphis Showboats.
I remember my Granddaddy taking me to lots of those games at the Liberty Bowl. Pepper Rodgers was the coach. Those were great times.
I remember my Granddaddy taking me to lots of those games at the Liberty Bowl. Pepper Rodgers was the coach. Those were great times.
Herschel Walker, Steve Young, Reggie White LT
Without doing the research, how did your team do over the period of the league. The Showboats:00hour
Were you old enough to relate to any of the players and get to know them? Must have been a cool time growing up as a kid and hanging out with a pro football team!
Edit: I just looked it up and had forgotten or did not realize that Logan Young was part ownership of the team, thought it was just your family, learn something every day!
Without doing the research, how did your team do over the period of the league. The Showboats:00hour
Were you old enough to relate to any of the players and get to know them? Must have been a cool time growing up as a kid and hanging out with a pro football team!
Edit: I just looked it up and had forgotten or did not realize that Logan Young was part ownership of the team, thought it was just your family, learn something every day!
Last edited:
article in todays paper
Reunion celebrates USFL's short run
Steve EhrhartStory Tools
E-mail this story | Print
Ehrhart: Lots of pride, memories still exist
By Ron Higgins
Contact
June 19, 2007
Steve Ehrhart has put out an all-points bulletin for anybody associated with the defunct United States Football League.
Ehrhart, as former general manager of the Memphis Showboats, is organizing a 25-year reunion of the league Sunday and Monday at the Grand Casino Resort in Tunica.
Advertisement
He has invited former players, coaches, owners, team personnel and administrators, league officials, TV and radio partners, sponsors and even fans.
A reception and dinner are set for 5 p.m. Sunday. At 8:30 the next morning, there will be a golf tournament with a shotgun start. Ehrhart said that rooms are available at the Grand (1-800-394-7263) at a group rate and may be obtained with the USFL group code which is S06USFL.
"This is something that I talked with (late Showboat) Reggie White a few years ago before he died," said Ehrhart, now executive director of the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. "He said he would do all he could to get as many players to come to such a reunion as possible. I told him that if we did a 25th reunion that he'd be in the Hall of Fame by then."
There's still a healthy amount of USFL memorabilia being on sold online and through other outlets. And Ehrhart is always running into former USFL connections, such as at last year's Liberty Bowl game in which the ESPN broadcast crew included former USFL stars Doug Flutie (New Jersey Generals) and Craig James (Washington Federals).
"For anyone who was involved in the league, there's a still a lot of fond memories and pride," Ehrhart said. "It was a very entertaining league.
"We had some great people in our league at all levels. We had great executives like Carl Peterson and Bill Polian. We had great coaches like Jim Mora, Steve Spurrier, Red Miller, Mouse Davis and George Allen.
"And there were so many great players. Just look at the quarterbacks alone -- Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Flutie, Doug Williams. Then there was Reggie, Sam Mills, who was a linebacker who went on to play in the NFL before he died, Herschel Walker ... the USFL had a lot of talent."
The USFL operated in the spring and summer of 1983, 1984 and 1985 and lost an estimated $163 million. The Showboats, which joined the league in its second year of existence, were owned by Billy Dunavant and the late Logan Young Jr., and coached by Pepper Rodgers.
Memphis went a combined 18-18, going 11-7 in its second year and advancing to the league semifinals. They averaged 27,999 fans in year one and 30,948 in year two.
It was New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump who challenged the league to fight the NFL for the right to play in the fall. In July 1996 in federal court, a jury concluded that the NFL was in violation of the Sherman Anti-trust Laws by conspiring to monopolize professional football and that it did illegally damage the USFL.
After the jury awarded the league a mere $1 in damages (trebled to $3 by law), the USFL owners met and voted to suspend the season. The league then quickly went out of business.
Ehrhart has the $1 check, which is actually $3.76, representing a $1 damage award, trebled to $3, plus 76 cents in interest. The check is dated March 15, 1990.
"We're hoping to get as many people as possible for the reunion," Ehrhart said, "especially anyone associated with the Showboats."
-- Ron Higgins: 529-2525
I loved the league. I was about 9 or 10 at the time it started. I remember looking in the paper at the rosters trying to figure out who would be my favorite team.
Don't remember a whole lot, but I chose the Philadelphia Stars as my team. Pretty sure it was because they had Kelvin Bryant, running back from UNC.
I know they were the overall best team in the league, making it to the championship game every year and winning one. I remember watching the first game where they lost to Michigan Panthers. Pretty sure they were down 24-14 late and scored on the last play...plus a 2-pt conversion to lose 24-22.
Looking back with an adult mind, should have kicked the FG, tried an onside kick and possibly tied the game. Longshot, but still a shot...
Seems like they went 16-2, 15-3, 15-3. Whatever it was, Jim Mora won about 80% of his games in USFL.
I didn't want them to move to the fall and compete with the NFL. I liked it the way it was. Good solid football in the spring.
Don't remember a whole lot, but I chose the Philadelphia Stars as my team. Pretty sure it was because they had Kelvin Bryant, running back from UNC.
I know they were the overall best team in the league, making it to the championship game every year and winning one. I remember watching the first game where they lost to Michigan Panthers. Pretty sure they were down 24-14 late and scored on the last play...plus a 2-pt conversion to lose 24-22.
Looking back with an adult mind, should have kicked the FG, tried an onside kick and possibly tied the game. Longshot, but still a shot...
Seems like they went 16-2, 15-3, 15-3. Whatever it was, Jim Mora won about 80% of his games in USFL.
I didn't want them to move to the fall and compete with the NFL. I liked it the way it was. Good solid football in the spring.
I didn't have a favorite team, it varied from week to week on who I was wagering on. One thing I remember vividly, however, was that I won many thousands on that league. I was devastated to see it go. It was just one of those things, evrything I did was right. One year, no crap, I was over 75%. It was before I had an online account and I can remember my bookie Billy's face every paydayTuesday. It was the most success I have ever had on a continuing basis in any sport, ever. RIP USFL.
