New Coffin Corner Issue

[cdwillis]

PFRA Members,

The current issue of The Coffin Corner is now available in the Members Only section. Issue number five of this year features a special issue on the
40th Anniversary of the World Football League. Articles include:

PFRA-ternizing. A reminder on the PFRA elections and the Hall of Very Good balloting (both deadlines are October 31), an update on the PFRA book about the 1966 champion Green Bay Packers and a report on a 1920s-era pro football game featuring a tribute to the Rock Island Independents organized by PFRA member Simon Herrera.

A Bright New Look or the Same Old Game? by Mark Speck. A comparison of offensive and special teams numbers between the more established National Football League and the upstart World Football League from 1973 (the year before the WFL started) to 1975 (the year the league folded).

An Alternate World (Football League) by Mark L. Ford. An amusing “what if” tale that imagines how pro football history might have changed had the financially troubled WFL been able to stay solvent past 1975 and the weird, but strangely familiar, events that may have occurred through the rest of the decade and into the 1980s.

“O Canada”: Johnny Bassett’s Coup by Denis M. Crawford. An account, chronicled with first-person interviews, of one of the founding owners of the WFL who lured three Miami Dolphins—Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield and Jim Kiick—up north to join the WFL in Toronto (then south to Memphis) in an effort to help jumpstart interest in the fledging WFL. His efforts, while initially successful, ultimately failed, as did the league itself.

Enjoy the latest issue,
Chris

[Bryan]

In regards to the WFL-centric Coffin Corner, did the Hemmeter Plan have any affect on the WFL?

http://wfl.charlottehornetswfl.com/page ... r_plan.php


It seems like the WFL was taking drastic action to reduce cost, yet they didn't even make it through the 1975 season. How was the Plan supposed to be enacted? Were all current player contracts voided and then re-drafted to reflect the Plan? Were the WFL owners spending too much money on luring players away from the NFL, or were the owners just cash-strapped from the beginning?

[BD Sullivan]

One of the many strikes against the WFL was that they got started in the middle of a bad recession, so that obviously wasn't going to help ticket sales. Then, within weeks of getting started, their credibility went into the toilet with news of teams giving away tickets.

[ChrisBabcock]

The "alternate history" article on the WFL is entertaining. It would be cool to see a "what if" like this written about if the USFL if it had survived.

[Bryan]

The "alternate history" article on the WFL is entertaining. It would be cool to see a "what if" like this written about if the USFL if it had survived.

No need for an alternate history article for the USFL...in either case, Donald Trump ends up being the President of the United States in 2016.

[BD Sullivan]

The "alternate history" article on the WFL is entertaining. It would be cool to see a "what if" like this written about if the USFL if it had survived.

ABC had offered the USFL a decent deal to stay in the Spring, but Trump and company decided to push ahead toward the Fall--right over a cliff.

[Bryan]

This question is directed to Mark L. Ford but is open to any response...in the alternate WFL history, why did the Raiders have the highest amount of defectors?

[Ken Crippen]

This question is directed to Mark L. Ford but is open to any response...in the alternate WFL history, why did the Raiders have the highest amount of defectors?

Mark is currently on vacation, so his response will be delayed.

[Mark L. Ford]

This question is directed to Mark L. Ford but is open to any response...in the alternate WFL history, why did the Raiders have the highest amount of defectors?

I'll try to explain my reasoning. It's a good deal of poetic license, of course, but Kenny Stabler (and former starter Daryle Lamonica) had signed contracts with the Birmingham Americans and the Southern California Sun because their contracts were nearing an end, which put them on the list of players that WFL teams chose in March 1974 in the league's "pro draft". Tod Maher or Mark Speck aptly described that WFL draft as more of a "wish list" in their World Football League Encyclopedia ; and after the WFL's shortcomings became apparent before summer's end, that initial wave of defections in the spring didn't become a tsunami; but the general idea is that if the league had been stronger, its teams could have signed more of their wish list of folks whose contracts were due to expire soon. The Raiders had more starters in that up-for-renewal list-- Stabler, of course, but Houston had selected Pete Banaszak, Toronto/Memphis chose Phil Villapiano, SoCal wanted Otis Sistrunk. Hawaii had drafted cornerback Skip Thomas and tackle John Vella. Jacksonville (in the fictional version, the WFL avoids the millstones of Sharks and Wheels) wanted six Raiders, including Jack Tatum, George Buehler and Clarence Davis. So, the idea is that the WFL signs more NFL players than it actually did, that Al Davis takes a stand of not capitulating to most of those who have challenged him to bidding higher for their services, etc. So, with a rebuilt team, the '76 Raiders don't go 13-1, but still win the AFC West and face the Patriots. Instead of winning, 24-21, they lose a close one; the Pats (who beat the Steelers 30-27 in the real '76 season) defeat them again and reach the Super Bowl; the Vikings get their Lombardi Trophy, etc.

"What if?" stories have been an occasional staple in Coffin Corner; Gary Davidson did indeed make the observations that start this story, in interviews with the L.A. Times in 1989 and in 1994, and there's the fiction that things like Papergate and the multiple franchise moves would have been avoided in the first year. Summing up, there was a famous quote from an author named Will Shetterly, who said "There are no correct alternate histories; there are only plausible alternate histories."

[Mark L. Ford]

The "alternate history" article on the WFL is entertaining. It would be cool to see a "what if" like this written about if the USFL if it had survived.

Years ago, Dusty Sloan was a PFRA member, and he had compiled the USFL's 1986 rosters, and was in the process of weighing the merits of the eight remaining teams, then using a computer program to figure how the scheduled autumn season would have played out. As with all of us at one time or another, the real world "trumped" the fun of writing a Coffin Corner article, but I would have loved to have seen that. If the USFL's lawyers had done better than that "Kafka, Kafka, Kafka!" thing, and had gotten more than three bucks from the jury, who knows? I would have loved to have seen Sloan's work. The premise was intriguing.