When the Southmen tried to rise again

By February, 1976, the World Football League was more or less a distant memory.

It had folded on October 22, 1975 – a rebooted second season shunned by fans and TV networks. (The ill-fated, lower budget attempt followed an inaugural 1974 campaign that drowned in red ink).

But while the likes of the Southern California Sun, Philadelphia Bell and The Hawaiians were no more, one team existed, at least in a technical sense.

Four months after the WFL’s demise, the Memphis Southmen were hoping to play on. Owner John Bassett still had former Miami Dolphins stars Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield and Jim Kiick under contract, as well as head coach John McVay. He even held a stadium lease for the Liberty Bowl.

While both Memphis and the Birmingham Vulcans, a fellow member of the defunct WFL, had applied to membership in the National Football League, only the Southmen had an existing infrastructure in place.

“I am optimistic about getting into the NFL this season because I have no reason not to be optimistic,” Bassett, a Canadian businessman, told the Toronto Star for a February 3, 1976, article. “They want to meet with us again. The NFL had to be impressed with the Memphis application. We have money from 46,000 applicants for season tickets, along with written requests for 8,000 more. That’s at $10 per ticket. There are 1,200 box seats at $15 each. They are sold.”

No question Bassett had all his ducks in a row. Only problem was, the NFL had already granted expansion franchises to Seattle and Tampa Bay. The Seahawks and Buccaneers were set to debut during the 1976 season, increasing the league to 28 teams.

Memphis squeezing in at 29 would be quite a feat.

But Bassett believed there was a chance, and so did McVay.

The coach who led the Southmen to a 24-8 record was busy, well, being a coach while Bassett continued to court the NFL.

“The things we’re doing are the same things we would do if the NFL accepts us,” McVay said in an interview with United Press International that appeared on February 29, 1976. “We’re getting ready for the draft, trying to evaluate personnel, rate them and see how they’d fit into our needs. Everything we’re doing is geared to going into the NFL in 1976.”

McVay scouted the Senior Bowl in January, and also sent scouts to the Hula Bowl. He told UPI he was researching the college draft as well as a potential expansion draft involving his team as well as Seattle and Tampa Bay.

McVay’s contract was valid until 1977, and he said 30 Southmen in all were still signed up to the team that last played on October 19, 1975. Aside from the “Big Three,” quarterback Danny White, receiver Ed Marshall and running back Willie Spencer continued to be paid by Bassett.

“In my heart I believe Memphis will get a franchise in 1976, ‘77 or ‘78,” McVay said. “All we can do is make a solid proposal and wait.”

The wait ended on March 16, 1976, when NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle announced that with Seattle and Tampa Bay coming into the league, owners decided there would be no NFL expansion for “the foreseeable future.”

“After a lengthy and thorough discussion, the clubs concluded that under the present conditions – that is our legal and labor problems – they could not firmly commit to expansion at this time. However, it is clear that these two cities (Memphis and Birmingham) were the most active in recent months and will be among those most strongly considered when the league eventually feels it can expand.”

Needless to say, Bassett was not happy.

“It’s a tremendous disservice to the people of Memphis who worked so hard and demonstrated the ability to form and support the team,” Bassett said. “I think their (NFL owners) reasons are totally unacceptable and transparent.”

Once the Southmen dissolved, Csonka, Warfield and Kiick returned to the NFL.

Csonka spent three years with the New York Giants before returning to Miami for one last season in 1979. Warfield, who began his pro career with the Cleveland Browns, ended there as well, playing in 1976 and 1977. Both men are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Kiick signed with the Denver Broncos in 1976 and played with the Broncos and Washington Redskins in 1977. He died in 2020, and was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

McVay (grandfather of Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay) was assistant coach with the Giants in 1976 and head coach from 1977-79. He went on to have a 20-year executive career with the San Francisco Giants.

He was 91 when he passed away in 2022.

As for Bassett, he moved his World Hockey Association franchise, the Toronto Toros, to Birmingham in 1976, and owned the United States Football League’s Tampa Bay Bandits from 1983-85. Bassett succumbed to cancer in 1987. He was only 47.

Fifty years after the Southmen’s failed bid, Memphis is still without an NFL team – and that status will likely not change. Instead, it’s Nashville that represents Tennessee in pro football’s biggest league – with the Houston Oilers leaving Texas and ultimately morphing into the Tennessee Titans.

In 1997 the Titans (still carrying the Oilers brand) played their inaugural season in Memphis while a stadium was being built in the Music City. Local fans who wanted a team of their own mostly steered clear of the Liberty Bowl; the squad averaged just 28,027 fans per home game.