Category: History and More

Fifty years ago today, the National Football League wrapped up its exhibition slate in preparation for a September 15 start to the 1974 season.

On the plus side, it had survived a strike that lasted from July 1 to August 10, losing only the College All-Star Game to the work stoppage. However, the labor dispute opened the door for the fledgling World Football League, which began its inaugural season on July 10.

And while the WFL was starting to look shaky by September, it had already shaken up the senior circuit by signing Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield and Jim Kiick to 1975 contracts.

That trio helped the Miami Dolphins log a perfect season in 1972, and win a second consecutive Super Bowl in 1973. But they’d be lame ducks as Miami tried for a three-peat, lured away to the Memphis Southmen for 1975.

Actually, they were signed by the Toronto Northmen on March 31, 1974. The franchise, owned by Canadian businessman John Bassett, moved to Tennessee just over a month later. Bassett received pushback from some of that country’s government offcials – who wanted to protect the Canadian Football League – and opted to take his team south of the border.

The three-year, $3.86-million deal (Csonka got $1.4 million) was far and away the WFL’s biggest splash.

“I’m not a kid coming out of college anymore,” Csonka told the Tampa Bay Times for a September 8, 1974 story. “I’m not leaving a million dollars on the table. My dad didn’t raise any stupid kids.”

The contracts, as you might expect, were a hot topic of conversation among the Dolphins as they entered their final season before the band broke up.

“We are professionals,” Csonka said. “We will play like professionals no matter what city we’re in. We’re extremely anxious to leave the Dolphins and NFL winners.”

Csonka, at 28, was the NFL’s top fullback and coming off his second consecutive 1,000-yard season. He was named MVP of Super Bowl VIII, scoring two touchdowns and racking up 145 yards in Miami’s 24-7 victory over Minnesota.

Warfield wasn’t targeted a lot due to the Dolphins’ run-heavy attack in 1973, but he made his catches count. He closed the year with 29 receptions for 514 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Kiick was entering his sixth season with Don Shula’s juggernaut, and had added incentive to jump leagues after playing behind Mercury Morris for much of 1973. The result was a career-low 257 yards on 76 carries and no regular season touchdowns.

Yet, a sampling of other Dolphins suggested there were no hard feelings.

“There isn’t a player in professional football who wouldn’t jump to the new league for the kind of money they got,” safety Dick Anderson told the Times. “I can’t blame them. You can only play this game so long. And if you take a beating like Csonka does every game, you’d understand.”

Added guard Larry Little, “I’m glad for them. It’s an opportunity. I’m just sorry I’m not going up there with them.”

Shula, for his part, seemed unconcerned about any short-timers attitude, especially from his workhorse.

“I had a long talk with Larry after he got back from Toronto and he said he was going to give it everything he had to win a third Super Bowl,” he said.

While it had to be tough for Miami faithful to know the three would be gone once the season ended, they obviously gave their best to their future former team.

Csonka played in 12 games with 11 starts in 1974, picking up 749 yards and scoring nine touchdowns. Those stats are even more impressive considering he had to deal with shoulder and foot injuries.

Warfield, meanwhile, earned Pro Bowl honors, snagging 27 passes for 536 yards and two touchdowns.

Kiick finished with 274 ground yards and scored once, bettering his numbers from the previous campaign.

In their final game before becoming Bassett’s employees – a 28-26 loss to the homestanding Oakland Raiders in the AFC playoffs – Csonka rumbled for 114 yards, while Warfield had three catches for 47 yards and a TD.

“Until I get back to Miami, I’m still very much a Dolphin,” Csonka told the Miami Herald after the game. “I think we had the best football dynasty ever and they’ll be chasing that one for a long time. See this ring on my finger? Nobody can take that from me.

“But football is a ‘now’ game. The past means a lot to individuals, but to the fans it’s next week that’s important. The Miami fans are a great group … I sure hate to leave them.”

Alas, there would be no repeat in the Dolphins’ swan song.

In fact, the franchise hasn’t won a Super Bowl since.

As for Csonka, Warfield and Kiick’s WFL days, they were short (the league folded after 12 games) and hardly dazzling from a statistical standpoint.

Kiick was the second leading rusher on the Southmen with 462 yards on 121 carries and nine touchdowns; Csonka was third with 421 yards on 99 totes and one score; and Warfield had 25 catches for 422 yards and three TDs.

Csonka played four more NFL seasons in his Hall of Fame career, three with the New York Giants (1976-78) and a last hurrah with Miami.

Warfield – also a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee – suited up for Cleveland in 1976 and 1977, finishing his playing days in the place he started before joining Miami in 1970.

Kiick spent the 1976 season with Denver and played four games with the Broncos in 1977 before being traded to Washington where he appeared in just one game and then retired.

Starting every game with the Dolphins in 1979, Csonka had 837 yards and a career-high 12 touchdowns.

In 2017, Csonka wrote this on his larrycsonka.com blog:

“I do not regret my decision to jump to the WFL.  It was a business decision.  We all had families and the money offered would help secure our futures after football.  None of us wanted to leave Miami but there was too big a gap in salary and (Miami owner Joe) Robbie wouldn’t even consider discussing our current contracts.  I am happy Coach Shula and I were able to come to terms in 1979 and I was able to end my career with him and the Miami fans.”

Today, the Atlanta Falcons are gearing up for the 2024 season under first-year head coach Raheem Morris, hoping to rebound from a 7-10 campaign that saw the end of Arthur Smith’s tenure.

Fifty-nine years ago today, the franchise was slapped on the butt and brought to life as the National Football League’s newest bouncing baby boy.

Before the birth, however, there was some question about paternity.

Because while it marked the debut of big-league football in the Deep South, it also highlighted yet another battle between the NFL and American Football League.

On June 9, 1965, the AFL granted Atlanta an expansion club for 1966 in hopes of beating the NFL – which was also wooing the Southern metropolis – to the punch. The eight-team rival to the 14-team senior circuit had already rapidly closed the talent gap, and after playing five mostly successful seasons, it was looking to expand its footprint.

The Cox Broadcasting Corporation was awarded the AFL franchise for $7.5 million, but there was still a major roadblock to clear; the Atlanta Stadium Authority informed both football leagues that it would wait until July 1 to make any deal concerning rental of its new 57,000-seat facility, which was completed on April 9, 1965, at a cost of $18 million.

“It is not up to us to choose among responsible owners holding franchises for 1966,” the authority said in a written statement. “A committee has been appointed to negotiate with any other applicants. July 1 is the deadline.”

AFL commissioner Joe Foss suggested to United Press International that a place to play wouldn’t be an issue.

“(Cox Broadcasting Corporation) has given us reasonable assurance that it would have the new stadium in which to play in Atlanta,” he said.

It just so happened that NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle was in Atlanta the same day the AFL made its announcement, further muddying the waters.

“Atlanta is a prime prospect for NFL expansion,” Rozelle told the Associated Press. “We could expand with no trouble in 1966. We have discussed this.”

By June 11 there were already rumors that the stadium authority was ready to make a deal with the NFL. On June 12, the Nashville Banner broke the story that Atlanta would, in fact, be joining the NFL and the AFL franchise would be “returned to the league.”

On June 30 – one day before the deadline issued by the Atlanta Stadium Authority – 39-year-old Atlanta businessman Rankin Smith brought the NFL to Georgia for $9 million.

“It’s a life-long dream,” Smith said in a UPI story. “Doesn’t every adult male in America want to own his own football team?”

An agreement was quickly reached to play in the city’s venue (christened Atlanta Stadium and later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium).

“I can only say that this is a great day for Atlanta,” Rozelle told AP. “But, more than for Atlanta, it’s a great day for the National Football League.”

There was immediate speculation about who the head coach would be, ranging from Paul Brown to Bud Wilkinson to Frank Broyles. The biggest news, though, was that the NFL outmaneuvered the AFL in securing an untapped market coveted by both.

To the AFL’s credit, league offcials took the setback in stride – at least publicly.

“We wish Atlanta the best,” Milt Woodard, assistant commissioner of the AFL, said. “We win some and lose some.”

Thus, Atlanta became the flagship of the NFL’s Southeast connection, which now includes the New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans. Speaking of the Dolphins, they became the ninth AFL franchise in 1966, giving that organization a southern locale after all.

And in the end, things worked out quite well for all involved as the 16-team NFL and 10-team AFL merged in 1970 to form what has grown into pro football’s 600-pound gorilla.

When I walked through the gates of Rickwood Field on Tuesday, I didn’t realize what an emotional night it would become.

I’ve loved this place for as long as I can remember, and to find it better than ever 114 years after it opened was a genuine thrill. That incredibly warm feeling I got looking at all the signage leading to the entrance of “America’s Oldest Ballpark” had nothing to do with the 88-degree temperature.

It now has a gorgeous playing field, yet still proudly displays the rust and dust that preserves its character.

But as the evening unfolded, there was sadness intertwined with beauty.

On a night billed as “A Tribute To The Negro Leagues,” the great Willie Mays passed away at the age of 93.

The “Say Hey Kid” grew up in the shadow of Rickwood, and got his start playing for the Birmingham Black Barons here. He’d go on to have a Hall of Fame career, one that featured 24 All-Star selections, two National League MVP Awards, a batting championship, 12 Gold Gloves, and a World Series title.

Watching the Birmingham Barons and Montgomery Biscuits take on the personas (and unis) of Mays’ old team and the Montgomery Gray Sox was always going to be special, but it wound up being poignant due to the loss of one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived.

While a regular season Major League game will take place here in two days when the St. Louis Cardinals and Mays’ former team, the San Francisco Giants, clash, it’ll hardly be the first time big-league baseball has called the Magic City home.

Although it took MLB brass a century to make it official, the Black Barons checked that box as far back as 1920; thanks to them, Rickwood Field was once the friendly confines of Birmingham’s only major league sports franchise.

But while it’s rightfully shining in the national spotlight this week, it never stopped being a beacon for me.

May 15, 1975, was supposed to be my introduction to professional baseball when the reigning world champion Oakland A’s came to Rickwood to play their Southern League farm club, the Birmingham A’s.

My dad and I were among the 7,000 fans who got to the park early, and I was able to get second baseman Phil Garner’s autograph and stand on the field with guys like Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi and Bert Campaneris. Pop was more interested in watching Vida Blue warm up, since No. 35 was one of his favorite pitchers.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature was in no mood for baseball on this particular Thursday night, so she dumped a ridiculous amount of rain on the field and – for good measure – provided some lightning bolts that knocked out a couple of transformers.

No game … only a mad dash back to the Gran Torino.

Disappointing, yes, but there would be many, many nights of baseball to come.

Once the late, great Art Clarkson spearheaded the Montgomery Rebels’ move to Birmingham and revived the Barons brand, I spent more time at Rickwood than any other sports venue in the city.

I didn’t care that it wasn’t some state-of-the-art, “modern” facility. In fact, maybe that’s why I was so enamored with it. It was cozy and comfortable … if it was a house, it was a house where you felt like you could put your feet up on the furniture and not worry about getting yelled at.

And that’s a good thing, because in a sports sense it became my home away from home.

But only as I got older – and Rickwood continued to stand while other stadiums fell – did I start to learn of its rich, glorious history.

Seeing the iconic BBB Black Barons logo on the field allowed me to imagine the days when Mays, Satchel Paige and Mule Suttles began their Hall of Fame journeys on this very spot.

And to think it has hosted everyone from Jackie Robinson to Hank Aaron to Josh Gibson to Babe Ruth to Ted Williams to Roberto Clemente to Stan Musial to Mickey Mantle to … well, you get the idea.

There’s a certain magic to the place, and the game on June 18, 2024, now stands as more than a re-opening of Rickwood, but a memorial to an icon.

For the record, the final score was Montgomery 6, Birmingham 5. The result, of course, was secondary to the experience.

The moment I sat in my seat in Section 41 on Row 18, I knew I was back at a place that feels like home. And when I drove away, all I could think about was Wille Mays – and how I wish he’d have been able to make one last trip home, too.