June 7, 2007
Orlando, Fla. (www.UCFAthletics.com) - Much of the United States Football League's (USFL) early attention focused on the signing of Heisman Trophy-winning running back Herschel Walker, who left the University of Georgia a year early to sign a multi-million dollar contract with the New Jersey Generals. Walker and the Generals were as large as any sports story at the time, which included all of the coverage around the National Football League (NFL) 1983 playoff race and Super Bowl match-up between the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins.
Just how big was the signing of Walker, who made his professional debut on the playing fields at the University of Central Florida, where the Generals and Boston Breakers had made their preseason home for the 1983 and 1984 campaigns?
When Walker signed his mega three-year deal, on February 23, it was an epic event on so many levels. The All-American had spurned the annual NFL Draft, as it was speculated he wanted to play his professional career in the lucrative New York market. The event matched the magnitude of Joe Namath's deal with the American Football League's New York Jets in 1965 and Julius Erving's contract with the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association. Not too mention, Walker was only a junior, and the early departure was not something as prevalent in today's pro sports. As a result, the league faced scouting problems when several schools closed their doors to USFL scouts.
On February 26, Walker conducted his introductory press conference in the team's UCF-based cafeteria. The nation's press were all present, most of which were visiting the east Orlando campus for the first time. In walked the 20-year-old celebrity from the University of Georgia, wearing a velour sweat suit and running shoes. He confirmed that he had given up his final year of college football eligibility to sign with the Generals.
Chet Simmons, Commissioner of the USFL, told the Central Florida Future that Walker had forfeited his collegiate playing eligibility at Georgia because he had discussed contract terms with the Generals, going against NCAA rules. Walker had been in communication with the Generals for almost two months, but only in February did the two sides discuss contract terms. Walker had actually signed an earlier contract with the Generals, but an escape clause allowed him to get out within the first 24 hours. Simmons said that Walker voided the first contract because he was uncertain about its business aspects.
He had publicly denied reports of such a signing for almost a week. ''I had a deadened feeling that day,'' Walker said the week prior. ''I didn't know what I had done. I really didn't know what to do, what to say. The USFL hadn't even played its first game. It was tough, very tough. I felt as if I had let down the entire Georgia team."
Former USFL and NFL star Maurice Carthon was quoted in a later ESPN.com interview as saying, "It was really an excitement. The day Herschel signed, we're in training camp at the University of Central Florida and this big helicopter touches down. I had never seen a helicopter. I remember Irv Cross of CBS chasing Herschel out of the helicopter for an interview. I mean, it was a really, really big deal."
On January 29, 1983, the Generals, coached by Chuck Fairbanks, and the Boston Breakers, led by Dick Coury, began preparation for their respective seasons conducting their inaugural five-week winter training camps at UCF, with each franchise paying an estimated $20,000 for the extended stay.
The special relationship forged between the USFL and UCF existed for the first two seasons of the league, but when the USFL opted to move its schedule into the fall ahead of the 1985 season, too many scheduling issues developed with the UCF football and men's and women's soccer programs.
While the Generals were the cornerstone franchise of the USFL, first owned by J. Walter Duncan then by Donald Trump, the Breakers were regarded as the nomads of the league starting at tiny Boston University's Nickerson Field, then moving to the spacious confines of the Louisiana Superdome in 1984 and finally to Portland, Ore., in 1985.
After New Jersey and Boston, the Michigan Panthers and Birmingham Stallions preseason practice site was located in Daytona, the Philadelphia Stars took up residence at DeLand's Spec Martin Stadium and the Tampa Bay Bandits were at home-standing Hillsboro Community College. The remaining teams, mostly based out west, practiced in California and Arizona.
The plan for the Generals and Breakers was for each team to open camp with 100 players, practicing twice a day on the UCF's football and soccer playing fields. In addition, the squads would be the first to use the athletics complex located next to the swimming pool - the new Wayne Densch Sports Center (old building #39), which housed the UCF football program's locker rooms, weight rooms, meeting rooms and was near the SAGA cafeteria.
They even shared the same hotel and the only way to tell the two teams apart was that the Breakers stayed in even-numbered rooms and the Generals were in odd-numbered rooms, according to New Jersey spokesman Kevin McConnell.
McConnell said that the unusual arrangement, with both teams using the spacious facilities at UCF, ''had to be done because there aren't many warm-weather sites at this time of year.''
McConnell and Eddie Miller, a spokesman for the Breakers, said there were no problems with two rival teams living together. Dining hours at the school's cafeteria were staggered, and the teams had separate locker facilities.
''One possible problem is that our meeting rooms are in mobile trailers right next to each other,'' said Miller. ''But so far, no player has gone into the other team's meetings. It is a little tight. But the only thing worrying me is that between us we have over 200 people here and there are only two washing machines.''
Both Coury and Fairbanks noted in the Future that UCF's athletics facilities were "great" for holding the preseason camps. "The new athletics facilities are outstanding," said Fairbanks. "They should be a great asset to their athletics program."
Outside of the daily practices, the teams played three scrimmages at the Tangerine Bowl, later re-named the Florida Citrus Bowl. Tampa Bay faced Boston on February 12; Boston played Michigan on February 19; and Tampa Bay faced Philadelphia on February 26. The next year, games were also played locally at Winter Park's Showalter Field.
The preseason camps were special to those involved as players and coaches alike were forging their place in history. Fairbanks, a former head coach of the New England Patriots, spent the first day getting to know the players and commented to the Future, who covered the preseason schedule in each of their corresponding spring issues, "For having 100 guys here, coming from 100 different directions, things went quite well. Things look better today then on my first day at New England."
Most of the players vying for a roster spot in the new USFL were those players looking for a new life in a new league after playing in the NFL or Canadian Football League. There were also hundreds of recent collegians who didn't get picked up in their initial attempts at joining the more-selective NFL.
In 1983, Walker finished with 1,812 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns. Fellow rookies Carthon and center Kent Hull also breakthrough seasons that first year, but Fairbanks' team greatly under-achieved, finishing 6-12.
When Trump took over by the second season, paying an estimated $7 million, he would first replace Fairbanks with recently-retired New York Jets coach Walt Michaels. Trump opened his wallet to pro football's top talent, luring NFL MVP quarterback Brian Sipe away from the Browns. He also built the team defensively by signing all-pro defensive back Gary Barbaro and linebackers Willie Harper, Bobby Leopold and Jim LeClair. As a result, the Generals had an eight-game swing finishing the 1984 season at 14-4, while Walker and Carthon both rushed for over 1,000 yards (Walker 1,339; Carthon 1,042).
Trump was a frequent visitor to the Generals' UCF practice site in 1984, where it was noted by the New York Times that on the first day that he made a whirlwind visit, standing inconspicuously on the sidelines for about an hour during the afternoon practice. He made some familiar upbeat comments about the USFL and then left.
The Breakers had a much different rookie season, finishing 11-7, the third-best record in the league. Coury had molded a tough and disciplined team that first season in 1983. Veteran quarterback John Walton's 3,772 yards and 20 touchdowns led the third-best offense in the league to within a game of the playoffs. Richard Crump ran for 990 yards, Nolan Franz gathered in 62 passes for 848 yards, and Charlie Smith caught 54 balls for 1,009 yards. The team also featured defensive back Dick Jauron, who spent nine years in the NFL playing with the Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals.
Unable to secure a better playing situation than dilapidated Nickerson Field, the Breakers left for New Orleans under new owner Joe Canizaro. That second season started spectacularly with a 7-2 mark playing in the Superdome, but even the addition of running back Marcus Dupree couldn't keep the team from spiraling in the second half of the season, finishing 8-10. Buford Jordan led the team in rushing with 1,276 yards, good for fourth in the USFL, and Walton threw for 3,554 yards. Newly acquired tight end Dan Ross paced the team with 65 receptions, and Frank Lockett caught 56 passes for 1,199 yards.
During the first season of the USFL in 1983, three UCF players were signed by the Tampa Bay Bandits: defensive tackles Ed Gantner and Mike Sommerfield and linebacker Bill Giovanetti. By the time the teams were to cut down to 70 players from the initial 100 by February 7, only Gantner was left in the league. Former UCF basketball standout Roland Ebron, who was trying to make the Generals roster, was also cut.
Kicker Scott Ryerson was drafted by the Bandits in 1984, but opted to forgo the USFL and remain eligible for the upcoming NFL Draft. Teammate Dan Burke, UCF's mighty center, spent the 1984 preseason camp with the Generals after signing as a free agent, but was cut when the roster was trimmed to 60 players. Gantner left the Bandits after the first season, moving north joining the Jacksonville Bulls franchise for the 1984-85 seasons.
The USFL existed from 1983-85, playing its 18-game schedule during the spring and summer on the ABC and ESPN networks. The league was formed in 1982, consisting of 12 inaugural franchises in New York (Meadowlands, N.J.), Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Tampa, Oakland, Denver, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Birmingham and San Diego (eventually switched to Phoenix). Six more teams came aboard by 1984, boosting the league's total to 18 franchises, including Jacksonville.
Outside of UCF, its campus and players, the City Beautiful wasn't totally left out of the USFL as the Orlando Renegades came into existence in 1985 and were owned by Don Dizney. The team was coached by Lee Corso and played at the Citrus Bowl, finishing 5-13 in its lone season before the league folded. The season was seen as a success as the team, who played as the Washington Federals in 1983-84, had gone a combined 7-29 prior to 1985. The Renegades started the year 0-6, but broke out with a 28-17 win over the Memphis Showboats and Orlando went 5-7 down the stretch.