Notes

Superbowl History
SUPER BOWL HISTORY

The year was 1966, and war was raging in professional football. It was a sale war for talent and yes it was happening considering that the American Football League came to the scene in 1960 to challenge the National Football League, 40 years its senior. At first, the battles were for college players, and the AFL scored an earlier victory each time a court ruled in support of the Houston Oilers within the NFL's Los Angeles Rams after both clubs had signed Billy Cannon, the Heisman Trophy winning halfback at Louisiana State.

Although the leagues opted for a "no tampering" rule on existing player contracts, the stakes became high for college talent. Bonuses went sky-high. The AFL's New York Jets signed Alabama quarterback Joe Namath in 1965 to some $400,000 contract, the greatest amount ever to get a collegian. In 1966, the NFL's Atlanta Falcons gave Texas linebacker Tommy Nobis a $600,000 package and also the Green Bay Packers forked over $711,000 to Texas Tech running back Donny Anderson.

Meanwhile, veteran players were settling for small raises on relatively small salaries. For example, John Brodie, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, received $35,000 in 1965 and was asking to get a raise to $65,000 after leading the NFL in completions, completion percentage, yardage and touchdown passes. Then came a back-breaker. Buffalo placekicker Pete Gogolak, who had played out his option in 1965, signed with all the NFL's New York Giants. The "no tampering" code had been broken. The conflict is at the open, plus it was time for doing things.

On April 7, 1966, peacemaker Joe Foss resigned as AFL commissioner as well as the next day Al Davis, general manager of the Oakland Raiders, took over. Davis would be a hawk in regard to the NFL, and the man a plan. Davis organized an AFL war chest and urged keepers to start talking to established NFL stars. The NFL had bragged of their superiority because from the caliber of their quarterbacks. Davis planned to sign those quarterbacks for that AFL.

The Raiders quickly signed Los Angeles quarterback Roman Gabriel to a commitment starting in '67. Houston offered the 49ers' Brodie $75,000, spread over 10 years, to sign a five-year deal using the Oilers. Reportedly, my sources of the NFL's starting quarterbacks were dickering while using AFL. The NFL had no choice. On June 8, 1966, two months after Davis took over as the AFL commissioner, a merger agreement was announced. There would be considered a common draft starting in 1967, interleague preseason games starting in '67 and regular-season play combining the leagues in 1970. Territorial indemnification of $18 million would have been to be paid to the 49ers and Giants over the 20-year period. Most important, in the standpoint of football fans, was the immediate establishment of your championship game between your leagues. This was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game -- which was popularized as the Super Bowl from its inception.

Gabriel never went to the Raiders and Brodie never left the 49ers, but Brodie collected a thousand dollars on the agreement he had produced in his talks with Houston. Davis resigned as AFL commissioner a month after the merger. He clearly had won his battle.
Here's my website: https://www.copytrophy.com/