The oilers move broke my young fandom of any NFL team forever. The whole idea of "Houston's team" died and I realized being loyal to an NFL team was just as dumb as being loyal to a specific tech company. They are private businesses, the only difference is apple won't demand I pony up tax dollars to build them a new store.

The only exceptions being the packers and the browns; both teams are in part or completely owned by the cities they reside in.

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Posted by Dr RC

The Money Pit

Member since Aug 2011

58153 posts

Posted on 8/10/14 at 10:48 pm to cokebottleag

Week 17 - 1984: San Antonio Gunslingers vs Houston Gamblers

quote:

Published on Jun 12, 2014

1984 Week 17 - Monday, June 18, 1984
Attendance: 30,184
TV: ESPN

Former world heavyweight champion George Foreman, now a minister prayed before the game and Houston Gamblers quarterback Jim Kelly prayed in the fourth quarter in the Astrodome Monday.

Foreman, a former fighter turned minister, performed a wedding at halftime on the 50-yard line, and Kelly rallied the Gamblers with a pair of spectacular second-half comebacks for a 29-26 United States Football victory over the San Antonio Gunslingers.

The Gamblers, already assured of a playoff berth as the Central Division champions, nonetheless had to rally twice in the fourth quarter to defeat their intrastate rival.

San Antonio quarterback Rick Neuheisel paced the Gunslingers to a 20-7 halftime lead with a 17-point first quarter that included a 15-yard pass to Don Roberts, Mike Hagen's two-yard run and the first of four field goals by Nick Mike-Mayer.

Houston's only first-half scoring came on Kellyls 44-yard touchdown pass to Richard Johnson, who set a USFL season receiving total of 1,322 yards.

Houston took a 21-20 third quarter lead on Kelly's 26-yard touchdown pass to Scott McGhee and Todd Fowler's one-yard dive.

But Mike-Mayer's 40 and 49 yard field goals gave San Antonio the lead until Kelly took the Gamblers 79-yards in two plays, capped by Ricky Sanders' 30-yard touchdown catch with 1:15 left in the game for the win.

San Antonio Gunslingers:

Years of existence: 1984-1985
Owner: Clinton Manges
Stadium: Alamo Stadium (32,000)
Colors: Kelly green, royal blue, silver and white
Overall Regular Season Record: 12-24 (.333)
Overall Playoff Record: 0-0

Yearly Standings and Average Home Attendances

1984: 7-11 (15,444)
1985: 5-13 (11,721)

Always a butt of league jokes, the Gunslingers were one of the USFL's prime examples of how not to run a franchise. The team appeared to be under financed from the start. Team owner Clinton Manges had a fortune in oil but had a hard time converting it to cash to pay his players and staff. The crash of the oil market didn't help. The league even had to tell the 'Slingers to move their offices out of a double-wide trailer in the Alamo Stadium parking lot. Missed paydays became routine during the 1985 season, causing the resignation of coach Jim Bates and a near player revolt.

The Gunslingers held a reunion in 1998, thirteen years after the team had played its last game. More than 50 former members of the squad attended.

Their Finest Hour: No, it wasn't the time the lights went out at Alamo Stadium during a nationally-televised ESPN game against the Houston Gamblers. It wasn't even the time an unidentified San Antonio player was put on the injured list due to a groin injury caused by the lid on a trunk he was packing. Instead, we'll go with the Gunslingers' first win, a 14-10 decision against the Oakland Invaders. Oakland drew first blood in the opening quarter on a 19-yard Fred Besana to Gordon Banks scoring pass. San Antonio tied it before halftime when Rick Neuheisel found Joey Hackett in the end zone from nine yards out. Kevin Shea's 36-yard field goal put Oakland up, 10-7, in the third, and it stayed that way until deep into the fourth. Neuheisel directed a drive which culminated in Al Penn-White's one-yard run with 1:22 remaining. The San Antonio defense held, and the Gunslingers became the last of the 1984 expansion teams to record a win.