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The American Football
League didn't field an All-Star game after its first year, 1960.
Most references simply state that fact, and list no All-AFL
players or AFL All-Stars for that year. However
The Sporting News,
which always treated the AFL fairly, published an
'American Football League Guide' from 1960 through 1969.
Those 'Guides' included an
AFL All-League Team
each year, starting with
1960, when the selections were made by vote of the AFL
players themselves. Below are the names
of those 1960 AFL All-League players, comprising an 11-player offensive squad and an
11-player defensive squad. No kickers or coaches were named.
Some of them are little-known, but many were true stars.
Regardless, they all deserve to be recognized as the first
All-League players in a league that would forever change Pro
Football.
Interestingly, in spite of the
proclamations of the NFL-oriented media that the AFL did not
achieve parity until after the "merger" and the common draft,
there were two 1960 All-AFL players who were eventually named to
the "pro football" Hall of Fame: the Chargers' Ron Mix and the
Raiders' Jim Otto. Further, there were several who would be
in the Hall of Fame if "fairness" were a concept understood by
the selectors: Lionel Taylor, Jack Kemp, Paul Lowe, Abner
Haynes, Sherrill Headrick, and Goose Gonsoulin. Just as
revealing are the names of some of the great American Football
League players who didn't make that year's All-League
team: Johnny Robinson, Jim Hunt, Billy Cannon, Gino
Cappelletti, Wayne Hawkins, and Hall of Famers Don Maynard and
George Blanda.
Another point that puts
the lie to the claim that the early AFL was made up of "NFL
rejects" is that fifteen of the twenty-two All-AFL players in
1960 were men with no previous pro football experience.
The bottom line is that
while the AFL, like any league, had its great teams and its poor
teams, it had players who stole the fancy of a generation of
football fans: players who would have been stars in any league.
Here then, are the men considered by their peers at that moment in time,
Nineteen-Sixty, to be the best players in the American
Football League. |
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Card images are 1961 Topps
and 1961 & 1962 Fleer cards from
The Vintage Football Card Gallery.
1961 cards were used because they usually show 1960
uniforms. |
1960 AFL
ALL-LEAGUE PLAYERS ~ OFFENSE
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Bill Groman
(End), from
Heidelberg College, played
professionally in the
AFL from
1960 through
1962 for the
Houston Oilers,
where he was
on the first two AFL Championship teams.
He played for the
Denver Broncos in 1963, and for the
Buffalo Bills in 1964 and 1965,
again with
consecutive
American Football League Championship
teams. In his six years of pro football,
he played on four AFL
championship teams,
the only man to do so.
Groman had
more yards receiving in
a rookie year
than any other player (1473 in 1960,
when the season was 14 games long rather
than the current 16). He
also had the
most
touchdowns receiving in his first 2
years (29: 12 in 1960 and 17 in 1961). |
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A so-called
'NFL reject', Lionel Taylor
(End) went from the Bears to the
Denver Broncos
of the AFL in
1960,
catching 92 passes for 1,235 yards and
12 tds, with an 80-yard td
reception. Second in
all-time receptions (543) for the
Broncos and their all-time leading
yardage
receiver (6,872),
he was
the team MVP in 1963, 1964 and 1965, and an
AFL All-Star in 1961, 1962 and 1965.
He was the first
Pro
Football receiver ever
with 100
catches in one season
(1961),
in only 14 games.
You have to wonder if
the Bears had second thoughts!
Taylor had
four seasons with over 1,000
yards receiving, averaging 84.7
catches per year from 1960 to 1965, then
the highest six-year
total ever.
He
was with the Oilers in
1967 and
1968. |
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Rich
Michael (Offensive Tackle) played for
Woody Hayes at Ohio State. With the
Houston Oilers, in their first American Football
League Championship year, he was an All-AFL
offensive tackle. He was on the Oilers
second straight Championship team in 1961, and also made the AFL
East All-Star team in 1962 and in his last year
with the Oilers, 1966. |
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Ron
Mix
(Offensive Tackle),
from
USC, was an
original
Los Angeles
Charger in 1960.
Because he had a
law degree and was a
physical player,
he was nicknamed "The Intellectual
Assassin". Mix
was called for only
2 holding penalties in
his entire AFL career. He was a
factor in the Chargers' early domination of
the AFL's Western
Division, and helped the
team win an AFL
title in 1963, when they defeated the
Boston Patriots.
Mix was elected to the
All-AFL Team or
the
American
Football League
All-Star
team for nine straight years, 1960 through
1968. He was a unanimous choice to the
AFL's All-Time
Team,
and is one of only twenty men who played the
entire ten years of the AFL. |
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Billy Krisher
(Offensive Guard) was selected as an
All-America guard at Oklahoma University in
1956 and 1957. He played for the AFL's
Dallas Texans in 1960, and in
1961, his final year. |
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Bob
Mischak (Offensive Guard),
an All-American at Army, was a
bright spot on the
New York
Titans' line, making
All-AFL in both 1960 and 1961,
and the AFL East All-Star team
in 1962. |
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Jim Otto (Center)
wasn't drafted by
the NFL; no team in that league was
interested in an
undersized center, so he signed with the
AFL's Oakland Raiders and was issued
jersey number
50
for the AFL's inaugural season, 1960. He
switched to his familiar
00
the next year.
The
unusual number was
permitted by the AFL because
it
was a homonym pun
of his name (aught-O). Otto worked
diligently to build his body up to his
playing weight of 250 pounds. Otto never
missed a single
game due to injury though
there were many of them.
He
was one of only 20 men who played in the AFL
for its entire 10-year run, and he was
All-League every single year.
He is the center on the
All-Time All-AFL Team. |
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Jack
Kemp
(Quarterback), from
Occidental
College,
was the first 3,000 yard passer in
the American Football League,
with the
Los Angeles
Chargers, in 1960. He led
the LA team, and then the San Diego
Chargers in the first two AFL
Championship games in 1960 and 1961, before
being picked up on
waivers by the
Buffalo
Bills. |
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Kemp led Buffalo
to three straight
Eastern Division titles and
to two AFL
championships, in
1964
and in
1965,
when he
was again the All-League quarterback and was
selected as the
AFL's MVP.
He was one of twenty who were in the AFL for
10 years, and he was an
AFL All-Star
in eight of the ten. |
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Paul
Lowe
(Halfback) of Oregon
State gained 855 yards on 136 attempts for a
6.3 yds/carry average with the
Los Angeles
Chargers
in 1960.
He
was All-AFL and
the
AFL
MVP in
1965 with 1,121 yards rushing
(14-game schedule). He
played in three AFL All-Star games and was
selected as a halfback on the
All-Time All-AFL Team.
Lowe set a pro football record with six
games gaining 100
or more yards on 14 or fewer carries. He has
the AFL's all-time highest rushing average,
at 4.89 yd/carry, and his career rushing
total of 4,995 yards is second best all-time
in the AFL. With
the Chargers from 1960 through 1968, he
finished his career with the
Chiefs and
is one of only
20 players who
were in the AFL for all
10 years. |
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Abner Haynes
(Halfback)
in
1960 chose to play for the
AFL's
Dallas Texans
and led the AFL in
rushing attempts, yards, and TDs in its
first year. Haynes helped launch the AFL in
1960, when he was the fledgling league's
all-everything: its
first
Player of the Year,
its first
Rookie of the Year,
and an All-League halfback.
In 1960 he
captured the AFL's 1st
rushing crown with 875 yards, and also led
the Texans in receiving, punt, and kickoff
returns. He was All-AFL
again in 1961 and 1963, and an AFL All-Star
in 1962, when he and the Texans won the
double-OT AFL Championship game vs. the
Oilers. He spent
3 years in Dallas,
2 with the
subsequent KC
Chiefs, and completed his
career with the
Broncos,
Jets, and
Dolphins. |
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Dave
Smith (Fullback)
was
a member of the AFL's
first two Championship teams, in 1960 and 1961.
Smith's 154 carries for 643 yards
and 5 touchdowns earned him a berth on the
1960 All-League Team. He
played with the Oilers through 1964.
Smith has been a scout for the
Buffalo Bills
from 1992 until the present (2007) |
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1960 AFL
ALL-LEAGUE PLAYERS ~ DEFENSE
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LaVerne Torczon
(Defensive End), of the University of
Nebraska was one of the
Buffalo Bills'
early defensive stars under head coach
Buster Ramsey. Torczon was All-AFL in
1960 and played on the AFL Eastern Division
All-Star team in the AFL's first All-Star
game after the 1961 season. He also
played with the
Titans/Jets
and ended his Pro Football career in 1966
with the
Miami Dolphins. |
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Mel Branch
(Defensive End) won the collegiiate national
championship with the LSU Tigers in
1958. He was All-AFL for the
Dallas Texans
in 1960, an AFL Western Division All-Star in
1961, 1962 and 1963, and on the Texans team
that defeted the two-time defending AFL
Champion
Houston Oilers
in the classic double-overtime 1962 AFL
Championship game. |
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Bud McFadin
(Defensive Tackle),
of the
University of Texas,
was inducted into the College
Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
In addition to being an
All-AFL defensive tackle
for the
Denver
Broncos in
1960, McFadin
was selected for that honor in
1961 and 1962, and
was an
AFL Western
Division All-Star in
1963.
In 1962, he scored a td on a
69-yard fumble return against
the
New York
Titans, but it wasn't
enough, as the Titans defeated
the Broncos 46-45! |
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McFadin was
traded to the
Houston
Oilers for
quarterback
Jacky Lee
and ended his career with
Houston, playing there in 1964
and 1965. |
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Volney Peters
(Defensive Tackle)
played only one year for the
Los Angeles Chargers,
but he made the All-AFL team in 1960.
He was traded to the
Oakland Raiders
and played his final year, 1961 with
Oakland. |
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Sherrill Headrick
(Linebacker)
left TCU
after 3 seasons
and played at OG,
C, and
LB in the
CFL
in 1959.
His nickname 'Psycho'
fit his
play: with the
Dallas
Texans, 'Head'
set standards for
playing hurt after breaking
a vertebra in his neck in a warm-up
collision,
before an
Oilers
game. He
played the game,
learned of the
injury five days later, but played
the following week. All-AFL
in 1960, and an
AFL All-Star
in '61,
'62,
'65 and
'66.
He had 14
interceptions during his
8-year Texans/Chiefs career,
returning 3 for
tds. He played in the 1962 and 1966 AFL
title game wins,
and in the first AFL-NFL World
Championship Game.
He was picked
by the
Bengals
in the '68 AFL
expansion draft,
and played for them one season. |
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Tommy Addison
(Linebacker) was drafted by the Colts but
decided to play for the AFL's
Boston Patriots.
He was one of only two Patriots to be named
All-AFL in 1960. He was an AFL Eastern
Division All-Star in 1961 and 1962, and made
All-AFL again in 1963 and 1964. He is
a member of the Patriots' All-1960s Team.
Addison was an early advocate for players'
benefits, and was instrumental in the
creation of the American Football League
Players Association. He played for
the Patriots his whole career, but was
forced by knee injuries to retire
prematurely after the 1967 season. |
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Archie Matsos
(Linebacker) was another of the
Buffalo Bills''
early defensive stars under head coach
Buster Ramsey. He made All-AFL in 1960
and was an AFL Eastern Division All-Star in
1961 and 1962 with the Bills. In 1963,
with the
Oakland Raiders,
he was again selected as an All-AFL
linebacker. Matsos also played for the
Denver Broncos
and the
San Diego Chargers
in 1966, his final year. |
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The Buffalo Bills had
three players on the AFL's first All-League
team, and Richie McCabe (Defensive
Back) was the third defensive player
selected, indicating the defensive
orientation of Bills' head coach Buster
Ramsey. McCabe finished his playing career
with the Bills in 1961, but in 1966, he
returned to the team as Defensive
Backfield Coach. |
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Dick
Harris
(Defensive Back) had 5
interceptions for the
Los Angeles
Chargers
in 1960, and a total of 25 picks in the
Chargers' first four seasons. He was
also All-AFL in 1962, and he was a starter
on the San Diego Chargers' 1963 AFL
Championship team. Harris played for
the Chargers through the 1965 season. |
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Ross O'Hanley
(Defensive Back) was one of five Boston
College players to make the 1960
Boston Patriots
team, a preference the Patriots continued to
show throughout their AFL years.
O'Hanley joined defensive team-mate Tommy
Addison as a 1960 All-AFL selection.
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Austin (Goose) Gonsoulin
(Defensive Back) was an All-AFL
defensive back for the
Denver
Broncos in 1960 (with
11 interceptions), 1962 and
1963, and an AFL Western
Division All-Star in 1961, 1964,
and 1966. His eleven
interceptions in 1960 are still
a franchise record. After
his last season in the American
Football League in 1966, he was
the league's all-time leader in
interceptions, with forty.
In 1970 Gonsoulin was selected
as a defensive back on the
Second Team, All-Time All-AFL. |
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Click here to see the entire list of American Football League
All-League Players
1960-1969 |
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