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More MEMOIRS OF A MICKEY MOUSE FAN ©
a fan's History of the American Football League ©

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           Eddy Erdelatz, the former Navy head coach who had been the Oakland Raiders' first coach, was also the AFL's first head coaching casualty, as he was fired after the Raiders lost the first two games of 1961 by a combined score of 99-0.  Erdelatz was replaced by assistant Marty Feldman, who managed to coach the Raiders to two wins in the remaining twelve games.  Later, Lou Rymkus, who had coached the Houston Oilers to the first-ever AFL Championship after the 1960 season and was the AFL's first Coach of the Year, went 1-3-1 in the first five weeks of the 1961 season and was replaced by owner Bud Adams with Wally Lemm, an Oilers assistant.  The other AFL teams' original coaches managed to last out the year.
           When NFL apologists like Tex Maule of Sports Illustrated realized that the new league apparently was not to be "a flash in the pan", they began a flurry of insults and demeaning articles that would last for the AFL's ten-year existence.  Maule ridiculed the AFL champion Oilers and insisted that the NFL's expansion Cowboys were a better team.  He downplayed George Blanda's accomplishments in the AFL and implied that Blanda was an "NFL Reject" who couldn't cut it in a "real league".  History has shown what an astute judge of talent was Tex Maule.   If he was that wrong about Blanda, how accurate were all his other vituperative comments, over the years, about the American Football League? 
            In 1961, all Blanda did, in a 14-game schedule, was throw for 3,333 yards and 36 touchdowns, an all-time AFL record, and get selected as the AP, UPI, and Sporting News' AFL Player of the Year.

          There were several uniform changes in the 1961 American Football League.  The Boston Patriots replaced the three-cornered-hat helmet logo with "Pat the Patriot", a Revolutionary War-clad patriot "hiking" a football; the Titans of New York added gold and blue "UCLA" shoulder stripes, while the Houston Oilers added burgundy numerals to their white and Columbia blue away uniforms.    The San Diego Chargers kept their powder blue and white, but added yellow to the lightning bolts on pants, shoulders, and helmets. The Denver Broncos, incredibly, kept their mustard-and-brown uniforms with the vertically striped socks!
            On the field, stars from the first year continued to glitter.  The Broncos' Lionel Taylor again surpassed 1,000 yards receiving (1,176) and became the first receiver in professional football history to make 100 receptions, while Charlie Hennigan of the Oilers had three games in which he made catches for over 200 yards, with 272 on 13 receptions against the Patriots in a 31-31 tie on October 13.   After George Blanda's backup Jacky Lee threw for 457 yards for the Oilers in that Patriots game, George came back with 464 yards passing against the Bills on October 29, and 418 against the Titans on November 19.  Billy Cannon of the Oilers rushed for 216 yards on 25 carries, with three rushing touchdowns and two scores on receptions in the Oilers' 48-21 defeat of the Titans of New York at the Polo Grounds on December 10.
            In 1961, the American Football League's annual Thanksgiving Day game was once again hosted at the Polo Grounds by the Titans of New York, this time against the Buffalo Bills.  The Bills scored first on an 8-yard pass to Elbert Dubenion from Johnny Green, but the Titans answered with a score in each of the first three quarters: a 67-yard pass reception by Bob Renn from Al Dorow in the first; a  two-yard plunge by Dorow in the second; and a 55-yard interception return off Green by Dick Felt in the third quarter.  The Bills put on a concerted effort in the last period, scoring on a one-yard plunge by Green's replacement at quarterback, M. C. "Chief" Reynolds, but it was not enough, and the Titans won their second straight Thanksgiving Day game, 21-14.
             One of the most bizarre incidents in pro sports took place in the 1961 AFL game between the Dallas Texans and the Boston Patriots, at Nickerson Field on Friday night, November 3.  After back-and-forth scoring, the Texans had tied the game at 21-21 with a touchdown near the end of the third quarter, but the ensuing kickoff was returned 91 yards for a touchdown by Ron Burton. The  PAT by Gino Cappelletti gave the Patriots a seven-point lead.  The fourth quarter was scoreless, until with just seconds remaining, the Texans drove within the Patriots' twenty.  Texans quarterback Cotton Davidson dropped back and rifled a pass to his wide receiver Chris Burford, open in the end zone.  Incredibly, as time was running out, a Patriots fan, who had been on the field, unnoticed, at the start of the play, jumped from behind the Boston defense and knocked the pass away!  Wearing a trenchcoat, the unknown fan melted into the Boston crowd that stormed the field to celebrate the Patriots' win.  The Texans protested fruitlessly: the officials had not seen the "linebacker in a trenchcoat", there was no instant replay, and the Patriots had won the game.

          Again the AFL had played a fifteen-week season, with each team drawing a bye at some point during the season, and playing every other team twice.  And again the combatants in the ultimate game were the Eastern Division Champion Oilers and the Western Division Champion Chargers. However, although the Oilers still represented Houston (with ten wins, three losses and a tie), the Chargers were now the San Diego Chargers, with the league's best record at 12-2.  Sid Gillman's Chargers still had qb Jack Kemp, rb Paul Lowe, te Dave Kocourek, ot Ernie Wright, ot Ron Mix, de Ron Nery and lb-p Paul Maguire, and had added defensive muscle like massive Ernie Ladd and Rookie of the Year Earl Faison.  Oiler coach Wally Lemm, who compiled a 9-0 record after replacing Lou Rymkus, also had returning players qb George Blanda, rb Billy Cannon, fb Charlie Tolar, wr Charlie Hennigan, og Bob Talamini, de Don Floyd, and db Jim Norton. As in 1960, the teams had once again split their two regular season encounters: the Oilers won at home, 34-24, in week three, and the Chargers took their home game 38-13, on December 3.
          The AFL Championship of the 1961 season was played on Christmas Eve, 1961, at Balboa Stadium in San Diego before a crowd of 29,556.  Pre-game expectations were for a display of offensive fireworks from the highest-scoring teams in their respective divisions. But in a league known (and often demeaned) for its potent offenses, the expected shootout failed to materialize.  Instead, the 1961 American Football League championship game turned out to be what coaches and players on both sides later characterized as the toughest defensive battle they had ever been involved with.  No less than thirteen players suffered injuries and had to be helped off the field.

           The American Football League Champions for 1961 were once more the Houston Oilers,  Just as the Oilers' coach Lou Rymkus in the previous year, Wally Lemm was named the AFL's Coach of the Year for 1961, the first and only time that a team won a championship in two consecutive years, headed by different coaches who received coach of the year honors.  This time, enigmatic owner Bud Adams shelled out for championship rings.  But it still sticks in my craw that the team that won the first two American Football League Championships (and introduced the fans of Houston to major league sports) no longer exists, and that the name Oilers can never be used for any franchise, including Houston's.

The following are representations of American Football League team helmets, worn in 1961.
They are provided by Klaus Gebhard. (Click to enlarge.)

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