LONGEST
CHAMPIONSHIP
GAME

.

.

ABNER HAYNES


Click here for more

Paintng by Robert Hurst

       In 1956 Abner Haynes attended North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), where he helped make the school one of the first in Texas to integrate its football program.  In 1960, Haynes chose to play for the Dallas Texans and led the American Football League in rushing attempts, yards, and TDs in the league’s first year.  Haynes helped launch the AFL in 1960, when he was the fledgling league's first Most Valuable Player, and its first Rookie of the Year.  He captured the AFL's first rushing crown with 875 yards, and also led the Texans in receiving, punt returns, and kickoff returns. Haynes spent three years in Dallas and two with the Kansas City Chiefs.  Haynes still owns 11 franchise records, including most points in a game (30), most touchdowns in a season (19), most touchdowns in a game (5), most career 100-yard rushing games (12), most career rushing touchdowns (39) and most career combined yards (8,442). Over his career he was regularly among the American Football League's top ten rushers, ranking third all-time, and the all-time leader in touchdowns, with 46.   He was Hall of Fame head coach Hank Stram's most versatile and dangerous weapon from 1960-62, amassing 43 touchdowns and 4,472 yards on rushes and receptions. In 1962, he helped the Texans win the American Football League championship in the classic double-overtime victory over the defending champion Houston Oilers, scoring touchdowns on a 28-yard pass reception from quarterback Len Dawson, and on a 2-yard run.
       "He was a franchise player before they talked about franchise players," praised Stram. "He did it all - rushing, receiving, kickoff returns, punt returns. He gave us the dimension we needed to be a good team in Dallas."          
         The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Haynes, who had great speed and dazzling moves in the open field, set AFL records with 5 touchdowns in a game and 19 touchdowns in a season in 1961, and with 46 career rushing touchdowns. He also played for the Denver Broncos, the Miami Dolphins, and the New York Jets.   
         During his 8 professional seasons, Haynes carried the ball 1,036 times for 4,630 yards, a 4.5 average; caught 287 passes for 3,535 yards, a 12.3 average, and 20 TDs.

         Haynes returned 85 punts for 875 yards, a 10.3 average, and 1 touchdown; and ran back 121 kickoffs for 3,025 yards, a 25.0 average, and 1 touchdown, and ran a recovered fumble back for a td: 69 total touchdowns, for 414 points.His 12,065 combined yards is the American Football League record.  Haynes had three games in which he gained 100 or more yards on 14 or fewer carries.  He sponsors "Heroes of Football" a program that re-connects pro football players with communities and charities.   Abner Haynes is a 2007 inductee to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

.

JERRY MAYS
.

       In 1961, in the fifth round, the Dallas Texans also drafted Jerry Mays of Southern Methodist University, where he had been a co-captain and an All-Southwest Conference defensive tackle.   Mays was drafted by the Vikings, but chose to play in the AFL, near his home.  He was a force at end on the Chiefs' vaunted defensive line, after starting his professional career playing defensive tackle.
       A six-time AFL All-Star, Jerry Mays was selected to the All-Star team at two different positions: at defensive tackle in 1962 and 1964, and at defensive end in 1965 through 1968.
       An emotional, durable competitor wth speed, agility and strong "second effort", Mays played in 126 straight games for the AFL Texans and Chiefs, and once recovered and returned a Jets' fumble 58 yards for a touchdown.  He was not only an Amrican Football League player but also an AFL fan.

.

CURTIS McCLINTON
.

          Halfback Curtis McClinton was a future choice by the New York Titans in the 14th round of the 1961 AFL draft, from the University of Kansas, where he is in the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.   His rights were traded to the Dallas Texans, where McClinton became one of the early stars of the American Football League. He was named the AFL Rookie of the Year in 1962, when he had 604 Yards on 111 carries for a 5.4 yards per carry average, and caught 29 passes for 333 yards. He finished the season off with his selection as the Outstanding Player of the 1962 AFL All-Star game.
          In addition to 1962, he was also an AFL All-Star in 1966 and 1967. Left off the AFL All-Star squad in 1965 in favor of the Chargers’ Paul Lowe, McClinton still accumulated 1,251 total yards from scrimmage on 175 carries and 37 receptions for 6 tds rushing and 3 receiving. He had the size to run inside and the speed to run outside, and was excellent in pass protection.  McClinton played on three American Football League Championship teams.

        McClinton played in two AFL-NFL World Championship games, the first, in which he was the first AFL player to score a touchdown, and the last, in which the Chiefs defeated the Vikings 23-7. He is a member of the Chiefs Hall of Fame.

.

JOHNNY ROBINSON

Louisiana State University product Johnny Robinson was a master thief for the Kansas City Chiefs, leading the team in interceptions with 10 in 1966, and 57 for his career, a team record.
         In Super Bowl IV, the underdog Chiefs defeated "one of the [so-called] greatest teams in the history of the NFL", the Vikings, 23-7.  Late in the first half, Robinson recovered a Minnesota fumble and helped seal the Viking's fate.  With Chiefs rushing to congratulate him, lying on the turf, Robinson held one finger high to signify that the Chiefs were the best team in professional football.  Robinson also had an interception off Joe Kapp in the fourth quarter. 
         Robinson was a six-time All-American Football League selection who played that Super Bowl game with three broken ribs.  

          Five times the interception leader on the Texans/Chiefs, Robinson redefined the role of the safety in professional football.  Opposing quarterbacks soon learned to keep the ball away from him.  In 1968, Pro Football Weekly selected him to its combined all-pro team, and Robinson is a member of the All-time All-AFL Team and one of only twenty players who were in the American Football League for its entire ten-year existence.  He founded and operates Johnny Robinson's Boys Home in Monroe, Louisiana.

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame
(click photo to enlarge >)
(click here for a story about the photo)

.

JIM TYRER

       Jim Tyrer was an All-American at OHIO STATE under Woody Hayes.  Signing with the Dallas Texans in 1961, he set the standard for his position.
       The best offensive tackle of his time, Jim Tyrer anchored the Texans/Chiefs line for 13 seasons.  He was an American Football League All-Star seven times, in 1962, '63, '64, '65 , '66, '68 and '69.  His blocks were crushing, and his consistent, outstanding play landed him a spot on the American Football League All-Time Team. 
       He had an uncanny ability to open a hole for Chiefs running backs, which helped the team crush the Vikings in the Fourth AFL-NFL World Championship Game. 
      The 6-foot-6, 295 pound giant would single-handedly take on two of Minnesota's vaunted defensive linemen, blow them away and lead the charge as Mike Garrett swept through the hole. 
     Tyrer was named 1969 AFL Offensive Lineman of the Year and played in 180 consecutive games for the team.     

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

.

.

LLOYD WELLS


Photo courtesy of Jim L. Chambers

       The epitome of the American Football League's enlightened policies towards recruiting black athletes was Lloyd C. A. "Judge" Wells, a Texas Southern University graduate who, while he was a sports photographer, accomplished the desegregation of fan seating at amateur and professional events in Houston. 
       As a part-time scout for Kansas City, he convinced Grambling defensive tackle Buck Buchanan to sign with the Chiefs.  He also recruited defensive backs Jim Kearney and Emmit Thomas, and linebacker Willie Lanier.  After becoming pro football's first black full-time scout, in a famous "babysitting" incident in 1965, he managed to get Hall of Fame receiver Otis Taylor (Prairie View A&M) away from the other league's Dallas team.  Wells' success was a catalyst for the old league to try to get up to speed in signing talented black players from small colleges, as the AFL had done from its inception.

       No less than eight of Wells' recruits made All-AFL during their pro careers. He had a major hand in staffing the Chiefs to enable them to win the Fourth World Championship Game.

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

.

.

LAMAR HUNT


(click here for more)

Lamar Hunt had a dream . . . to bring professional football to Texas and to American markets that had a yearning for the game in places other than the traditional Northeast.  In fulfilling that dream, Hunt gave life to the league that was the genesis of modern professional football: the American Football League.
         As his coach for the entire ten-year history of the AFL, he chose Hall-of-Famer-to-be Hank Stram.  Hunt encouraged, entreated, wheedled, and cajoled seven other forward-thinking men to form a league that would forever leave its mark on American sport.  The excellence of his team forced others in the league to compete to meet his high standards.  Hunt and his AFL associates signed some of the best players ever to play the game, and brought new ideas, excitement, and color to AFL cities while other "pro football" towns watched "three yards and a cloud of dust".

       When his team capped off the league's existence with a crushing victory over a hugely favored opponent, it was Hunt who approved the 10-year AFL patch they wore, commemorating the ten years of excellence of the American Football League.  For his foresight and perseverance, and for giving them ten years of pure football pleasure, American Football League fans everywhere say "Thank you!" to Lamar Hunt.

.

Remember
the AFL