May 11, 2007
On this, the silver anniversary of the press conference at "21" in New York City announcing the launch of the United States Football League, USFL.INFO makes its debut on the world wide web.
USFL.INFO will be perhaps the most comprehensive site ever to chronicle the league that launched professional football in springtime. The goals for USFL.INFO are simple and straight-forward: |
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USFL.INFO has in just over a year become a primary source for information on the United States Football League, serving as the largest internet site dedicated to its colorful history.
Even though that's the case, we want to make the site even better by adding your USFL recollections. Whether you were a player, coach, member of a team's front office, hot dog vendor, or just a fan, we want to hear from you - and to hear your USFL story!
Please contact us and tell us your recollections of the USFL. We'll be glad to add them! |
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July
30, 2008 -- USFL.INFO has collected a veritable treasure trove of information and documents related to the business end of the fabled United States Football League - from the league's constitution, by-laws and operating regulations to the expansion applications of most of the 1984 expansion clubs - but one piece of information has eluded us, and we're putting out an APB for it here.
At some point during their existence, the Jacksonville Bulls attempted to "go public" by selling stock in the football club. We've learned scant details about the offering aside from the fact that it was wildly unsuccessful (by our reports only 700 shares were ever sold to the public), but a Prospectus on the stock was distributed to the public - and if you have a copy of it, or of a Bulls' stock certificate, we'd like you to contact us.
In the year or so that USFL.INFO has been online, we've received some great feedback from fans, former team executives and employees, and others who had a passion for the league that first brought us spring football. Below are some comments from visitors:
"I love your site! You have done a fantastic job and I visit it often" -- Robert Ricker
"I stumbled on your site today. It is really amazing!" -- Eric Koppish
"Nice site! I look forward to visiting here often. Although I haven't heard from any of my fellow teammates since way back then, I know a 25 year anniversary is around the corner and I wouldn't want to miss that!"-- Bryan Baker, former equipment manager, San Antonio Gunslingers (Bryan also provided some great 'Slingers pictures that will be on the site soon!)
"If you ever decide to write a book about the league, I'd be first in line to buy it as it'd clearly be the definitive resource on the league's history." -- Bob Belizan (funny Bob mentions a book; I have plans to do precisely that, should I ever find the time).
Have something you'd like to say? Contact us! |
With these goals in mind, USFL.INFO will forever be considered a "work in progress" - never complete until everything there is to record about the USFL, both on and off the field, has been recorded and disseminated.
Months of research and several thousand dollars were spent collecting information on the league toward the launch of USFL.INFO, but the site admittedly has some omissions in its content. This site is intended to be a collaborative effort, and I'm always eager to add information to the site from others: first-hand accounts, commentaries, game reports, images of team or league memorabilia... anything that helps chronicle the history of the last true competitor to the National Football League.
To view the information collected thus far, simply use the links embedded in the graphics at the top of this and every page of the site. Clicking on the Denver Gold logo for example will take you to that team's section of the site, while you can get information about the league's 1984 season by clicking on "The 1984 Season," and so forth.
I encourage you to contact me should you have something you think is worth contributing to the USFL.INFO effort, or just to say hello and give your thoughts on how we can make the site the best it can be! |
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July
30, 2008 -- USFL.INFO has received confirmation from a reliable, inside source of something that was suspected but previously never admitted - that its 1984 draft order was purposely fixed to facilitate the Pittsburgh Maulers selection of Nebraska Heisman Trophy-winning RB Mike Rozier.
The Maulers, who would play their only season in '84, were awarded the #1 pick by USFL Director of Operations Peter Hadhazy, not due to a lottery (which had reportedly been conducted among the league's six expansion franchises), but solely due to negotiations that were already taking place between the team and Rozier.
In an e-mail conversation with a high ranking official from one of the teams involved, USFL.INFO received confirmation on what had long been suspected: "Peter assigned the pick without a coin flip or lottery of any kind," betting that the team would be successful in signing Rozier. Hadhazy died in 2006 before USFL.INFO's launch, making his skullduggery hard to conclusively prove - until now.
The Maulers would go on to sign Rozier, in the process providing him with the largest signing bonus in pro football history to that time - $1 million. Just a year later however the Maulers would be history - and Rozier would be in Jacksonville with the Bulls. |
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