|
1
9 8 2 |
| May
11 - The launch of the USFL is announced at
"21" in New York City. |
| - |
|
1
9 8 3 |
| - |
| April
28 - Just weeks into its inaugural season, the
USFL announces its plans to expand, adding the
Pittsburgh Maulers as the league's 13th
franchise. |
| - |
| May
11 - On the first anniversary of the league's
launch announcement, the USFL expands to
Houston, awarding a franchise to a partnership
of Bernard Lerner, Dr. Jerry Argovitz, Alvin
Lubetkin and Fred Gerson. |
| - |
| May
31 - The Houston franchise names former NFL and
WFL head coach Jack Pardee as its head coach for
1984. |
| - |
| June
9 - In a stunning move, University of Miami
quarterback Jim Kelly signs with the Gamblers
rather than the NFL's Buffalo Bills. |
| - |
| July
11 - Wishing to give the Gamblers a natural
rival, the league announces that the San Antonio
Gunslingers will join the league beginning in
1984. |
| - |
| September
6 - The Gamblers roster gets 36 new names as the
team participates in the USFL Expansion Draft. |
| - |
| October
16 - Houston hosts the 1983 USFL Annual
Meeting. The Gamblers are aligned into the
Western Conference's Central Division along with
Chicago, Michigan, Oklahoma and San Antonio. |
| - |
|
To
see more of the
Gamblers timeline, visit the
USFL.INFO
Timeline of the USFL
|
|
| Years
Played in USFL: |
1984,
1985 |
| Club
Owner(s): |
Alvin
Lubetkin, Bernard Lerner, Dr. Jerry
Argovitz, Fred Gerson (1984);
Alvin Lubetkin, Dr. Jerry Argovitz, Jay
Roulier (1985) |
| Playing
Site: |
Houston
Astrodome, Houston Texas |
| Head
Coach(es): |
Jack
Pardee |
| Overall
Record: |
23-15-0
(23-13-0 regular season) |
| . |
. |
|
|
|
| Year |
Head
Coach |
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
Finish |
Post-Season
Notes |
| 1984 |
Jack
Pardee |
13 |
5 |
0 |
.722 |
1st,
Central Div. |
Lost
in Divisional Playoff |
| 1985 |
Jack
Pardee |
10 |
8 |
0 |
.556 |
3rd,
Western Conf. |
Lost
in Divisional Playoff |
| Team
Totals |
23 |
13 |
0 |
.639 |
--- |
0-2
in Post-Season Play |
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The
USFL didn't have a team in Texas in
1983. Whether that was by design or
due to oversight is subject to debate, but
the football-crazy Lone Star state seemed
more than eager to take a crack at pro
football in the spring, and in 1984 the
USFL delivered not one but two franchises
to the state.
. |
|
The
first of these was the Houston Gamblers, whose
existence was announced on the first anniversary
of the league's launch announcement. On the
field the Gamblers quickly became a team the rest
of the USFL envied - one of the team's first deals
was to sign University of Miami quarterback Jim
Kelly, a 1st round pick of the NFL's Buffalo
Bills, to a long-term contract. The team
hired a head coach with an NFL pedigree in the
form of Jack Pardee. Simply put, on the
field the Gamblers made it known that they'd be
competitive from Day One.
Off the field however was just as interesting a
story. USFL founder David Dixon had, as part
of his compensation for conceiving the league, was
awarded a franchise of his own. Choosing not
to launch it in 1983 in order to help the league's
other 12 owners, after the 1983 season he was
looking to cash out. The Gamblers ownership
group, looking to acquire an expansion franchise,
instead bought Dixon's franchise rights and Texas
had its team. Originally Bernard Lerner was
to be the head of the ownership group, but
internal squabbles on a variety of subjects would
put Dr. Jerry Argovitz front and center in the
public eye. Argovitz, a dentist who would
give up his practice to become a sports agent,
immediately ran into troubles as a number of his
clients were trying to negotiate USFL contracts -
an obvious conflict of interest. Argovitz
resolved the issue by selling his agency, but it
wasn't the type of start Commissioner Chet Simmons
had in mind for the USFL's presence in Texas.
The team on the field was, as predicted,
immediately competitive, delightfully shocking
fans with Darrell "Mouse" Davis
"Run n' Shoot" offense. The
expansion Gamblers put up points in bunches,
averaging over 34 points a game. The defense
gave up 400 points in 18 games, but the firepower
exhibited by Kelly and his wide receiving corps,
particularly Ricky Sanders and Richard Johnson,
put up 618. In just their first year, the
Gamblers went 13-5-0 and captured the Central
Division title, eclipsing the defending USFL
champion Michigan Panthers by a full three
games. While the team's appearance in the
1984 USFL playoffs was all too brief (losing in
dramatic fashion to the eventual Western
Conference champion Arizona Wranglers, 17-16),
Houston football fans had a winner for the first
time in recent memory.
1985 was more of the same, with the high-powered
Gambler passing game tempered by a running game
that featured 1,000-yard rusher Todd Fowler.
During the season though defenses began to catch
on to the Run n' Shoot concept, and while they
weren't completely able to shut Kelly & Co.
down, they were able to do enough damage to lower
the team's record to 10-8-0. The Gamblers
once again made the playoffs, but once again fell
in the first round, this time at the hands of the
Birmingham Stallions.
Despite the Gamblers success however, the 1985
team didn't draw fans as they had the year before,
almost certainly a by-product of the USFL's
decision to move to a fall schedule beginning in
1986. While the Gamblers were a treat to
watch on the field as a spring team, Houston's
fall pro football interest was reserved for the
Oilers, whether the Gamblers won or lost.
Argovitz had lost millions, and near the end of
the 1985 season the USFL floated the team money to
keep it alive through the playoffs. After
the 1985 season a group approached Argovitz about
buying the team and relocating it to New York
City, but Generals owner Donald Trump stepped in
instead, buying the Gamblers and merging it into
his New Jersey club in preparation for a fall 1986
season that wasn't to be.
As was the case in a number of cities, Houston's
foray into spring pro football was a successful
one - until the announcement that the USFL was
moving to a fall schedule. Once that
occurred, the Gamblers proved to be a bad bet. |
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