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9 8 2 |
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| May
11 - At "21" in New York City, the
United States Football League announces its
plans to begin play with the 1983 season.
Over the next six weeks, television packages
with ABC and ESPN are also announced. |
| - |
| June
2 - New York franchise announces it has named
former New England Patriots coach Chuck
Fairbanks as President and Head Coach. |
| - |
| July
22 - New Jersey Generals announced as team
name, as team signs to play at the
Meadowlands through 2002. Team colors are
announced as red, white and blue. |
| - |
| August
31 - Generals are aligned in the USFL Atlantic
Division along with the Boston Breakers,
Philadelphia Stars and Washington Federals. |
| - |
| December
17 - Lottery is held for upcoming USFL Draft
positions; Generals will select 3rd in odd
numbered rounds, 10th in even-numbered ones. |
| - |
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1
9 8 3 |
| - |
| January
4 - Having traded down in the first round draft
order to allow the Birmingham Stallions to
select quarterback Reggie Collier, the New
Jersey Generals use the #5 overall pick to
select Arkansas RB Gary Anderson.
Anderson's USFL rights would be traded to the
Tampa Bay Bandits. |
| - |
| February
23 - 1982 Heisman Trophy winning Georgia RB
Herschel Walker is formally introduced to the
media as a member of the New Jersey
Generals. Walker, who had previously
negotiated with the Chicago Blitz, signed a
three year deal worth $4.2 million, including a
$1 million signing bonus. Walker would
sign an extension of this deal in 1985. |
| - |
| March
6 - Thanks to Walker the New Jersey Generals
inaugural game against the Los Angeles Express
is chosen as ABC's nationally telecast USFL
game. Walker rushes for the first 65 of
his 1,812 yards on the season, but the Generals
lose to the Express at the L.A. Coliseum, 20-15. |
| - |
| April
3 - After losing the team's first four games,
the New Jersey Generals earn their first-ever
victory in the USFL, a 35-21 win over the
Arizona Wranglers. |
| - |
|
To
see more of the
Generals timeline, visit the
USFL.INFO
Timeline of the USFL |
|
| Years
Played in USFL: |
1983,
1984, 1985 |
| Club
Owner(s): |
J.
Walter Duncan and Chuck Fairbanks
(1983); Donald J. Trump (1984-85) |
| Playing
Site: |
The
Meadowlands, East Rutherford, New Jersey |
| Head
Coach(es): |
Chuck
Fairbanks (1983), Walt Michaels
(1984-85) |
| Overall
Record: |
31-25-0
(31-23-0 regular season) |
| . |
. |
|
|
|
| Year |
Head
Coach |
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
Finish |
Post-Season
Notes |
| 1983 |
Chuck
Fairbanks |
6 |
12 |
0 |
.333 |
3rd,
Atlantic Div. |
Failed
to Qualify |
| 1984 |
Walt
Michaels |
14 |
4 |
0 |
.778 |
2nd,
Atlantic Div. |
Lost
Divisional Playoff |
| 1985 |
Walt
Michaels |
11 |
7 |
0 |
.611 |
2nd,
Eastern Conf. |
Lost
Divisional Playoff |
| Team
Totals |
31 |
23 |
0 |
.574 |
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Considered
by many within the league's office and
certainly by its second owner as the
flagship franchise of the United States
Football League, the New Jersey Generals
appeared to be anything but up until a
month before the league's inaugural 1983
season.
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Originally
to be owned by real estate magnate Donald Trump,
he would leave the USFL ownership ranks citing a
need to remain focused on his holdings, including
the construction of New York's famed Trump
Tower. Oklahoma oilman J. Walter Duncan
stepped into the void, and prior to February 1983
had followed the David Dixon plan when it came to
signing players and a head coach, bringing in
Chuck Fairbanks in the latter role and giving him
a reported 10% of the franchise. The team
didn't have a truly marketable star, and looking
back on it one wonders how the 1983 team would
have fared without the signing of one player.
That player, of course, was Heisman Trophy winning
Georgia RB Herschel Walker, who decided to turn
pro after his junior year, eschewing his final
year of eligibility under NCAA rules. The
only problem was that the NFL and USFL had both
adopted rules barring their teams from signing
underclassmen. USFL Director of
Administration Steve Ehrhart knew that if
challenged in court that rule would be deemed
illegal by the courts however, and when Walker's
agent approached the league about the possibility
of his joining the fledgling league, the USFL had
no choice but to allow him to negotiate with teams
for Walker's services.
Choosing the Generals because he saw enhanced
marketing opportunities, Walker and Duncan came to
terms on a three-year deal worth $4.2 million,
including a $1 million signing bonus. While
initially Walker would deny that a deal had been
struck, eventually it was announced as a done deal
- college football's brightest star was coming to
the new league's biggest city.
On the field in 1983 however, the flagship
franchise had quite a few leaks. Walker's
presence didn't make much difference, as the team
went a woeful 6-12-0. Walker brought drawing
power to the gate however, with the Generals among
the league leaders in attendance despite their
record. Lamenting that he had to commute
nearly 2,000 miles to watch his team play a home
game, Duncan decided to sell the Generals after
that first season, and Donald Trump stepped
forward to return to the USFL ownership ranks,
buying the club on September 22, 1983. From
that day forward, some historians argue, the USFL
was doomed.
Rather than adhere to the original USFL plan,
Trump almost immediately sought to improve his
team seemingly at almost any cost. The
Generals signed players away from the NFL such as
Gary Barbaro and Kerry Justin, then 1980 league
MVP Brian Sipe to quarterback the 1984 team, and
Chuck Fairbanks was replaced as head coach by
popular former Jets head coach Walt
Michaels. Money was spent without regard to
the league's salary cap structure (the contracts
for Sipe and Walker alone exceeded it), but in
doing so Trump built a winner. The 1984
team, still led by Walker, dramatically improved
to 14-4-0 and earned its first playoff
berth. Though the team would lose in the
opening round of the USFL playoffs, the
improvement only spurred Trump and other USFL
owners to spend their teams into oblivion.
Trump also angled for the USFL to compete head to
head with the NFL by moving to a fall
schedule. While this was the diametric
opposite of what David Dixon had in mind in
founding the league, over the course of 1984 Trump
managed to convince his fellow owners that moving
to the fall would result in the USFL getting a
better television package - without any hard
evidence to support his theory. The 1984-85
off season was another one where Trump opened his
wallet wide, signing another Heisman Trophy winner
to the team, Boston College QB Doug Flutie.
Flutie, considered by many in the NFL to be too
small to play quarterback, signed for a reported
four years at $5 million. Never mind that
the Gens already had a highly paid quarterback in
Brian Sipe - within 24 hours he was shipped off to
Jacksonville. Flutie added marketability,
and Trump was confident his star power would be
helpful.
If ever a pro football team was a one- or two-man
show, the 1985 Generals personified it. With
Walker and Flutie in the Gens backfield, the team
won 11 games thanks largely to Flutie handing the
ball off to Walker, Flutie handing the ball off to
Walker, and more Flutie handing the ball off to
Walker. Carrying the ball 438 times, Walker
amassed a pro football record 2,411 yards, leading
the Generals to an 11-7-0 record and a second
place finish in the seven-team Eastern
Conference. Flutie's freshman season in the
USFL was actually something of a bust, however,
throwing for 2,109 yards and more interceptions
than touchdowns.
Hosting the 1985 USFL Championship Game, league
office personnel hoped the Generals would advance
to the title game in an effort to curb the
league's financial losses, but to no avail - the
seeding of teams put the Generals head to head
with the defending champion Baltimore Stars, and
even owner Trump was heard saying his team had no
chance to beat them. He was right, as the
Generals fell 20-17 in what would be the team's
final game. Trump's vision of the USFL in
the fall never came to be thanks to the verdict in
USFL
v. NFL, essentially killing the Generals and
the league. |
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