Tampa
Bay Bandits owner John Bassett was joined among the
ranks of USFL owners with prior ownership of a World
Football League franchise when William Tatham was
awarded a USFL franchise for San Diego on May 15,
1983. Six weeks later, however, San Diego was out
of the picture and replaced by the thriving metropolis
of... Tulsa.
Tatham, who was involved in banking and real estate in
Fresno, California, assured the USFL's expansion
committee (headed up by Bassett) that unlike the
league's prior effort to place a team in San Diego,
their effort would be successful and that the USFL would
have a greater presence in Southern California. As
had been the case for Alan Harmon and Bill Daniels a
year before however, the City of San Diego rejected
Tatham's request to put the USFL at Jack Murphy Stadium
- once again leaving a USFL owner in search of a new
home for his franchise.
The Tatham's had roots in Oklahoma, but sentimentality
proved a bad reason for placing a USFL franchise
there. Day to day operations of the team, which
was christened the Oklahoma Outlaws, was left in the
hands of William Tatham, Jr., at the time a 29-year old
attorney fairly fresh out of law school. Tatham
Jr. quickly began driving league officials out of their
minds - after just two home games, he announced that the
team would be looking to move after their inaugural 1984
season: to another Oklahoma location if possible,
but otherwise to Honolulu, back to San Diego, or who
knows where.
After
the 1984 season the Tathams were good on their word,
closing the doors in Oklahoma and heading west to
Phoenix, the result of a "merger" with the
Arizona Wranglers. Originally the Outlaws had
negotiated with Tad Taube about the prospect of merging
the Outlaws with the Oakland Invaders, but Taube walked
away from the talks, reportedly in part because of
Tatham Jr. In Arizona the Outlaws fared no better
than the Wranglers had before them the previous two
years, and while they planned to continue on when the
USFL moved to the fall in 1986, the result of USFL
v. NFL killed the team and the league along with it.
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WILLIAM TATHAM, SR.
Owner
Oklahoma Outlaws
Arizona Outlaws
WILLIAM TATHAM, JR.
President & G.M.
Oklahoma Outlaws
Arizona Outlaws |
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