Texas Football League

Texas Football League
SportAmerican football
Founded1966
Ceased1971
No. of teams4
CountriesUnited States
Mexico
Last
champion(s)
San Antonio Toros
Most titlesSan Antonio Toros (4)

The Texas Football League (TFL) was a semi-professional American football minor league that operated in primarily in the United States from 1966 through 1971. The league, which initially comprised six franchises from Texas and Oklahoma, was formally announced in May 1966.[1] The league was supposed to begin with eight teams, but entries from Hammond, Louisiana and New Orleans were not accepted. With the addition of two franchises in 1967, the TFL expanded to two four-team divisions.

During the 1967-68 offseason the Continental Football League offered a merger of operations with the TFL, but was turned down by TFL commissioner George Schepps. He additionally challenged the CFL to pit its champion against the TFL's champion for the 1968 campaign.[2]

On January 25, 1969 it was announced that the Continental Football League was adding the entirety of the eight-team TFL to its ranks. The TFL joined as a separate entity and was placed into the new Texas Division (itself split into East and West). The TFL teams were mostly scheduled to play against each other but did also play interleague contests.[3] Joining the Texas division was the Mexico Golden Aztecs, the first American football franchise based in Mexico. The TFL's San Antonio Toros defeated the Indianapolis Capitols, 44-38 in overtime, to capture the last Continental League championship. (The Toros would ultimately win five straight league titles from 1967-71.)

With the dissolution of the CoFL in early 1970, the Toros announced the formation of the Trans-American Football League, hoping to add teams in a number of major markets; the TAFL planned teams in Birmingham; Tampa; Hershey, Pennsylvania and even Chicago and Los Angeles, in addition to San Antonio and existing Continental teams in Dallas-Fort Worth and Memphis (relocated from Las Vegas).[4] By the time the league played its 1970 season, it was once again mainly based in Texas, with two other Continental teams, the Omaha Mustangs and Texarkana Titans, joining the loop.

In 1971, the Trans-American Football League took the unusual step of becoming the first football league to schedule and play all of its games in the spring rather than the autumn, a move that attracted the attention of Sports Illustrated pro football columnist Tex Maule. The 1971 TAFL season ran from April 25 to June 26 [1] [5]. Although Maule commented that the Trans-American league's four teams' Fort Worth to San Antonio lineup "barely makes it Trans-Texas", he also noted that "This is the first bona fide attempt to play spring football," a gimmick that the United States Football League did on a larger scale eleven years later.

On the other hand, attendance for the four teams "reached a new low" and, as sports historian Bob Gill would note in 2002, "it was clear by mid-June that the concept of spring football was dead— and probably the Texas League along with it" [6]. The TAFL folded after its spring 1971 season.

Season standings

1966

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

 y  = Division Champion

Texas Football League
Team W L T PCT PF PA Stadium Coach
Tulsa Oilers 7 2 1 .778 246 161 Skelly Stadium Floyd Harrawood
Sherman-Denison Jets 7 3 0 .700 254 161 Bearcat Stadium Duncan McCauley
Pasadena Pistols 7 3 0 .700 284 149 Memorial Stadium Donnie Caraway
Burkburnett Kings 4 6 0 .400 152 298 Burkburnett High School Stadium E.J. Webb
Dallas County Rockets 3 7 0 .300 127 181 Eagle Stadium Bill Crow/Joe Verret
Odessa-Midland Comets 1 8 1 .111 83 196 W.T. Barrett Stadium Byron Townsend

1967

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

 y  = Division Champion

Eastern Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA Stadium Coach
San Antonio Toros 14 0 0 1.000 538 137 North East Stadium Duncan McCauley
Pasadena Pistols 8 6 0 .571 417 383 Auxiliary Stadium Donnie Caraway
Dallas Rockets 8 6 0 .571 285 324 Jesuit High School Stadium Joe Verret
Sherman-Denison Jets 5 9 0 .357 360 424 n/a Gene Babb
Western Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA Stadium Coach
Tulsa Thunderbirds 10 4 0 .714 320 276 Skelly Stadium Art Ramage
Fort Worth Texans 5 9 0 .357 346 364 Turnpike Stadium John Hatley
Odessa-Midland Comets 3 11 0 .214 247 411 W.T. Barrett Stadium Jim Daniel
Wichita Falls Kings 3 11 0 .214 255 449 Midwestern University Stadium E.J. Webb

1968

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

 y  = Division Champion

Eastern Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA Stadium Coach
Texarkana Titans 7 5 0 .583 273 277 Grim Stadium Tom Collins
Tulsa Thunderbirds 4 8 0 .333 171 156 Auxiliary Stadium Art Ramage
Dallas Rockets 4 8 0 .333 249 354 Jesuit High School Stadium Joe Verret
Beaumont Golden Vikings 2 10 0 .167 165 365 Greenie Stadium Roy Davidson
Western Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA Stadium Coach
San Antonio Toros 11 1 0 .917 447 121 Alamo Stadium Duncan McCauley/Hoover Evans
Fort Worth Braves 10 2 0 .833 377 154 Farrington Field John Hatley
Odessa Comets/West Texas Rufneks 5 7 0 .417 235 338 W.T. Barrett Stadium Jim Daniel/Ted Dawson
El Paso Jets 5 7 0 .417 197 349 Dudley Field Harold Stephens

1970

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

 y  = Division Champion

Texas Football League
Team W L T PCT PF PA Stadium Coach
San Antonio Toros 7 2 0 .800 288 158 Harlandale Memorial Stadium George Pasterchick
Texarkana Titans 7 3 0 .700 323 175 Grim Stadium Durwood Merrill
Fort Worth Braves 6 4 0 .600 365 266 Farrington Field Duncan McCauley
Omaha Mustangs 5 4 0 .556 228 240 Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium Don Fleming
Bartlesville Quickicks 3 7 0 .300 185 289 Custer Field Art Ramage
Dallas Rockets 1 9 0 .100 97 358 Roffino Stadium Joe Verret

1971

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

 y  = Division Champion

Trans-American Football League
Team W L T PCT PF PA Stadium Coach
Texarkana Titans 5 0 0 1.000 171 71 n/a n/a
San Antonio Toros 4 1 0 .800 174 76 n/a George Pasterchick
Fort Worth Braves 1 4 0 .200 89 171 n/a n/a
Dallas Rockets 0 5 0 .000 56 172 n/a n/a

Championship games

Season Date Winning Team Score Losing Team MVP Venue Attendance
1966 December 3, 1966 Tulsa Oilers 30-27 Sherman-Denison Jets n/a Skelly Stadium n/a
1967 December 2, 1967 San Antonio Toros 27-7 Tulsa Thunderbirds n/a North East Stadium 4,000
1968 December 7, 1968 San Antonio Toros 21-16 Texarkana Titans n/a Alamo Stadium 4.661
1970 November 21, 1970 San Antonio Toros 21-17 Fort Worth Braves n/a Harlandale Memorial Stadium 5,523
1971 June 19, 1971 San Antonio Toros 20-19 Texarkana Titans n/a North East Stadium 4,500[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Semipro Football League Organized". The Corpus Christi Times. Associated Press. May 30, 1966.
  2. ^ "Texas Loop Challenges Continental". The Abilene Reporter-News. Associated Press. March 4, 1968.
  3. ^ "TFL Aligns With Huge Continental". The Odessa American. Associated Press. January 26, 1969.
  4. ^ "The Evening Independent - Google News Archive Search". Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  5. ^ "This Spring Isn't Very Green", by Tex Maule, Sports Illustrated, May 10, 1971, pp65-57
  6. ^ Minor League Football, 1960-1985— Standings, Statistics, and Rosters", by Bob Gill, with Steven M. Brainerd and Tod Maher (McFarland & Company, 2002), p. 59
  7. ^ Clemens, Gus (June 20, 1971). "Toros Get 20-19 Victory, Title". San Antonio Express.



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