World Football League (1974-1975)
Tombstone
Born: 1973 – WFL founding franchise
Folded: October 22, 1975
First Game: July 10, 1974 (L 11-7 @ Birmingham Americans)
Last Game: October 19, 1975 (W 26-7 @ The Hawaiians)
World Bowl Championships: None
Stadium
Anaheim Stadium (42,000)11975 Southern California Sun Program
Opened: 1966
Marketing
Team Colors: Magenta & Orange21975 Southern California Sun Program
Ownership
Owners:
- 1974: Larry Hatfield
- 1975: Sam Battistone
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Southern California Sun
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Background
Back in the mid-1970’s, the NFL held its college draft at the end of January. As the 1974 draft loomed, headlines swirled around the formation of the World Football League, an upstart rival intent on starting play in July. The WFL was the brainchild of Gary Davidson, a serial sports entrepeneur who also had a hand in the creation of the American Basketball Association and the World Hockey Association.
The impact of the WFL wasn’t clear yet in early January. Many clubs were still seeking investors and hopping from city to city in search of stadium leases and community support. One club that got an early start was the Southern California Sun, based in Anaheim. On January 14th, 1974 the Sun hired former NFL Hall-of-Famer Tom Fears as Head Coach. The WFL held its inaugural college draft eight days later on January 22nd. Then, on the eve of the NFL draft, the Sun and the WFL fired the first shot across the bow of the NFL.
Raiding the NFL
On January 28th, 1974 the Sun signed three prized NFL prospects in UCLA running backs Kermit Johnson and James McAlister and USC tackle Booker Brown. Mike Trope, a 23-year old former USC student with no legal or business degree, represented the trio. The previous year Trope landed 1972 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers of Nebraska as a client. The novice agent set up a bidding war for Rodgers’ services between the San Diego Chargers and the Montreal Alouettes. He eventually delivered the wideout to Montreal in return for the richest contract in Canadian Football League history. For his Sun clients, Trope negotiated three-year $350,000 contracts for skill players McAlister and Johnson and a three-year $225,000 deal for lineman Brown.
In April 1974, the Sun made national headlines again, signing Oakland Raiders quarterback Daryle Lamonica to a futures contract set to begin in 1975. Lamonica was part of a stable of NFL stars including Ken Stabler (Birmingham), Calvin Hill (Hawaii), Craig Morton (Houston) and the Miami Dolphins trio of Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield (Memphis) that signed agreements to jump to the WFL after playing out their NFL contracts. The NFL stars were both lured by the large contracts on offer from WFL owners and repelled by the restrictions of the “Rozelle Rule“. The measure effectively chilled free agency in the NFL and was periodically challenged in court by players.
1974 Season
The World Football League debuted on July 10th, 1974. Crowds in excess of 50,000 turned out in Philadelphia and Birmingham. The Sun made their home debut on July 17th, 1974 against the Hawaiians at Anaheim Stadium. A season-high crowd of 32,008, including a reported 20,000 season ticket holders, watched the Sun race out to a 23-0 lead after three quarters. The magenta-and-orange clad Sun then held off a furious 4th quarter rally from the Hawaiians, prevailing 38-31.
The early attendance numbers were eye-popping, but it didn’t take long for the WFL to start springing leaks. Tax figures leaked to media in several cities revealed that actual paid attendance for early season games was massively inflated with free ticket giveaways and falsifications. The poster child for this was the Philadelphia Bell, who were forced to acknowledge that only 6,200 people had paid for tickets to their July 25th game. The Bell announced attendance of 64,719 for the event. In September, the WFL’s major market clubs in Houston and New York City abruptly relocated in mid-season to Shreveport and Charlotte respectively. At least they finished out the season. The Detroit Wheels and Jacksonville Sharks both folded without completing their schedules.
Financial Trouble and Playoff Holdouts
The Sun were not immune to the financial shenanigans. In September, Sun owner Larry Hatfield was indicted by a federal grand jury on bank fraud charges, including false documentation provided for a $365,000 loan sought for the Sun.
“The first owner was a nice guy, but I don’t think he had two dimes to rub together,” Head Coach Tom Fears recalled to The Los Angeles Times in 1988.
The Sun finished the 1974 season at 13-7 but management failed to make the final player payroll of the regular season in November. By then, the front office had worked nearly a month without pay. Unpaid Sun players huddled over whether to appear for their playoff quarterfinal on Thursday, November 21st against The Hawaiians. Sun players voted to go ahead and participate in the playoffs. But not all of the Sun players were on board with this decision.
After consulting with Mike Trope, Sun offensive tackle Booker Brown and 1,000-yard rusher Kermit Johnson decided to boycott the playoff game. Trope’s other client, James McAlister, missed the game with an injury. The Sun lost to the Hawaiians 32-14 before 11,430 at Anaheim Stadium, the smallest home crowd of the season. Afterwards, Sun defensive tackle Dave Roller vented to the press: “If management had done their part, we would have gone all the way. You can’t win if you can’t concentrate. And you can’t concentrate if you don’t get paid.”
1974 Sun quarterback Tony Adams, an unheralded rookie out of Utah State, passed for 3,905 yards and 23 touchdowns in 1974 and was named one of the WFL’s “Tri-MVPs” for the season. Adams went on to play in the NFL and the Canadian Football League from 1975 to 1980.
1975 Re-Boot
The WFL was on the verge of collapse in December 1974. In California, Sun owner Hatfield pleaded guilty to one count in his federal fraud trial and received probation and a fine. Hawaiians owner Christopher Hemmeter led an effort to re-boot the league as a new entity – New League, Inc. – to play a 1975 season. In April 1975, Hemmeter revealed the eleven member clubs of his new World Football League. Many of the original cities remained but with new ownership and, in some cases, new team names. San Antonio was the only new market to join the league.
Remarkably, Hatfield was able to hang on at the Sun, in spite of financial issues. He also had a new backer in Sam Battistone, a fellow California restaurateur and owner of the NBA’s New Orleans Jazz. Battistone had been a part-owner with Hemmeter in the Hawaiians during the 1974 season. Now he became the primary owner of the Sun, infusing new capital and retaining Hatfield as President & General Manager.
USC Backfield Stars Sign With Sun
Many of the NFL stars who signed futures contracts with WFL clubs in 1974 began looking for the escape hatch. Ken Stabler of the Oakland Raiders went to court and extracted himself from his deal with the insolvent Birmingham Americans. Stabler’s teammate Daryle Lamonica, however, still had a deal in place with the Sun. The Mad Bomber showed up in training camp as the Sun’s presumptive starting quarterback for 1975. Unlike the rest of the WFL, the Sun pursued several stars from the 1975 college class. The team landed the University of Southern California backfield tandem of quarterback Pat Haden and Heisman Trophy finalist tailback Anthony Davis.
The courtship of Davis meant the return of old friend Mike Trope, Davis’ former USC classmate-turned-agent. The New York Jets selected Davis in the 2nd round of the NFL Draft in January. Trope’s previous trio of high-profile Sun rookies – Booker Brown, Kermit Johnson and James McAlister – all declared free agency and departed for the NFL after the Sun failed to meet their final payroll in 1974. But Trope was willing to let bygones by bygones. After the Jets offered a three-year deal worth $150,000 in base salary and signing bonus, Trope inked Davis to a five-year contract with the Sun reportedly worth $1.7 million plus a silver Rolls Royce.
1975 Season
The Sun opened the 1975 season on August 3rd, defeating the Portland Thunder 21-15 on the arm of third-string quarterback Mike Ernst. The announced crowd of 14,362 at Anaheim Stadium did not get to see Daryle Lamonica or Pat Haden. Both suffered training camp injuries. The quarterback position, expected to be an embarassment of riches for the Sun, turned out to be unsettled all season. Haden saw most of the snaps, but left the team in September by previous agreement to pursue his Rhodes scholarship at Oxford. Lamonica, meanwhile, never shook off a pre-season hernia injury and appeared sparingly in only two games. Lamonica would retire in September, walking away from a reported $500,000 contract.
Anthony Davis, meanwhile, was the breakout star of the WFL’s 1975 season. In 12 games, he racked up 1,200 rushing and 18 combined touchdowns, on the ground, through the air and via kick return. He almost certainly would have been tagged as the league’s MVP had the chronic financial problems of the WFL not interceded first.
Sunset
On October 22nd 1975, the exhausted WFL owners threw in the towel, terminating the league and the remainder of the schedule in mid-season. The Sun were in first place in the Western Division with a 7-5 record at the time.
Sun President Larry Hatfield told The Los Angeles Times that the club lost an estimated $3 million during the 1974 and 1975 seasons. The Sun offices shut down in late October 1975 without issuing season ticket refunds for the five home games that remained unplayed.
Aftermath
In December 1975, former Sun players Jack Connors and Eric Patton earned headlines by picketing outside Sam Battistone’s home, attempting to collect the remainder of their unpaid salaries. Connors and running back Gary Dixon filed a $500,000 class action lawsuit on behalf of 26 Sun players seeking to collect unpaid salaries from Battistone and Hatfield.
After the demise of the WFL, Sam Battistone brought Larry Hatfield along as an investor in the NBA’s New Orleans Jazz. In 1979, Battistone and Hatfield were the prime movers behind the franchise’s move to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mike Trope took Anthony Davis to the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL in 1976 and landed another million-dollar multi-year deal for his client. Davis was unproductive in Canada and left after one season. He later played three unremarkable seasons in the NFL from 1977 to 1979, and gained a few carries for the Los Angeles Express of the USFL at the site of his past glories, the Los Angeles Coliseum, in the spring of 1983. A 2010 Los Angeles Times article revealed that Davis has fallen on hard times after football.
1974 Sun quarterback Tony Adams became one of the most improbable replacement players during the 1987 NFL strike. The 37-year old started three replacement games for the Minnesota Vikings nearly a decade removed from his last appearance in the NFL.
Southern California Sun Shop
FWIL FAVORITE
Southern California Sun
Logo T-Shirt
The World Football League gained press for its garish color schemes and none caught more attention than the Southern California Sun’s magenta & orange unis.
There’s a number of Sun throwback tees out there but this one from Royal Retros is our favorite design. And it’s available in multiple colors and sizes S thru 5XL!
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Sun Shop
Southern California Sun
Mini-Helmet
This World Football League Mini Helmet is available through Royal Retros.
15 oz. mini helmet
Style worn by the Sun in 1974-75
Available in the classic helmet style by Schutt
Typically ships in 3-5 business days
Fulfilled by 417 Helmets
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In Memoriam
Former Sun Head Coach Tom Fears, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, passed away on January 4, 2000 at the age of 77.
Running back James McAlister died after a battle with cancer on March 31, 2018 at 66 years of age. Pasadena Star-News obituary.
Downloads
1975 WFL Standard Player Contract
1975 World Football League Standard Player Contract
Links
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12 Responses
Great job!
Richie
This takes me back…Way back. My uncle had season tickets to the Suns in 1975, and I had a program signed by Dave Roller. I can’t find the program, but forty years later, I still remember his name. Thanks for making it all happen again. Mark
I was wondering do they have individual football cards of of the players?
I played with the Calif Suns in the 75 season.
My name is Bill Kramer I was running back.
If they have a card of me I’d love to get it for my kids and grandkids.
Thanks
Bill – Try reaching out to the guys who have produced the World FootbalL League trading card series in recent years:
[email protected]
Drew
Can I buy a suns jersey anywhere???
Yes! The guys at Royal Retros make an awesome Sun replica jersey that you can customize with your name and number. Use this affiliate link and they will toss us a couple of bucks to support our site.
Do you have any pictures of them with their Western Champions trophy? I just came up on the trophy and wanted to see if it matches. Thanks!
I have a Southern California Sun Poster with Anthony Davis, Tom Fears, Daryl Lamonica, and Dave Williams. What’s it worth?
I have 2 womens halter tops branded with the Sun logos. Im assuming these are on the rare side. Anyone have any info on branded merch.?
Hi Dave,
It’s such a specific, niche item that it would be hard to say there a “price guide” type standard for their value. First of all, there would be the question of whether they are actually vintage. There are quite a few modern-day shirt shops making retro/throwback shirts of WFL teams like the Sun in various cuts, including women’s tanks.
But let’s assume they are vintage. Yes, they would certainly be on the rare side. Big factors in the value are going to be 1.) the condition – have they obvious been worn and laundered? Are there sweat stains or rings? Are screen printed logos bright & clean, or cracked and fading. 2.) the eye appeal of the shirt itself. The Sun were famous for their near-psychedelic magenta and orange color scheme. If these halters have a base color of magenta or orange, they are much more likely to have true period appeal of the 1970’s. And might be appealing to overall vintage collectors of that era and not just niche football collectors. If it’s the logo on white, it’s probably going to have less curb appeal and value.
Ultimately, it’s impossible to say without seeing them. I imagine they might fetch between $10 and $25 each if they are in very nice shape, but it might take a while to find a buyer. I’ll shoot you an email and if you want to email me photos, I’ll tell you what I’d price them at in our e-Bay store.
Finally, if there’s any chance these are part of cheerleader costumes from the team, that’s a different story. You’d probably have interest from quite a few folks in the small fraternity of WFL and fringe football collectors. Again, hard to say what they’d go for, but certainly more.
Andrew
My Dad Dick Enright was the offensive line coach. I was in high school at Villa Park. I loved going to those games. Still in touch with Eric Patton Tim Guy , and Jackie Connors. I Saw them two years ago at my father’s memorial. Eric and Peggy more recently.