Pacific Football League (1966)
Continental Football League (1967)
Tombstone
Born: 1966
Folded: Spring 1968
First Game:
Last Game: November 19, 1967 (W 20-7 vs. Victoria Tyees)
Continental Football League Championships: None
Stadium
Branding
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Peter Murphy, et al.
Our Favorite Stuff
Continental Football League
Logo T-Shirt
Variously described as everything from “semi-pro” football to the “third Major League” behind the NFL and AFL during the late 1960’s, the Continental Football briefly established a sprawling network of pro football clubs that stretched from Florida to Mexico City to British Columbia. The Continental League helped launch the careers of Hall-of-Famers Bill Walsh and Ken Stabler and other NFL stars of the 1970’s including Otis Sistrunk, Bob Kuechenberg and Coy Bacon.
Our friends at Old School Shirts make the only Continental League shirt we’ve found and like all of their retro Americana tees, it’s soft and fits great!
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Background
The Eugene Bombers were a short-lived football entry in the Oregon city of Eugene in the late 1960’s. The club originated in the semi-pro Pacific Football League in autumn of 1966. The team played well, posting a 7-2 record, but attendance fell as temperatures dipped in November and the club elected to forfeit its playoff appearance for financial reasons.
Nevertheless, the Bombers had the best attendance in the Pacific League and they were invited to move up the pro football ladder in March 1967 with the formation of the Pacific Division of the previously East Coast-based Continental Football League. The Pacific Division was basically a league-within-a-league and Eugene played exclusively against other Pacific Division opponents including Orange County (California), Sacramento, San Jose, Seattle, and Victoria (British Columbia). Future Super Bowl-winning coach and Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Bill Walsh coached the San Jose Apaches club.
Unlike the Pacific Football League, the Continental League was fully professional. The bulk of the Bombers’ roster had local college ties at the University of Oregon, Oregon State or Portland State. Key players included quarterback Paul Brothers, who led the Oregon State Beavers to the 1965 Rose Bowl against Michigan, and his former OSU teammate Jack “Mad Dog” O’Billovich, who started at middle linebacker.
Demise
The Bombers shared the city’s Bethel Park with the Eugene Emeralds minor league baseball team. Both clubs found the stadium unsuitable for their long term sustainability and hoped to collaborate on construction of a new facility. The Bombers ultimately folded in the spring of 1968 after just one season in the Continental League and before the stadium question could be resolved. Bethel Park was demolished the following year.
The Continental League itself went out of business in early 1970.
Eugene Bombers Shop
Downloads
9-9-1967 Eugene Bombers Roster
9-9-1967 Eugene Bombers Roster
Links
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