United States Football League (1983-1985)
Tombstone
Born: May 11, 1982 – USFL founding franchise
Folded: August 4, 1986
First Game: March 6, 1983 (W 21-17 vs. Boston Breakers)
Last Game: June 30, 1985 (L 30-27 @ Oakland Invaders)
USFL Championships: None
Stadium
Tampa Stadium (73,065)11985 Sporting News Official USFL Guide & Register
Marketing
Team Colors: Red, Silver, Black & White21985 Sporting News Official USFL Guide & Register
Ownership
Owners:
- 1983-1985: John Bassett Jr., Stephen Arky, Burt Reynolds, et al.
- 1985-1986: Lee Scarfone & Tony Cunningham
Bandit Ball!
Tampa Bay Bandits
Graphic T-Shirt
“Bandit Ball” started out as a slogan for the USFL’s team’s first season ticket campaign in 1982. Country-Western star Jerry Reed, who co-starred in Smokey & The Bandit with Bandits’ co-owner Burt Reynolds, even wrote a Bandit Ball song at his friend’s request:
So come on folks, let’s get the fever
Be a Bandit Ball believer
Bandit Ball!
First and ten, do it again!
Bandit Ball!
Give ’em a lick, make it stick!
Bandit Ball!
The slogan endured for the entire Bandits era, encapsulating an appreciation of the team’s fun, fan-friendly philosophy and coach Steve Spurrier’s high-octane offense.
This graphic tee is available in sizes Small through 5XL from Royal Retros now!
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Background
The Tampa Bay Bandits were a popular entry in the United States Football League during the mid-1980’s. During a particularly grim era for the Hugh Culverhouse-owned Buccaneeers of the NFL, the Bandits played an exciting, high scoring brand of football and packed big crowds into Tampa Stadium in the springtime. The team had a high-wattage ownership group that included America’s #1 box office star of the early 80’s – Burt Reynolds – and veteran sports investor John Bassett.
On the field, the Bandits featured two former University of Florida quarterback legends. John Reaves, a 1971 All-American for the Gators, started at quarterback. Steve Spurrier, the 1966 Heisman Trophy winner and just five years older than Reaves, hired on as Head Coach.
Kenn Tomasch – WRUF Sportscaster 1985-1987
I was at the very first Bandits game in March of 1983, two months before I graduated from high school. I watched the very last game (the 1985 playoff loss to Oakland) on TV in the dorm at college. And I was a radio sportscaster who reported <Bandits owner> John Bassett’s death, the trial verdict and the demise of the USFL in 1986.
Kenn Tomasch
Tampa Bay Bandits Shop
OUR FAVORITE STUFF
Tampa Bay Bandits
USFL Replica Jersey
When it comes to Replica Jerseys, we turn to our friends at Royal Retros, who put extraordinary detail into their fully customizable USFL, WFL, CFL and WLAF jerseys.
Free Customization Included
Any name and number
Heavyweight sewn tackle twill
100% polyester
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Editor's Pick
Football For A Buck
The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL
By Jeff Pearlman
The United States Football League—known fondly to millions of sports fans as the USFL—did not merely challenge the NFL, but cause its owners and executives to collectively shudder. In its three seasons from 1983-85, it secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans and launched the careers of legends such as Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, and Reggie White. But then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic team owner—a New York businessman named Donald J. Trump.
In Football for a Buck, Jeff Pearlman draws on more than four hundred interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities to have ever captivated America. From 1980s drug excess to airplane brawls and player-coach punch outs, to backroom business deals and some of the most enthralling and revolutionary football ever seen, Pearlman transports readers back in time to this crazy, boozy, audacious, unforgettable era of the game. He shows how fortunes were made and lost on the backs of professional athletes and how, forty years ago, Trump was already a scoundrel and a spoiler.
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Tampa Bay Bandits Video
“All The Fun The Law Allows” – 1983 Tampa Bay Bandits highlight video
“The End of Bandit Ball”. Well-produced montage/tribute to the Bandits featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the team’s final game, a June 30th, 1985 playoff loss to the Oakland Invaders.
In Memoriam
Bandits part-owner Stephen Arky took his own life on July 24, 1985 after being implicated in the $300M collapse of Ft. Lauderdale bond trading firm E.S.M. Government Securities. Arky was 42. The Bandits played their final game 24 days earlier.
Bandits founder and principal owner John Bassett died of brain cancer on May 15, 1986 at age 47.
Bandits offensive lineman Ed Gantner (’83), later a professional wrestler, took his own life on December 31, 1990 at age 31.
Cornerback Bobby Futrell (Bandits ’85) took his own life on June 1, 1992. He was 29.
Lee Scarfone, the last owner of the Bandits in late 1985 and 1986, passed away on May 28, 2005 at the age of 73.
Quarterback John Reaves (Bandits ’83-’85) died on August 1, 2017. The former University of Florida star and NFL 1st round draft pick was 67 years old. New York Times obituary.
Placekicker Zenon Andrusyshun (Bandits ’83-’85) passed on August 7th, 2023 at the age of 76. Toronto Sun obituary.
Links
##
2 Responses
Unusual and sad coincidence that a part-owner and two players committed suicide.
during the rain downfall of a game, the 1984 Trans Am to be used by the Bandits as a promotional vehicle driven on field by Burt Reynolds & Jerry Reed was stolen and ended up in Shelby N.C. Stripped.