Minor League Football System (1990)
Tombstone
Born: October 21, 1989 – MLFS expansion franchise1OBSERVER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES. “MLFS To Add Members”. The Observer (Charlotte, NC). October 22, 1989
Folded: 1990
First Game: July 14, 1990 (W 13-11 vs. Middle Georgia Heat Wave)
Last Game: September 29, 1990 (L 67-0 @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Stallions)*
*See below for the circumstances of this very odd final game. This was the Titans in name only
MLFS Championships: None
Stadium
Manning Bowl
Opened: 1938
Demolished: 2005
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Vic Gatto
Background
The Bay State Titans were a semi-pro football outfit that played for one season at the Manning Bowl in Lynn, Massachusetts. The Titans took part in the second and final season of the Minor League Football System, a nationwide collective of 12 low-budget teams that planned a July-October schedule. The Titans were part of the league’s Eastern Division, competing against teams from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
MLFS teams were truly semi-pro. Teams did not pay their players at all, but instead helped them find day jobs in the local community. Nevertheless, the Titans attracted a few players with some NFL experience, including former Detroit Lions and New England Patriots linebacker Steve Doig and former UNH quarterback Bob Jean, a 10th round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1989. Former Patriots defensive lineman Ray “Sugar Bear” Hamilton signed on as head coach.
Discovery of Eric Swann
The Titans claim to fame was the reclamation of 19-year old defensive lineman Eric Swann. Swann was a fast and enormous (6′ 5″, 320 lb.) pass rusher who never played a down of college football. Swann reportedly had Attention Deficit Disorder. Recruited to play for North Carolina State in 1989, he couldn’t land the necessary minimum SAT score to play for the Wolfpack. He wound up working a minimum wage jobs on the grounds crew of the North Carolina State Fairgrounds. A chance encounter with a scout from the New Orleans Saints led him to Dick Bell, a football agent who also moonlighted as the General Manager of the newly formed Titans.
Swann dominated the MLFS in the summer of 1990. Stats from the league are sketchy at best, but press reports claim Swann piled up 72 tackles, 11 sacks and four blocked field goals in Bay State’s 10 games.
League Troubles & Demise
Meanwhile, the MLFS was a mess. Teams in Colorado Springs and Tacoma folded in the middle of the schedule. In September 1990 the league shortened its planned 12-game schedule by two weeks and proceeded directly to the playoffs. Bay State finished second in the Eastern Division with an 8-2 regular season record, including a undefeated 5-0 mark at home.
The Titans were selected to host the Eastern Division final against the 1st place Charlotte Barons at the Manning Bowl by virtue of having the best attendance in the league. The Titans claimed an average of around 4,000 fans per game and a season ticket base of 2,000 locals that paid $25 for a six-game package. Oddly, both the Titans and the Barons were owned by the same man – former Harvard University football player Vic Gatto.
The playoff semi-final took place on September 22, 1990 before an estimated crowd of 2,500 at the Manning Bowl. Charlotte capitalized on two special teams turnovers by the Titans early in the second half to build a 21-7 lead. The Titans mounted a fierce comeback, closing the deficit to 21-20 late in the third. But Charlotte blocked a point-after attempt by Titans kicker Lance Gordon that would have knotted the score at 21. The teams went scoreless through the fourth and Charlotte advanced to the MLFS championship game by a 21-20 score.
The Barons won the championship seven days later. It was the final MLFS game, as the league folded up soon afterwards.
Aftermath
Immediately after the Titans loss in the playoff semi-final, owner Vic Gatto entered the team locker room at the Manning Bowl. The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Stallions, alone among MLFS clubs, intended to play out their original 12-game schedule, supposedly to satisfy sponsor & promotional agreements. Gatto reportedly informed his players that they needed to bus to Pennsylvania the following week for what amounted to a meaningless exhibition. According to Wilkes-Barre Times Leader sportswriter Steve Sembrat (Times Leader 9/30/1990) enraged Titans players physically ejected the 43-year old owner from the locker room.
Gatto hired a team of semi-pro replacements from North Carolina to wear the Bay State Titans jerseys in Pennsylvania the following week. The faux-Titans were slaughtered 67-0 by the last place Stallions.
Meanwhile, Titans General Manager Dick Bell sent game tape of Eric Swann to every NFL team and got the prospect into the annual NFL draft combine. Though Swann was incredibly raw and had never played college football, his physical gifts were undeniable. The lowly Phoenix Cardinals, choosing 6th overall in the first round of the 1991 NFL draft, took a chance. Living on the edge of poverty in Lynn the previous summer, Swann signed a 5-year, $4 million contract with Phoenix.
Swann and Bell would soon split in acrimony over the terms of Bell’s services. After a rough rookie season, marred by knee injuries and pundits eager to label him an epic draft bust, Swann emerged as a dominant NFL pass rusher by the mid-1990’s. The NFL named Swann to its All-Pro team in 1995 and 1996 and he went on to play 11 seasons in the league.
Bay State Titans Shop
Downloads
8-4-1990 Titans vs. Charlotte Barons Roster
8-4-1990 Bay State Titans vs. Charlotte Barons Roster
Links
“The Unprecedented Eric Swann, the NFL Draft’s Last Great Unknown“, David Roth, Vice, April 27, 2017
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5 Responses
I was a starting offensive lineman on the Titans that summer I remember being in the locker room after the Semi final game against the Barons. No one physically threatened Vic Gatto. The team effectively told him he was not the brightest, asking us to play a meaningless game immediately after losing a heartbreaker in what was the last game most of us ever played.
I played for the Titans in 1990 as a defensive tackle and started every game opposite from Eric Swann. We had a blast and destroyed everyone we played. The sad part is we all realized later our team was simply a way for Eric to make it to the NFL. Dick Bell was smart and made that happen and I carry no animosity but there were several players that could have made it to the NFL easily if he thought about representing all of us not just Eric. Eric was a phenom but others were ready for the league. I wish someone would take the time to look at the stats from all of us. Not just Eric. It was a great team and we had a great coach. Miss it everyday. R. Gaffen
I Played for the Charlotte Barons in 89 we dominated and went out to the Playoffs after Hurricane Hugo devastated the entire Charlotte area, we didn’t have our full team and lost. In 1990 I was a starter on the Line, Eric Swann and Rich Gaffen were my roommates, Glad for Erics Success, no one physically removed Vic Gatto form the locker room, but if anyone was gonna get punched it was Dicky Bell…..guy was a clown, a Car Salesman, and a cheap MFer, Had a lot of fun tho.
I was very interested to see Mike Balzarini’s name on the roster of this amateur football team. I grew up with Mark Landolfi (fullback from UConn). I covered the Marlboro Shamrocks for a small local newspaper in the early to mid-1990s and easily remember Balzarini, whom my younger brother went up against while playing the line at Bridgewater State. As huge a human being as Balzarini was, I remember him being just as huge of a nice young man. An animal on the field, a personable teddy bear off it. I think I lifted weights with him once, squatting somewhere, maybe Hudson Catholic High. When you can remember the fine character of somebody thirty years after the fact, it says something about the person.
I went to every game with my two brothers. I remember everybody always cheering for Julio Rodrigues, DB. JULIO! JULIO!, JULIO! i wonder what ever happened to him?