Texas Football League (1967-1968)
Continental Football League (1969)
Texas Football League (1970)
Trans-American Football League (1971)
Southwestern Football League (1972-1973)
Mid-American Football League (1974)
Tombstone
Born: 1967
Folded: 1975
First Game: August 19, 1967 (W 22-7 @ Pasadena Pistols)
Last Game: August 17, 1974 (W 35-22 @ Tulsa Knights)
Texas Football League Champions: 1967, 1968, 1969 & 1970
Trans-America Football League Champions: 1971
CoFL Championships: None
Stadia
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owners:
- 1967: Alton Fairchild
- 1968-1969: Southwest Sports Association (P.J. Beurlot, Henry Hight, Michael Kaliski, Gerren Stewart & Jim Stewart)
- 1970 – 1974: Southwest Sports Association (Henry Hight, Michael Kaliski, Pat Fuentes, 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!
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Background
The San Antonio Toros were a powerhouse minor league football squad of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Between 1967 and 1971 the Toros won five consecutive league titles.
Founding head coach Duncan McCauley led the Toros to a perfect 14-0 record in their debut Texas Football League (TFL) season in 1967. By September 1968, McCauley’s charges had compiled an unblemished 18-0 record over parts of two TFL campaigns plus victories in nine of 10 non-league exhibitions. McCauley then resigned abruptly in the middle of the Toros second season. But the team didn’t miss a beat, winning league titles in 1968, 1969*, 1970 and 1971. By 1973, the Toros reportedly boasted an incredible 85-12 all-time record.1Breazeale, George. “Sports! – By George”. The American-Statesman (Austin, TX). August 8, 1973
(*More or less. See more on the 1969 season below)
The Toros’ success was driven by the team’s remarkable record in keeping a nucleus of star performers together season after season in the highly transient world of minor league football. Quarterback Luz Pedraza, running backs James “Bear” Brown and A.C. Lex, NFL veteran tight end Roger Gill, wide receiver Truman Franks and cornerback Jesse (J.V.) Stokes were all part of a core of top contributors to the Toros’ perfect 1967 season who returned to the club each year well into the 1970’s.
Continental Football League
In 1969, the nationwide Continental Football League absorbed the entire eight-team Texas Football League and incorporated it as a stand-alone division. The Toros mostly continued to play against familiar former TFL opponents in 1969, but occasionally played Continental League teams from as far afield as Las Vegas and Sacramento.
The Toros won the Texas Division West with a 7-4 record and then knocked off Texas Division East champion Texarkana in the Continental League national playoffs. San Antonio ultimately advanced to the Continental League championship game against the Indianapolis Capitols at Bush Stadium in Indianapolis on December 13th, 1969.
The game was a barn burner. With just over a minute remaining, the Caps held a seemingly insurmountable 38-28 lead. Preposterously, the Toros converted a 29-yard touchdown pass, executed an onside kick and got a 38-yard field goal from Jerry Moritz with six seconds remaining to send the title game into sudden death overtime. But Moritz missed a 25-yard chip shot to win it for San Antonio in extra time. Indianapolis fullback John Nice dashed 13 yards for the game winner shortly thereafter.
This turned out to be the last rodeo for the ambitious Continental League. The circuit disbanded several months later and the Toros returned to a fully independent Texas Football League in 1970.
Final Seasons
Despite substantial local support for the Toros, the 1970’s saw a significant economic downturn for minor league sports of all stripes and football in particular. The Toros struggled to find viable leagues to play in. In 1971, the Texas Football League re-branded itself as the Trans-American Football League and adopted a spring schedue. The Toros won their fifth straight title, but this league soon evaporated as well.
In September 1972, the Toros cancelled the final two matches of their debut season in the newly formed Southwestern Football League, despite roaring out to an 8-0 record. Shortly thereafter, long-time Toros owner Henry Hight pitched Canadian Football League Commissioner Jake Gaudaur on admitting the Toros and four other American teams to the CFL for the 1973 season. The proposal went nowhere at the time, though it’s worth noting that two decades later a San Antonio franchise, the Texans, would join the CFL for one season in 1995.
The final nail in the coffin came in 1975 when the San Antonio Wings of the World Football League (WFL) took up residence at Alamo Stadium. Thought the WFL was on its last legs (the aspiring rival to the NFL would fail to complete its 1975 schedule), the presence of a in-town rival with a larger budget and superior talent was a new challenge for the scrappy Toros. Henry Hight filed a $3 million federal lawsuit attempting to block the Wings from playing in San Antonio, but failed to prevent the WFL’s displacement of the Toros.2NO BYLINE. “Court Denies Injunction”. The Express (San Antonio, TX). July 10, 1975 Coincidentally, the Wings’ starting quarterback was Johnnie Walton, the pioneering African-American signal caller who led the Indianapolis Capitols to victory over the Toros in the 1969 Continental Football League championship game.
Aftermath
The Toros never returned to the field after getting bumped aside by the Wings in 1975. The San Antonio Wings folded along with the rest of the World Football League in October 1975.
In 1977, minor league football returned to San Antonio with the formation of the San Antonio Charros of the American Football Association. Former Toros tight end Roger Gill owned the Charros. The Charros (later re-named the Bulls) played from 1977 until 1983.
In 1984, the NFL rival United States Football League expanded to San Antonio. Roger Gill served as General Manager of the USFL’s San Antonio Gunslingers.
San Antonio Toros Shop
Editor's Pick
Outsiders II
by Bob Gill with Tod Maher & Steve Brainerd
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!
In Memoriam
Longtime Toros coach George Pasterchick, who served in the head coaching role from 1970 to 1974, passed away on November 30, 2012 at age 82 following a battle with myelodysplasia blood disease. MySanAntonio.com obituary.
Downloads
9-19-1970 Toros vs. Omaha Mustangs Roster
9-19-1970 San Antonio Toros vs. Omaha Mustangs Roster
Links
“This Spring Isn’t Very Green“, Tex Maule, Sports Illustrated, May 10, 1971
###
2 Responses
The Toros were the last minor league team to play an NFL team. In the 1974 preseason, the Toros would play the Houston Oilers at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio.
That’s an awesome fact that I didn’t know! Thanks for sharing, because my Grandpa was Duncan McCauley, who was the team’s first Head Coach! He was my mother’s father and my wife and I named our son, his great-grandson, after him. His name is Tyler McCauley Simmons and he goes by Mack ❤️