Forgotten Superstars: The 1985 Memphis Showboats

The final installment of the Forgotten Superstars on my favorite USFL team features the 1985 Memphis Showboats, who were my third favorite team in three cities in the three-year history of the league.

I've written in the previous two pieces (1983 and 1984) how and why I moved from the Chicago Blitz to the Arizona Wranglers, but I haven't written about why I became a Showboats fan yet.

After the Wranglers lost the 1984 USFL title game to the Philadelphia Stars, the team's owner Ted Dietrich decided he had lost enough money in two seasons (and cities) and quietly began to shop the team.
George Allen decided to resign as coach (although he would stay in the front office as GM) and assistant Paul Lanham was named head coach.
This arrangement didn't last long as Dietrich found a buyer, but this came with a problem- the owner was William Tatham and he already owned a team- the 6-12 Oklahoma Outlaws, who had one name player in quarterback Doug Williams and little else.
Tatham bought the team and folded the Outlaws roster into that of the Wranglers as the Arizona Outlaws, Allen left the organization and Tatham decided not to honor Lanham's contract as the team's head coach as he installed former Arizona State legend Frank Kush as head coach in an attempt to connect to the local market.
Most of the Wranglers contracts were allowed to expire or in some cases placed into a dispersal draft (USFL loved to hold drafts), so many of the Wranglers weren't part of the Outlaws despite being the Western Conference champions just months before.
Trumaine Johnson decided to sit out the season and would jump to the NFL for 1986 ( I've always thought this lost season that meant over two years missed with the USFL playing in the spring ruined Johnson's career as he never recovered), 40 year old quarterback Greg Landry would have backed up Doug Williams and decided to retire, Frank Minnifield successfully sued to get out of his contract to sign with the Browns and Tim Spencer's contract was more than Tatham wanted to pay so he was placed in a dispersal draft to name a few.

All of this meant I had another decision to make.
I didn't live in Arizona, so it wasn't as if I had extreme loyalty to the city/state and my loyalty had been to the head coach and the players, which was the reason I had rooted for the Wranglers, to begin with.
Considering everything I decided to scan again for a new team for the final spring season as the league began its move to the fall to challenge the NFL in what proved to be the fatal move even without playing a game there and the beginning of my dislike for the man that pushed hardest for this ridiculous move- a person you might know named Donald J. Trump.

As I've never been a frontrunning type, there were a few teams ruled out because they were too good-the Baltimore Stars (moved from Philadelphia and defending champs), Oakland Invaders (merged with the first season's champion Michigan Panthers and looked to be very good), Birmingham Stallions (Might have been given consideration had they not been in the Eastern finals in 1984), Tampa Bay Bandits (contenders in both previous seasons), Los Angeles Express (Western finals in 1984 and I didn't like Steve Young), Houston Gamblers (1984 division champs, although I did give minor thoughts since I liked Jim Kelly) and New Jersey Generals (Trump) all were quickly eliminated from consideration as were the new Orlando Renegades,who were the former Washington Federals.

This left five teams- the Portland Breakers, who had moved to Portland from New Orleans after the announced move to the fall would have left them without a place to play, Denver Gold, Memphis Showboats, San Antonio Gunslingers and Jacksonville Bulls.
The field was quickly reduced to two as I eliminated the Bulls ( awful team colors), Gunslingers (seemed to be in fiscal problems and I hoped to not have to do this again, should the league manage to survive) and Gold (Might have been the winner, but had already announced that they likely would leave Denver, when the league moved to the fall).
I think I might have picked the Breakers had they stayed in New Orleans, but the move to Portland and ancient Civic Stadium made me wonder about the staying power and veteran QB Johnnie Walton and his easy to imitate throwing style had retired, so that meant the Memphis Showboats.

The Showboats had spent some money on big-time talent, especially on the defensive side of the football as they had signed two cornerbacks that had been picked in the first round of the 1984 NFL draft in Leonard Coleman of Vanderbilt (Colts) and Mossy Cade of Texas (Packers) and a player that could have had a chance of being the top pick in that same draft- a defensive end from Tennessee named Reggie White.
Memphis added veteran safety Don Bessilleu, who spent time in the NFL and another high priced rookie in safety Barney Bussey (who would play with the Bengals for years after the USFL's demise) to perhaps the most talented secondary in the league and the Showboats were a team being built in the proper way for the long term.
Memphis signed John Corker,the league's first defensive player of the year to line up opposite White, when the Michigan Panthers merged with Oakland and was allowed to be a free agent and added a former basketball player from Pitt in Sam Clancy, who would spend many years in the NFL later including being part of the Marty Schottenheimer Browns teams to make the Memphis pass rush one of the best in the league.

On offense, the team had two quarterbacks that split time in veteran Mike Kelley and another signing from the college ranks in Alabama's Walter Lewis, who was not tall enough for NFL teams to consider him at quarterback but was a fun player to watch when he played for Memphis.
The Showboats had some decent receivers for either passer to throw into in local Memphis State product Derrick Crawford, possession receiver Greg Moser and future CFL Hall of Famer Henry "Gizmo" Williams at wide receiver and former Giant Gary Shirk at tight end.
Shirk was a nice signing for the local fans since he had starred for the Memphis Southmen of the WFL ten years before and was an example of the USFL's original plans of building teams around familiar players from their area.
Memphis had lacked a running game in their initial season in 1984 (7-11), but they addressed that in selecting Tim Spencer in a dispersal draft (remember I mentioned Spencer as the only player to play for all three of my teams in all three cities) and trading for pass catching back Harry Sydney, who didn't fit new head coach "Mouse" Davis and his run and shoot offense in Denver.
The move that convinced me that the Showboats believed that either the league would make it or they would have a chance in a merger with the NFL was the signing of All-Pro tackle Luis Sharpe from the Cardinals.
Offensive linemen aren't the flashiest signings, but the signing of Sharpe showed a unique commitment to the building process and adding NFL veterans Tyrone McGriff (Steelers) and Art Kuehn (Seahawks) gave Memphis a strong offensive line that was able to protect two mobile quarterbacks in Kelley and Lewis quite ably.

Memphis also had another fellow that didn't play all that much or a player that I paid any attention to at the time in backup offensive lineman Larry Pfohl.
Pfohl would quit football after the Showboats season and moved into another field-Pro Wrestling and being that Larry Pfohl didn't roll off the tongue as a great wrestling name would be known under another name-Lex Luger...

The Showboats finished 11-7 and qualified for the playoffs with wins over three of the league powerhouses-the Baltimore Stars, who won two of the three league titles, the Birmingham Stallions who finished as the top seed in the Eastern Conference and the Jim Kelly led Houston Gamblers.


The league was having problems and drawing fans was becoming an issue in some cities, but not in Memphis, so despite the Denver Gold being the higher seed, their playoff game was held in Memphis.
The Showboats blasted the Gold 48-7 in a game that was never televised and the video below is the surviving tape of the only Memphis playoff victory.
The Showboats would score 35 of their points in the second half to blow open a close game to win going away.



The win moved the Showboats to the semi-finals against a team with a better record again in the Oakland Invaders and again the game was held in Memphis.
Memphis held the lead until the third quarter, but couldn't hold it as the Invaders of Bobby Hebert and Anthony Carter moved forward to the championship game with a 28-19 win.


Memphis looked to be one of the more attractive cities to the NFL, had the USFL been able to force a merger with a talented young team that did pretty well at the gate (as did the WFL Southmen) and a town that had just missed out (most reports from the time had Memphis finishing a close third to Tampa and Seattle) on gaining a team in the 1976 NFL expansion, but this was not meant to be and Memphis was passed over again in the Charlotte/Jacksonville expansion.
That expansion miss seemed to take much of the steam out of the Memphis football dreams and a city that was expected to eventually be in the NFL watched as their in-state rival in Nashville was the team that brought football to Tennessee.
Memphis rebelled against the NFL with very low crowds for the year that the Tennessee Titans played there after leaving Houston as the Oilers, while the Titans built their new stadium in Nashville.
The crowds were so weak that the league allowed the Titans to play their second year at Vanderbilt in order to avoid another year of low attendance.
Memphis made its point but might have lost any chance for an NFL club by not helping the league out in "a time of need" as you rarely hear Memphis mentioned in talks about teams moving or an unlikely future expansion anymore.

My three years as a USFL fan were truly more enjoyable than I could write and I'd love to talk or write more about the league in the future, but it truly was an end of an era.
The age of new leagues challenging the established leagues is more than likely over and I'm doubtful anyone will even try (Vince McMahon's past and future XFL doesn't count because they didn't and likely won't go after top talent) to give another league a go.
Still, the 70's and 80's were a great time to be a sports fan, if you liked the underdog with the WFL, ABA, WHA, and USFL, as in my rural experience they felt like "my" league, especially the USFL as I was older and they had a full television contract.
When I recently bought the Action Football game for the PC, the first league that I purchased was the three seasons of the USFL, so I guess the league still lives on with me every day.

Back later or tomorrow with either an inbox cleaning or maybe something else.