Mark Champion, the current radio play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Pistons, is fondly-remembered locally as the radio voice of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1979-1988. Since leaving Tampa in 1989, Champion has served in the same capacity for the Detroit Lions from 1989-2004, the Detroit Pistons from 1992-1996, then rejoined the Pistons in 2001. He recently took some time prior to a Pistons-Magic game in Orlando to reflect on his time in Tampa and the special relationship he formed with Buccaneer head coach John McKay.
Q. How did you end up getting the job with the Bucs?
A. For the first two years, they had the former announcer for the Green Bay Packers, a guy named Ray Scott, who was legendary. In 1978, Dick Crippen did it for half the season, and I don't know exactly what happened. The guy who owned the broadcast rights -- Jim Gallogly -- did the other half of the season. The next year, CBS got the rights and they hired me.
I had actually auditioned for the job in 1978, but did not get it. For my audition tape, I went up to a spare booth in Tampa Stadium during a pre-season game. A buddy of mine helped me out because I didn't have any football tapes at that point. So that's what I used to get the job. By 1979, they knew who I was and had a good relationship Bob Best and Rick Odioso in the media relations department. That's kind of how I got it.
Q. So you got the job just in time for the most exciting season in team history to that point.
A. Yeah, unbelievable. First season out I thought, "Wow. This is pretty good." Of course, Doug Williams was our quarterback. We knocked off Philadelphia to get to the NFC championship game. It was exciting and a lot of fun.
Q. Did you know early on that the Bucs were going to have a season like that?
A. No, I don't think going into the season anyone really knew. Doug came to us in 1978, and we knew he was a good athlete, but we didn't know if he could lead the team. If you look at his stats, he only completed about 47% of his passes, but he made big plays, huge plays to win games. And the defense, we had the number one defense in the league that year. I don't think anybody realized how good our defense was, and that's really how we got to the championship. That particular team was pretty awesome.
Q. What is your fondest memory from that season?
A. Well that Kansas City game was the one that was just a monsoon. I remember the rain cascading down the steps of the old Sombrero. We could have played eight quarters and nobody would have scored a touchdown in that game. I just remember big plays that Doug made that season.
There was one he made a few years later, though, that really stands out. We were playing the Chicago Bears at home during the last week of the '82 season. We had the ball around the Chicago 10-yard line. Doug got sacked and fumbled the ball. Steve McMichael, a defensive lineman for the Bears, picked it up and he had such a head start -- I swear it must have been a 50-yard head start -- and Doug Williams caught up with him and tackled him before he could score. They did not get a touchdown, had to settle for a field goal, and we ended up winning that game by three points. That kind of play stands out when I think about Doug's athleticism.
Q. What kind of relationship did you have with John McKay?
A. We got to be really close. In fact, my best buddy all the years I lived there was his son-in-law, a guy named Bob Florio. I did a TV show in 1979 with McKay, got to know the family, and it got to a point where my family would go over to his house there on Bayshore around Christmas time or for the Gasparilla parade. I loved John. I know he had a rough edge to him with the media, but if you really knew him he was one of the funniest guys. If you were loyal to him, he was loyal to you. We got along great. Now he's gone, his wife Corky is gone, and she was such a great person, and I remember when Richie was just a snotty-nosed high school quarterback at Jesuit. It's amazing how time flies.
Q. Is there a personal or professional story you'd like to relate about John McKay?
A. Off the top of my head, there was a period of time where he really got into it with Tom McEwen. I don't remember what the issue was, but I was over at his house one night after a game. He was talking about the whole thing with McEwen, and he came to me and said, "Marky, I need your help. Are you with me?"
I said, "Coach, I'm always with you, but you can't win that battle. He's always got the last word on you." That was the kind of open and honest relationship we had.
Q. Going back to Doug Williams for a minute, when you look back on how the team's fortunes changed after he left, do you think it all goes back to that move or where there other factors that contributed to the slide?
A. Well, I think it had a lot to do with it. He was our guy, and when he left, it was like cutting the heart out of the team. You know, back then the league was a little bit different. Today, teams spend their money and are all fairly competitive. Back then it was kind of different, plus you had the USFL coming along. Whatever the issue, I know Coach McKay definitely didn't want Doug to go, but it was a thing between Doug and Mr. Culverhouse that didn't work out. That just ruined the team.
Then after McKay left, Leeman Bennett came in and we had back-to-back 2-14 seasons that were just horrific. No question when Doug left it cut the heart out of the team, and Dougie was such a great guy, too.
Q. How was your relationship with McKay's successors, Bennett and Ray Perkins?
A. Good, good. Leeman was a terrific, really nice guy. He had been out of football running an RV dealership in Atlanta or something, and Mr. C. just kind of talked him back into coaching. You could just see it -- and I hate to say it -- but he had a terrible coaching staff. The team had no identity. It was just a bad situation, but it's kind of interesting because at quarterback we had Steve Young.
I felt bad for Steve. We went up and played Green Bay in 1985 and it was just awful. The worst weather I'd ever seen. In fact, it was that game where they ended up using footage for that Alka-Seltzer commercial. We had like 60 yards of offense that day, Steve got drilled play after play, and Lynn Dickey threw for over 300 yards in a blizzard for Green Bay.
I was only with Ray for two years. He could be ... his personality was a little different than Leeman's, let's put it that way. I got along with him fine for what I had to do though.
Q. What led to you leave Tampa in 1989 for a job with the Detroit Lions?
A. The Lions had been on WJR, which at the time was the top station in Detroit. They lost the rights to CBS, and the guy who had been doing the games did not want to leave WJR. He had a very good financial situation that they could not match at WWJ. So they were looking for somebody. I had moved over to Q105 for the 1987 and 1988 seasons, and prior to that I had been at WSUN, a CBS station. The general manager put in a good word for me up there.
They had just hired Wayne Fontes as the head coach, and we were close friends from the time he spent on John's staff. I'd gotten to know their media relations staff over the years as well, so it was a combination of all those things that led to a better job opportunity. Not just financially, but within a year or two I was also doing Pistons basketball.
Q. It so happened that 1989 was the rookie year for Barry Sanders.
A. Yeah, we came to Detroit at the same time. I was fortunate enough to call every run he ever made, which was just amazing. It's neat to know that you've done that with someone like Barry, a Hall-of-Famer, and I really feel the same way about Lee Roy Selmon. I didn't call all of his games, but I called a majority of them. It's kind of special to know you broadcast games for Hall of Fame players, and Lee Roy was such a great guy. Just a prince of a guy.
Q. You're also well-known for being the voice-over in the post-Super Bowl Disney World commercials. How did that role come about for you?
A. Phil Lengyel, who was the head of marketing for Disney in the mid-1980s, went to school with me at Ball State University. He called me up, said we have this marketing idea, and would I be interested in voicing it. I said, "Absolutely." That's how it started. The first one we did was with Phil Simms after Super Bowl XXI. In fact, I just talked to my guy at Disney because we have the 25th anniversary coming up, so they're going to be doing something special for it.
Showing posts with label John McKay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John McKay. Show all posts
Monday, January 3, 2011
Monday, November 1, 2010
John McKay Hired in Tampa Bay, 10/31/75
By late October 1975, fans of Tampa Bay's new professional football team had to be wondering when their first head coach would be hired. With the first exhibition game just nine months out, the Buccaneers still had no players and only a hint of who would be leading the team into battle.
Speculation had been running rampant since July when Tampa Tribune columnist Tom McEwen confirmed that University of Southern California head coach John McKay had been offered the job by Buccaneer's owner Hugh Culverhouse.
A winner of four national championships with USC, McKay admitted to having interest in the Tampa Bay position and that it was the only job outside of USC he had under consideration. In other words, he would either coach the Trojans for another five to six years or become the first head coach in Buccaneer history.
"Tampa is the only place in which I am interested," McKay said. "My wife and I haven't worked this hard to get where we are to talk of going to some cold climate."
On Halloween, the announcement became official that John McKay would become vice president and head coach of the Buccaneers. Although USC made a serious play to keep McKay in Los Angeles, Culverhouse evidently lured McKay to Tampa with a five-year contract, which included a house, an insurance policy, transportation and full authority over hiring of his coaching staff.
The deal -- worth between $1.5 and $2 million ($5.9 million in today's dollars) -- represented an exorbitant amount to pay a head coach at the time. Consider that in 2009, the Sports Business Daily estimated the average salary of an NFL head coach at $2.5 million per year. McKay may have had some misgivings about leaving a comfortable situation behind, but in Tampa he had a chance at long-term financial security.
In McKay, Culverhouse seemingly had his target in mind from the beginning, never seriously considering any other coaches. The only credible name to surface other than McKay was that of his close friend, former Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian. Culverhouse and Parseghian never talked, however, and no offers were ever made.
In the weeks prior to the announcement, Culverhouse went on the record and said, "I'm not interested in anybody but John McKay. We want him and him alone. I just believe he would be perfect for the Tampa job."
Since he planned on retaining his duties at USC until the end of their season, McKay did not leave Los Angeles immediately and come to Tampa. There was also the small matter of a game that night against the University of California. Instead, his first interview with the local media came over the telephone.
In one of the first of thousands of quips to come during his time in Tampa, the notorious cigar aficionado McKay said that he "took the job because of the Tampa cigars."
He explained his decision to leave the comforts of USC as part of a desire to try something new.
"I've been a college coach, either an assistant of the head man, for 27 years now," McKay said, "and I figured that was enough. My family is grown and I thought I might enough the challenge.
Tampa Bay's Vice President of Football Operations Ron Wolf said that he could not have been happier at the chance to work with McKay.
"He gives us instant credibility," Wolf said. "He also gives you something to write about. This man coaches a team that currently has more players in the National Football League (36) than anyone else."
The reaction to McKay's hire outside of Tampa was uniformly positive.
Parseghian said that, "Tampa has itself one heckuva head coach and it makes for a beautiful marriage."
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Paul Brown described the signing a "fine start for Tampa Bay" and called McKay "a very worthy addition" to the NFL.
Denver Broncos head coach John Ralston -- who coached against McKay at Stanford -- said that the Buccaneers "just couldn't pick a more qualified person."
Dan Rooney, general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, called the Tampa Bay's signing of McKay "a step towards becoming one of the great pro franchises in the NFL."
On a day with so much excitement and optimism, nobody could have anticipated how brief a honeymoon it would be for McKay as a head coach in the NFL. He would find out soon enough that nothing in his illustrious college career could have prepared him for life as head coach of the expansion Buccaneers.
Time would certainly prove, however, that he was the right man for the job. McKay eventually orchestrated one of the most stunning turnarounds in league history, bringing Tampa Bay within one game of the Super Bowl in just the team’s fourth season. On December 5, the Buccaneers will recognize McKay’s contributions to the franchise as he becomes the team’s second Ring of Honor inductee alongside Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon.
Speculation had been running rampant since July when Tampa Tribune columnist Tom McEwen confirmed that University of Southern California head coach John McKay had been offered the job by Buccaneer's owner Hugh Culverhouse.
A winner of four national championships with USC, McKay admitted to having interest in the Tampa Bay position and that it was the only job outside of USC he had under consideration. In other words, he would either coach the Trojans for another five to six years or become the first head coach in Buccaneer history.
"Tampa is the only place in which I am interested," McKay said. "My wife and I haven't worked this hard to get where we are to talk of going to some cold climate."
On Halloween, the announcement became official that John McKay would become vice president and head coach of the Buccaneers. Although USC made a serious play to keep McKay in Los Angeles, Culverhouse evidently lured McKay to Tampa with a five-year contract, which included a house, an insurance policy, transportation and full authority over hiring of his coaching staff.
The deal -- worth between $1.5 and $2 million ($5.9 million in today's dollars) -- represented an exorbitant amount to pay a head coach at the time. Consider that in 2009, the Sports Business Daily estimated the average salary of an NFL head coach at $2.5 million per year. McKay may have had some misgivings about leaving a comfortable situation behind, but in Tampa he had a chance at long-term financial security.
In McKay, Culverhouse seemingly had his target in mind from the beginning, never seriously considering any other coaches. The only credible name to surface other than McKay was that of his close friend, former Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian. Culverhouse and Parseghian never talked, however, and no offers were ever made.
In the weeks prior to the announcement, Culverhouse went on the record and said, "I'm not interested in anybody but John McKay. We want him and him alone. I just believe he would be perfect for the Tampa job."
Since he planned on retaining his duties at USC until the end of their season, McKay did not leave Los Angeles immediately and come to Tampa. There was also the small matter of a game that night against the University of California. Instead, his first interview with the local media came over the telephone.
In one of the first of thousands of quips to come during his time in Tampa, the notorious cigar aficionado McKay said that he "took the job because of the Tampa cigars."
He explained his decision to leave the comforts of USC as part of a desire to try something new.
"I've been a college coach, either an assistant of the head man, for 27 years now," McKay said, "and I figured that was enough. My family is grown and I thought I might enough the challenge.
Tampa Bay's Vice President of Football Operations Ron Wolf said that he could not have been happier at the chance to work with McKay.
"He gives us instant credibility," Wolf said. "He also gives you something to write about. This man coaches a team that currently has more players in the National Football League (36) than anyone else."
The reaction to McKay's hire outside of Tampa was uniformly positive.
Parseghian said that, "Tampa has itself one heckuva head coach and it makes for a beautiful marriage."
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Paul Brown described the signing a "fine start for Tampa Bay" and called McKay "a very worthy addition" to the NFL.
Denver Broncos head coach John Ralston -- who coached against McKay at Stanford -- said that the Buccaneers "just couldn't pick a more qualified person."
Dan Rooney, general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, called the Tampa Bay's signing of McKay "a step towards becoming one of the great pro franchises in the NFL."
On a day with so much excitement and optimism, nobody could have anticipated how brief a honeymoon it would be for McKay as a head coach in the NFL. He would find out soon enough that nothing in his illustrious college career could have prepared him for life as head coach of the expansion Buccaneers.
Time would certainly prove, however, that he was the right man for the job. McKay eventually orchestrated one of the most stunning turnarounds in league history, bringing Tampa Bay within one game of the Super Bowl in just the team’s fourth season. On December 5, the Buccaneers will recognize McKay’s contributions to the franchise as he becomes the team’s second Ring of Honor inductee alongside Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Catching Up With Dick Crippen
A legend in local sports broadcasting, Dick Crippen has been part of the fabric of the Tampa Bay area for five decades. A familiar face to viewers of both Channel 10 and Channel 8, Crippen’s voice could be heard for 17 seasons as part of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers radio team and as the P.A. announcer for the Tampa Bay Rowdies during their heyday. Since 2000, Crippen has served as a senior advisor for the Tampa Bay Rays and has remained involved with the community, serving on various charitable boards throughout the area. Crippen recently sat down to talk about his broadcasting career and some of the memorable people and events he has covered.
Q. Dick, talk about your broadcast roots in the Tampa Bay area and some of your stops along the way.
A. I came here on a partial scholarship to the University of Tampa to run WTUM-FM, which was at the time an over the air broadcast for the university. I guess about three weeks after I got here, I ended up working at WDAE, which back then was downtown and a music station. I did the early morning shift on the air from 6-7 a.m., and then closing the station down at night. That kind of got me into the market.
Dr. Stephen Speronis at the University of Tampa, he was doing one of the public service programs on Sunday morning at Channel 8, and he heard that they were looking for a booth announcer. He put my name in, and next thing I know I had a job there doing booth announcing. You’d literally sit in a booth and when the slide came up, you’d go “WFLA-TV, Channel 8.” (laughs) That was it, and it was ideal for a college student because I’d be able to study in between. But they also trained me to do weather. They had two at the time and wanted a third.
Then I went into radio for a few years, working at WINQ at the old Hillsboro Hotel. I was production manager there when the sheriff actually locked the doors on the place for non-payment, or something like that. I went to work one morning, it was all bolted up and I couldn’t get in, so that was the end of that job. I worked at WILZ on Teirra Verde, and then in 1965 was hired as the first weather man at Channel 10. I worked in weather there for one year. I also owned a semi-pro football team in St. Pete and did the track announcing at Sunshine Speedway, so when the sports director left to run for city council in Tampa, they asked if for $5 more a week I’d like to take his job. I took the $5 and the rest, as they say, is history. I stayed at Channel 10 for 16 years, and then in 1981 moved over to Channel 8 as sports director, where I stayed until New Year’s Eve of 1999. It’s been a blessed career.
Q. What was the sports landscape like when you first came to Tampa?
A. Very, very empty. When I first started doing sports, I would search high and low to find a story. Obviously we had high school, Spring Training, and the University of Tampa, but there was not much going on here. No pro activity, really, until they started holding exhibition football games. Then later on of course, we had done so well in putting on these games that the NFL awarded this area a franchise. That’s the only time that ever happened where a franchise was awarded to an area rather than an owner.
Q. We had the build-up of almost a decade towards getting an NFL team, and then with the arrival of the Rowdies in 1975, it must have made for some pretty exciting times.
A. You know, the Rowdies were to this day the best example of sports marketing I’ve ever seen. If you really study the situation, the kids got so into the Rowdies that they brought their parents. We’d pull 25-30,000 people for a soccer game, and for big games against the New York Cosmos with Pele, we’d sell 55,000 tickets.
Then that theme song, it sounded like it was recorded in an English pub! “The Rowdies run here, the Rowdies run there, they kick the ball around!” You could just see them toasting with their beer mugs and all that stuff. (laughs) Everyone knew that song, everyone responded to it, and we just had a ball.
Living through the Bucs going 0-26 to start made it interesting to watch. I used to tell people that I’d take 5 thesauruses with me to the press box just to try and describe what I was seeing down there. Going through the McKay years, I was fortunate to become a friend of his and enjoyed that friendship tremendously.
To go from 0-26 to within one game of the Super Bowl -- what I still think is the fastest turn-around of any NFL team -- was just amazing. It was an exciting time to put it mildly. Coming home from that first win in New Orleans was one of the most unforgettable moments of my career. We had like 10,000 people at One Buccaneer Place, if you can imagine that.
Q. You mentioned John McKay. What comes to mind when you think about covering him for those years?
A. He’d keep me in stitches in the press conferences. He had the quickest wit of any coach, for sure. Here’s a personal story with him. I learned very early with John that you don’t challenge him. In other words, he’s the coach. What I’d do is say something like, “You know there are a lot of people, and they wonder why you’re not using your tight end more.” I’d frame it third person. One day he’s out on the practice field and signals me to come over. So he’s there and he’s got his floppy hat and sunglasses on, he’s twirling his cigar, and he puts his arm across my shoulder and starts walking towards the locker room with me. He says, “Dickie, I just want you to know something.” He’s twirling his cigar, and takes it out, looks at me and says, “I know who THEY are.” (laughs) That’s the way he was and he was laughing as much as I was at it. He knew where I was coming from. He was very special and it was really a ball working with him.
Q. Can you talk about the way local coverage of sports has changed from your time in broadcasting?
A. It has become very different. At the time I covered, we were trying to get a lot of these franchises in, build the sports scene in the Tampa Bay area, so I think the coverage was a lot less neutral. Let me put it this way. I was accused, when I worked for the Bucs, of being a homer. I always told people this. Let’s suppose the Bucs and Dolphins are playing. Both teams are covered in the market on radio. If you’re a Buccaneer fan, why would you listen to the Dolphins coverage, and vice versa? I’ve always felt that you don’t have to sugarcoat your coverage. You don’t need to misrepresent it, but I also don’t believe that you have to dig and find things that are wrong. I think if the negative is there, fine.
Q. Is there a story or episode that comes to mind?
A. I’ll tell you a real battle for me, and this was tough. When I covered Dwight Gooden, I got to know his parents really well. I knew that they watched my show. Obviously, I liked Dwight and knew the coverage was probably biased because he was a hometown kid. The first time – and I do say now the first time – when he got picked up for drugs in New York, it broke my heart to get on the air and have that footage. I had to do it, but it broke my heart to put that on because I knew his parents were watching.
I was always very careful, when let’s say, a top wide receiver from the Dallas Cowboys -- to pick a team -- got arrested for cocaine. I’d think twice about putting it on the six o’clock news. Not because it wasn’t news, but because it did not necessarily affect the local area. I was also concerned about the example it would set to some kid who was trying to make a football team. He might say, “I know it’s wrong, but this guy is a top receiver, and this is what he did. So maybe that’s the secret.”
I always had that in my mind that there were people watching that could be influenced, especially kids, and tried to frame it in a way that we wouldn’t get that negative message as a positive. It bothers me when I hear a story reported without that kind of thinking behind it.
Q. In what other ways has the business change?
A. Sports casting has really changed on the news side. Channel 8 is down to one guy. They’re stripping back so much that we’re missing the local side of coverage. I miss the inspirational stories, the kids that are overcoming things, kids that are doing great. Those are the stories I loved to do. To be honest with you, I never dreamed of going into sports broadcasting. I really don’t care about stats, but I do care about the makeup of the athlete. I care about what makes the athlete tick. I love the psychology behind it.
I mean 0-26. Do you have any idea what it took for those guys to go out there and play every week? They had it in their minds they could win even when they were losing. In 2008 here with the Rays, as in 1979, I lived through “The Little Engine That Could.” Because sometime in 2008, this Rays team came together – I think it was the result of two fights, one with the Yankees and one with the Red Sox – and decided they could win. To me, that’s sports! That’s believing! “I think I can, I think I can.” So I feel very fortunate that I had all those years covering great sports, and in 2008 got to be part of a team that went to a championship. I had to remind myself that no, I’m not covering this from the outside: I’m a part of it. That’s something I’ll never forget.
Q. Dick, talk about your broadcast roots in the Tampa Bay area and some of your stops along the way.
A. I came here on a partial scholarship to the University of Tampa to run WTUM-FM, which was at the time an over the air broadcast for the university. I guess about three weeks after I got here, I ended up working at WDAE, which back then was downtown and a music station. I did the early morning shift on the air from 6-7 a.m., and then closing the station down at night. That kind of got me into the market.
Dr. Stephen Speronis at the University of Tampa, he was doing one of the public service programs on Sunday morning at Channel 8, and he heard that they were looking for a booth announcer. He put my name in, and next thing I know I had a job there doing booth announcing. You’d literally sit in a booth and when the slide came up, you’d go “WFLA-TV, Channel 8.” (laughs) That was it, and it was ideal for a college student because I’d be able to study in between. But they also trained me to do weather. They had two at the time and wanted a third.
Then I went into radio for a few years, working at WINQ at the old Hillsboro Hotel. I was production manager there when the sheriff actually locked the doors on the place for non-payment, or something like that. I went to work one morning, it was all bolted up and I couldn’t get in, so that was the end of that job. I worked at WILZ on Teirra Verde, and then in 1965 was hired as the first weather man at Channel 10. I worked in weather there for one year. I also owned a semi-pro football team in St. Pete and did the track announcing at Sunshine Speedway, so when the sports director left to run for city council in Tampa, they asked if for $5 more a week I’d like to take his job. I took the $5 and the rest, as they say, is history. I stayed at Channel 10 for 16 years, and then in 1981 moved over to Channel 8 as sports director, where I stayed until New Year’s Eve of 1999. It’s been a blessed career.
Q. What was the sports landscape like when you first came to Tampa?
A. Very, very empty. When I first started doing sports, I would search high and low to find a story. Obviously we had high school, Spring Training, and the University of Tampa, but there was not much going on here. No pro activity, really, until they started holding exhibition football games. Then later on of course, we had done so well in putting on these games that the NFL awarded this area a franchise. That’s the only time that ever happened where a franchise was awarded to an area rather than an owner.
Q. We had the build-up of almost a decade towards getting an NFL team, and then with the arrival of the Rowdies in 1975, it must have made for some pretty exciting times.
A. You know, the Rowdies were to this day the best example of sports marketing I’ve ever seen. If you really study the situation, the kids got so into the Rowdies that they brought their parents. We’d pull 25-30,000 people for a soccer game, and for big games against the New York Cosmos with Pele, we’d sell 55,000 tickets.
Then that theme song, it sounded like it was recorded in an English pub! “The Rowdies run here, the Rowdies run there, they kick the ball around!” You could just see them toasting with their beer mugs and all that stuff. (laughs) Everyone knew that song, everyone responded to it, and we just had a ball.
Living through the Bucs going 0-26 to start made it interesting to watch. I used to tell people that I’d take 5 thesauruses with me to the press box just to try and describe what I was seeing down there. Going through the McKay years, I was fortunate to become a friend of his and enjoyed that friendship tremendously.
To go from 0-26 to within one game of the Super Bowl -- what I still think is the fastest turn-around of any NFL team -- was just amazing. It was an exciting time to put it mildly. Coming home from that first win in New Orleans was one of the most unforgettable moments of my career. We had like 10,000 people at One Buccaneer Place, if you can imagine that.
Q. You mentioned John McKay. What comes to mind when you think about covering him for those years?
A. He’d keep me in stitches in the press conferences. He had the quickest wit of any coach, for sure. Here’s a personal story with him. I learned very early with John that you don’t challenge him. In other words, he’s the coach. What I’d do is say something like, “You know there are a lot of people, and they wonder why you’re not using your tight end more.” I’d frame it third person. One day he’s out on the practice field and signals me to come over. So he’s there and he’s got his floppy hat and sunglasses on, he’s twirling his cigar, and he puts his arm across my shoulder and starts walking towards the locker room with me. He says, “Dickie, I just want you to know something.” He’s twirling his cigar, and takes it out, looks at me and says, “I know who THEY are.” (laughs) That’s the way he was and he was laughing as much as I was at it. He knew where I was coming from. He was very special and it was really a ball working with him.
Q. Can you talk about the way local coverage of sports has changed from your time in broadcasting?
A. It has become very different. At the time I covered, we were trying to get a lot of these franchises in, build the sports scene in the Tampa Bay area, so I think the coverage was a lot less neutral. Let me put it this way. I was accused, when I worked for the Bucs, of being a homer. I always told people this. Let’s suppose the Bucs and Dolphins are playing. Both teams are covered in the market on radio. If you’re a Buccaneer fan, why would you listen to the Dolphins coverage, and vice versa? I’ve always felt that you don’t have to sugarcoat your coverage. You don’t need to misrepresent it, but I also don’t believe that you have to dig and find things that are wrong. I think if the negative is there, fine.
Q. Is there a story or episode that comes to mind?
A. I’ll tell you a real battle for me, and this was tough. When I covered Dwight Gooden, I got to know his parents really well. I knew that they watched my show. Obviously, I liked Dwight and knew the coverage was probably biased because he was a hometown kid. The first time – and I do say now the first time – when he got picked up for drugs in New York, it broke my heart to get on the air and have that footage. I had to do it, but it broke my heart to put that on because I knew his parents were watching.
I was always very careful, when let’s say, a top wide receiver from the Dallas Cowboys -- to pick a team -- got arrested for cocaine. I’d think twice about putting it on the six o’clock news. Not because it wasn’t news, but because it did not necessarily affect the local area. I was also concerned about the example it would set to some kid who was trying to make a football team. He might say, “I know it’s wrong, but this guy is a top receiver, and this is what he did. So maybe that’s the secret.”
I always had that in my mind that there were people watching that could be influenced, especially kids, and tried to frame it in a way that we wouldn’t get that negative message as a positive. It bothers me when I hear a story reported without that kind of thinking behind it.
Q. In what other ways has the business change?
A. Sports casting has really changed on the news side. Channel 8 is down to one guy. They’re stripping back so much that we’re missing the local side of coverage. I miss the inspirational stories, the kids that are overcoming things, kids that are doing great. Those are the stories I loved to do. To be honest with you, I never dreamed of going into sports broadcasting. I really don’t care about stats, but I do care about the makeup of the athlete. I care about what makes the athlete tick. I love the psychology behind it.
I mean 0-26. Do you have any idea what it took for those guys to go out there and play every week? They had it in their minds they could win even when they were losing. In 2008 here with the Rays, as in 1979, I lived through “The Little Engine That Could.” Because sometime in 2008, this Rays team came together – I think it was the result of two fights, one with the Yankees and one with the Red Sox – and decided they could win. To me, that’s sports! That’s believing! “I think I can, I think I can.” So I feel very fortunate that I had all those years covering great sports, and in 2008 got to be part of a team that went to a championship. I had to remind myself that no, I’m not covering this from the outside: I’m a part of it. That’s something I’ll never forget.
Monday, December 28, 2009
NFL Playoffs Come to Tampa Bay, 12/29/79
As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers near the finish line of one of the worst seasons in franchise history, a fan’s thoughts may wander back to happier, simpler times.In 1979, Tampa Bay shocked the NFL by racing to a 5-0 start. Coming off a 5-11 record in 1978, the Buccaneers were at least seen as a team going in the right direction. Still, few could have anticipated such a staggering start. Amazingly, after five weeks the Buccaneers were the only undefeated team in the league.
“No one gave the Bucs a chance at anything,” says Dick Crippen, a former member of the Buccaneers broadcast crew, “yet somehow in training camp, they got the idea they could win.”
Win they did. The Buccaneers finished with a 10-6 record and won the NFC Central Division. This set up a divisional playoff showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles on December 29 at Tampa Stadium.
Former Tampa Mayor Bob Martinez had just entered office as the Buccaneers began their climb in the standings. By late December, Buccaneer mania had clearly run wild on the community.
“The city became alive with talk, preparation, shopping for playoff memorabilia, and trying to get playoff tickets,” Martinez recalls.
The success of the team, in turn, gave Tampa a unique opportunity to showcase itself on a national stage. This would be the first game in team history to be broadcast on national television.
“Tampa was marketing itself nationally and internationally as a place to do business, work and play,” Martinez says. “The playoff game gave us center stage during the run up to the game and the game itself.
“It's great for a community to have a big topic, like the Bucs, to talk about in addition to weather, politics, etc. Having big-time sports gives a community a sense of place and pride. Once the Bucs got their winning ways, Johnny Carson picked on something else, game attendance went up and the players stopped fighting being part of the Bucs organization.”
Much like the Buccaneers in 1979, up until 2008 the Tampa Bay Rays were a team that knew nothing but losing. Making the playoffs and winning the American League East division were considered such major accomplishments that reaching the World Series was gravy. In both instances, players and fans had cause to slip into “happy to be there” mode.
“Like the Rays in 2008, the Bucs were 'The Little Engine That Could,' Crippen says. “When the fans heard that the Eagles would be the opponent, I think many of them figured it had been a great ride and were just proud the Bucs made the playoffs.”
The Eagles, despite making the playoffs as a wild card, at 11-5 actually had a better record than Tampa Bay and were considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
“All the experts had Philadelphia going to the Super Bowl, and I think they were even a favorite to win it,” recalls radio personality Jack Harris, then a member of the Buccaneers broadcast crew. “We were supposed to be just a bump on their way to being champions. I don’t think anyone gave us much of a chance.”
True enough, the Eagles were installed as a four-point favorite despite being the road team. Because of Tampa Bay boasted the league's top-ranked defense, most prognosticators anticipated a close game no matter the outcome. Brent Musberger, host of “The NFL Today” on CBS, proved to be one of the few exceptions in predicting a 21-point Philadelphia victory.
Bucs coach John McKay anticipated a much-closer and low-scoring contest. He also said that to win, the Bucs would have to pass the ball effectively and often.
“Just taking the ball and driving it on them, I don’t think you are going to do that,” he said. “I just don’t see anybody doing that.”
Whether McKay truly believed that or just said it as a ruse, the Buccaneers did the exact opposite on their opening drive of the game. On a day officially proclaimed by Mayor Martinez as “Tampa Bay Buccaneers Day,” it turned out to be Ricky Bell Day at Tampa Stadium.
On a clock-chewing, morale-boosting opening drive, the Buccaneers controlled the ball for 9:25, marching 80 yards down the field for a touchdown. Bell , the workhorse on this drive and on the day, got into the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the Philadelphia four yard line to give Tampa Bay the early lead.
This would be just the beginning. With his team leading 10-0 in the second quarter, Bell scored his second rushing touchdown of the day, a one-yard run to give the underdog Buccaneers a three-score lead.
Tampa Bay ’s defense lived up to its billing as well, bullying and harassing quarterback Ron Jaworski all afternoon, limiting him to 15 completions on 39 attempts. The league’s top defense held Pro Bowl running back Wilbur Montgomery to just 35 yards on 13 carries. The hard-hitting secondary and linebacker corps, in the meantime, forced drops on catchable balls and held star wide receiver Harold Carmichael to just three receptions.
On the other side, Doug Williams had an efficient, if not spectacular, game at quarterback -- 7-15 for 132 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT – but managed the offense and made key throws at the right time. Bell simply had a monster performance with an NFL-record 38 carries, rushing for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite a late rally, the Buccaneers held on for a 24-17 victory in a game that really wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Tampa Bay dominated on both sides of the ball and left no doubt as to which was the better team. The victory sent Tampa Stadium into what Crippen calls a state of “delirium.”
“When the Bucs ended up beating the Eagles, the euphoria set in and the fans believed anything was possible,” he says. “Everyone believed the team was capable of going all the way.”
Harris recalls how being the underdog in the game made the outcome that much sweeter.
“Consequently, it was almost like a Super Bowl win,” he says. “We had beaten the best team arguably in the NFL, and no one expected it. I think the unexpected wins are the best ones.
“But again, almost all the wins that season were pretty much unexpected, which tends to heighten the level of elation on the part of fans and players alike, almost exponentially.”
That afternoon, the Buccaneers earned the respect of the Philadelphia Eagles and, finally, the nation. Losing the following week to the Los Angeles Rams, while disappointing, did nothing to diminish the good feelings engendered by the Buccaneers, who thirty years ago this week, were indeed the toast of the town.
Monday, December 21, 2009
McKay Leaves With a Win, 12/16/84
Despite a disappointing 5-10 record, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers headed into their season finale twenty five years ago with something left to accomplish. With a playoff berth and a winning record long since out of reach, the Buccaneers could still end the season on a positive note: sending off coach John McKay with a win.
On Nov. 5, the day after a last-second loss to the Minnesota Vikings, McKay announced 1984 would be his final season on the sidelines. In the game at Minnesota, Vikings kicker Jan Stenerud broke a 24-24 tie on a 53-yard field goal with just two seconds left, sending the Bucs to their fourth consecutive defeat. This proved too much for McKay.
“When Stenerud hit that long field goal,” McKay said, “I said, ‘That’s as much as I can take.’”
The Buccaneers followed his announcement by dropping three of the next four games, ending any chance of making the playoffs or even finishing at .500. Still, coming off a 23-6 home win against Atlanta in Week 15, the Bucs had a chance to end McKay’s coaching career on an up note with a win over the 7-8 New York Jets.
Such circumstances hardly seemed appropriate for one of the legendary coaches in the history of football. As head coach of the University of Southern California Trojans from 1960-75, he won nine Pacific-8 Conference championships and four national championships (1962, 1967, 1972, 1974).
A winner of 127 games at the college level – with only 40 losses – many expected that success would translate to the pro level when he took over as first head coach of the Buccaneers in 1976.
We all know that did not happen, especially in the beginning. McKay received a most-humbling welcome to professional football, losing his first 26 games. Still, by his fourth season he had turned the Buccaneers into a winner and came within one game of going to the Super Bowl.
From 1979-82, McKay coached Tampa Bay to two NFC Central titles and three playoff appearances. A 2-14 season in 1983 was a huge step back for the organization, but McKay anticipated big things in 1984 and proclaimed it the most-talented Buccaneer squad ever.
Instead, the team underachieved despite having arguably one of the best offensive seasons in franchise history. Tampa Bay also had trouble winning close games, dropping seven of their games by seven points or fewer. So in many ways, 1984 had to be one of McKay’s most frustrating seasons, knowing his team was just good enough to lose when it mattered most. Still, the Bucs would find a way to come through for McKay one final time.
In front of 43,817 at Tampa Stadium on Dec. 16, 1984, the John McKay era ended not with a whimper, but with one of the most controversial conclusions in Buccaneer history. The fourth quarter, in particular, lives in infamy because of running back James Wilder’s pursuit of an NFL record.
Entering the game, Wilder needed 178 total yards to break Los Angeles Rams’ running back Eric Dickerson’s newly established record for all-purpose yards in a season (2,244). Wilder’s 4-yard touchdown run with 1:21 left in the game left him 15 yards short of O.J. Simpson for 2nd place on the list and 16 yards behind Dickerson. His touchdown set off a bizarre series of events still unmatched to this day.
Despite holding a 41-14 lead, on the ensuing kickoff McKay called for Obed Ariri to attempt an onside kick. A successful recovery represented Tampa Bay ’s best hope for getting Wilder in a position to break the record. Ariri’s first two attempts were voided by penalties, and finally on the third attempt, New York’s Russell Carter recovered the ball on Tampa Bay’s 35-yard line.
Here’s where things got interesting. New York knew the Buccaneers wanted the ball back, and with barely a minute left in the game, the Bucs could only regain possession on a punt, turnover or safety. Set up with excellent field position, a punt by the Jets seemed unlikely, so the Buccaneers' best bet was for New York to score.
The ensuing drive gave new meaning to the term “prevent defense.” Back-to-back completions moved the ball to the Tampa Bay 9-yard line with 1:07 left in the game. On the next play, safety Mark Cotney tackled running back Johnny Hector at the 2 and then, realizing his “mistake,” immediately called timeout. There would be no such confusion on the following play.
Hector again took the handoff, but this he time encountered nothing but backpedaling linemen, giving him an unmolested run into the end zone.
“We tried to make it look inconspicuous,” linebacker Scot Brantley said after the game, “but I guess we didn’t succeed. The Jets knew what was going on.”
New York knew and was not pleased. The Jets countered by attempting an onside kick of their own. George Peebles recovered Pat Lahey’s attempt, however, at the New York 45, giving Wilder one last shot at the record.
The Jets, who had been focused on shutting down Wilder for most of the fourth quarter, were not about to let him have an easy path to the record, especially after Tampa Bay’s flop-play on defense.
On Tampa Bay’s three final offensive plays, Wilder was tackled for a loss of 2, ran for a gain of 2 and was held for no gain on the last play of the game. With nearly ever defender committed to stopping him – and only him – on the play, Wilder never had a chance.
After the game, several Jets immediately directed their ire towards McKay, lobbing obscenities at him as he left the field. New York coach Joe Walton had harsh words for McKay following the game as well.
“The way it ended was a total embarrassment to the NFL,” he said. “It set football back 20 years and was completely uncalled for.”
McKay refused to apologize, saying he did what he did in the best interests of Wilder and the fans. The fans, who stayed to the end hoping to see history, showed their displeasure with New York by showering the team with a mixture of boos and debris as they exited toward the locker room.
It was appropriate that McKay left the game in a style befitting a man who never much cared what his critics said about him: defiant to the very end, and ultimately, a winner.
On Nov. 5, the day after a last-second loss to the Minnesota Vikings, McKay announced 1984 would be his final season on the sidelines. In the game at Minnesota, Vikings kicker Jan Stenerud broke a 24-24 tie on a 53-yard field goal with just two seconds left, sending the Bucs to their fourth consecutive defeat. This proved too much for McKay.
“When Stenerud hit that long field goal,” McKay said, “I said, ‘That’s as much as I can take.’”
The Buccaneers followed his announcement by dropping three of the next four games, ending any chance of making the playoffs or even finishing at .500. Still, coming off a 23-6 home win against Atlanta in Week 15, the Bucs had a chance to end McKay’s coaching career on an up note with a win over the 7-8 New York Jets.
Such circumstances hardly seemed appropriate for one of the legendary coaches in the history of football. As head coach of the University of Southern California Trojans from 1960-75, he won nine Pacific-8 Conference championships and four national championships (1962, 1967, 1972, 1974).
A winner of 127 games at the college level – with only 40 losses – many expected that success would translate to the pro level when he took over as first head coach of the Buccaneers in 1976.
We all know that did not happen, especially in the beginning. McKay received a most-humbling welcome to professional football, losing his first 26 games. Still, by his fourth season he had turned the Buccaneers into a winner and came within one game of going to the Super Bowl.
From 1979-82, McKay coached Tampa Bay to two NFC Central titles and three playoff appearances. A 2-14 season in 1983 was a huge step back for the organization, but McKay anticipated big things in 1984 and proclaimed it the most-talented Buccaneer squad ever.
Instead, the team underachieved despite having arguably one of the best offensive seasons in franchise history. Tampa Bay also had trouble winning close games, dropping seven of their games by seven points or fewer. So in many ways, 1984 had to be one of McKay’s most frustrating seasons, knowing his team was just good enough to lose when it mattered most. Still, the Bucs would find a way to come through for McKay one final time.
In front of 43,817 at Tampa Stadium on Dec. 16, 1984, the John McKay era ended not with a whimper, but with one of the most controversial conclusions in Buccaneer history. The fourth quarter, in particular, lives in infamy because of running back James Wilder’s pursuit of an NFL record.
Entering the game, Wilder needed 178 total yards to break Los Angeles Rams’ running back Eric Dickerson’s newly established record for all-purpose yards in a season (2,244). Wilder’s 4-yard touchdown run with 1:21 left in the game left him 15 yards short of O.J. Simpson for 2nd place on the list and 16 yards behind Dickerson. His touchdown set off a bizarre series of events still unmatched to this day.
Despite holding a 41-14 lead, on the ensuing kickoff McKay called for Obed Ariri to attempt an onside kick. A successful recovery represented Tampa Bay ’s best hope for getting Wilder in a position to break the record. Ariri’s first two attempts were voided by penalties, and finally on the third attempt, New York’s Russell Carter recovered the ball on Tampa Bay’s 35-yard line.
Here’s where things got interesting. New York knew the Buccaneers wanted the ball back, and with barely a minute left in the game, the Bucs could only regain possession on a punt, turnover or safety. Set up with excellent field position, a punt by the Jets seemed unlikely, so the Buccaneers' best bet was for New York to score.
The ensuing drive gave new meaning to the term “prevent defense.” Back-to-back completions moved the ball to the Tampa Bay 9-yard line with 1:07 left in the game. On the next play, safety Mark Cotney tackled running back Johnny Hector at the 2 and then, realizing his “mistake,” immediately called timeout. There would be no such confusion on the following play.
Hector again took the handoff, but this he time encountered nothing but backpedaling linemen, giving him an unmolested run into the end zone.
“We tried to make it look inconspicuous,” linebacker Scot Brantley said after the game, “but I guess we didn’t succeed. The Jets knew what was going on.”
New York knew and was not pleased. The Jets countered by attempting an onside kick of their own. George Peebles recovered Pat Lahey’s attempt, however, at the New York 45, giving Wilder one last shot at the record.
The Jets, who had been focused on shutting down Wilder for most of the fourth quarter, were not about to let him have an easy path to the record, especially after Tampa Bay’s flop-play on defense.
On Tampa Bay’s three final offensive plays, Wilder was tackled for a loss of 2, ran for a gain of 2 and was held for no gain on the last play of the game. With nearly ever defender committed to stopping him – and only him – on the play, Wilder never had a chance.
After the game, several Jets immediately directed their ire towards McKay, lobbing obscenities at him as he left the field. New York coach Joe Walton had harsh words for McKay following the game as well.
“The way it ended was a total embarrassment to the NFL,” he said. “It set football back 20 years and was completely uncalled for.”
McKay refused to apologize, saying he did what he did in the best interests of Wilder and the fans. The fans, who stayed to the end hoping to see history, showed their displeasure with New York by showering the team with a mixture of boos and debris as they exited toward the locker room.
It was appropriate that McKay left the game in a style befitting a man who never much cared what his critics said about him: defiant to the very end, and ultimately, a winner.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Doug Williams Returns to Tampa, 5/14/84
On May 14, 1984, former Buccaneer quarterback Doug Williams returned to Tampa Stadium as a member of the USFL's Oklahoma Outlaws. The game against the Tampa Bandits should have been an occasion for local football fans to offer one last salute to the man who led the Buccaneers to three playoff berths in four seasons. If only life were that simple.
Instead of a hero's welcome, Williams returned to town as public enemy number one. A bitter contract dispute with Buccaneer owner Hugh Culverhouse following the 1982 season, sadly, forced many fans to choose sides.
At the time, Williams made less money than every other starting quarterback in the NFL -- including 12 backup quarterbacks -- and wanted a substantial raise from his base salary of $120,000. Culverhouse failed to meet his contract demands as the two parties were just $200,000 dollars apart. Publicly, Williams asked for $875,000, but had been willing to settle for $600,000. Culverhouse offered $400,000 with a chance to make $600,000 by the third year, an offer which Williams said at the time made him feel unwanted.
Things eventually turned ugly when Williams wondered whether racism was really at the core of Culverhouse's offer, suggesting that if he was white, "Don't you think I'd have gotten what I wanted?" He also questioned whether Head Coach John McKay did enough on his behalf, as McKay called the Culverhouse's bid to keep Williams a "fair offer."
The situation had become untenable by August 1983. Unsure of their quarterback situation, the Buccaneers traded a number one draft pick to the Cincinnati Bengals for backup quarterback Jack Thompson. On August 9, Williams announced his intention to play the following spring in Tulsa for the Oklahoma Outlaws of the USFL. On his way out of town, the quarterback declared that he hoped Tampa Bay would finish 0-16 without him. The team came pretty darned close, finishing the 1983 campaign a disastrous 2-14.
This all set the stage for Williams' dramatic return to Tampa for a Monday night contest against the Bandits at Tampa Stadium. A local coin dealer named Art Arbutine got into the spirit by offering 50 silver dollars -- worth $750 -- to any Bandit player for each sack of Williams. The offer, made purely out of fun, paled in comparison to the vociferous booing Williams endured by Bandit fans.
Many in the local football-watching populace called Williams greedy and selfish, blaming him for turning his back on the Buccaneers and leaving the team a disaster. Williams got an earful from the majority of the 45,000-plus fans as he took the field for his opening offensive drive against the Bandits.
Despite a chorus of boos, Williams completed six of his first seven pass attempts while leading the Outlaws to touchdown on their opening possession. The quarterback did his part to silence the detractors in the stands by tossing three touchdowns in the first half to keep his team -- a 13.5 point underdog -- within seven points of the Bandits, trailing just 28-21 at the half.
For all his heroics in the first half, however, Williams fared just as poorly in the second half, throwing three interceptions and no additional touchdowns. Williams lost his cool after two of the interceptions, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing with a referee and later an unnecessary roughness call for tackling Bandit safety Tim King out of bounds. The later offense resulted in debris being thrown at Williams from spectators behind the visitor's bench.
On the night, Williams finished 25 of 48 for 347 yards with three touchdowns, but it clearly was not enough against a Bandit offensive-machine that racked up a team-record 511 yards of total offense en route to a 48-21 victory.
While local football fans earned a measure of revenge that night, Williams ultimately found redemption in his career by leading the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl championship in January 1988, earning the game's Most Valuable Player award in the process. The Buccaneers, meanwhile, would endure a string of 14 consecutive losing seasons from 1983-1996.
Welcomed back to the Buccaneer family with a front office position in 2004, today Williams serves as the team's Coordinator of Pro Scouting, proving that despite the bad blood and hard feelings of the past, it truly is possible to come home again.
“Coming back to play here was emotional because I felt I never should have left anyway,” Williams recalls today. “Playing the Bandits, who were one of the most productive and well-supported teams in the USFL, made it even better. You knew they’d bring their best because I was coming to town.”
The response from the fans that night, he says, was expected and he doesn’t let that cloud his perspective on the present.
“People weren’t really sure why I left Tampa,” he says. “It was a lot different back then. The team really controlled the spin, not the player. People understand that now though and you go forward.
Some people respect what I did, some maybe not, but at the end of the day you just have to roll with the punches. I have enjoyed my time being back here and the respect that has been given to me.”
Instead of a hero's welcome, Williams returned to town as public enemy number one. A bitter contract dispute with Buccaneer owner Hugh Culverhouse following the 1982 season, sadly, forced many fans to choose sides.
At the time, Williams made less money than every other starting quarterback in the NFL -- including 12 backup quarterbacks -- and wanted a substantial raise from his base salary of $120,000. Culverhouse failed to meet his contract demands as the two parties were just $200,000 dollars apart. Publicly, Williams asked for $875,000, but had been willing to settle for $600,000. Culverhouse offered $400,000 with a chance to make $600,000 by the third year, an offer which Williams said at the time made him feel unwanted.
Things eventually turned ugly when Williams wondered whether racism was really at the core of Culverhouse's offer, suggesting that if he was white, "Don't you think I'd have gotten what I wanted?" He also questioned whether Head Coach John McKay did enough on his behalf, as McKay called the Culverhouse's bid to keep Williams a "fair offer."
The situation had become untenable by August 1983. Unsure of their quarterback situation, the Buccaneers traded a number one draft pick to the Cincinnati Bengals for backup quarterback Jack Thompson. On August 9, Williams announced his intention to play the following spring in Tulsa for the Oklahoma Outlaws of the USFL. On his way out of town, the quarterback declared that he hoped Tampa Bay would finish 0-16 without him. The team came pretty darned close, finishing the 1983 campaign a disastrous 2-14.
This all set the stage for Williams' dramatic return to Tampa for a Monday night contest against the Bandits at Tampa Stadium. A local coin dealer named Art Arbutine got into the spirit by offering 50 silver dollars -- worth $750 -- to any Bandit player for each sack of Williams. The offer, made purely out of fun, paled in comparison to the vociferous booing Williams endured by Bandit fans.
Many in the local football-watching populace called Williams greedy and selfish, blaming him for turning his back on the Buccaneers and leaving the team a disaster. Williams got an earful from the majority of the 45,000-plus fans as he took the field for his opening offensive drive against the Bandits.
Despite a chorus of boos, Williams completed six of his first seven pass attempts while leading the Outlaws to touchdown on their opening possession. The quarterback did his part to silence the detractors in the stands by tossing three touchdowns in the first half to keep his team -- a 13.5 point underdog -- within seven points of the Bandits, trailing just 28-21 at the half.
For all his heroics in the first half, however, Williams fared just as poorly in the second half, throwing three interceptions and no additional touchdowns. Williams lost his cool after two of the interceptions, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing with a referee and later an unnecessary roughness call for tackling Bandit safety Tim King out of bounds. The later offense resulted in debris being thrown at Williams from spectators behind the visitor's bench.
On the night, Williams finished 25 of 48 for 347 yards with three touchdowns, but it clearly was not enough against a Bandit offensive-machine that racked up a team-record 511 yards of total offense en route to a 48-21 victory.
While local football fans earned a measure of revenge that night, Williams ultimately found redemption in his career by leading the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl championship in January 1988, earning the game's Most Valuable Player award in the process. The Buccaneers, meanwhile, would endure a string of 14 consecutive losing seasons from 1983-1996.
Welcomed back to the Buccaneer family with a front office position in 2004, today Williams serves as the team's Coordinator of Pro Scouting, proving that despite the bad blood and hard feelings of the past, it truly is possible to come home again.
“Coming back to play here was emotional because I felt I never should have left anyway,” Williams recalls today. “Playing the Bandits, who were one of the most productive and well-supported teams in the USFL, made it even better. You knew they’d bring their best because I was coming to town.”
The response from the fans that night, he says, was expected and he doesn’t let that cloud his perspective on the present.
“People weren’t really sure why I left Tampa,” he says. “It was a lot different back then. The team really controlled the spin, not the player. People understand that now though and you go forward.
Some people respect what I did, some maybe not, but at the end of the day you just have to roll with the punches. I have enjoyed my time being back here and the respect that has been given to me.”
Monday, December 1, 2008
Repus Bowl I, 11/27/83
In mid-November of 1983, Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown contemplated coming out of retirement. Brown wanted to deny Franco Harris, who he deemed an unworthy heir, his all-time NFL rushing record of 12,312 yards.
In a match-up of irresistible force versus immovable object, the Buccaneers and Oilers met at Tampa Stadium on Nov. 27, 1983, to crown the league's worst team. Tampa Tribune columnist Tom McEwen even nicknamed the contest "The Repus Bowl" – super spelled backwards -- in a nod to the game being the exact opposite of the upcoming Super Bowl in
The match-up, however, was not completely without significance. At stake, a claim to the top pick in the 1984 draft. Unfortunately for
"I'd be lying if I said yes," McKay said, "but I haven't seen the opposite either."
McKay could not have anticipated a more opposite result from his team than the one he got that afternoon. In front of a season-low crowd of 38,625 (with 20,474 no-shows), the Buccaneers tied the second-highest scoring output in team history by putting 33 points on the board against the league's 27th-ranked defense. This from a team ranked dead last among all 28 teams in points per game and coming off nine-consecutive scoreless quarters, which actually extended to 10 with a scoreless first quarter.
Nothing could have been quite so unpredictable as quarterback Jack Thompson, nicknamed "The Throwin' Samoan," tossing four touchdown passes, joining Doug Williams as the only the
The defense even rebounded with a strong effort, recording three interceptions and two sacks of
The Bucs being the Bucs, however, nothing came easily against the Oilers.
Kicker Bill Capece, just two weeks away from being famously declared "kaput" by McKay, missed a 41-yard field goal that would have given the Buccaneers an early 3-0 lead. Following a 6-yard touchdown pass from Thompson to Adger Armstrong on the first play of the second quarter, Capece missed the extra point attempt.
Barely 5 minutes later, Thompson connected on a 25-yard strike over the middle to Kevin House for his second touchdown pass of the game. The Buccaneers again struggled to complete the PAT, this time not even getting a chance to kick due to a poor snap by Jim Leonard. Still,
The Oilers opened the second half with an 81-yard kickoff return that set up a 1-yard touchdown run by the great Earl Campbell to cut
The excitement surrounding Thompson's outstanding performance (17 of 29 passing for 224 yards with 4 TD and no interceptions) could be somewhat tempered by virtue of Houston's terrible defense, but the career backup quarterback acquired for a first-round pick still breathed a sigh of relief.
"I think I'm worth (a No.1 pick)," Thompson said after the game. "I tell you again, it is a long-range judgement, not one to be made quickly."
In John McKay's judgement, for once that season, the Bucs weren't the worst team on the field, let alone the entire league. After the game, McKay boasted "the better team won, so you can knock off that manure you've been putting in the paper about whatever kind of bowl it was supposed to be. If
Monday, December 10, 2007
Buccaneers 1st Ever Win, 12/11/77
“Losing to the Bucs would be a disgrace.”“I’ve got nothing to say.”
-- New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning before and after losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
By the final month of 1977, the nearly 2-year-old Tampa Bay Buccaneers remained winless after 26 games. Suffice it to say, they needed no extra motivation as they sought their first victory. Nonetheless, the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints -- who by the late 1970s had yet to enjoy a winning season -- served up his gem for the Bucs to use as bulletin-board fodder.
The ’Aints were in the midst of another disappointing campaign when the Bucs rolled into the Superdome for an afternoon game on Dec. 11, 1977. After four straight weeks of tough, respectable outings by the Bucs defense, Manning’s comment struck a nerve with coach John McKay and his proud defenders. A mediocre quarterback’s quip appeared to provide whatever spark was lacking in every previous game played by the fledgling Tampa Bay franchise.
Bucs defensive end Lee Roy Selmon, an eventual Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee who would tally three sacks in the game, rattled Manning early with a punishing hit that sent the signal-caller sprawling to the synthetic turf. The Tampa Bay defense ruled the day, recording five sacks, six interceptions and scoring three touchdowns en route to the biggest -- and first -- win in the history of the franchise, a 33-14 laugher.
Not only was the point total more than half the Bucs’ output for the entire season, but the 33 points symbolized almost two years’ worth of frustration. The Bucs didn’t merely squeeze out a close win by a couple of points -- they won a road game in a decisive fashion, leaving no doubt their darkest days were over.
It’s clear from the reaction after the game that Manning’s jab had an impact on the Bucs, and they weren’t about to let him forget it. Lee Roy Selmon’s loquacious brother, linebacker Dewey Selmon, offered several bon mots in the Bucs’ locker room, from “(Manning) has his disgrace now and he can sit on it,” to “It’s a case of respect. When a man says that, it’s like ... well, it’s like somebody has been talking bad about your momma.”
A jubilant McKay agreed with Manning’s comment, after all: “He said it would be a disgrace to lose to us, and, it is.”
As many had warned for months, losing to the Bucs would result in a shame and indignity no team wanted to accept. General managers, coaches and players long had referred to the Bucs, without a hint of irony, as the most feared team in the league. Frustrated Bucs players, such as running back Anthony Davis, bemoaned that opponents played every game as if it were the Super Bowl to avoid being “the first.” Gil Brandt, an executive for the Dallas Cowboys, remarked that when the Bucs win a game, “it’s going to be a terrible thing to the team that loses. ... The publicity and the reaction of the fans around that city will really be something.”
Unfortunately for New Orleans, the one thing worse than being a city with an 0-26 team is a city whose squad allows a winless team its first victory. What followed in the Big Easy was expected and appropriate. Saints coach Hank Stram, later enshrined in the Hall of Fame for his earlier coaching prowess with the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs, earned a dubious distinction on that December day -- he was the first coach in history to explain a loss to Tampa Bay. Stram called it his lowest feeling as a head coach and that his team was “strangled by the trauma,” as he expressed embarrassment on behalf of the organization and its fans.
New Orleans States-Item sportswriter Peter Finney compared the Saints’ loss to historic disasters, such as a 1737 earthquake in India that killed 300,000. “Keep this in mind,” he wrote, “when you contemplate the score – Tampa Bay 33, New Orleans 14.” In his monologue while serving as guest host on The Tonight Show, Bill Cosby directed the laughs, for a change, to a different port city. “Shame is falling on New Orleans,” Cosby said. “There’ll be no Mardi Gras. No crawfish. No bread pudding. Let us all hear it for Tampa Bay.”
The fallout from the game sent shockwaves across America. When the final score was announced in stadiums from Los Angeles to Foxboro, Mass., fans erupted with cheers and standing ovations.
Playing off his titular character in the movie “Oh, God!,” George Burns sent a telegram to McKay which read, “Taking care of the Bucs was the toughest job of my career. Do me a favor and win number two on your own.” Not to be outdone, the White House even issued an official reaction, comparing President Carter’s “underdog status” to the trials and tribulations of the Buccaneers.
It was in Tampa, however, where the reaction was the loudest and most heartfelt. The scene outside the team’s headquarters near the airport reflected the relief and joy felt by the community. While the Bucs’ marching band provided the soundtrack, the team’s cheerleaders -- the Swashbucklers -- danced for the enthusiastic crowd on the roof of the Airport-Resort Hotel. A throng of more than 8,000 eagerly anticipated the team’s return from New Orleans and braved cold weather. Then, shortly before 9 p.m., pandemonium ensued as the team buses arrived.
Long the symbol of the franchise’s ineptitude and failure, on this night McKay became the main object of the crowd’s adoration. Ever the showman, he climbed atop a car to address the fans. During an impromptu speech in which he tweaked his supposed lack of humility, McKay deemed the Bucs’ inaugural triumph the “greatest win in the history of the world.” To the thousands surrounding him, McKay proclaimed, “There’s never been a better defensive player than Lee Roy Selmon!” The crowd cheered loudly as he continued: “There’s never been a better nose guard than Dave Pear!”
Buccaneer fans again roared their approval, and the noise reached a crescendo when McKay said, “And there’s never been a better head coach than John McKay!”
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