Tampa Bay Buccaneers Prologue
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Prologue
The first NFL Bucs were coached by  Tut Imlay, who lead the team in rushing (225 yards) and receiving (175 yards) and starting quarterback Harold “Brick” Muller. The team, made up of primarily players from California colleges, finished sixth behind the champion Frankfort Yellow Jackets in a 22 team league. The L.A. Bucs were not the only team to fold after the season, as the NFL reorganized to twelve teams for 1927.
The team's biggest star was Brick Muller (pictured), who won the Olympic Silver high jump medal in 1920 and was Rose Bowl MVP in 1921. Today, the University of California gives the "Brick Muller Award" to the school’s top lineman. |
The story of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers really begins in the early 1960s, when community leaders envisioned a major football stadium in Tampa. In 1961, Tampa mayor Julian Lane appointed a committee to study the feasibility of such a stadium. The next mayor, Nick Nuccio did the same. By 1965, when the Florida Legislature established the Tampa Sports Authority, the ball got rolling. Bonds were issued and, the day after the TSA received a check to cover the $4.1 million construction cost, the official ground breaking took place on October 9, 1966. The first event at the 46,700 seat Tampa Stadium, on November 4, 1967, was a 38-0 Tennessee victory over the University of Tampa.
While the primary tenant of Tampa Stadium was UT football, other college games and high school games were held there as well, some saw an opportunity to bring NFL football to Tampa Bay. Preseason games would become the first step.
Actually, the first professional football game played in Tampa Bay was held at University of Tampa's Phillips Field. In August 1964, the Buffalo Bills, quarterbacked by Jack Kemp, defeated the New York Titans 26-13 in an American Football League preseason game. What was notable about the game was Bills' rookie Pete Gogolak became professional football's first "soccer style" kicker. He kicked a 57 yard field goal, the longest in pro football at the time, and revolutionized the kicking game forever. While the Phillips Field stands were about half full, and the promoter lost money, preseason games at the new stadium fared much better.
The first professional football game at Tampa Stadium was held on August 10, 1968. A preseason game, sponsored by the Tampa Jaycees, was billed as the NFL Suncoast Classic. 42,000 fans watched Washington beat Atlanta 16-14. A 1971 exhibition saw Joe Namath severely damage his knee while attempting to make a tackle. The New York Jets quarterback would miss all but four games that season.
Before Tampa Bay got its own team, thirteen NFL preseason games were staged. The average attendance of 41,000 would help the area join the NFL. In 1972, a controversy over including preseason games in season ticket packages caused the Baltimore Colts to play the entire preseason in Tampa. After playing exhibition games in Tampa, Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom vowed, "Another city will get an expansion team first over my dead body."
Not long after the first preseason game was held at Tampa Stadium, in November 1968, the Suncoast Pro Football Committee was formed in the attempt to bring an NFL team to the facility. The NFL was in a period of rapid growth, due in large part to competition with the American Football League. In 1959, the NFL was a twelve team league. They expanded to Dallas in 1960, Minnesota in 1961, Atlanta in 1966 and New Orleans in 1967. After the NFL and AFL merged for the 1970 season, the league had swelled to 26 teams. The timing may not have been right for the Suncoast Pro Football Committee, but it was not last attempt to bring NFL football to the area. The NFL started to look at expansion shortly after the merger in part due to concerns over anti-trust issues.
On April 24, 1974, the National Football League owners gathered at New York City's Drake Hotel to name two expansion teams to join the league for the 1976 season. Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, chaired the NFL Expansion Committee. The local group, known as the West Coast NFL Task Force, was headed by J. Leonard Levy. In an effort to promote a larger market, this committee is usually credited as the first to call the area "Tampa Bay." The other finalists for the new teams were Seattle, Memphis, Phoenix and Honolulu. Since an ownership group was already in place, Seattle was thought to be the favorite.
Pete Rozelle, NFL Commissioner at the time, stepped up to the microphone and
announced the league had awarded its 27th franchise to Tampa Bay. "The
National Football League today voted to expand to Tampa, Florida, and to at
least one other city to be chosen later this year. The teams are to be ready
for the 1976 season" Rozelle proclaimed. By a 24-2 vote, the Tampa Bay
National Football League team was born. The Commissioner then told Leonard
Levy, "Welcome to the NFL, sir." Later that day, Levy talked at a press
conference. "I am so happy the NFL selected us. None of the other areas have
worked as long and in so many ways to get where we are today. This is no
victory for any one, but for all the citizens of our area."
The league would defer the ownership question for the new Tampa Bay franchise until a later date. Pete Rozelle said the NFL was impressed by the way the area had supported preseason games. There was also an agreement to increase the seating capacity of Tampa Stadium. The following year, a $10 million renovation took place. There was a new scoreboard, luxury suites, expanded concession stands and the end zones were enclosed to increase the seating to 72,000.
On October 30, the league awarded the ownership of the Tampa Bay franchise to
Tom McCloskey, a Philadelphia construction company owner. However, McCloskey
was going through some financial and personal problems. Part of the story goes
he was worried a pending divorce would result in his ex-wife getting half the
team. When McCloskey withdrew his offer, Hugh Culverhouse, a 45 year old
attorney from Jacksonville was named the owner. Culverhouse had actually
declined ownership of the Seattle franchise because his wife did not want to
leave Florida. Later, it was disclosed that Culverhouse had a lawsuit pending
against the NFL, as a result of a 1972 effort to buy the Los Angeles Rams.
However, the case never went to court because several owners had agreed to help
Culverhouse land an expansion team. On December 5, it became official, as
Culverhouse signed the franchise agreement with the NFL. The franchise fee was
$16 million, $4 million was in cash, a bargain compared to the cost of sports
franchises today.
Buccanners owner Hugh Culverhouse asked long time Tampa Tribune cartoonist
Lamar Sparkman to design the first team logo. The logo could not look too much
like that of the other "pirates" in the league, the Oakland Raiders, so
Sparkman came up with a swashbuckler in a plumed hat with a cutlass in his
mouth.
The pirate appeared to be winking and came to be known as "Buccaneer Bruce" or "Bucco Bruce." The orange color scheme of the uniforms did not help, nor did the play of those early Bucs teams, but the logo is generally considered one of worst in recent sports history. After Malcolm Glazer bought the team, a more marketable logo and color scheme was introduced for the 1997 season. |
The search for the team's first head coach ended on Halloween, when John McKay
was named the head coach. McKay had coached the University of Southern
California Trojans to four national championships, eight Rose Bowl appearances
with five victories and had an 127-40-8 record at USC. He signed a five year
contact to coach the Buccaneers on October 31, 1975. Hugh Culverhouse said of
the new coach, "He's the only man I made a firm offer to. I went after the man
I thought could do the job better than anyone else."
John McKay showed his sense of humor right off the bat saying, "The big reason I took the job was to get the cigars." On the transition from coaching in college to NFL head coach he said, "What is it they do in the pros they don't do in college? I think we can do the job. It may take a little time, though." The new head coach, talking about his reported $2.5 million contract, stated "That's ridiculous. I wouldn't pay that kind of money for five coaches with Jim Brown thrown in."
On November 4, 1975, it was announced that the Bucs would play their initial season in the AFC's Western Division. The team would then move to a permanent home in the NFC Central Division for the 1977 season. There was also an unique scheduling arrangement where the Bucs would play every team in the AFC and the two new expansion teams would play all 26 existing teams at least once in their first two seasons. On December 27, the Buccaneers won the first pick in the following year's college draft on a coin toss. Seattle would get the first selection in the Veteran Allocation Draft.
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