1961: Abner Haynes Scores 5 TDs as Texans Defeat Raiders

The Dallas Texans were in the midst of a disappointing season in the American Football League’s second year as they hosted the Oakland Raiders at the Cotton Bowl on November 26, 1961. The club had gone 8-6 in the inaugural ’60 season and had plenty of talent and an able head coach in Hank Stram. The Texans had hoped to challenge the Chargers for supremacy in the Western Division, but after a promising 3-1 start, they had lost six straight games coming into the contest against Oakland.

QB Cotton Davidson lacked accuracy and consistency, and the loss of FB Jack Spikes in the sixth game had hurt the inside running game. It was one of several injuries that had exposed issues with the club’s depth. Still, the team had HB Abner Haynes, an exciting multi-purpose talent who could run, catch, and return kicks equally well. Haynes had been suffering from a shoulder injury at the beginning of the season, but was now healthy – as Oakland would find out.

The Raiders were a 2-8 basket case. After losing their first two games by a combined score of 99-0, Eddie Erdelatz was fired as head coach and replaced by assistant Marty Feldman. It didn’t help much, but Oakland had given the Texans a tough contest in their earlier meeting (Feldman’s first game). The offense, led by capable QB Tom Flores, lacked enough punch and the defense had too many holes. It didn’t help that the situation with the front office was chaotic and the club played its home games across the bay from Oakland in San Francisco. The first meeting had been a back-and-forth struggle, but not this one.

There were 14,500 fans present at the Cotton Bowl as the Texans scored on their first possession. Davidson threw a pass to HB Johnny Robinson for a 30-yard touchdown and quick 7-0 lead. They never looked back.

Later in the first quarter, Haynes caught a pass from Davidson and went 66 yards for his first touchdown. In the second quarter, following a 65-yard run by FB Bo Dickinson, Haynes ran for a five-yard TD and Dallas was up by 21-0.

Meanwhile, Oakland’s offense reached the Dallas seven in the first quarter and came up empty, and a drive to the 11 in the second quarter also ended up without a score. George Fleming finally kicked a 45-yard field goal just before halftime, making it 21-3, but missed on three other attempts.

In the third quarter, Haynes accounted for all but seven of 61 yards in a drive that ended with the fleet halfback scoring from the one. He scored twice more in the same period, first on a 33-yard run over right tackle (followed by a successful two-point conversion) and then a 26-yard carry to the left side.

With the game well in hand at 43-3, Haynes sat out most of the fourth quarter, but did have a 25-yard run to finish off his day. Most of his successful runs came on pitchouts, giving him room to fake out defenders on the flanks.

Flores was relieved in the third quarter. Backup QB Nick Papac finally got the Raiders into the end zone in the fourth quarter with a quarterback sneak and they successfully converted for two points, providing the final score of 43-11.

The Texans piled up 495 yards, to 254 for the Raiders, with 284 on the ground and 228 through the air (147 by Davidson and 81 by backup Randy Duncan). Bo Dickinson, thanks to the long run in the second quarter, gained 79 yards on six carries and split end Chris Burford had a good performance with four catches for 68 yards. But the star of the game was Abner Haynes, who rushed for 158 yards on 14 carries with four touchdowns and caught two passes for 84 yards and a TD, thus accounting for 242 yards from scrimmage.

The touchdown and rushing yardage totals set new records for the young AFL. Haynes broke his old mark of 157, set against the New York Titans in ’60. He had also shared the old record for touchdowns in a game with three.

The 6’0”, 185-pound Haynes had been an unknown coming out of North Texas State in 1960, passing up offers from the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers and CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers to sign with the new team in his native state of Texas. He made a huge impact in the AFL’s first season, leading the league in rushing with 875 yards on 156 carries (5.6 avg.) and punt returning with a 15.4 average on 14 returns. He also caught 55 passes for 576 yards and scored a total of 12 touchdowns while piling up 2100 all-purpose yards. For his efforts, he was named AFL Player of the Year by the Associated Press and UPI.

Haynes, considered the new league’s first home-grown star, had a distinctive running style, with deceiving speed and shiftiness – and a habit of carrying the football in his hand like a loaf of bread (he led the league with 11 fumbles).

The Texans ended the season on a high note, winning their last two games, for a 6-8 record that placed them second in the Western Division – well behind the Chargers. Oakland had the league’s worst record at 2-12.

Abner Haynes, despite missing three games, still finished third among the AFL’s rushers with 841 yards; his nine TDs on the ground tied for first (with San Diego’s Paul Lowe). He caught 34 passes for 558 yards and three more scores and ranked fourth with a 10.3 punt returning average. Haynes returned a kickoff for a TD, one of 13 on the year. His 1399 yards from scrimmage ranked third in the AFL and 1865 all-purpose yards ranked second.

1961: George Blanda Throws 7 TD Passes Against NY Titans

The Houston Oilers, defending champions of the American Football League, had gotten off to a rough start in 1961. They were 1-3-1 after five games, and George Blanda (pictured above), the 33-year-old quarterback who had revived his pro football career in ’60 while leading the club to the title, was benched for two games.

However, owner Bud Adams fired Head Coach Lou Rymkus at that point and replaced him with Wally Lemm. There was an immediate turnaround, and by the time the Oilers hosted the New York Titans at Jeppesen Stadium on November 19, they had reeled off four straight wins. Blanda was back at the helm. In the preceding four contests, he had passed for 1076 yards (including 464 in a game at Buffalo alone) with 11 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.

The Titans, coached by legendary QB Sammy Baugh, were 5-4 coming into the game. While the offense was capable of providing some excitement, in particular due to the presence of split end Art Powell and flanker Don Maynard, the defense was porous, especially the defensive backfield. Having started off 3-1, New York was in danger of falling out of contention in the Eastern Division.

There were 33,428 fans in attendance at the small venue as Houston took command quickly and decisively. Blanda tossed his first touchdown pass, of 28 yards to flanker Charley Hennigan, at the conclusion of an 80-yard drive early in the first quarter. With 4:40 remaining in the opening period, Blanda tossed a six-yard TD pass to HB Billy Cannon to conclude a six-play possession that covered 31 yards. Before the first quarter was over, the Oilers scored again as Blanda threw another pass to Cannon that covered 78 yards for a third touchdown.

The Titans offense didn’t threaten until midway through the second quarter. Flanker Don Maynard put New York on the board, making an outstanding catch on a four-yard pass from QB Al Dorow, but DE Don Floyd blocked the extra point attempt.


Blanda poured it on as he connected with split end Bill Groman for a 66-yard TD and with Cannon once more for a six-yard score. The tally at the end of the first half was 35-6 and the veteran quarterback had set a new AFL record with five touchdown passes.

Three minutes into the third quarter, Blanda threw for his sixth touchdown, connecting with Groman on a 46-yard play. He tossed his seventh, tying the NFL record held at that point by Sid Luckman of the Bears and Philadelphia’s Adrian Burk, in the fourth quarter on a play that covered 11 yards to Groman.

Dorow, who was constantly harassed by the aggressive Houston defense, tossed a second TD pass, of 11 yards to TE Thurlow Cooper, to salvage a slight bit of pride for the Titans. Houston won by a final score of 49-13.

The Oilers rolled up 555 yards, to 347 for New York, and the Titans further hurt their cause by turning the ball over four times, as opposed to just once by Houston. There was plenty of aggressive play on both sides, and several fights broke out, including one that cleared both benches. Altogether, 18 penalties were called, resulting in 193 yards (11 for 128 yards on Houston, 7 for 65 yards on the Titans). Three players were ejected.

In throwing for seven touchdowns, George Blanda completed 20 of 32 passes for 418 yards and was picked off once. Three Houston receivers gained over 100 yards – Bill Groman led the group with 5 catches for 152 yards and three TDs, followed by Charley Hennigan, who caught 8 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown, and Billy Cannon added 122 yards on 7 receptions with three scores. Cannon added another 41 yards on 14 rushes, behind FB Charley Tolar, who gained 58 yards on 11 carries, and FB Dave Smith with 49 yards on six attempts.

For the visitors, Al Dorow went to the air 47 times and had 21 completions for 278 yards with two TDs and three interceptions. HB Dick Christy led the club with 7 catches for 103 yards out of the backfield. FB Bill Mathis ran for 68 yards on 14 carries.

It was another big performance by the defending champions as they surged back into the Eastern Division race. Ultimately, the Oilers went undefeated the rest of the way, winning the division with a 10-3-1 record and again beating the Chargers for the AFL title. The Titans ended up in third place at 7-7.

The offense in particular achieved many superlatives. George Blanda threw 36 touchdown passes, exceeding the existing NFL record of 32, and also led the AFL in passing yards (3330), yards per attempt (9.2, almost two yards per pass better than the runners-up), yards per completion (17.8), and percentage of TD passes (9.9). Considering he had actually missed two full games due to being benched, it was an amazing overall performance. Blanda was selected as AFL Player of the Year by the Associated Press and UPI.


Bill Groman, with his three touchdown catches against New York, caught a TD pass in his 8th consecutive game. While he was shut out the next week, he ended up with 17 touchdown receptions to not only lead the league but tie the existing NFL record. Groman caught 50 passes for 1175 yards.

Charley Hennigan set a single-season record with 1746 receiving yards that not only was never beaten in the AFL, but wasn’t exceeded in the NFL until 1995. He ranked second in both receptions (82) and receiving touchdowns (12).

Billy Cannon led the AFL in rushing with 948 yards on 200 carries and was also the league’s all-purpose yardage leader with 2043. The 1959 Heisman Trophy-winner out of LSU scored a total of 15 touchdowns (6 rushing, 9 receiving). As his performance against the Titans demonstrated, Cannon was a potent pass receiving threat out of the backfield and caught 43 passes for 586 yards.

1961: AFL Approves Move of Chargers From LA to San Diego

The Los Angeles Chargers of the new American Football League had a very solid first season on the field. Owned by hotel executive Barron Hilton, the Chargers entered the AFL’s first year with the best known of the new league’s head coaches, Sid Gillman, who had been in charge of the Rams from 1955-59. He also served as general manager after Frank Leahy, the former Notre Dame head coach who originally served in the position, resigned due to bad health. Unlike many of the franchises in the fledgling league, there was ample money to spend on the organization and Hilton was willing to do so.

Gillman was an innovative thinker when it came to offense in general and the passing game in particular. The Chargers had the top-ranked passer in the league in 1960 with QB Jack Kemp (pictured with Gillman below), a native Southern Californian who had played college football at Occidental and been rejected by the NFL. HB Paul Lowe was the AFL’s second-ranked rusher with 855 yards for a league-high 6.3 yards-per-carry. They were both All-AFL selections, as were rookie OT Ron Mix and CB Dick Harris. Other standouts were offensive end Howard Clark, OT Ernie Wright, DE Ron Nery, DT Volney Peters, and linebacker/punter Paul Maguire. The team easily won the Western Division with a 10-4 record and lost an exciting league championship contest to the Houston Oilers (see Jan. 1).


However, the problem was that in Los Angeles, few seemed to notice and turnout was low. Average attendance for the seven home games was 15,768, which didn’t compare badly to some of the other teams but was far too low for Los Angeles, particularly when playing in the cavernous Memorial Coliseum (capacity for football at that time was over 101,000). A low turnout of 9928 as the Chargers hosted Denver was particularly embarrassing, and just 11,457 were present for the final home game against the New York Titans.

Hilton had lost some $900,000 over the course of the season and decided before it was concluded that he would move the franchise. Jack Murphy, a respected sportswriter for the San Diego Union, became aware of the situation with the Chargers and spearheaded a drive by civic leaders in San Diego to persuade Hilton to move the club down the coast.

It was agreed that the local football field, Balboa Stadium (pictured above in 1964), would be double-decked to increase the seating capacity from 15,000 to 34,000 and that the Chargers would be rent-free tenants. On February 10, 1961 the American Football League granted approval to Hilton to move the team to San Diego. It was the league’s first franchise shift, and the only one following the ’60 season.

San Diego proved more welcoming to the Chargers, where they didn’t have to compete directly against an NFL team – or, for that matter, a major league club in any other sport - and were immediately embraced by the community. 20,216 fans attended the home opener in ’61 against the weak Oakland Raiders, and the crowds steadily grew with each game to a high of 33,788 when the Dallas Texans came to town. The overall average was 27,859 as the team again won the division title. They hosted the championship game, and lost again to the Oilers before a somewhat disappointing Christmas Eve crowd of 29,556. But the league showed its commitment to San Diego as Balboa Stadium hosted the first AFL All-Star game on January 7, 1962.

The Chargers remained an exciting and competitive team throughout the decade of the AFL’s existence prior to the merger in 1970, winning a championship along the way. Barron Hilton sold his controlling interest in the team in 1966. Sid Gillman remained with the organization beyond the merger until 1971, taking a hiatus from coaching during the ’69 season due to health issues; he returned for ten games in ‘71 before leaving the front office as well as the sideline. Overall, he accounted for an 86-53-6 regular season record, although the Chargers were just 1-4 in the postseason.