The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Book goes behind scenes of the USFL
“Football For A Buck,” by Jeff Pearlman, is a wild look at the USFL, including then New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump. Mark Podolski details all the book has to offer in his review.
Almost 10 years ago — 2009 to be exact — one of ESPN’s first 30 for 30 sports documentaries chronicled the rise and fall of the United States Football League.
It was an upstart league that played its games in the spring and summer, and attracted some big names such as Hall of Famers Jim Kelly, Steve Young and Reggie White, plus the biggest of all in 1982 Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker.
The film, “Small Potatoes: Who Killed The USFL?” was a mostly positive nostalgic look back, save the frugal owners, and of course the appearance of Darth Vader — i.e. Donald Trump — storming in to take down the league for his own personal gain.
Hey, don’t kill the messenger here. That’s the message the film’s director Mike Tollin said without saying it.
That’s also the message from author Jeff Pearlman in his new book about the USFL, “Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL.”
Trump was a New York real estate big shot during the 1980s, when the USFL made its run from 1983 to 1985 before folding in 1986. He bought into the league as owner of the New Jersey Generals in 1984, and by all accounts in the book, used that clout to try and leverage his way into becoming an NFL owner by forcing a merger of his team into the league.
Whether or not that was truly Trump’s reason for becoming a USFL owner is up for debate. There’s plenty of opinion about that topic throughout Pearlman’s raucous and sometimes raunchy book.
This was the 1980s, where excess reigned, but not really the USFL. It had its moments, but Pearlman peels back the layers of a league that had owners talking a good game. Few followed through on that talk.
So while Trump is arguably the main culprit about the upstart league’s demise, there seems to be plenty to blame among a collection of owners who lacked the proper funds and patience to see things through the USFL’s infancy.
That’s just for starters. The meat of the book is the wild antics of USFL players and coaches.
For Browns fans who remember the run of the 1980s with quarterback Bernie Kosar leading the way, they might not realize the USFL was a big boost to that era.
When the league dissolved after an antitrust lawsuit by the USFL against the NFL — won by the USFL — famously brought in just $1, players in the league became available via a draft.
The Browns took full advantage through a draft of former USFL players and other avenues, and acquired the likes of running back Kevin Mack (L.A. Express), cornerback Frank Minnifield (Chicago Blitz), linebacker Mike Johnson (Philadelphia Stars) and kick returner Gerald “The Ice Cube” McNeil (Houston Gamblers).
With so much to cover about the USFL’s chaotic three-year run, the Browns’ USFL grab gets no mention in the book. Instead, the focus is on the league immediately ditching its model of manageable salaries and landing Walker of Georgia by signing him for millions. The next two Heisman winners — Nebraska’s Mike Rozier in 1983, and Boston College’s Doug Flutie in 1984 — followed Walker to the USFL.
There’s also interesting tales of Kelly and Young starting their pro careers with the Gamblers and Express, but those have nothing on the jaw-dropping tales of excessive drug use, a player-coach fist fight, and backroom deals so slimy you might need to take a shower when finishing off the book. If ESPN’s 30 for 30 on the USFL was PG-13, then Pearlman’s book is a hard R. A sampling:
• Following the league’s inaugural 1983 season, the Blitz and Arizona Wranglers made a massive trade. The entire Chicago roster was sent to the desert, and in return the Wranglers uprooted everything to the Windy City. It was done because one of the owners didn’t enjoy the hassle of a three-hour flight to watch his team’s home games.
• Greg Fields, an obscure player for the Express, punched Coach John Hadl in the face after Hadl released him. Fields then called in death threats to the team, and a private investigator was hired by the Express to track Field’s whereabouts. A short time later, the San Antonio Gunslingers signed Fields.
• In the last year of the USFL, Gunslingers owner Clinton Manges claimed to not have enough funds to make payroll. It went on for weeks, until Fields secretly trailed Manges to his lush home, where he confronted the owner with a baseball bat and demanded payment. A few minutes later, Manges gave Fields a wad of $100 bills. Fields drove away with $17,000 and never returned to the team.
• The USFL’s second draft was allegedly rigged so Rozier could sign with the Pittsburgh Maulers.
• Gamblers receiver Richard Johnson said he was high on pot during every game of the 1984 season. He led the USFL in receptions (115) and yards (1,455) that season.
• Kelly’s All-American persona takes a bit of a hit with tales of his Houstoarea mansion that served as a — putting it mildly — party house for he and his Gamblers teammates.
• When Trump signed Flutie, he bragged the rest of the league owners would pay for Flutie’s salary. About 30 years later, Trump claimed during his presidential campaign a border wall to Mexico would be built, and that Mexico would pay for it. USFL owners did not pay Flutie’s multie-million contract. The idea of that wall and having Mexico pay for it, much like the USFL, kind of faded away.