Famed defensive end Bubba Smith menacing opposing quarterbacks while wearing a New Orleans Saints uniform. Bruising running back Larry Csonka breaking tackles on his way to the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Future Hall-of-Fame defensive back Ken Houston returning an interception for a touchdown as the New Orleans defense sparks a victory for the Saints. All could have been possible had the New Orleans Saints front office had the scouting competence and foresight to draft the likes of Smith, Csonka and Houston. Instead, trades and draft selections for the likes of soon-forgotten players such as Gary Cuozzo, Les Kelley and Kevin Hardy helped to set a tone for futility that haunted the NFL franchise for many years. Unlike previous books about the New Orleans Saints that have either been an ode to the team or anecdotes about some of the team's more colorful characters, When the Saints Came Marching In: What the New Orleans NFL franchise did wrong (and sometimes right) in its expansion years is a comprehensive look at the crucial first five seasons of the New Orleans NFL franchise and how early decisions impacted the team. The book also takes a look at what the Saints might have done differently from 1967-1971 that could have taken the team in an alternate direction.

When the Saints Came Marching In

What the New Orleans NFL franchise did wrong (and sometimes right) in its expansion yearsBy George Becnel

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 George Becnel
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-9186-3

Contents

Foreword.................................ixBirth of a Franchise.....................1The 1968 Season..........................51The 1969 Season..........................83The 1970 Season..........................104The 1971 Season..........................129What Might Have Been.....................154

Chapter One

Birth of a Franchise

The ball was on the New Orleans 45-yard line. There were two seconds left in the game and the Saints were trailing 17-16. The Saints were on their way to their sixth loss in eight games. J.D. Roberts, coaching his first game for New Orleans as the Saints' interim head coach, sent in Tom Dempsey to attempt a field goal. It was a desperate move by a desperate team. Across the line of scrimmage, members of the Detroit Lions were laughing their heads off. Dempsey was about to attempt something never accomplished in the history of the National Football League - successfully kick a football 63 yards in a regulation game. The record was 56 yards. Earlier in the season, Dempsey kicked one from 55 yards out, but no one had ever connected from beyond 60 yards with the game on the line.

The ball was spotted eight yards behind the line of scrimmage at the New Orleans 37. Jackie Burkett snapped the ball to holder Joe Scarpati. Dempsey, born with a deformed right arm and clubbed right foot, swung his big right leg. The specially-made shoe made contact with the football. The ball headed toward the north end zone. It sailed over the crossbar with about a foot to spare, hit the ground in the end zone and bounced back onto the playing field. Dempsey and the Saints had pulled off an improbable, record-setting 19-17 win over the Lions.

Dempsey, the hero of the day, along with Roberts, was carried off the field by Saints players as fans rushed onto the field to celebrate. It was the single biggest individual achievement in the short history of the New Orleans Saints.

But even when the Saints did something right, it turned out to be wrong in the long term. The miracle win over the Lions was the only victory Roberts and his Saints would achieve during the final seven games of the season to finish the year 2-11-1.

Due largely to the fanfare surrounding the record-breaking kick, the one win was good enough to earn Roberts the title as permanent head coach and a new two-year contract. Roberts won a total of six games over the next two years and was fired. Dempsey's kick, which helped Roberts keep his job, set the New Orleans franchise back for many years. Following that 2-11-1 record in 1970, it would be another nine years before the Saints would have a break-even season and it took a total of 21 years before the team would post a winning record. A playoff win didn't occur until the 2000 season.

"Dempsey kicks his kick and sets the franchise back for four or five years," said Mike Detillier, a Louisiana-based NFL draft analyst. "If he had not made that kick, this team may have looked somewhere else to try and find a coach. Dempsey's kick sealed his history in New Orleans. It also sealed another two-and-a-half year run with J.D."

Ah, yes, the history of the New Orleans Saints.

A professional football team in New Orleans was destined to be called the "Saints."

On November 1, 1966, the National Football League announced that New Orleans would be home to the league's sixteenth professional football franchise. The fact the announcement came on All-Saints Day was no mere coincidence.

Since the early 1960s, New Orleans businessman Dave Dixon had been helping to stage exhibition professional football games involving teams from both the National Football League and its rival, the American Football League. The hope of Dixon and other professional football enthusiasts in the Crescent City was to show that there was enough support in the city to warrant a future franchise in New Orleans.

As early as a 1963 AFL exhibition game between the Houston Oilers and Boston Patriots, the name "New Orleans Saints" was being bandied about. Dixon, in a full-page advertisement in a New Orleans newspaper to drum up support for the exhibition contest wrote the following: Your interest now will mean that you are in the front row of those fans who want to put New Orleans in the major league columns and help our first major league team, the NEW ORLEANS SAINTS, go marching in!

It took a few more exhibition games and tireless behind-the-scenes machinations by Dixon before New Orleans was officially awarded a NFL expansion franchise in 1966.

The timing of the announcement involved more than just a tie-in to a religious holiday. Pete Rozelle, the NFL's youthful commissioner, announced the new team would begin play in 1967. Tulane Stadium would serve as the playing site on an interim basis until a new facility could be built. Funding for a new domed stadium would come with passage of Amendment No. 10, creating the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District. Election Day just happened to be scheduled for the following week. The NFL announcement made the vote a slam-dunk, setting into motion the creation of the Louisiana Superdome.

New Orleans had a team, and with passage of Amendment No. 10, a new stadium on the way, yet no owner. That changed on November 15, 1966, with the announcement of John Mecom Jr. as the team's majority owner. Mecom's competition for ownership of the team included a group led by Herman Lay of Frito-Lay and Edgar B. Stern Jr. of New Orleans, along with New Orleans businessman Louis J. Roussel.

More than a few heads were turned at the thought of the 27-year-old Mecom being the owner of the NFL's newest franchise. Mecom was the son of John Mecom Sr., a wealthy Texas oilman who had major holdings in Louisiana. Mecom and his group paid a reported $8.5 million to own the team.

"John Mecom's problem was that he surrounded himself with people who really weren't that sharp," said Pete Finney, who covered the Saints during the early years as sports editor of The New Orleans States-Item. "Mecom didn't like to offend anyone. He said yes to almost everyone. He didn't like to make enemies. He was almost too nice of a person. He wound up trusting the opinion of people who really didn't know what they were talking about. That's what got the franchise in trouble, as far as leadership went."

In light of how the franchise was run for the next 19 years under Mecom's ownership, it's easy to surmise the first wrong move made by the New Orleans franchise was to hand over the team to the young Texan. Yet, being young and the son of inherited wealth, in and of itself, should be no disqualification from pro football ownership.

All one has to do is look at another young Texan of the same era. Like Mecom, Lamar Hunt was the son of a wealthy Texan. In the late 1950s, the professional football landscape consisted of only 12 NFL teams. Sensing a growing enthusiasm for professional football around the United States, Hunt realized there were a number of major cities that were yearning for a professional franchise to call their own.

Hunt's answer was the creation of the American Football League in 1960. Hunt was the owner of the Dallas Texans, with other teams in the new league consisting of the Houston Oilers, New York Titans, Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Chargers, Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos. Of the new AFL teams, New York and Los Angeles were the only cities that had established NFL franchises. The Titans quickly gave way to the Jets and the Chargers lasted only one season in Los Angeles before relocating to San Diego.

Ironically, the New Orleans Saints might have existed as early as 1963 as an AFL franchise. In response to Hunt's Texans and the AFL, the NFL hurriedly added the expansion Dallas Cowboys to its ranks in 1960. By 1963, it was apparent Dallas was not a two-team market and Hunt was looking to relocate his franchise. Hunt quietly worked with Dixon to bring the team to New Orleans, but associates of Dixon wanted to pursue a NFL franchise.

That was quite understandable. In the early 1960s, the success of the AFL was no guarantee. So, Hunt moved his team to Kansas City and became the Chiefs. A model franchise for many years, the Chiefs eventually won the Super Bowl. New Orleans missed out on having Hank Stram as coach as early as the 1960s. New Orleans professional football fans could have been rooting for the likes of Len Dawson, Otis Taylor and Louisiana's own Buck Buchanan.

While Mecom was quite young, he did have some NFL connections. He was well known by the front office of the Dallas Cowboys, where Bedford Wynne was part of the ownership group.

"He was not some guy that was wet behind the ears," Gil Brandt, the director of player personnel of the Dallas Cowboys from 1960-89, said of Mecom. "I think everybody in the league thought he was pretty good, too."

Mecom began to put together his front office staff. Instead of making a general manager his first hire, the new team owner brought in Vic Schwenk as director of player personnel on December 22, 1966. Schwenk was hired away from the Los Angeles Rams, where he served as a scout.

Schwenk was a high school coach in California before serving as head coach at Occidental College. After posting a 23-12 record, he joined the Rams as a scout in 1954. He was the team's personnel director and an assistant coach in 1963. He left Los Angeles early in 1966 to become general manager of the Canadian Football League's Edmonton Eskimos, but a family illness caused him to quickly return to the Rams, where he served as a scout before being hired by the Saints.

"He was not regarded as a talent guru and that's the main thing," evaluated Mike Detillier, a Louisiana-based NFL draft analyst. "You needed somebody right off the bat that could have evaluated talent and work with the coach to get you players. He was not that type of guy. I think (Schwenk's hiring) was a bad choice."

That evaluation came through hindsight. At the time of his selection, Schwenk was fairly well-regarded in NFL circles.

"Vic was a guy that initially worked for the Rams grading films," Brandt recalled. "Schwenk was considered to be a very capable person. He had experience with the Rams and probably was as good as anybody at the time."

On January 9, 1967, the team was officially named the New Orleans Saints. Immediately after being announced as the team's owner, Mecom had studies conducted concerning the new team's name. A contest was held to name the team, but it was all a formality since the team already was being referred to as Saints in numerous circles.

"The Saints were the runaway winner in the early vote," Finney recalled of the States-Item-sponsored contest. "There was no surprise that they would be called the Saints."

One of the most important decisions an expansion team makes is the selection of its head coach. History has shown that it's a virtual certainty an expansion team's first coach will depart with a losing record. Considering the lack of talent on the roster in the formative years, it's understandable. The team's first coach is the guy who does the organization's heavy lifting; he will have few wins to show for his efforts but his early decisions often set the foundation for future success or failure.

Tom Fears was named the New Orleans Saints' first head coach on January 27, 1967. Looking at his record after three-plus years and the shape of the franchise at the time of his departure, hindsight might call his hiring into question.

At the time of his hiring, however, Fears seemed like a solid choice. An All-Pro receiver with the Los Angeles Rams, Fears was an assistant coach for several years with the Green Bay Packers under Vince Lombardi. When Norb Hecker left Green Bay to become head coach of the expansion Falcons in 1966, Fears followed his fellow Packers assistant to Atlanta.

"I knew Tom Fears as a player with the Rams. He was always a very bright and competitive guy," Brandt assessed. "Then I knew him when he was at Green Bay. I thought that was a really good staff they had at Green Bay. He had been affiliated with Vince Lombardi, so that was good."

"He was a qualified guy to be the coach," Detillier said of Fears. "With an expansion team, I don't know who would have been right. You had no central command. He didn't have a lot of say. In talking to him a few years ago, he was open about having no control over personnel. Somebody else was in control and it was devastating to him.

"Nobody could tell you what was happening. Tom was as good a choice as you could have made. He had credentials. He never really had control. Almost from the start, you could tell things were deteriorating rapidly."

Fears beat out the likes of Dallas Cowboys assistant coach Dick Nolan and UCLA coach Tommy Prothro. Both later would become NFL head coaches, but one thing Fears had in his favor over other Saints coaching candidates was his recent experience coaching a first-year expansion team. With Fears running the Atlanta offense, the Falcons won an expansion-team record three games in their inaugural season.

The first-ever Saints head coach was signed to a five-year contract for a reported annual salary of $35,000. His coaching staff consisted of George Dickson, Jack Faulkner, Bob Shaw, Walt Yowarsky and Ed Khayat.

Dickson was brought in to run the Saints' offense. Possessing 17 years of NFL coaching experience, Dickson had coached with Fears the previous year in Atlanta. A World War II veteran, Dickson jumped at Normandy the night before the D-Day invasion and fought in the snow at Bastogne, France.

Faulkner came aboard to run the defense. A former head coach of the Denver Broncos, Faulkner led Denver to a 7-7 record in 1964, the best-ever in Broncos history at that time.

Khayat was named the Saints' defensive line coach. A product of Tulane who had a 10-year NFL playing career, Khayat was in his first season as a NFL coach.

Yowarsky was selected as the team's offensive line coach. He joined the Saints after six years with the Minnesota Vikings.

Rounding out the staff was Shaw as receivers coach. Prior to joining the Saints, Shaw had a 14-year playing and coaching career in the NFL and CFL.

Paige Cothren became the first player in Saints history when he signed a contract on February 3, 1967. A former fullback and kicker at Ole Miss, Cothren, 32, played with the Los Angeles Rams from 1957-58 as a kicker and last played in the NFL in 1959 with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Saints now had one player in hand, with the next step in the building process being the expansion draft. New Orleans was allowed to select 42 players in the NFL expansion draft. Teams were able to protect 29 players, with the remaining 11 on the roster exposed to the draft. From that list, the Saints would pick three players from each of 14 existing teams. The Atlanta Falcons, an expansion team in 1966, was exempt from the draft.

Mecom, Schwenk and Fears gathered at Mecom's hotel suite on the 38th floor of the Waldorf Astoria Tower in New York on February 10, 1967, to conduct the expansion draft. Beginning at 8:30 a.m., representatives of 14 existing NFL teams arrived at the hotel with their list of draft-eligible players. By 1:15 p.m., all 154 eligible names were presented to the Saints. New Orleans then began to select one player from each team. At that point, the existing teams were able to pull back two players, leaving eight players still exposed to the draft. Of those eight players per team, the Saints selected two per squad. By approximately 11 p.m., the Saints had added 42 members to their ranks.

The following players were selected by the Saints in the expansion draft:

The expansion fee of $8.5 million was depicted as the cost of acquiring the 42 players from the existing teams, with the Saints having eight years to pay off the debt. In essence, the 42 players cost the Saints $201,190 per man. That was at a time in which the average NFL salary was $15,000.

The headline-grabber of the bunch was halfback Paul Hornung. Hornung was plucked from Vince Lombardi's champion Green Bay Packers. A former Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame, the Golden Boy had enjoyed a stellar NFL career. In a nine-year career, Hornung rushed for 3,711 yards and 50 touchdowns. Also a kicker, Hornung led the league in points for three straight seasons from 1959-61. A receiving threat out of the backfield, Hornung began his NFL career as a quarterback before he was moved to halfback by Lombardi.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from When the Saints Came Marching Inby George Becnel Copyright © 2009 by George Becnel. Excerpted by permission.
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