It's been a fascinating time for the AFL with the expansion looming, expansion teams rising in both New York, St. Louis and Boston. As for the name the team contests.

Dallas/Texas: I could potentially see themselves angling themselves as "Texas' team" especially if the Houston PAFC team flounders about in mediocrity, with AFL's more prominent marketing Dallas could definitely do it. As for names, I could see themselves going in directions like Bulls, Wildcats (referencing Oil), or depending on his company's background he could with something like Manticores or Minotaurs.

San Francisco: Another blank slate for names here yet, could reference the Gold Rush with a weird name like Sourdoughs, could do Grizzlies or Condors with an emphasis on being a more California-centric team. Could do a different angle with the "summer of love" rising, something radical could be on the table. Could be something as simple as Anchors or Sailors with the Bay right there.

For Dallas, I like Coyotes. They're a wild animal that are in the area.

For San Francisco, maybe Gulls. They're the most prevalent bird in the area, gives you a gray and white color option to start and build on (if you go actual sea gull colors). Either way, I hope they use a foghorn like the Vikings in the NFL use their viking horn.

I like San Francisco Fog, but that may be a bit anachronistic.

Dallas Roughnecks and San Francisco Miners

1957-58 Offseason

Retirements

OL Bill Armstrong - Evansville, IN
College: Rogers Clark (IN)
Teams: Chicago Hogs (1948-1957)
AFL Championships: 3 (1951, 1952, 1954)
All-AFL: 4 (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954)
All-Star: 4 (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954)

Armstrong will be looked back upon as part of how offensive linemen changed from the beginnings of the sport to how it is today. A standout player for the Rogers Clark Badgers, he was much larger than many of the players that would have played at the position in the past. His burly stature pretty much stopped any defender in his tracks, and the Hogs thought they could use him to stop defenders from their cross-town rival. The Stars defensive line could seemingly get through any blocker, and the Hogs were willing to throw anything at the wall to see what stuck. Armstrong was fitting to his name, almost single-handedly stopping the lankier Stars defensive linemen, and the rest of the league took notice of how to make an offensive line. Armstrong was a cornerstone of the Hogs’ offensive line, nicknamed the Pigpen by local newspapers, and anchored the run game to 3 AFL titles, and 4 All-Star and All-AFL nods apiece. He was quickly losing the skill that he was renowned for, and called it quits after 10 very successful seasons as a professional. He wouldn’t go far from the football field, as the Hogs would hire him to help coach the young offensive linemen for the ASPFL’s Worcester Valentines. 



WR John McLean - Rochester, MN
College: Minnesota State
Teams: Tri-Cities Hawks (1949-1957)
AFL Championships: 1 (1950)
All-AFL: 4 (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954)
All-Star: 3 (1952, 1953, 1954)

The Hawks were pivoting towards suiting QB Gilbert Clay’s playstyle, and wanted a speedy end to compliment his arm strength. They would end up with John McLean out of Minnesota State, who they believed was the fastest player not already poached by the top teams in the Championship. In his rookie campaign, McLean would end up leading the team in receptions and receiving yards to a surprise appearance in the World Series of Football, though their offense was unable to take down the reigning champion Chicago Stars. McLean would then begin to terrorize the AFL, with very few defensive players able to stop him unless they physically took him out of the play. He would win the inaugural AFL championship with the Hawks, and utilized his speed to be nominated to 4 All-AFL teams and 3 all-star appearances. Tri-Cities would not be able to repeat their success of the first AFL season, only making the playoffs one more time in the 7 years since the title. McLean stayed with the team during its slow downturn, but the team forcing Clay into retirement rubbed him the wrong way. After only 8 years as one of the best receivers the league has had in its short time, McLean refused to sign a new contract and returned home to Minnesota to be with his family. 



RB Max Panders - Chillicothe, OH (Creator: Wallflower)
College: Ohio
Drafted: 1952 - Undrafted
Teams: Cleveland Crows (1952-1957)
All-AFL: 2 (1954, 1955)
All-Star: 3 (1954, 1955, 1957)

In the few short years since the implementation of the draft, Panders would be considered the best undrafted player if not for a certain Chicago running back. He was the clear number 2 running back at Ohio behind Maxwell Starks, and rarely saw any playtime unless Starks was winded. The Crows took a chance on the backup and signed him to training camp where it looked like he would contend not just for making the team, but becoming the top back. He fought with Perry Ferguson his first year, and Cleveland shipping Ferguson across the state opened the starting role to Panders. He would be relied upon as the primary playmaker, and then things began to click for the Crows in the 1954 season. Panders had quickly become one of the top running backs, if not one of the top players, in the league, enough so to take the Crows to a miracle championship game against his counterpart in Chicago. Billy Gould outperformed him in every aspect, but Cleveland had hope that they would reach the title game again in due time. Panders performed his best the season after, making his second all-star game and All-AFL team, but the Crows fell just short of making it back to the playoffs. Even worse was that he suffered a leg injury that sidelined him the majority of the 1956 season. After the team thought he would not suit up for another season, Panders performed admirably to provide some life in an otherwise lifeless team. He would end up making another All-Star team a year later, but the injury he sustained in the 1956 season would force him to retire earlier than either he or the Crows would have wanted. 



RB Jeffrey Spears - Louisville, KY
College: Louisville State
Teams: Detroit Knights (1948-1953), Chicago Hogs (1954), New York Lions (1955-1957)
AFL Championships: 1 (1954)
All-AFL: 2 (1951, 1952)
All-Star: 2 (1952, 1955)

To say that Spears had an interesting career is selling him short. His bruising style of running made him an instant favorite in Detroit after his college days in Louisville. After quickly becoming a favorite amongst the crowd, he would quickly shift to becoming one of the most hated men on the Knights for under performing in a single season. After making the All-AFL team in 1951 and 1952 as well as making an appearance in the first All-Star Game in ‘52, he failed to live up to expectations on a wildly floundering Detroit team. Chicago acquired him for pennies on the dollar a year later, pairing him up with young phenom Billy Gould in hopes of revitalizing his career. And revitalized he did. Spears was the compliment that Gould and the Hogs severely needed after relying on the young back too much, cruising their way through the regular season winning their third championship in five seasons. Chicago would send Spears to New York to help build up their running back core, making one final All-Star team that year before slowly getting buried with the addition of RB’s Felix Philipow and John Dawson. With his body unable to take the same beating it has the past two seasons, he retired after 10 total years as a pro, much longer than most backs of a similar playstyle.  



WR Ben Farrell - Green Bay, WI
College: Wisconsin State
Teams: Buffalo Hammers (1948-1957)
NYPL Championships: 1 (1948)
All-AFL: 2 (1953, 1954)
All-Star: 2 (1953, 1954)

Farrell was a standout on a defensively-focused Wisconsin State team, and looked poised to join the MWFC once he was finished with college. However, due to instability within the Milwaukee organization, Farrell looked eastward and signed with the Buffalo Hammers of the inferior NYPL. He brought talent that was sorely needed for the waning league, and proved to be an excellent combination with WR Bernard Clarke. In his first year as a pro, he helped the Hammers win their 4th (and what would be final) NYPL title, legitimizing his decision to go to a lesser league. He would end up joining the now prestigious AFL just a few years later, going to the title game in the Hammers’ first year in the league but fell short to the Hogs. Farrell would prove to be slightly more successful than his WR counterpart, making two All-AFL teams and two all-star teams with two different quarterbacks. He was an early favorite for rookie QB Brendan Turnbull, but the ball kept getting spread out to his younger receivers as time went on. Farrell saw that he was getting replaced, and retired after 10 seasons as a pro. 



Other Retirements

DL Benjamin Nash - Mansfield, OH - Pittsburgh State
Teams: Pittsburgh Shamrocks (1950-1954), Boston Dragons (1955-1957) - All-Star: 1 (1953)

Nash was the third-best defensive lineman in Pittsburgh behind Archie Weber and Roy Forbes, but got a shot in 1953 to become a starter due to an injury to Forbes. Nash made his only all-star appearance that year, and was selected by Boston in their expansion draft to help out the younger and other inexperienced linemen. He did certainly help, as the Dragons have become one of the best all-around defensive units in the league.

TE Dan Finley - Louisville, KY - Louisville State
Teams: Buffalo Hammers (1947-1957) - All-AFL: 1 (1952) - All-Star: 3 (1952, 1953, 1954)

In between Chicago TE Glenn Chambers and Cincinnati TE Floyd Rankin, there was Dan Finley. Finley had a rare blend of blocking and pass catching ability, and made a perfect number 3 option when teams weren’t expecting a pass to go his way. He was a three-time all-star and one-time All-AFL nominee, but his body couldn’t keep up with the changing game. He lasted 11 seasons as a pro, much longer than any of his contemporaries. 

K Freddie Donnelly - Fargo, ND - Fargo University
Teams: Chicago Hogs (1947-1957) - AFL Championships: 3 (1951, 1952, 1954) - All-Star: 2 (1952, 1953)

Donnelly was the reliable kicker for the Hogs for the better part of a decade. While he may not have the flashiness as his other teammates, they counted on him to kick the ball through the uprights when they needed him. Donnelly was the most automatic kicker at one point in the league, only missing a single kicking attempt in his two all-star seasons in 1952 and 1953. He leaves the Hogs as their all-time leading scorer.

Coaching Changes

With a new perspective in Davenport and having already fired both coordinators last year, this year would effectively be the last for HC Hugh Harrison if the Hawks didn’t significantly improve. Unfortunately for Harrison, he was given a near impossible task, trying to win in an extremely tough division with most of his main arsenal traded away in the offseason. Harrison was given the boot after 4 years with the team, ending his tenure with Tri-Cities with a 17-28-1 record and going one and done in the postseason. Harrison was the only head coach fired this offseason, while the other teams turned to their coordinators for the blame. The biggest offender of that was Chicago, where OC Johnnie Hendrix was placed as the scapegoat for why the team floundered without RB Billy Gould. He was demoted back to running backs coach after 4 fairly successful years as the sport’s first black coordinator. The Hogs would look outside of their organization for the first time for some fresh minds in the offense. Buffalo had gone from 8-4 and in the hunt for a title to 3-8-1 and in contention for a top draft pick within the past three years, and a declining defense was to blame. DC Aaron Bullock was let go as a result. Cleveland cleared out both of their coordinators maybe a year too late, firing OC Richard Morgan and DC William Wallace after 4 and 3 years at their positions while the team continues to figure out their future. Pittsburgh has been turning towards its offense in recent years, which also meant letting go of OC Barry Edwards, who had been ineffective in his 3 years as coordinator. 

The Buffalo DC opening wouldn’t stay open for long, as HC Vincent Merritt would put his word in to get his former protege Hugh Harrison as his new DC, returning to the position he held in Tri-Cities in 1952 and 1953. Chicago would be quick to follow, hiring Minnesota Tech OC Leslie Gustafson to the same position. Gustafson was running a similar run-focused system up in Duluth, but owner Donovan Hasenkamp thought his approach to the game was more varied than the seemingly one-note production that Hendrix became reviled for. Pittsburgh also made a speedy decision, promoting RB coach Curtis Simon as their new offensive coordinator. Simon had done well enough developing their backfield into a respectable unit, despite the Shamrocks’ lack of success statistically. 

Cleveland would promote WR coach Charles Sawyer to their offensive coordinator position, mostly spurred on his development of WR Joey Staniskovski into one of the best receivers in the league. The Crows would end up poaching Boston DL coach Leroy Edwards for the DC job, who was part of the reason why the Dragons defense has been so successful in such little time.

Tri-Cities had the most difficulty finding their next head coach. They had sent out offers to a few offensive coordinators looking to turn their fortunes around, including top head coaching candidates New York OC Lonnie Gibbons, Cincinnati OC Hugh Vogel, and Detroit OC Lyle Beach. All of them rejected the offer, wanting to stay with a more complete team. The Hawks eventually managed to sway St Louis OC Stephen Lawrence to become their next head coach, having turned the Stallions offense from what was seen to be just scraps to a league powerhouse. He'll be expected to do the same with even less than he was given in St Louis, but he might be able to turn around the quickly sinking team.

OUT 
BUF DC Aaron Bullock (Fired)
CHI OC Johnnie Hendrix (Demoted to RB coach)
CLE OC Richard Morgan (Fired)
CLE DC William Wallace (Fired)
PIT OC Barry Edwards (Fired)
STL OC Stephen Lawrence (hired as TRI HC)
TRI HC Hugh Harrison (Fired)

IN
BUF DC Hugh Harrison (was TRI HC)
CHI OC Leslie Gustafson (was Minnesota Tech OC)
CLE OC Charles Sawyer (was CLE WR coach)
CLE DC Leroy Edwards (was BOS DL coach)
PIT OC Curtis Simon (was PIT RB coach)
STL OC Tom Gandy (was STL QB coach)
TRI HC Stephen Lawrence (was STL OC)

Trades
Cleveland WR Joey Staniskovski had quickly become one of the premier players in the league,  even with Cleveland being consistently near the bottom of the standings in the league. However, Staniskovski did not want to stay on a Crows team that seemed like they would not be relevant for quite some time. Owner Ike Schwann didn’t want to lose his second marquee player, and refused to allow Staniskovski to seek a trade and forced him to sign a new contract. Staniskovski threatened that he would not play for the Crows as long as he was signed, and threatened to become an actor if he was presented with another contract. Schwann called his bluff, and Staniskovski went westward to pursue an acting career. He had already secured a role in Zero Hour! as a pilot the year prior, and would end up appearing in a few episodes in the show Gunsmoke. As players began to show up for training camp, Staniskovski was still missing and Schwann knew he wasn’t coming back. He protested to commissioner Hasenkamp about the situation, stating that he should be able to keep his players under the reserve clause. Hasenkamp, in a rare move for an owner, sided with Staniskovski, as he thought the return Schwann could get for him could be as big as the one he had received for the more cooperative DL Fergus Prenderghast. The one caveat was that because Staniskovski was not signed to a contract, he was ineligible to be traded and both wanted him back playing in their league . Schwann was able to convince him to come back to Cleveland after his gigs were over with, and Staniskovski became available to the highest bidder. Pretty much every contending team put in an offer to acquire him, but the winning bid came from his hometown team. The emerging New York Lions would end up winning Staniskovski, acquiring him and ASPFL S Dwight McGinnis for New York’s first round pick this year, a fourth rounder next year, WR William Beard, and DB Patrick Odell. With one of the best receivers now at their disposal, the Lions will be a serious contender to overthrow Washington for the division title.



The details surrounding the trade were leaked to the press before the trade was completed, and PAFC president Virgil Bradshaw was incensed over the deal. He alleged that Schwann was paid extra for allowing his best player to go to New York for better publicity. Bradshaw mentioned nothing about Staniskovski’s wants, and declared that it was all a ploy for the AFL to overtake the PAFC in its popularity, despite evidence that it had been true for a few years. Adding more to the irony, it had already been known that Bradshaw had paid other owners to acquire players for his Chicago Stars, as in his eyes it was the league’s marquee team. 

The Hawks continued selling off anything of potential value with new management. They would send away one of the last primary players from their last playoff push, DB William Owens, to Detroit for a 4th round pick this year and 3 players from Detroit’s ASPFL team (DB Victor Wynn, WR Lonnie Lindsay, and DL Billy Pardee). DL Albert Young was the other piece to go, sending him to Philadelphia in exchange for 5th round pick and ASPFL player S Benjamin Brooks. Tri-Cities fans continued to be irate at the new ownership, sending away two fairly experienced players for essentially nothing. Owens was the most egregious, as he had made 2 All-AFL teams in the past and was traded for developmental pieces. Owner Bob Hester has only made enemies with the fanbase in his two years of ownership, and it will be a long future if he continues to make perplexing moves such as these.




Billy Ray Boesseler had been attracting some attention, going from an unknown reject in the PAFC to a potential starting QB in the AFL after a standout year in the ASPFL. He would be starting for the Lions along with RB Jon Dawson, if not for QB Freddie Hughes also emerging out of nothing to become the starter for the time being. The quarterback market was incredibly narrow with pretty much every team wanting to stay put and not many options in the upcoming draft. The Lions attracted only one other team, as the Shamrocks came calling. They had drafted QB Aksel Kahr two years ago, but he has not lived up to his potential to become a starting caliber quarterback. They had lasted a single year with journeyman Eric Trueblood, but needed a change for the future. Pittsburgh would end up sending over QB Jehoshaphat Murphy and two players from Burlington (LB Marc Morrow and K Bryan Birch) to secure Boesseler. 


C&C Appreciated! Sorry it's been a bit, the offseason is always a lot to get through. I'll have one last call for submitting prospects before I put together the class. I should have enough people at OL, and there could be a few more players at WR and everywhere else on defense. I'd like to thank everyone for the name suggestions, I've already picked out the ones that I like for "finalists", and those should be revealed in due time. 

Last edited by DireBear (8/07/2025 10:39 pm)