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Feeling a little like that gong, the 64-year-old N.F.L. has been losing some rather choice material to the two-year-old spring league—from eminent Underclassmen Herschel Walker (newly renegotiated New Jersey Generals contract: $6 million for four years) and Marcus Dupree (New Orleans Breakers, $6 million for five years) to 1983 Heisman Trophy Winner Mike Rozier (Pittsburgh Maulers, $3 million for three years) and Young, whose playing obligation is four years. A 6-ft. 1-in. lefthander, he passed for an average of 395 yds. per game last season. Cincinnati Bengals Assistant General Manager Mike Brown, who intended to choose Young first in the May 1 N.F.L. draft, said, "We were just trying to sign a football player. But the Express is trying to buy credibility in the L.A. market." The N.F.L. is competing for athletes, the U.S.F.L. for attention.
Only old American Football League types will understand this, but Express General Manager Don Klosterman and Coach John Hadl had more than $36 million with which to tempt the Brigham Young star. They told him about a time in pro football when camaraderie was not just a word. During the great war of the '60s, both men fought jubilantly on the side of the confederacy. Klosterman negotiated with players under goal posts and signed Heismart Trophy Winner Mike Garrett at halftime of the East-West game. Back then, when Kansas City signed a Garrett, the city of Buffalo cheered, just as the Bills' coups were celebrated in San Diego. Hadl was a No. 1 draft choice of the Detroit Lions, but never regretted throwing in with the Chargers, and ended up the N.F.L.'s M.V.P. at Los Angeles in his dotage.
Most A.F.L. sentimentalists use the New York Jets' triumph over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, the Joe Namath Game, to describe the elation available to pioneers. But Hadl told Young of a preseason victory in 1967, which was so emphatic—the Kansas City Chiefs 66, the Chicago Bears 24—that the players in the little league sensed where they stood more than a year before the rest of the country realized. "Our whole league," Hadl said, "was dancing in the street."
In that mood, Klosterman said, "I think we should move from the spring to the fall." But five relatively hale U.S.F.L. locales—Tampa Bay, Michigan, New Jersey, Denver and Philadelphia—are also N.F.L. territories. Three of the largest U.S.F.L. markets—Chicago, Washington and Los Angeles—have been flops. While a 62,300 house was counted the first week of this season in Birmingham, the Stallions might not wish to try Alabama and Auburn head on. Anyway, who would televise the games? Awaiting baseball and good weather, the U.S.F.L. has been achieving unspectacular rating shares, while ticket sales are down.
All of which is enough to daunt any 22-year-old millionaire pioneer. Young has a right to be scared. Even if he were Staubach and Unitas put together, he might still have to be Namath too. —By Tom Callahan