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FranchiMoveFizzlBy MARTY BELLFour weeks ago a report out of the Boston Record-American sneaked into little hidden filler boxes in many papers around the country. The uncredited story claimed that Sammy Davis, Harry Belafonte, Jim Brown, John Mackey and a group of prominent black businessmen were bidding for anally traced the original story to Fat Borne who covers the Pats for the Record-American. But he was sitting on his scoop and refused to reveal any thing. Instead of throwing a very public issue outto the public and building the needed vocal support,he is selfishly sitting on it until a definitive move is made and he becomes a prophet.BUT THE WHOLE STORY must be made publicNFL franchise to be housed in Memphis and called now The first question that must be asked of the Memphis Kings in honor of the Reverend Martin Luther King.After this initial blurb the story was not mentioned again in the press. None of the local sports-writers picked it up and looked into it any further. And yet the announcement is very significant and raises some important questions about the league and the nation.A black-owned sports franchise has been spoken about for years in this country but none has gottenany serious consideration from any of the official people who can make it a reality. The sports-writers, who re usually so active in arousing the public’s emotions concerning new or moved teams have not dealt actively with the idea. I fi-course is whether or not the National Football League is looking to expand. I went to the Commissioner’s office with this question and a representative of Mr. Rozelle repeated his boss’ statement that was made when Mayor Lindsay first approached him about the new N. Y. franchise. Yes, the league does expect to expand in this decade; 32 teams is the logical number for balance. But no, there is no timetable and none has been discussed at league meetings. The commissioner wants to see the present set up stablized before any new moves are made.The representative also said that he read thesame report which I had but that the office had• ••••••• •• •• • •••••••• • • •• • • • •*•ElsewhereroundTheLoop• •* •t •I •TALK OF the NFL these days is former Texas Christian University Quarterback Kent Nix. Nix came off the bench in the Chicago Bears firstregular season game to throw a touchdown pass that beat Pittsburgh, 17-15.Then he RFALLY surprised everybody. He came on the field in the fourth quarter and threw touchdown passes of 36 and 19 yaris to DickCiordon and beat none other than the Minnesota Vikings, 20-17.Ironically, both Pittsburgh and Minnesota had traded Nix. Look out Green Bay Packers! The Packers also traded away Kent. Chicago playsGreen Bay, Nov. 17.“What would be great,’’ said Nix, “is to beatall three of the teams that released me.”Chicago’s starting quarterback, Jack Con-cannon, told Kent, “All you throw is touchdownpasses. I can’t stand showoffs.”* * *BALTIMORE COLT insiders tell us Johnny llnitas’ arm is fine. They say it isn’t what it was in his prime but that it’s as good as it has been the last few years.Another oldtimer, George Blanda, answered people who keep asking him why he doesn’t coach.“I’m not interested right now,” said George. “Hell, I’m too old for coaching. I'll be 45 nextSeptember. Who wants to be a 45-year-old coach.”♦ * *Ken Dyer suffered a spinal injury which a team physician said apparently paralyzed Dyer from the neck down. In all probability, Dyer will never play football again. Also, Cincinnati lost star quarterback Virgil Carter in the gamewhen he sustained a shoulder separation.* * *What’s happening up at Pittsburgh? The Steelers are looking like the toughest team around as far as defense in concerned. They’ve allowed only three touchdowns to be scored against them in the first three games. Pittsburgh had a 2-1-0 reading, including two in a row now, after Sunday’s win over San Diego.* * *Okay Cowboy fans, remember Jim O’Brien? He s the Baltimore field goal kicker who provided the difference for the Colts in the Super Bowl. Well sir, O’Brien is off to a rapid start this season. He booted field goals of 42, II and 50yards against New England Sunday in Baltimore’s23-3 win. He has now hit nine consecutivethree point attempts* * *Speaking of field goal kickers, New Orleans’Charlie Durkee must be feeling pretty good thisweek. He kicked a 37-yard field goal in the lastnine second of play to give his team a 13-13 Cincinnati’s 20-17 setback to Green Bay Sunday deadlock with Houston Sunday . Houston, you maywas costly in more ways than one. Bengal safety recall, had released Durkee earlier in the seasonnot officially been approached as of yet.Searching out who was involved, I found both Mr. Davis’ and Mr. Belafonte’s offices denying the rumor and I was finally led to Rommie Loudd, the director of Player Personnel for the New England Patriots.Mr. Loudd is a former defensive backfield coachand a very knowledgeable and respected football man.HE WOULDN’T DENY the rumors but saidthat he was not at liberty to tell just who might beinvolved at this time.About a year ago,” he said, “I was interested in putting together an All-Star game in Memphis to honor Martin Luther King’s birthday, but the game never got off the ground.”“Since then there have been other projects mentioned. We have talked sports with Mrs. Coretta King who patents his name and she is very interested. In fact she did lend his name to thePenn Relays which are now the Martin Luther King relays.”The move and all that will come with it is very vital to the nation. This will be the most widely known black owned and operated business in the country. Theglamour industries already have seen the Negro Ensemble Company in New York and Melvin Van Peebles is producing his own films, but neither gets the coverage or recognition that football automatically demands.A BLACK FRANCHISE will not just be confined to the local following that embraces most league teams. Blacks all over the country will become avid rooters. Blacks on other teams will want to see the team do well. Those black players who are dissatisfied with their present situations (and even some whoare satisfied) will want to be traded to the new club.And so if this team is going to become a reality it is going to have to be done right. The first step in the right direction is to forget Memphis right now. The club should be housed in large urban center where the audience that it wants will beable to see it and where it will get the proper press coverage to be accessible to a national following.The two NFL games that were played in Memphis this pre-season drew only 22,474 (Atlanta-Denver) and 28,082 (Jets-New England). And the lack of proper coverage throughout the career of a Hank Aaron in Milwaukee and Atlanta shows what small town press does to sports.On the other hand, the Whitney Young Memorial game in Yankee stadium sold out the 67,000 high priced seats for Grambling and Morgan State to a largely black audience. The Urban League, who promoted the game, said that they had requests for at least 10,000 more seats. And in just four years the game has gained national recognition and a large built-in following.
Newspaper Details
Bryan Sunday Eagle
Bryan, Texas, US
Fri, Oct 08, 1971
Page 33
Full Page
Clipped by
Stefan F.
NA, 21 Jan 2020
Other Publications Near Bryan, Texas
Bryan Weekly Brazos Pilot
Bryan Morning Eagle
Bryan Sunday Eagle
Bryan Weekly Eagle
Bryan Daily Eagle
