The biggest splash made
by the World Football League in 1974 was related to the off-the-field events
that surrounded the signing of some of the biggest names in the National
Football League. L.C. Greenwood, Ken Stabler, Daryle Lamonica, Ted Kwalick, and
the “Big Three” of the Miami Dolphins Super Bowl teams, Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick,
and Paul Warfield were legitimate NFL stars whose defection from the senior
league would give instant credibility to the newcomers on the block. Stabler and
Greenwood did not report to their respective WFL teams for 1975 and it was no
doubt a mutually satisfying decision as the NFL stars realized that the
financial disaster of 1974 did not make for a rosy future in the New League
version of the WFL and the owners of WFL teams did not want the financial burden
of paying the contracts of these established stars. Memphis owner John Bassett
was perhaps the most solvent of the WFL owners but still faced serious financial
responsibilities when he announced the signing of the three Miami stars to 1975
Memphis contracts. The “deal’ was that each franchise would pay a portion of
what was then, an exorbitant “personal services” contract that the three players
received. The “perks” not shared by the league were provided by Bassett and
included three-bedroom apartments during the season and Cadillacs, a silver
Seville for Csonka, a brown one with beige stripes for Kiick, and a navy blue
model for Warfield. The $3.5 million package deal for the three stars who had
led the Miami Dolphins to Super Bowl glory was however, a shared expense but the
per-team figure varied dependent upon the source. Some owners understood that
the signing of these players gave the 1974 league credibility and others
understood that they needed to survive until these three players and other NFL
stars of similar quality entered the league and started to bring in the fans.
Some of the owners saw Bassett’s move as the death knell of the league, a way to
disrupt a limited salary structure that was necessary for everyone’s benefit. Of
course the salaries of the incoming NFL stars certainly was in opposition to the
1975 Hemmeter Plan that the entire league was operating under and ultimately,
the debt accrued for player salaries was in fact a major factor in the demise of
the league. As one article quipped, getting the three NFL stars was, for the
WFL, “like getting the Good Housekeeping Seal Of Approval” but now that 1975 had
arrived, it was time for them to produce.
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If interested in any of these or more WFL helmets please click on the
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