The Southmen had players of note too. Former Notre Dame Heisman winner and NFL journeyman John Huarte finished fifth in passing by the end of the season and he had a capable back up in rookie Danny White who was one of the league’s best punters. The Southmen running game was awesome although some NFL scouts were scratching their heads when first looking at the program. Willie Spencer, injured part way through the year still finished third in overall scoring and no one knew who he was because he had entered pro football directly from the fields of McVay’s high school alma mater Washington Massillon. Spencer however, was no child, at least not physically; 6’4”, 225 pounds of solid muscle, and toughened by a year with the Hartford Knights of the Atlantic Coast Football League and time in the CFL. Had he been up to the academic challenges of college, he was predicted to be a great player and he was proving that in the WFL before being injured. J.J. Jennings out of Rutgers was the other running back and he finished but 52 yards behind Florida’s Tommy Reamon for the rushing title. He led the nation in scoring while in college but many pro scouts perceived the Rutgers schedule as weak and “small time.” McVay saw a guy who could run! When Spencer was injured, the Southmen brought in John Harvey, a 185-pound scooter out of Texas Arlington who had been a seventh-round draft pick of the Rams but who did not make it there. He was much more than a competent substitute as he finished sixth in accrued rushing yards by season’s end. Tight end Ed Marshall was a big target at 6’5” and had been with the Bengals. As the All WFL tight end, he also was the league’s leading scorer and one of its top receivers. Gary Shirk out of tiny Morehead State caught thirty-four passes for the year, seven for touchdowns. Ironically, Marshall, Shirk, and Spencer would again play on the same team long after the demise of the WFL. Marshall’s outstanding performance with the Southmen gave him another NFL shot, this time with the Giants, and he delivered a monster 20.8 and 25.4 yards per catch average respectively in 1976 and 1977. Spencer was with the Vikings in 1976 but wound up with the Giants in 1977 and 1978 as a short yardage back. Shirk was one of those players that used the WFL as a springboard to the NFL, also playing for the Giants and lasting from 1976 to 1982, but his journey into and through professional football may have reflected the difficult and typical trials and tribulations of the sport. Shirk was an effective receiver in college and was invited to the New York Jets camp, one of over three hundred players brought in that year. Unfortunately, he was asked to try out as a linebacker. One of twenty-nine players vying for a linebacking spot, Shirk’s 4.8/40 yard speed was the best of the group but his lack of tackling skills made the Jets’ coaches doubt his ability and they sent him on his way. Settling into a life he thought would be his path for many years, Shirk began a high school teaching career until contacted by the Toronto Northmen and offered a try out as a tight end. Told that he had to beat out a tight end who was given a “no cut contract” Shirk may have had reservations but went to camp when the team announced their move to Memphis. Beat him out he did as he opened the season as the Southmen’s starter. Opening the holes up front were 6’3”, 250 pound Justin Canale, a former standout at Mississippi State from a venerated football family and muscular 6’4”, 285 pound Ron Mikolajczyk. Mikolajczyk had been an All America at the University Of Tampa (and like many Tampa players, had transferred from another school, in Ron’s case, Marshall), a huge man for the time who with Canale, spent a lot of time in the hard core gyms of Memphis as he had at all of his stops. He had played for Leo Cahill at Toronto and Cahill and McVay actually went out and traded to get him from the CFL. While astute lifting aficionados might recall Mikolajczyk, wrestling fanatics will definitely remember his pro wrestling exploits which peaked on May 16, 1977 at Madison Square Garden. Wrestling under his own name, he defeated Doug Gilbert on the same card as Bruno Sammartino, Superstar Billy Graham (who under his real name of Wayne Coleman had been in camp as a defensive end with the Oakland Raiders and who actually played on the defensive line for the Jets’ farm team the Waterbury Orbits of the Atlantic Coast Football League in 1966 and then for the Las Vegas Cowboys of the Continental Football League in 1969), former U.S. Olympic Weightlifter Ken Patera, and former Southwest Texas State fullback Joe Bednarski who was famous as “Polish Power Ivan Putski.” Let it be noted that Bednarski too put his time into minor league football, first with the Toronto Rifles of the Continental League in 1965 and then with the San Antonio Toros of the Texas Football League in both 1967 and ‘68. Mikolajczyk was reunited with his Southmen teammates in the NFL, playing with the N.Y. Giants from 1976 through 1979.  Proving that he had staying power, Mikolajczyk made yet another comeback, playing in the USFL with Tampa Bay in 1983, Memphis in 1984, and both Memphis and Orlando in 1985. Coach McVay had a lot to do with the “Memphis flavor” of the Giants as he was their head coach for the 1977 and 1978 seasons after first picking up the reins as interim head coach midway through the 1976 season. In 1979 he moved into front office work and helped to take the 49ers to five Super Bowl victories.  

 

The talent that the Southmen were able to find and sign did not stop with the offense. That 17-3 record also indicated great defense and the secondary was the strong point with Dave Thomas winning the WFL Defensive MVP award while leading the league with ten interceptions. Right behind Thomas was the other safety Seth Miller with nine. Miller was a known quantity as he had led the nation in interceptions as a senior at Arizona State and then garnered CFL experience. Thomas however was a raw rookie out of tiny Texas Southern and no one knew just how good he was. Jake Burkhardt was an outstanding linebacker. At 6’ and 205 pounds, the NFL wasn’t particularly interested in this Dayton product who had played collegiate ball for McVay but they did not realize that his rugby and weight training background had given him excellent strength and body control and he was a very effective two year performer for Memphis. He later went on to become President of the York Barbell Company, an extension of his interest in fitness and training. The Southmen had special teams power too thanks to White’s punting (third in the WFL) and Tim Beamer’s kickoff returns. That Beamer led the league in this category was not a complete surprise. A fifth-round draft choice of the Bills in 1971, he averaged almost 20 yards per kickoff return that year but unfortunately had a penchant for fumbling which is why he was not back with the Bills in 1972. His gaudy 28.7 KO return average just inched out N.Y./Charlotte’s Ike Thomas. A brother duo, Jack and Jim Ettinger had the bloodlines of fine players. Their dad, the well-known Don “Red Dog” Ettinger who had played at Kansas and then a few years with the Giants in the late 1940s was a fast and furious hard-hitting linebacker and the first to cross the line of scrimmage in hot pursuit of quarterbacks. If one is wondering where the early and colorful NFL term “Red Dog” came from to describe a linebacker blitz, this is its genesis. “Red Dog” Ettinger was so well known as a pursuing menace, that the maneuver was named after him! Wide receiver Jack out of Arkansas eventually worked his way into the starting lineup while brother Jim, who had followed in his dad’s footsteps at Kansas, was on the roster as the third-string quarterback.

Their won-loss record earned Memphis a bye in the first round of the playoffs but they were defeated 18-15 by the Florida Blazers in the second round as Florida shut down their offense through the final three quarters of the game. Still, Memphis was one of the franchises that was prepared to return in 1975 and hopefully be granted an NFL franchise as an expansion team sometime in the future. The Southmen uniform featured a white helmet with distinctive brown and orange bear’s head in frontal repose, massive bear claws, and what might be considered a Canadian sunrise or sunset as a cowl. With an orange center stripe flanked by two brown stripes, they had a very good-looking helmet, one that has stood the test of time. The official team colors describe the orange as “burnt” although in the jersey and helmet, the Southmen orange is not as muddled looking as that of the University Of Texas, probably everyone’s reference point for “burnt orange.” The official team colors include brown and also gold for 1974 but one would be hard pressed to find gold anywhere in the uniform. Interestingly, the gold was dropped, with no real change in the basic uniform design, for the 1975 season. The burnt orange jerseys that appear to be a shade lighter than that of Texas, highlighted by brown numbers with white trim, and the standard white/brown/white sleeve design of the WFL had a very good, bright look, worn with white pants. The white jersey was just as sharp too although if the light wasn’t just right, the brown in the numbers could appear to be a dark green and perhaps mistaken for the current look of the University Of Miami Hurricanes! If the Memphis franchise had been accepted into the NFL, their uniforms would have been among the most highly accepted in the entire league.  BACK...