Shreveport WFL

Steamer - 1975

Lange began to sign some well-known players who had already earned professional success. At quarterback alone he signed former Wheels Bubba Wyche who had a solid local following after starring at the University of Tennessee, former University Of Houston star D.C. Nobles, and WFL holdover Edd Hargett, a former Saints starter who had been their team MVP in 1971. Hargett had played with the NFL Oilers in 1973 and with the Hawaiians in 1974. Unfortunately it soon came to league notice that twenty-one of the Steamers were on fixed contracts that were based on a projected team revenue of $2.1 million, an unattainable figure based on the gate receipts of the first few games of the season. Commissioner Chris Hemmeter flew to Shreveport to address what was termed a “critical situation” and some of the players renegotiated for percentage contracts in accordance with the Hemmeter plan while some with no-cut contracts refused any renegotiation. As a “reward” for his poor business sense in signing so many players to unrealistic and financially crippling deals, Lange was fired just as he was waking up in an area hospital after undergoing hemorrhoid surgery. The team announced that their financial situation had been rectified, but it hadn’t as crowds fluctuated between a few thousand to twenty thousand as the Steamer competed with LSU, Louisiana Tech, Grambling, televised Dallas Cowboy and New Orleans Saints games, and the nearby Louisiana Downs Racetrack. It was over when Hemmeter’s telegram arrived notifying Taylor and his team that the World Football League had terminated operations.

For 1975 the Steamer had accumulated a number of good players. Hargett finished second in the league’s passing statistics. As he did in 1974, fullback Jim Nance proved that he wasn’t quite finished playing decent football. Considered as washed-up after gaining a paltry 78 yards with the Jets in 1973, Nance had been the number three WFL rusher in ’74 and followed that with a number four ranking for ’75. Former Giants tenth round draft choice receiver Johnny Odom stuck with the Giants through his rookie season in 1972 and played with the Texans/Steamer in 1974. He finally blossomed as a go-to receiver in 1975, finishing as the seventh best in the league. Rick Eber played the other flank so the Steamer pass attack always posed a problem to opposing defenses. Special teams performances were quite good. The 1975 WFL number one kick returner was the Steamer’s Leon “Sonny” Jenkins, a 5’11”, 175-pound swift cornerback out of the University Of West Virginia. He played one year with the Lions, making appearances in four games in 1972. He was effective as a defensive player but made his mark on the return teams. Doug Winslow, a receiver out of Drake was the league’s number two punt returner so the Steamer special teams truly were special. Winslow had been with the Saints in a very limited role in 1973 and returned to the NFL, playing with the Redskins in 1976. Defensive back Richmond Flowers returned for another season, continuing the role of player he had been forced to undertake in 1974 when his contribution was needed more on the field than it was in the front office. Interestingly Flowers, as an All America in both football and track at the University Of Tennessee, had set a world record of 13.3 seconds in the 120-yard high hurdles, a record broken in 1974 by Rod Milburn. Milburn had been a track standout at Louisiana’s Southern University and a wide receiver on the football team and the Steamer brought him in but his football skills were not on par with his track performances and he was gone within a short time. Former Grambling star and Saints running back Virgil Robinson who was with the team in 1974 was a consistent starter and represented the team’s attempt to play with local talent that the fans could relate to. The Steamer finished the season with a 5-7 record, a result of having the league’s third best offense but second worst defense.

Using the green and gold combination from 1974, the Steamer helmet had a much better and memorable logo than they had displayed in their first year. The non-descript “S” was replaced by a neat looking steamboat that captured the spirit of the city and the team. The steamboat was green within a white oval and gave the appearance of rapid forward movement. The yellow/gold shell was adorned with a center green stripe outlined by two white stripes. This was a hotbed of football activity with a local high school (Woodlawn) that gave the NFL both Terry Bradshaw and Joe Ferguson in succession, that had in Grambling the premiere historically Black university football program in the entire country, and of its Louisiana Tech University team, Joe Namath once said, “Even the small southern schools like Louisiana Tech can beat the hell out of the bigger schools in the east and Midwest.” It was unfortunate that these fans could not have the presence of a truly good professional football team. BACK...

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