In sports, you are meant to learn from your mistakes. Failure is supposed to be your teacher. In 1976, the National Football League would expand to the upcoming markets of Seattle and Tampa Bay and both fledgling teams would have their growing pains. However, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers seemed to have the worst of it, as it would take them 26 failures to finally figure out how to win an NFL game.
As a Bucs fan, I must ask the question “How… how does a team get served this bad a hand to begin their franchise? How does this team get assembled?” Well, let’s look at the history of the founding of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Preceding 1976, Tampa Bay had been yearning for a professional sports franchise. The blossoming city of Tampa was expanding rapidly with an influx of new inhabitants (you can tell by some of the home design there, trust me).
The man who would come to be the first owner of the franchise was Hugh Culverhouse Sr., a tax lawyer who made his money from a number of successful real estate investments. Prior to be awarded an expansion franchise, Culverhouse had attempted to purchase the Los Angeles Rams. Failing in this endeavor through a perceptively complex deal in which Robert Irsay would come to own the team instead (Irsay would later trade the Rams ownership in order to acquire the Baltimore Colts). Culverhouse was not the first man to be awarded the Tampa expansion team, as originally, the NFL gave ownership to Philadelphia construction company owner Thomas McCloskey, who would later back out, thus allowing the franchise to fall into the lap of Culverhouse.
With the new franchise granted in 1974, the next issue was the naming of the team. As a nod to not just Tampa’s but Florida’s past, the team was named the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning out over the Sailors, Coastal Tides (thank God) and Buzzards (really?). Okay they got a name, now what’s the look; what’s the uniforms and logo going to look like? Trying to avoid having the Bucs look similar to other pirate franchises, including the NFL’s Raiders, Tampa Tribune cartoonist Lamar Sparkman came up with what honestly looks like a musketeer with an earring than perhaps a proper Buccaneer, but the new logo was accepted and came to be lovingly known as the winking pirate “Bucco Bruce”.
The Bucs would complement Bucco Bruce with the ever so memorable creamsicle jerseys of the soft bright orange and red. The team came out with a publication that describes the choosing of the team colors.
“Orange, red and white have been selected as the club’s official colors. Orange was a natural choice because of the area’s citrus industry and the warmth of Florida’s sunshine. Red, too, is warm and lively. In heraldry, it is symbolic of courage and fortitude in battle.”
With team name and colors set, the Bucs now needed a team.
Both coaching and players were now on the mind of the upper management. Here the Bucs decided to hire legendary USC coach John McKay. McKay coached at USC from 1960-1975 and had coached major talents at the time, such as 1968 Heisman winner O.J. Simpson. Over his 16 years at the university, McKay went 175-127 with 5 Rose Bowl victories and 3 undefeated seasons and 4 national championships.
Seems like the best man for the job, right?
Well, in 1976 the NFL wasn’t as kind to incoming teams as they are today. There was no expansion draft, no way for the new NFL franchises to obtain NFL caliber players with any combination of athleticism and know-how to help the team start. Instead, the teams were left to pick up free agents, other NFL teams’ rejects and their own picks in the NFL draft.
Outside of drafting star defensive end from Oklahoma, LeeRoy Selmon, the Bucs really had nobody. Their quarterbacks, Steve Spurrier and Mississippi Valley State standout Parnell Dickinson would be running for their lives behind the porous offensive line. Dickinson would even suffer a season-ending injury in his fourth game against the Cleveland Browns.
Yes, it was a veritable band of castaways and misfits that never came together as a team.
When play finally started the Bucs were quickly tossed into the fire.
John McKay’s USC scheme which won him four championships would be tested, and subsequently was shown that he didn’t have the personnel to make it successful in the NFL, at least at first. The team’s play was so poor that some players would rush to grab the local papers on Monday mornings from their friends and neighbors to avoid the embarrassing exposure.
The Bucs would become the butt end of many Johnny Carson jokes on late night television, and John McKay would become famous for his wit.
To give an idea of McKay’s humor and frustration with a team built to lose he would make the following remarks:
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When asked about his team’s execution: ‘I’m in favor of it.’”
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“We didn’t tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking.”
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When he heard that one of the kickers during training camp, Pete Rajecki, had said he was nervous kicking in front of his coach, McKay asked that the press, “Tell Mr. Rajecki that I plan to attend all the games.”
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On how coaching an expansion team is like a religious experience, “You do a lot of praying, but most of the time the answer is ‘no.’
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“Emotion is highly overrated in football. My wife Corky is emotional as hell but can’t play football worth a damn.”
The bitterness of losing certainly stung and broke down the pride of the former college coaching great, but McKay would not allow the mounting failure to make him quit. McKay made sure to adjust and innovate to get his team into the win column. On December 11, 1977, the Bucs would finally break through and get their first ever victory in New Orleans against the Saints 33-14. In his postgame conference, McKay would say, “three or four plane crashes and we’re in the playoffs.”
Down the line the Bucs would finally make the playoffs.
In just their fourth year in existence, bolstered by a strong defense led by future hall of famer LeeRoy Selmon, the Bucs would go on to win the NFC Central division with a 10-6 record and would beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-17 in the divisional round. Just two years removed from their 26th consecutive loss and the Bucs were in the NFC championship. Although they would lose to the Rams 9-0, it was a taste of hope for the franchise of Tampa Bay and may have even continued has they been able to retain future quarterback Doug Williams.
Williams, the first black quarterback to be selected in the first round in NFL history in 1978, had a high ceiling with his stellar arm. Williams had displayed his passing ability and potential in his first few years with the team, quickly rising to become one of the top passers in the league.
Prior to the 1983 season Williams and owner Culverhouse got into a dispute over contract negotiations. Williams desired more than the $120,000 he was receiving and asked for a $600,000 contract to resign with the team. Culverhouse, however, would not budge from his $400,000 offer and even acquired Bengals’ backup Jack Thompson as insurance if Williams would continue to hold out.
Noticing this move, Williams instead signed with the USFL’s Oklahoma Outlaws.
Williams would end up making a return to the NFL in 1986 with the Washington Redskins, winning Super Bowl XXII and being named Super Bowl MVP in 1987. Without Williams, the Bucs would set a new record for losing in the NFL as, from 1983-1996, the Bucs would suffer 14 consecutive losing seasons, 13 of which had 10 or more losses, both NFL records (since the merger of the AFC and NFC into the NFL in 1950).
So, the end of Culverhouse’s ownership would mirror its beginning, mired in losing. After Culverhouse passed away in August of 1994 the Bucs would be sold to their current owners, the Glazer family and in 1997, the Bucs would finally have a winning season again at 10-6 with legendary head coach Tony Dungy.
Image Credit: Bleacher Report
