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"Admirals" (1967)
(Formerly the Long Beach
Admirals of California) |
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Years
of Operation: 1967
Overall
Record: 0-3
First
Game: Aug 11, 1967 vs Orange Co. Ramblers
First
Win: No Wins
Final
Game: Aug 26, 1967 vs Seattle Rangers
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League
Affiliation:
Continental Football League (1967)
Independent (1967)
Team
Headquarters:
Suite 345, 5505 East Carson Street,
Lakewood, California 90713 |
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Owner:
Shelby Calhoun (Pres) Bob Spitler (VP)
General
Manager: Bob Spitler
Coaches:
Shelby Calhoun (HC) Carver Shannon (AC) Frank Ganz (AC); Johnny
Olezewski (AC)
Home
Field(s): Veterans Memorial Stadium |
Team Colors: Kelly Green, Texas Orange,
Black
Titles
Won:
None |
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The saga of the Long Beach Admirals didn't end with
their ouster from the Western Division of the Continental Football
League. When GM Bob Spitler asked to move the team to Portland, Oregon
after week one and the poor attendance (approx 950) indicated a dire
future in Long Beach and a teenager** wrote to the Executive Director of
the Western Division regarding the
problems with the team, the CFL met and revoked the franchise.
In an article printed in the Eugene Register-Guard
by Neil Cawood, he reported that Spitler decided to move the team to
Portland anyway and pursue an independent schedule. "Despite the
decision of the CFL to revoke our franchise and keep us out of Portland,
we'll move our office personnel and 10 of our key ball players at once.
We'll hold a tryout camp for the Portland players as soon as possible to
complete the 35-man roster we intend to carry", Spitler was quoted.
Peter Murphy Jr., president of the Eugene Bombers
would not play the team unless the CFL said it was ok, and Danny Hill,
executive director of the division offered this quote: "We've got
a lot of different groups interested in the Portland franchise - people
from Vancouver to Houston - and we're not going to let a shaky franchise
like Long Beach go in there." Hill also indicated that proof of
"local ownership" was a reason for denying the move.
Portland would land the Loggers franchise in 1968.
Dick Suess, Jim Harrington, and Frank Ganz were
also part of Spitler's Portland ownership group trying to make the move
happen. |
1967 Schedule/Results (0-3): |
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Aug 11 @ Orange County Ramblers |
3-24 |
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Aug 19 @ Sacramento Buccaneers |
0-6 |
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Aug 26 - Seattle Rangers |
13-37 |
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1968 Schedule/Results (0-0): |
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No Games - Franchise Officially Folded |
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** In his own words:
The letter I sent as a
seventeen year old, was not to a newspaper, but, directly to the office
of Danny Hill who was in 1967 the executive director of the new Western
Division ( Conference ) of the Continental Football League which was the
third league of major professional football of the 1960's.
In the letter, I had informed Mr. Hill of what I had uncovered in the
operations of the Long Beach Admirals. One must first understand, that
even as a 17 year old, I was then a very astute junior journalist, and
discovered that the six teams that had played in major western minor
football leagues, Eugene Bombers, Orange County Ramblers, Sacramento
Buccaneers, San Jose Apaches, Seattle Rangers, and Victoria Steelers all
had veteran players, many having had experience in the American,
Canadian, Continental, and National Football Leagues, and had fan bases
to build upon. Long Beach on the other hand had none. It also had a very
weak public relations-publicity department without any civic support. If
this franchise had been serious about putting a team together, it needed
to begin operations a year before it did! The management attempted to
compete with budding major league teams, as if it was a throwback to an
early Atlantic Coast Football League team of
1961 or 1962.
The next factor which had been overlooked, was much of its roster had
junior college only products, in other words, it was a team of boys
being sent out to play men ( four year collegiate and veteran products
). The Admirals had only a handful of players that had any pro
experience, and only one that had played in any post-season games, Lou
Williams.
Once I had notified Danny Hill, he called an emergency meeting. Long
Beach had been admitted through the Commissioner's office, Sol Rosen of
the Eastern Division ( Conference ). Sol Rosen was surrounded by
completely inept advisors. It was through this non-leadership that two
primary charter franchises were lost, Philadelphia and Richmond.
Furthermore, the Brooklyn Dodger franchise was allowed to be transferred
to Frank Hurn and moved to Akron without investigating Hurn, who quickly
turned out to be a penniless con artist. The same was true as Alan
Eagleson gained primary control of the Toronto Rifles and completely
undermined that franchise. You may recall Eagleson went to prison for
embezzlement of funds of the National Hockey League Players Association.
Both Akron and Toronto folded after the fourth week of the 1967 regular
season.
In the case of Long Beach, Danny Hill's staff was able to verify all my
research, and literally put the ownership on the carpet, and revoked the
franchise. Despite the efforts of the ownership to move the team to
Portland or Phoenix as primarily a road team, the executive director,
Danny Hill once again revoked the franchise, and prevented even
exhibition games be played against the Admirals by the six remaining
Western Division ( Conference ) teams. The paid attendance of the
Admirals' only home regular season game against Seattle was probably
around 950, the two or three thousand additional fans in the stands were
probably papered. The only verified ideas to increase fans support was
to slash ticket prices by one half and to offer a pony as a prize! If
Long beach had been attempted membership through Danny Hill's office
initially, it would not have even gotten off the ground. Only a handful
of its rostered players were picked up by other teams in 1967
once the team folded.
Thank you.
Dennis Michael Kuno, I
**Update:
One very amazing fact I had uncovered about the Continental
Football League, as it was prevented, mostly through illegal
tactics, from gaining a national television contract, the
teams were usually desperate to keep their teams afloat
financially. one method was to under report the attendance
figures to the media. The officials who collected tas
revenues from the gates for the most part looked the other
way, as having a team in their city not only gave them a
measure of prestige, but, also provided many jobs to their
communities. This information was verified by several former
owners, of course, off the record, despite no legal
ramifications after all these years.
Did you know that
Monday Night Football was
originally the first nationally televised slot that ABC
was going to showcase weekly of the Continental Football
League? Bill Walsh verified this before his passing.
By the way, Peter Murphy recently contacted me, and that
the Eugene Bombers were originally scheduled to play
their 1968 home games in Autsen Stadium, but, the
college officials would not permit the Bombers from
selling beer at the stadium in 1968, which was the
Bombers' biggest concession money maker at the time at
Bethal Park in 1967. So the deal fell through. I wonder
how much beer is sold at Autsen Stadium today?
Dennis Michael Kuno, I
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