Sent to Remember the AFL
by Howard Wexler
November 23, 2005

Gentlemen:

I was just reading the Journal-News from a couple of weeks ago in which you all paid tribute to Wellington Mara, may his soul rest in peace.

From all accounts, he was a gentle and good man who was a great leader in making the NFL what it was today.

But he was not perfect and all the stories and tributes neglected to talk about how he cost his fellow owners millions in the AFL-NFL merger.

Mara and the hard-liners did not realize the AFL was here to stay, even after they signed the huge television contract with NBC. But in that, he had a lot of company.

In the mid-60s, Mara signed Pete Gogolak, who had been with the Buffalo Bills of the AFL. While the two leagues did compete furiously for college players, there was a gentleman's agreement that once a league signed a player, that was that. The other league would not try to sign that player anymore.

Mara broke that agreement by signing Gogolak. That infuriated the AFL owners who hired Raider owner Al Davis to be their new commissioner under a platform of signing the NFLs best players to AFL teams. Thanks to Wellington Mara, there was no more gentleman's agreement.

Within weeks, Mike Ditka, John Brodie and Roman Gabriel had signed with the AFL. Even the hard-headed George Halas realized the NFL was in a no-win situation and the merger took place soon afterwards.

In other mergers of sports leagues (NHL-WHA, ABA-NBA, NFL-USFL), the newer leagues lost many teams and identity. All of the AFL teams were taken in by the NFL and the merger terms were far better than any other mergers before and since.

We all know that the NFL has not left a penny on the bargaining table for decades. So it makes sense to believe that their backs were pushed against the wall in this negotiation. And the events brought on by Mara's signing of Gogolak severely weakened the NFL bargaining position, costing him and his fellow owners millions of dollars in the merger.

When a public figure passes away, you do speak good about him. But you do not completely whitewash his career either.

Howard Wexler

Hello, AFL Fans:

The Chargers have finally retired Lance Alworth's number. You can see an article on this and some clippings. Can't believe that the guy who threw Alworth most of those passes, John Hadl, is not in the "pro football" hall of fame.

I've also recently added a page on the Hank Stram Center and biographies on Wayne Hawkins and George Webster.

Regards,
Ange