Gunslingers Are Paid, So Game With Express Will Go On Today

The Los Angeles Express and San Antonio Gunslingers will play today at 11:30 a.m. PDT in a United States Football League game that matches teams with two of the league’s worst statistical and financial records.

The game will be played in San Antonio’s Alamo Stadium.

That there is even a game today is a story in itself.

The injury-riddled Express (3-12) barely has enough players to field a team. It lost two more defensive backs, Dwight Drane and Darrell Pattillo, to injuries in last week’s defeat by Denver, leaving Los Angeles with only four defensive backs on the roster. The Express, which is being financed by the USFL for the remainder of the season, was allowed to sign two players to replace Drane and Pattillo.

The Gunslingers (3-12) should have such problems.

The San Antonio players, office workers and coaches had not been paid in nearly a month. But Saturday, they received their paychecks, in addition to a $500 bonus apiece, only hours before a league deadline.

Owner Clinton Manges delivered cashier’s checks totaling $340,000 but refused to pay offensive lineman Lee Spivey, who had filed suit against South Texas Sports Inc., the Gunslingers’ parent firm, on Thursday. When Spivey asked about his paycheck, the owner advised him to “see your lawyer about it..”