A FAST FLAMEOUT : The Sun’s Football Fortunes Rose, Then Quickly Set

Perhaps the Sun wasn’t the most appropriate nickname for Orange County’s first professional football team.

The Southern California Sun played in the World Football League--which billed itself as an alternative to the National Football League, only to bill itself into extinction--and in less than two seasons (1974-75) filled Anaheim Stadium with big names, but few fans.

The Blair Pair . . . The Mad Bomber . . . Dave Roller . . . Tom Fears . . . two owners . . . A.D. . . . J.K. . . . a Rhodes Scholar named Pat.

Add many more who came to the Sun hoping that this league, with its technicolor uniforms, big promises and progressive rules, could make a go of it.

The Sun made headlines and streaked to a division title but burned out, leaving lawsuits, debts and memories--fond and otherwise.

Maybe the Southern California Nova would have been more fitting.

For better or worse, the Sun did leave its mark on Orange County.

Former Sun linebacker Eric Patton, summing up and understating, said: “It was different.”

And, at times, some football was played.

THE NEW LEAGUE

“I thought it was going to be another AFL (American Football League),” said Patton, who is now the coach at Capistrano Valley High School. “It looked like a great opportunity for guys like me, who hadn’t played in the National Football League but still had some ability.”

Patton was a linebacker at Notre Dame who graduated in 1971, and he had made it to the final cut in the Green Bay Packers’ training camp in 1972. Two years later, he was teaching at Mater Dei, his alma mater, when Gary Davidson, a Laguna Beach lawyer, announced his latest brainstorm in June, 1973.

Davidson, who had previously founded the American Basketball Assn. and the World Hockey Assn., was testing the sport-fan market again. As with his past ventures, the WFL had some of Davidson’s unique ideas.

This was, after all, the man who dreamed up the red, white and blue basketball for the ABA. In the WFL, the football the first year (1974) was tan with fluorescent orange stripes at each end.

“I remember in the first game looking down at my hand, and it was orange,” said Tony Adams, the Sun’s quarterback in 1974 and now the owner of a chemical company in Mission, Kan. “When the ball got wet, the orange dye bled onto your hands. It looked like I had jaundice.”

Following Davidson’s lead, teams also chose bright color schemes. The Sun’s uniforms were magenta and orange.

“The uniforms were . . . well, colorful,” former Ram Tom Fears, who coached the Sun for both of their seasons, said this week. “I’m not saying they were good, just colorful.”

Larry Hatfield, a Newport Beach businessman, owned the Anaheim franchise the first season, but he ran into financial trouble and sold the team to Sam Battistone of Santa Barbara before the second season.

Fears was asked to coach the team by his friend Fred (Curly) Morrison, the Sun’s general manager. Fears thought the new league had a chance.

That feeling wore off pretty quickly.

“Once I got into it, I could see the league wasn’t that well financed,” Fears said. “The first owner was a nice guy, but I don’t think he had two dimes to rub together.”

Despite his concerns, Fears assembled a staff and began to build a team.

The Sun, a name dreamed up by a panel of club officials and Orange County sportswriters, signed free agents who had been cut from NFL rosters. There was even a tryout held at Santa Ana Stadium attended by 800 people. One player was selected--Ralph Nelson, a 20-year-old Compton resident, who had not played in college.

“Like everyone else, we conducted practices, called college coaches about former players, contacted players who had been cut,” Fears said. “We were really looking under rocks for players.”

BRIGHT NAMES, BIG BUCKS

On the morning of April 1, 1974, the football world was shocked by the announcement that three members of the Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins had signed with the WFL’s Toronto Northmen, who later moved to Memphis and became the Southmen.

Running back Larry Csonka, the most valuable player of the Super Bowl; all-pro wide receiver Paul Warfield, and running back Jim Kiick signed in a package deal worth a reported $3 million. At that time, it was the largest contract in professional sports.

Although the three could not play until the 1975 season (they were under contract with the Dolphins through 1974), it started a rash of roster raiding on the NFL. Big-name players were signed to lucrative contracts, even though some could not leave their NFL teams for two, sometimes three years.

Seventeen days after the Csonka-Warfield-Kiick bombshell, the Sun announced the signing of Oakland Raider quarterback Daryle Lamonica for the 1975 season. Lamonica, who carried the nickname “Mad Bomber” because of his passion for the long pass, signed a long-term contract for more than $1 million.

Other signings followed. San Diego Charger wide receiver Dave Williams was signed to play in 1974 and defensive tackle Curly Culp of the Kansas City Chiefs for the 1975 season.

But the Sun’s most noteworthy deal of 1974 was the signing of UCLA running backs James McAlister and Kermit Johnson, the “Blair Pair,” along with USC tackle Booker Brown.

McAlister and Johnson, who set numerous California records at Blair High School in Pasadena, received multi-year contracts worth an estimated $750,000 combined. Brown got a reported $200,000.

McAlister led the team in receiving that first season, and Johnson led the team in rushing.

“Credibility-wise, it was great. They were big stars from the area,” said Tom Baldwin, an assistant coach who now is the head coach at Costa Mesa High School. “But the big salaries were also a big reason why the league didn’t make it.”

ROLLER DERBY

Every team has its characters. The Sun had Dave Roller.

“Dave was just a good ol’ country boy,” Patton said. “He was just having the best time he could, breaking curfew, never getting into shape. But he loved playing football.”

Roller, who played at the University of Kentucky, spent one year with the New York Giants before being cut in 1972. When the Sun contacted him before the 1974 season, Roller was a labor relations specialist for the Steel Company of Canada.

Since Roller is 6-feet 1-inch and 270 pounds, relations must have been pretty good.

Roller became an immediate crowd favorite and even had his own fan club, “Roller’s Rooters,” who wore “Rock ‘em Roller” T-shirts.

Roller enjoyed sacking quarterbacks most. Actually it was more like humiliating quarterbacks and dancing over their crumpled bodies long before Mark Gastineau made it popular and illegal.

“That’s all Dave wanted to do,” Patton said. “He’d run out of his area, leaving big, gaping holes, just to get at the quarterback.”

And at times, he would get fined for abandoning his spot. But, since Roller had 17 sacks in his first season, it was difficult to argue with his methods.

In a 1974 game against the Houston Texans, Roller chased down quarterback Mike Taliaferro for a sack. But he didn’t stop there. He added a forearm to the head, opening a cut over Taliaferro’s eye and knocking him out of the game.

“Dave had a few of those extracurricular activities,” Fears said.

No quarterback was safe, not even the ones on Roller’s team.

“When I was a rookie, Dave once told me to bus his (lunch) tray,” said former USC quarterback Pat Haden, who was with the Sun in 1975 and is now a lawyer in Los Angeles. “It was one of those ways you treat rookies. Well, I said no, and he ended up taking a couple of shots at me during practice. He didn’t like quarterbacks no matter whose team they were on, even his.”

Slightly less offensive than quarterbacks to Roller were kickers.

“Dave would line up on a kick and yell across the line, ‘I’m not only going to block the kick, I’m going to knock you out,’ ” Baldwin said. “Even during practice.”

Fittingly, Roller’s whereabouts now are unknown to his former teammates.

NO PAY, NO PLAY

The Sun had success on the field in 1974. The team clinched the Western Division title on Oct. 11 with a 25-23 victory over the Shreveport Steamer with a month left in the season. It finished with a 13-7 record.

There were even encouraging signs in the stands, as the attendance averaged about 25,000, and a game against Hawaii drew 32,088. But the league’s financial troubles were beginning to surface.

On Sept. 6, the Sun’s game in Detroit was delayed more than an hour. It seems that the Wheel had not paid its laundry bill, and the uniforms had been repossessed. Somehow, the Wheel came up with enough money to get the uniforms back for the game.

At home in Anaheim, players started seeing some ominous changes.

“The first time I started feeling there could be money problems was in October,” Patton said. “We had the best pregame meals I ever had--at Notre Dame, in the Green Bay training camp. They were lavish feeds. All of a sudden, they were giving us hamburgers and pancakes before games. They tried to tell us it was more nutritional. It didn’t take long for the players to put two and two together.”

Two weeks later, on Nov. 1, the Sun failed to make its payroll. Hatfield said there wasn’t enough money to pay everyone, so the team paid no one.

“I was named the team’s most valuable player and presented with a $1,000 check before a game,” Adams said. “I felt a little guilty about getting a check. When I walked back to the sidelines, the guys looked like they were dividing it up in their minds. In fact, Dave Roller met me before I got to the sidelines and said, ‘Don’t plan on spending all of that; $1,000 split 36 ways isn’t very much.’ ”

The Sun missed a second pay period on Nov. 15. McAlister, Johnson and Brown walked out a week later--the night of the Sun’s first-round playoff game against Hawaii. Their agent, Mike Trope, said that their contracts had been violated and that the three were free agents.

The Sun’s season ended with a 32-14 loss to Hawaii.

“We were expecting the team to fold,” Patton said. “It was a frustrating off-season. The players were disillusioned after not being paid, and we just didn’t know what was going to happen next.”

REBIRTH

Battistone, the Sun’s second owner, could not save his employees from the financial mess they were in from the previous year, but he kept some from starving--literally.

Battistone, who owned the Sambo’s restaurant chain, was the owner of the WFL’s Hawaii franchise the first season. He took over the Sun in January, 1975, with Hatfield remaining as president, and immediately tried to stabilize the organization.

The team owed more than $250,000 in back salaries, so Battistone issued payments of $750 to each employee in January and promised a second installment in March. He also offered a little compensation to the coaching staff.

An unusual offer, to say the least.

“Battistone allowed the coaches to go get food from a market he owned and put it against what the team owed us,” Baldwin said. “The only problem was it was in Santa Barbara. My wife and I would drive up there and load up the car with $700 or $800 worth of food. They were about to repossess my house, but we could eat.”

With the help of Williams, the team’s player representative, Battistone began to rebuild the team. Williams held the players together during the off-season, with a few exceptions:

--McAlister, Johnson and Brown had become free agents. McAlister signed with the Oakland Raiders, Johnson with the San Francisco 49ers and Brown with the Houston Oilers.

--Adams, who had been named one of three most valuable players of the league in 1974, had filed suit against the Sun. He received cash and his release in an out-of-court settlement and later signed with the Kansas City Chiefs.

“We felt like we had a renewed life,” Patton said. “Everything seemed very polished. It felt good after all the things that went on the year before.”

The Sun again made headlines by signing local college stars, including USC running back Anthony Davis, who received a 1975 Rolls Royce as part of his contract. Haden and wide receiver J.K. McKay, teammates of Davis at USC, were signed a month later.

The Sun called it another coup over the NFL. Davis had been drafted by the New York Jets, Haden by the Rams and McKay by the Cleveland Browns, though only Davis had been drafted high, in the second round.

“I was going to England as a Rhodes scholar at the end of the summer,” Haden said. “This gave me a chance to play in (several) professional games (the WFL’s 17-game season ran from early July to mid-November). If I went with the Rams, I might have played a quarter in a preseason game or two. The Sun also offered more money.”

Haden ended up starting at quarterback after Lamonica suffered a hernia and underwent surgery. Haden kept his starting job even after Lamonica recovered, then left for England after seven games. And Lamonica, unhappy with his role on the team, quit.

“I told (assistant coach) Ernie Wheelwright that Lamonica gave up $75,000 a year for 17 years when he left,” Baldwin said. “Ernie said he would kiss a mongoose for that kind of money. Daryle was a real competitor.”

Davis proved to be a better investment. In 12 games, he had more than 1,200 yards rushing, tops in the WFL. But, even with A.D. in the backfield, attendance dropped.

The Sun averaged fewer than 15,000 fans at home. On the road, it was worse. A preseason game against the Bell in Philadelphia drew fewer than 200 people, according to McKay.

“There was literally nobody in the stands before the game, except maybe 60 ushers,” said McKay, now a lawyer in Los Angeles. “The starting lineups were introduced and (wide receiver) Terry Lindsey was first out. Then we got word that people were on their way to the game. We were sent back into the locker room with Terry still standing out on the field. They said later there was over 1,000 in the stands, but it was closer to 150.”

In late October, the Sun was 6-5 and headed for Hawaii. It needed a win to improve its playoff chances. The Sun got the victory, but . . .

“In Hawaii, we started hearing rumors again about the league (folding),” Fears said.

“I think, by then, the league had already had its last chance.”

THE SUN ALSO SETS

The end came Wednesday, Oct. 22, 1975, with five games left in the regular season.

When the bell tolled, the Sun was practicing at the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station.

“A bunch of cars pulled up, and we saw Fears go over to talk with some team executives,” McKay said. “He came back and told us to take two laps. When we got back, all the equipment had been packed up and taken away. At the time, it made me angry. Here the league had folded and I was out running laps.”

Players wandered around the locker room. A few left. Those who remained finally went out to mourn. The final moments of the Sun were spent in a bar in Los Alamitos, over 27 pitchers of beer.

“It was like a wake,” Patton said. “It was very strange. Everybody finally said goodby, and we went our separate ways.”

Haden said: “I think Anthony Davis was the only guy to get his money. I think he had a personal service contract with the owner. Me? I still have the luggage the team gave me when I went off to school in England.”