Arizona Wranglers

The Arizona Wranglers were a professional American football team in the United States Football League (USFL) that existed from late 1982 to mid-1985. They played at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.

Arizona Wranglers
Established 1982 Folded 1985 Played in Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona
League/conference affiliations
United States Football League (1982–1985) Western Conference (1982–1985) Pacific Division (1982–1985)
Current uniform
Team colors	Flag Blue, Red, Copper, Yellow, White
Personnel
Owner(s)	Jim Joseph (1983) Ted Diethrich (1984)
General manager	Bruce Allen (1984)
Head coach	Doug Shively (1983) George Allen (1984)
Team history
Arizona Wranglers (1982–1984) Arizona Outlaws (1985)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (1) 1984
Division championships (0)
Playoff appearances (1)
1984
Home stadium(s)
Sun Devil Stadium (1982–1985)

History

Founding

The team that would eventually become the Arizona Wranglers was originally supposed to be the USFL's Los Angeles franchise. The team's planned original owner, Alex Spanos, pulled out of his USFL commitment and instead bought a minority stake in the NFL's San Diego Chargers.

The owners of the Oakland Invaders, Bay Area real estate executives Jim Joseph and Tad Taube, flipped a coin to decide who would take action to become the new owner of the USFL's Los Angeles franchise. Joseph won the flip and got the USFL rights to Los Angeles, selling his stake in the Invaders to Taube.

A few months later, fate shuffled the deck. The owners of the USFL's San Diego franchise, cable television pioneers Bill Daniels and Alan Harmon, could not secure access to Jack Murphy Stadium. (Due to pressure from the Chargers, the USFL would never be able to successfully negotiate a lease to Jack Murphy Stadium, a situation that would force a second USFL team, the Outlaws, to leave San Diego before playing a down.)

USFL officials felt that Daniels and Harmon's ties to the cable industry would be better suited for the country's second-largest market; David Dixon's blueprint depended on heavy television exposure. The league forced Joseph to surrender rights to Los Angeles to Daniels and Harmon, whose franchise became the Los Angeles Express. Joseph finally settled on a move to Phoenix, bringing professional football to the city for the first time.

1983 season

Joseph appeared to hold fast to the USFL's original blueprint. He aggressively marketed the team in Arizona while keeping a tight rein on spending (including player salaries). The results were a mixed bag. The roster was a young team with some talent at the skill positions, but fewer quality starters in the starting lineup and less depth of talent than their opponents. Due to a weaker product, the ticket sales were only in line with most other teams in the league.

The Wranglers were quite competitive at first, posting a 4–4 record and moving into a four-way tie for first in their division. However, they lost their last 10 games—tied for the longest losing streak in league history—finishing in a tie for the worst record in the league.

The 1983 Wranglers featured some talent on offense including the League's 6th ranked passer in rookie QB Alan Risher, 12th ranked rusher in 3rd year vet Leon Calvin Murray, and the league's #7, #10, #11 receivers (1983 rookies TE Mark Keel, WR Jackie Flowers, and WR Neil Balholm, respectively).

Their defense was not as strong, although it looked fairly strong on paper before the season. The Wranglers signed San Francisco 49er ILB Jeff McIntyre and ILB Glen Perkins from the University of Arizona. But during the pre-season McIntyre, who had a personal services contract with Joseph, asked to be traded because of contract issues. Perkins suffered a knee injury that slowed his play and development.

The Wranglers probably benefited early on from the league's decision not to have a preseason. When the rest of their opponents reached mid-season form, the undermanned Wrangler defense appeared to have trouble keeping the games within reach of the offense. The Wranglers gave up 442 points, easily the most in the league. The Wranglers only scored more than 23 points once all season—in their week 2 upset of George Allen's Chicago Blitz.

In hopes of avoiding Arizona's often-oppressive summer heat, the league scheduled 6 Wranglers home games in the first half of the season. The team only played 3 of their last 9 games at home.

1983 Schedule

Week	Day	Date	Opponent	Game site	Attendance	Television	Final Score	W/L	Record
Regular Season
1	Sunday	March 6, 1983	Oakland Invaders	Sun Devil Stadium	45,167		0–24	L	0–1
2	Saturday	March 12, 1983	Chicago Blitz	Sun Devil Stadium	28,434	ESPN	30–29	W	1–1
3	Saturday	March 19, 1983	Los Angeles Express	Sun Devil Stadium	29,335		21–14	W	2–1
4	Saturday	March 26, 1983	at Birmingham Stallions	Legion Field	5,000	ESPN	7–16	L	2–2
5	Sunday	April 3, 1983	New Jersey Generals	Sun Devil Stadium	31,382		21–35	L	2–3
6	Monday	April 11, 1983	at Washington Federals	RFK Stadium	13,936	ESPN	22–21	W	3–3
7	Sunday	April 17, 1983	Boston Breakers	Sun Devil Stadium	20,911		23–44	L	3–4
8	Saturday	April 23, 1983	Denver Gold	Sun Devil Stadium	21,557		24–3	W	4–4
9	Monday	May 2, 1983	at Oakland Invaders	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	27,460	ESPN	20–23	L	4–5
10	Saturday	May 7, 1983	Michigan Panthers	Sun Devil Stadium	20,423	ESPN	10–21	L	4–6
11	Sunday	May 15, 1983	at Tampa Bay Bandits	Tampa Stadium	32,327		14–20	L	4–7
12	Sunday	May 22, 1983	Philadelphia Stars	Sun Devil Stadium	18,151		7–24	L	4–8
13	Monday	May 30, 1983	at Chicago Blitz	Soldier Field	13,952	ESPN	11–36	L	4–9
14	Sunday	June 5, 1983	at Los Angeles Express	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	13,826		13–17	L	4–10
15	Saturday	June 11, 1983	Washington Federals	Sun Devil Stadium	16,656		11–18	L	4–11
16	Friday	June 17, 1983	at Denver Gold	Mile High Stadium	42,621		6–32	L	4–12
17	Saturday	June 25, 1983	at New Jersey Generals	Giants Stadium	30,612	ESPN	14–21	L	4–13
18	Sunday	July 3, 1983	at Michigan Panthers	Pontiac Silverdome	31,905	ABC	7–33	L	4–14

Sources

1983 USFL Draft

Main article: 1983 USFL Draft

Arizona Wranglers 1983 USFL Draft selections

Draft order			Player name	Position	Height	Weight	College	Contract	Notes
Round	Choice	Overall
1	2	2	Traded to the Chicago Blitz
1	6	6	Eric Dickerson	RB	6'2"	190	Southern Methodist
2	23	23	Gary Williams	WR	6'2"	215	Ohio State
3	26	26	Sid Abramowitz	OT	6'6"	280	Tulsa
4	47	47	Rob Fada	OG	6'2"	265	Pittsburgh
6	27	196	Jamar Wall	CB	5'10"	204	Texas Tech
7	27	234	Sean Lissemore	NT/DE	6'4"	298	William & Mary

Transaction with the Chicago Blitz

Joseph lost millions of dollars in the 1983 season. Like most of the other owners, he had bought into the league knowing to expect years of losses. However, he was disappointed in the team's attendance and unwilling to stick it out in Arizona.

In a stroke of luck for Joseph, Chicago Blitz owner Dr. Ted Diethrich (a Phoenix resident and founder of the Arizona Heart Institute) wanted a chance to move closer to his business interests in the Phoenix area. Despite fielding a team that had come up one game short of the USFL title game, the Blitz' attendance had been lackluster at best. Diethrich had lost millions of dollars, and did not believe those losses justified an investment that far from home.

Diethrich thought he had a solution to both his and Joseph's problems—an unprecedented swap of franchises. Diethrich sold the Blitz to fellow surgeon James Hoffman, then bought the Wranglers from Joseph. Allen, who had been chairman and head coach of the Blitz, took the same posts in Arizona. and his entire coaching staff moved to Phoenix as well. Hoffman and Diethrich then engineered a swap of assets in which most of the Blitz players moved to Phoenix while most of the Wranglers roster moved to Chicago. (The most notable exception was that Wrangler quarterback Alan Risher stayed in Arizona to back up former Blitz quarterback Greg Landry). The deal allowed Allen to keep virtually all of the NFL veteran-loaded roster that he had painstakingly assembled for the Blitz in 1983. It also allowed Diethrich to get a team in his hometown; he had originally sought a USFL franchise for Phoenix in 1983, only to buy controlling interest in the (original) Blitz after being unable to get a lease for Sun Devil Stadium

Diethrich wanted to take the Blitz name with him to Arizona, but Hoffman rebuffed him. As a result, Diethrich rebranded his team as the "New" Arizona Wranglers. While the USFL was active, the league considered the 1983 and 1984 Wranglers to be the same franchise, even though almost all the players were different.

The deal transformed the Wranglers from a cellar-dweller to a league powerhouse almost overnight. However, trading a team that had been, at worst, the third-best team in the league for a lesser version of one of the worst teams in the league raised questions about the USFL's credibility—especially in Chicago. The Blitz would never recover, and would be effectively euthanized at the end of the season (Eddie Einhorn was awarded a replacement Chicago franchise, but it never played a down).

1984 season

The 1984 Wranglers finished in a tie for first in the Western Division. In the playoffs, they upset the powerful Houston Gamblers, then defeated the Los Angeles Express for the conference title. Although the Express had a better record, the game was played at Sun Devil Stadium because the Express' home field, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, was being readied for the 1984 Summer Olympics. To accommodate the oppressive summer heat in the state, as well as the ABC Sports television schedule, the game kicked off at 8:30 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. Eastern time).

The Wranglers' run ended in the championship game with a 23–3 defeat by the Philadelphia Stars in what would be Allen's last game as a professional coach. Quarterback Greg Landry retired after the season. Allen retired as coach in September 1984, but remain involved with the team. Allen named assistant coach Paul Lanham as head coach. [1]

The Wranglers intended to change to red jerseys for the 1984 season, but the league office had put in a rule that stated any team changing jersey colors (in this case, blue to red) had to wait one season before doing so.

Schedule

Week	Day	Date	Opponent	Game site	Attendance	Television	Final Score	W/L	Record
Preseason
1	Sunday	January 29, 1984	Oakland Invaders	Sun Devil Stadium			6–0	W	1–0
2	Bye								—
3	Saturday	February 11, 1984	vs. Denver Gold	Casa Grande, Arizona			14–31	L	1–1
4	Bye								—
Regular Season
1	Sunday	February 26, 1984	Oakland Invaders	Sun Devil Stadium	29,176	ABC	35–7	W	1–0
2	Friday	March 2, 194	Tampa Bay Bandits	Sun Devil Stadium	31,264	ESPN	17–20	L	1–1
3	Monday	March 12, 1983	Washington Federals	Sun Devil Stadium	25,218	ESPN	37–7	W	2–1
4	Sunday	March 18, 1984	at Michigan Panthers	Pontiac Silverdome	43,130	ABC	26–31	L	2–2
5	Saturday	March 24, 1983	Oklahoma Outlaws	Sun Devil Stadium	29,434	ESPN	49–7	W	3–2
6	Sunday	April 1, 1984	at Denver Gold	Mile High Stadium	31,666		7–17	L	3–3
7	Sunday	April 8, 1984	Philadelphia Stars	Sun Devil Stadium	30,252	ABC	21–22	L	3–4
8	Sunday	April 15, 1984	at New Jersey Generals	Giants Stadium	31,917	ABC	20–3	W	4–4
9	Saturday	April 21, 1984	at Houston Gamblers	Houston Astrodome	23,117	ESPN	24–37	L	4–5
10	Saturday	April 28, 1984	San Antonio Gunslingers	Sun Devil Stadium	12,259		23–24	L	4–6
11	Monday	May 7, 1984	at New Orleans Breakers	Louisiana Superdome	22,937	ESPN	28–13	W	5–6
12	Sunday	May 13, 1984	at Oakland Invaders	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	20,004		3–14	L	5–7
13	Saturday	May 19, 1983	Denver Gold	Sun Devil Stadium	21,741		41–6	W	6–7
14	Saturday	May 26, 1984	at Los Angeles Express	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	11,702	ESPN	17–24	L	6–8
15	Sunday	June 3, 1984	at Birmingham Stallions	Legion Field	32,500	ABC	38–28	W	7–8
16	Friday	June 8, 1984	Jacksonville Bulls	Sun Devil Stadium	15,513		45–14	W	8–8
17	Friday	June 15, 1984	at Chicago Blitz	Soldier Field	5,711		36–0	W	9–8
18	Saturday	June 23, 1984	Los Angeles Express	Sun Devil Stadium	35,258	ESPN	35–10	W	10–8
Playoffs
Divisional Playoff	Sunday	July 1, 1984	at Houston Gamblers	Houston Astrodome	32,713	ABC	17–16	W	—
Conference Championship	Saturday	July 7, 1984	Los Angeles Express	Sun Devil Stadium	33,188	ABC	35–23	W	—
USFL Championship	Sunday	July 15, 1984	vs. Philadelphia Stars	Tampa Stadium	52,662	ABC	3–23	L	—

Sources

1984 Arizona Wranglers Roster

1984 Arizona Wranglers roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 11 Greg Landry  8 Tom Porras  7 Alan Risher Running backs (RB) -- Mack Boatner FB -- Allan Clark -- Doug Dennison 24 Randy Johnson 33 Kevin Long FB 46 Tim Spencer Wide receivers (WR) -- Wamon Bugg 82 Larry Douglas -- Al Hill  2 Trumaine Johnson 85 Mark Tolbert 89 Leonard Willis Tight ends (TE) -- Clay Brown -- Doug Cozen -- Kerry Locklin 86 Paul Ricker -- Tim Wrightman

Offensive linemen (OL) 76 Frank Giddens T 68 Dave Huffman G -- Rick Kehr G -- Jeff Kiewel G -- John Stadnik T -- Mark Stevenson G 51 Gerry Sullivan C 75 Rob Taylor T 61 Tom Thayer G -- Todd Thomas T Defensive linemen (DL) -- Mark Buben DE 74 Joe Ehrmann DT -- Nick Epps DE 72 Dallas Hickman DE 64 John Lee DE 70 Kit Lathrop DT -- Karl Lorch DE -- Robert Smith DE -- Wilbur Young DT

Linebackers (LB) -- Derrick Casey 55 Jim Fahnhorst -- Doak Field -- Bruce Gheesling -- Andy Melontree 56 Ed Smith 52 Stan White Defensive backs (DB) 32 Carl Allen CB -- Ryan Barbieri SS -- Luther Bradley FS 25 Eddie Brown SS 40 Bruce Laird SS -- David McNair FS  1 Frank Minnifield CB 44 Lupe Sanchez CB -- Don Schwartz SS 22 Lance Shields CB -- Ted Walton SS Special teams  3 Frank Corral K/P 50 Dave Ohton LS -- Tom Piette LS

Rookies in italics

1984 Arizona Wranglers staff

Front office Owner – Dr. Ted Diethrich Head coaches Head coach – George Allen Offensive coaches Quarterbacks – Roman Gabriel Offensive backs – Ray Wietecha Offensive line – John Payne

Defensive coaches Defensive line – John Teerlinck Defensive backs – Donald "Deek" Pollard Strength and conditioning Strength & Conditioning – Warren Anderson

Merger with the Oklahoma Outlaws

Despite making it to the championship game, Diethrich was bleeding in red ink. He expected his all-star team's attendance to be much greater than the 25,776 fans per game the no-name Wranglers averaged in 1983. However, as had been the case a year earlier, Phoenix-area fans viewed the Wranglers mostly with indifference. Despite fielding a winning team, the Wranglers' 1984 attendance figures (25,568 fans per game) were lower than the 1983 numbers, as fans were slow to warm to the new players. It did not help matters that Hoffman had walked away from the Blitz during the preseason and had stopped payment on the installment plan he had brokered with Diethrich.

After losing millions for the second year in a row and realizing that he would never see the remainder of the $7.2 million that Hoffman had promised to pay him for the Blitz, Diethrich decided to get out. He found a willing buyer in Oklahoma Outlaws owner William Tatham, who was looking for a larger market with an acceptable stadium. The two men reached a deal in which the two teams would be merged as the Arizona Outlaws. The Outlaws would be the nominal survivor; the Tathams would own a 75 percent controlling interest with Diethrich retaining 25 percent. However, ex-Wranglers were to make up a majority of the offseason roster. When Diethrich suggested that the merged team might have to file for bankruptcy, the merger fell apart, and Diethrich decided to get out of the league altogether. As a result, the deal was restructured so that the Wranglers folded and the Outlaws took their place in Phoenix. However, since Tatham acquired all the Wranglers' player contracts–including almost all of the 1984 Wranglers defense–the deal was still widely reported as a merger.

Statistics and records

Season-by-season record

Note: The Finish, Wins, Losses, and Ties columns list regular season results and exclude any postseason play.

Legend

USFL champions

Conference champions

Division champions

Wild Card berth

Arizona Wranglers season-by-season records

Season	Team	League	Conference	Division	Regular season				Postseason results	Awards
					Finish	Wins	Losses	Ties
1983	1983	USFL		Pacific	4th	4	14	0	–	–
1984	1984	USFL	Western	Pacific	2nd	10	8	0	Won Divisional Playoff (Gamblers) Won Western Conference Championship (Express) Lost USFL championship (Stars)	–

Records

Wranglers single season leaders
Leader	Player	Record	Season
Passing	Greg Landry	3,534 passing yards	1984
Rushing	Tim Spencer	1,207 rushing yards	1984
Receiving	Trumaine Johnson	1,258 receiving yards	1984

External links

• "Remember the USFL - Arizona Wranglers". 6 March 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-03-06. Retrieved 6 December 2017.