BLITZ Magazine Demo

“Competition was fIerce. Some friendships were destroyed. There were some divorces. But guys used to try like hell to get in.”” Wink, the game’s Godfather, passed in 1993, never able, sadly, to see his baby all grown-up. Stirling still credits him for inventing the hobby, “Though I was involved that night, Wink deserves the lion’s share of the credit for developing the game. We chipped in with the rules, but the germ of inspiration was these earlier games he played with golf and baseball throughout the fifties.” Wink is the founding father of fantasy sports, a legendary, albeit dorky distinction. A few days, later back in their native Oakland, the three men eagerly clued their inner circle into their late night inspiration, hoping to start up a league for the ‘63 season. First up was the Tribune’s editor George Ross, “Right off the bat we came up with a pretty good system.” Their intentions were made clear in the original GOPPPL manifesto: “To bring together some of Oakland’s finest Saturday-morning gridiron forecasters to pit their respective brains (and cash) against each other. Inasmuch as this league is formed only with owners having a deep interest and affection for the Oakland Raiders Professional Football Team, it is felt that this tournament will automatically increase closer coverage of daily happenings in professional football.” To make the cut for this exclusive club you had to have satisfied one of three prerequisites—play an administrative role for an AFL team, sell at least ten season tickets during the 1963 season, or cover pro football for a credible publication. Not too many men fit this bill, but they did find enough qualified and interested guys to field an eight team league that inaugural season. The remaining four “owners” were Raiders radio announcer Bob Blum, team ticket manager George Glace and ticket brokers Phil Carmona and Ralph Casebolt. In addition to the original eight owners, each team had a coach, who was essentially another football nut brought in to help draft and manage his respective roster. The 16 men gathered in the rumpus room of Wink’s home on Oakdale road, a building whimsically regarded as “The Utmost Sporting House in Northern California” on the league’s official letterhead, to draft the first ever fantasy football league. Stirling’s teammate, Andy Mousalimas, fondly recalls the lateAugust night at Wink’s legendary home, “It was euphoric. Simply magical, you could just tell it was something that was gonna be big.” The first player chosen in the first ever fantasy football draft was quarterback/kicker George Blanda of the Houston Oilers, whose 68 pass attempts in a game and 36 touchdowns in a season are still franchise bests, “We took Blanda because he threw every down,” recalled Mousalimas. If you think this was just some parlor game these guys put together to amuse themselves, you’re sorely mistaken. These cats were serious about the game from the jump, as co-creator Stirling recalls, “Competition was fierce. Some friendships were destroyed. There were some divorces. But guys used to try like hell to get in.” As the manifesto laid forth, this wasn’t for the casual sports fan, “Inasmuch as this test of skill and knowledge of the players in the AFL and NFL leagues will be backed by coin of the realm, it behooves each club owner to study carefully prior to the draft, all available statistics, schedules, weather conditions, player habits and other factors, so as to preserve one’s prestige and finances.” Years later, as less-experienced football fans began to take to the hobby, some famous blunders occurred thanks to the lack of readily available football info. Mousalimas recalls the cost of being uninformed in those early days, “These two Siciliano kids, nice guys but not up on the league so much, drafted a Cardinals receiver named J.V. Cain to Full All Out BLITZ 55

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of BLITZ Magazine Demo

BLITZ Magazine Demo Publisher’s Letter Legends of the Fall: Jim Brown Pre-Game Safety Warning The History of Fantasy Football Phoenix Rising Miracle Worker The Real Jerry Maguire: How Leigh Steinberg Revolutionized the Role of Football Agents Who Is the Big Kid? Post Game

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