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Memphis Showboats

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Memphis Showboats (1984)
Established 1983
Folded 1986
Played in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
in Memphis, Tennessee
League/conference affiliations
United States Football League (1984–1985)
  • Eastern Conference (1984–1985)
    • Southern Division (1984)
Current uniform
Team colorsScarlet, Silver, White
     
Personnel
Owner(s)William Dunavant & Logan Young
Head coach1984–1985 Pepper Rodgers (19-19)
Team history
  • Memphis Showboats (1984–1985)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (0)
Division championships (0)
Playoff appearances (1)
1985
Home stadium(s)

The Memphis Showboats were an American football franchise in the United States Football League. They entered the league in its expansion in 1984 and made the 1985 playoffs, losing in the semifinal round to the Oakland Invaders. Perhaps the most prominent players on the Showboats' roster during their two seasons of existence were future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Reggie White and future professional wrestler "The Total Package" Lex Luger.

History

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Memphis food manufacturer Logan Young was awarded an expansion franchise for Memphis on July 17, 1983. However, soon after hiring Memphis native and former college coach Pepper Rodgers as head coach and signing a lease to play in the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, he discovered that most of his assets were tied up in a trust fund that he couldn't access. Ultimately, he was forced to take on limited partners, then sell controlling interest to cotton magnate William Dunavant, remaining as team president.

Despite White's play, the Showboats finished fourth in the Southern Division and missed the playoffs. Like the rest of the division, they were left far behind by the Birmingham Stallions and Tampa Bay Bandits. However, like most of the USFL's other Southern teams, they were a runaway hit at the box office. Indeed, they were one of the few teams whose crowds actually grew as the season progressed.

The Showboats broke through in 1985, finishing fourth in the East and earning a playoff berth. They should have traveled to Denver's Mile High Stadium to face the Denver Gold. However, the Gold were forced to travel to Memphis under pressure from ABC Sports. The Gold's local support had all but vanished due to the USFL's planned move to the fall, and ABC did not want the embarrassment of showing a half-empty stadium. It forced Commissioner Harry Usher to give Memphis home-field advantage in the first round, since the Showboats had been among the league's attendance leaders once again. ABC had an outsize influence on the USFL due to the structure of the league's television contract. The Showboats thrashed the Gold 48-7 before losing to the Oakland Invaders 28–19 in the semifinals.

The Showboats represented a serious attempt to form a viable professional football organization, and seemed to have a realistic chance to have been a viable business if the overall management of the USFL had been more realistic and financially sound. Indeed, like the World Football League's Memphis Southmen before them, the Showboats appeared to be on more solid footing than the league as a whole. The Showboats' attendance figures made Dunavant a supporter of the USFL's move to the fall. Although Memphis was only a medium-sized market (while Memphis proper had 650,000 people, the surrounding suburbs and rural areas are not much larger than the city itself), Dunavant believed his team's popularity would have made it very attractive to the NFL in the event of a merger. After the USFL's antitrust lawsuit failed, the Showboats threw their support behind Charlie Finley's proposal to convince the Canadian Football League to expand into the U.S. market; the CFL rejected the plan, bringing the Showboats' operations to an end.[1]

Legacy

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Despite the eventual failure of the original USFL, the success of the Showboats franchise was noticed by the NFL, indicating a viable market in Tennessee. In 1997, the Houston Oilers franchise would move to Nashville, though they played their first season in Memphis, before moving to Nashville and being renamed the Tennessee Titans in 1999.[2][3][4]

Dunavant emerged as an investor in the proposed Memphis Hound Dogs franchise that entered the NFL's 1993 expansion sweepstakes (the Hound Dogs lost to the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars). Rodgers and general manager Steve Erhart would later emerge with the Memphis Mad Dogs, a Canadian Football League franchise that played one season in 1995; Erhart would also manage the Memphis Maniax of the original XFL in 2001.

The Memphis Showboats name was revived for the 2023 season of the USFL's second iteration.[5]

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In the SpongeBob SquarePants Season 2 episode "Band Geeks", the band led by Squidward Tentacles plays at the "Bubble Bowl", during which clips of a Showboats game (vs. the Tampa Bay Bandits at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis on May 25, 1984) are shown.

A player from the Memphis Showboats appeared as a contestant on Press Your Luck in 1985.

Schedule and results

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1984

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Week Day Date Opponent Result Record TV Venue Attendance
Preseason
1 Bye
2 Bye
3 Saturday February 11 vs. San Antonio Gunslingers L 3–13 0–1 Shreveport, Louisiana
4 Saturday February 18 vs. New Orleans Breakers L 0–20 0–2 Lafayette, Louisiana
Regular season
1 Sunday February 26 Philadelphia Stars L 9–17 0–1 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 28,098
2 Sunday March 4 Chicago Blitz W 23–13 1–1 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 10,152
3 Sunday March 11 at New Orleans Breakers L 14–37 1–2 Louisiana Superdome 45,269
4 Saturday March 17 at Birmingham Stallions L 6–54 1–3 ESPN Legion Field 41,500
5 Sunday March 25 Denver Gold L 24–28 1–4 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 21,213
6 Saturday March 31 Jacksonville Bulls W 27–24 2–4 ESPN Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 17,180
7 Sunday April 8 at New Jersey Generals L 10–35 2–5 Giants Stadium 43,671
8 Saturday April 14 at Los Angeles Express L 17–23 (OT) 2–6 ESPN Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 10,049
9 Friday April 20 at Jacksonville Bulls L 10–12 2–7 Gator Bowl Stadium 36,256
10 Friday April 27 Pittsburgh Maulers W 17–7 3–7 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 30,640
11 Sunday May 6 at Washington Federals W 13–10 (OT) 4–7 RFK Stadium 4,432
12 Friday May 11 San Antonio Gunslingers W 38–14 5–7 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 32,406
13 Saturday May 19 at Oakland Invaders L 14–29 5–8 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 22,030
14 Friday May 25, 1984 Tampa Bay Bandits W 31–21 6–8 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 27,422
15 Friday June 1 New Orleans Breakers W 20–17 7–8 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 31,198
16 Saturday June 9 at Tampa Bay Bandits L 24–42 7–9 Tampa Stadium 48,785
17 Saturday June 16 Birmingham Stallions L 20–35 7–10 ESPN Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 50,079
18 Monday June 25 at Houston Gamblers L 3–37 7–11 ESPN Houston Astrodome 22,963

Sources[6][7][8]

1985

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Week Day Date Opponent Result Record TV Venue Attendance
Preaseason
1 Saturday February 2 vs. New Jersey Generals L 3–16 0–1 Charlotte, North Carolina 11,667
2 Saturday February 9 vs. Baltimore Stars L 9–14 0–2 Winter Haven, Florida
3 Saturday February 16 at Jacksonville Bulls W 13–10 1–2 Gator Bowl Stadium
Regular season
1 Monday February 25 at San Antonio Gunslingers W 20–3 1–0 Alamo Stadium 10,983
2 Monday March 5 at Jacksonville Bulls W 24–14 2–0 ESPN Gator Bowl Stadium 40,112
3 Saturday March 9 Baltimore Stars W 21–19 3–0 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 37,466
4 Saturday March 16 at Birmingham Stallions L 19–34 3–1 Legion Field 34,500
5 Sunday March 24 Oakland Invaders L 19–31 3–2 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 28,773
6 Friday March 29 Tampa Bay Bandits L 20–28 3–3 ESPN Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 23,952
7 Thursday April 4 at Orlando Renegades L 17–28 3–4 ESPN Florida Citrus Bowl 21,223
8 Sunday April 14 at Baltimore Stars W 13–10 4–4 ABC Byrd Stadium 15,728
9 Friday April 19 New Jersey Generals L 18–21 4–5 ESPN Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 44,339
10 Saturday April 27 at Denver Gold W 33–17 5–5 ESPN Mile High Stadium 8,207
11 Friday May 3 Birmingham Stallions W 38–24 6–5 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 29,025
12 Sunday May 12 Houston Gamblers W 17–15 7–5 ABC Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 27,325
13 Saturday May 18 at Tampa Bay Bandits W 38–14 8–5 ESPN Tampa Stadium 44,818
14 Friday May 25 at Portland Breakers L 14–17 8–6 ESPN Civic Stadium 16,682
15 Saturday June 1 at New Jersey Generals L 7–17 8–7 ESPN Giants Stadium 45,682
16 Friday June 7 Orlando Renegades W 41–17 9–7 ESPN Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 23,216
17 Saturday June 15 Jacksonville Bulls W 31–0 10–7 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 31,634
18 Saturday June 22 Arizona Outlaws W 38–28 11–7 ESPN Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 32,743
Playoffs
Quarterfinals Sunday June 30 Denver Gold W 48–7 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 34,528
Semifinals Saturday July 6 Oakland Invaders L 19–28 ABC Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 37,796

Sources[9][10][11]

Single season leaders

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  • Rushing Yards: 789 (1985), Tim Spencer
  • Receiving Yards: 1143 (1985), Greg Moser
  • Passing Yards: 2128 (1985), Mike Kelley

Season-by-season

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Season records
Season W L T Finish Playoff results
1984 7 11 0 4th Southern Division --
1985 11 7 0 3rd Eastern Conference Won Quarterfinal (Denver)
Lost Semifinal (Oakland)
Totals 19 19 0 (including playoffs)

References

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  1. ^ Will Birmingham play in the North American Football League? via BirminghamProSports.com
  2. ^ Calkins, Geoff. "Twenty years ago, Memphis told the NFL and the Oilers (now the Titans) to stick it". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  3. ^ "Remember Memphis? Titans Would Rather Not - Memphis Daily News". www.memphisdailynews.com. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  4. ^ Heilman, Michael (November 16, 2022). "Memphis Showboats returns to the USFL in 2023". BGMSportsTrax. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  5. ^ Barnes, Evan (November 15, 2022). "Memphis Showboats return to USFL, will play at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in 2023". The Commercial Appeal.
  6. ^ statscrew.com 1984 Memphis Showboats Game-by-Game Results Retrieved December 19, 2018
  7. ^ usflsite.com 1984 USFL Season Retrieved December 19, 2018
  8. ^ profootballarchives.com 1984 Memphis Showboats (USFL) Retrieved December 19, 2018
  9. ^ "1985 Memphis Showboats football Game-by-Game Results on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  10. ^ "1985 USFL Season - USFL (United States Football League)". www.usflsite.com. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  11. ^ profootballarchives.com 1985 Memphis Showboats (USFL) Retrieved December 19, 2018
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