One of NFA's founding owners, Wayne Calhoun, would pass away on January 6, 1957. Wayne's son, William Calhoun would become the owner of the Milwaukee franchise. He would not be as interested in the football operations as his father was, so he would hire Ronnie Leftwich as his General Manager to handle the franchise. Leftwich would fire Milwaukee's head coach William Carpenter and then hire Bud Wilkins as head coach. Wilkins had just led the University of Oklahoma Sooners to a national championship. Many analysts felt that the Indians had a talented roster, but Carpenter was not the right fit for the players. With Wilkins in as the new coach, many felt going into the season that Milwaukee might be able to put together a special season. Mitch Andrews, Pittsburgh's 3 time champion head coach, would decide to retire after the 1956 Season. He would finish his career 110-98-1 with 1 COY award (1947) 5 NFA Championship appearances and 3 NFA Championships. Pittsburgh's Owner Ernie Madison would decide to rebuild his franchise. After winning three straight NFA Championships from 1951-53, Pittsburgh had failed to put together a winning season since. Joe Salem would suffer a career ending injury during the 1956 NFA Season. Tisch would struggle and show signs of age. Madison would decide to keep his starting quarterback and use the number one overall pick to focus on Salem's replacement. Ernie Madison would hire Bruce Clarkman as General Manager. Clarkman would then hire Johnny Vaughn, the AFA Kansas City Outlaws defensive coordinator. Vaughn had just won the AFA Championship with the Kansas City Outlaws. In Chicago, after suffering another blowout defeat to the Lions in the championship game, head coach Mark Watney would take some time off away from football. He would not be part of the decision making at the 1957 NFA Draft and was considering taking a season off away from the game. Packers owner Edward Fitzgerald would visit with Watney in May of 1957 and would convince Watney to return. The Colonials would release their quarterback, Dwight Eddelman. Eddelman who had led the Detroit Mustangs to a NFA Championship Game appearance in 1950 against New York, would never play in the NFA again. Rather than try playing in the AFA, Eddelman would retire after 10 seasons. The Senators would make a coaching change. General Manager Thomas March would fire Lou Marion and bring in Phil Lancaster, who recently had success at Ole Miss as their head coach. St Louis would also make an ownership change. Due to his age, Daniel A Ryan would give 50% ownership to his younger brother, Dale Ryan. His younger brother was 20 years younger than him and was the youngest of 9 children of the Ryan family. Dale would design a new logo for the St Louis Aviators to replace the aging logo from 1939. The new logo was aviator wings from the US Army. He would also change the uniforms. The home uniform would return to being blue.
OWNERS MEETING
The main focus of the 1957 Owners Meeting was to vote on a new NFA Commissioner. Howie Roselle would be selected as the next commissioner. With a background in marketing, the owners hoped that he would be able to propel the NFA into the future which is television. Roselle presented the owners his plan to have nationally televised games every week. He would propose at the meeting that a standard home and away jersey be set for every team. This would help viewers at home be able to determine which team was which when watching. The teams dark colored jersey would be their home jersey. The white would be away. All owners agreed to this and it was made official. Most teams already adhered to this standard with a few exceptions. Los Angeles and San Francisco would wear their white jerseys at home due to the heat in California in the beginning of the season. They would both agree to wear their dark jerseys going forward.
1957 NFA DRAFT
The 1957 NFA Draft was held at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, PA. Pittsburgh would have the number one overall pick following their winless 1956 season. They would select Paul Horner, a halfback from Notre Dame. Halfbacks would be a popular choice in the first round of the 1957 NFA Draft. Detroit would select Earl Brown from USC to compete with George Morrison for the starting position. Morrison would not be happy and would request to be released from the team. Detroit's owner Chester Ford would accommodate him and Morrison would become a free agent. The Mustangs bitter rival, Cincinnati, would take Morrison and sign him to a one year deal. Milwaukee's new head coach who had just won the NCAA National Championship at the University of Oklahoma, would convince GM Ronnie Leftwich to select the halfback that helped win the National Championship for the Sooners, Gerry Parker. The Gladiators would make a splash to move up in the draft to select a halfback. Los Angeles would trade their first round pick in the 1957 Draft (13th overall), their first round pick in the 1958 Draft, and their third round pick in the 1957 Draft to Baltimore for their first round pick in the 1957 Draft (2nd overall). With the second pick in the draft, Los Angeles would select Tommy Blackburn, a halfback from Alabama. By moving back, Baltimore would still be able to select the Guard they wanted, Charles Peak, at number 13. Denver would also look to stack talent on their team. They would make a trade with New York for their first round pick in the 1957 Draft (15th overall). New York would receive Denver's second round pick in the 1957 Draft and a second round pick in the 1958 Draft.
The nineteenth NFA Season would start on September 8, 1957. The story of the season would be the performance of rookie quarterbacks, John Miller (CLE Generals) and Michael McCaffrey (PHI Colonials). Both quarterbacks would lead their teams to division championships. McCaffrey would be named Rookie of the Year with his 1,900 yards season with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. John Miller would finish just behind with 1,712 yards, 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. McCaffrey would win the head to head against Miller when the Colonials defeated the Generals 24-10 on October 20th. The NFA West was a battle between the St Louis Aviators and the San Francisco Sharks until the final week of the season. San Francisco's quarterback John Marshall would have a productive sophomore season. He would throw for 1,810 yards, 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. San Francisco's fan base hoped that the 11th overall selection in the 1956 Draft was finally performing to the level they saw him play at USC. The Sharks would fall short though, even though they were tied with Philadelphia with the second best record in the league. Many fans were angry that Cleveland would play in the Playoff Bowl against the Colonials. The rules stated though that only winners of their divisions would play in the Playoff Bowl and the NFA Championship. St Louis's Paul Walker would again perform to his MVP caliber. He would rush for 942 yards, which led the league. He also scored 10 rushing touchdowns touchdowns, 2 receiving touchdowns and fumbled 5 times. For the third time in his career, he would be awarded NFA MVP. The first player to be named MVP three times. The Aviators quarterback Ernie Case would do well enough to keep his team on top, but showed signs that he may be nearing the end of his career. The 32 year old did not have the arm strength he once had and would make many mistakes. He would throw for 998 yards, 9 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. With their defense ranked the best in the league, St Louis won the NFA West and secured home field in the NFA Championship Game. The defending NFA Champions would have a tough season. New York would also see their 32 year old quarterback struggle. Phil Sans would throw for 1,012 yards, 10 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Their halfback, Barry Jackman, would be the star of the offense. Jackman would rush for 811 yards, 8 touchdowns and have 2 fumbles. New York's defense which was ranked the best in the league a season ago, would struggle this season and would be ranked 9th overall. Boston would also get their fans excited this season. For the second season in a row, Boston would finish with a winning record. They would finish in 2nd though for the second year straight in the East. Their offense was finally starting to click and halfback Charlie Horner would have the fifth most rushing yards in the league with 616 yards.
AWARDS Coach of the Year: Brian Beckham (STL Aviators) Most Valuable Player: Paul Walker, HB (STL Aviators) Rookie of the Year: Michael McCaffrey, QB (PHI Colonials)
DIVISION RACES
STANDINGS
POST SEASON "PLAYOFF BOWL"
Quaker Park, Philadelphia, PA December 22, 1957 4:00 ET, 51F, 6 MPH NW The 1957 Playoff Bowl would be the first time in NFA History that two rookie quarterbacks would face off. The Colonials finished 11-3 and earned home field advantage for the game. Hosting the game seemed to help Philadelphia a lot. The noise of the crowd would give Cleveland's quarterback John Miller a difficult time. Miller would throw three interceptions this game and would not have any touchdowns. Philadelphia's quarterback Michael McCaffrey would prove once again why he was picked as Rookie of the Year over Miller. McCaffrey would throw 4 touchdowns, 1 interception and throw for 228 yards. Cleveland's halfback Jack Scarpa would score twice for the Generals, but they would not be nearly enough. Philadelphia would roll over Cleveland 42-13. This would be the first time Philadelphia would play in the NFA Championship Game.