The Denver Rams would be the first team to make moves after the 1959 Season ended. After finishing last in the NFA West for the second straight season, Rams Owner Arthur Howe would fire his General Manager Kevin Paxton and his Head Coach Bill Thornton. Both had been with the Rams since the founding in 1955. Howe would promote Bogey Daniels, who was his Director of Operations for the Rams, to General Manager. The Rams would then hire Jeff Campbell as Head Coach. Campbell had just won the NCAA National Championship with the University of Minnesota. Cleveland would also fire their Head Coach, Thomas Penn. Under Penn, Cleveland won their only NFA Central Division championship in 1957. The Generals would only win 5 games the following 2 seasons. With Penn out, General Manager Sonny Markham would hire Vince Compy. He had success as the Baltimore Knights Offensive Coordinator. With Cleveland looking to improve their offense, Compy would be an easy choice for the Generals. Baltimore would not take Compy's departure well. Many felt that Compy would be the next in line as Head Coach of the Knights when Terry Cruise would decide to leave. With the best ranked offense in 1959, and looking to follow it up in 1960, the Knights did not want to have to look for another Offensive Coordinator in the middle of a championship hunt. The Knights would decide to promote Compy's Assistant, Rich Pluman, who had been with the Knights and worked side by side with Compy since 1955.
OWNERS MEETING
At the 1960 Owners Meeting, Commissioner Howie Roselle would put together a "Hall of Fame Committee". He expressed his wishes to establish a Hall of Fame of NFA players, coaches and executives. The committee would be in charge of where to construct the building, what the parameters are to be eligible and voting procedures. Roselle hoped to have the Hall of Fame open before the NFA's 25th season. It would also be announced by Cincinnati's Owner, Stanley Brown, that he would be stepping away from football due his deteriorating health. Stanley's son Tim Brown would take over. This would be the last meeting Stanley Brown would attend. Another topic of discussion would be the NFA draft being held in early November since the AFA started having their draft in November. Many owners feared that the AFA would take away talent from the NFA. Commissioner Roselle spoke out against the move of the draft since he felt that the AFA did not have the prestige that the NFA has. He would be quoted saying, "none of these kids grew up saying I want to play in the AFA".
1960 NFA DRAFT
The 1960 NFA Draft would be held at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia, PA on January 24, 1960. The Cleveland Generals had the first pick and selected the star halfback from Notre Dame, Richie Cannon. The Rams would select the drafts first quarterback, Lucas George from Ohio State. The 1960 NFA class would be offensive line heavy. Many teams wanted to build up their lines to be able to compete with the San Francisco defense led by Joey Sack. The Generals would have the first pick and they would select Richie Cannon, a halfback from Notre Dame. Denver would have the second pick and they would select the first quarterback in the draft, Lucas George from Ohio State. There would be a lot of discussion between teams trying to trade spots. New York wanted to try and move up and draft a quarterback. Boston was also looking to draft a QB. The Bluejackets would be able to make a deal with Chicago and they would select the second quarterback in the draft, Earl Pittman from the NCAA Champions University of Minnesota. The Lions would stay in their draft spot and build their offensive line. Pittsburgh would look to also improve their offensive line. They would make a trade with Washington to grab the 4th overall pick. They would select the best offensive lineman considered in the draft, George Mix from USC. San Francisco would pick the only wide receiver in the first round to give their quarterback John Marshall another weapon.
The twenty second NFA Season would start on September 11, 1960. The favorite that most analysts felt were going to win the championship were the Baltimore Knights. In 1959 the Knights were the best team in the league but lost to the Sharks in the NFA Championship. This season they would again be one of the top teams in the league. Their offense led by quarterback Kenny Marlow and halfback Johnny Latimer would again put up exceptional numbers which would put them in position to take first place in the Eastern Division. They would not be able to hold off the Bluejackets however. Both the Knights and the Bluejackets would only have one loss heading into their first matchup on November 27th. Boston would be at home and win the game 27-21. This would give Baltimore its second loss and give Boston the advantage. They would again meet two weeks later on December 11th. Baltimore was at home and was favored to win and even up the division. The Bluejackets would pull out another instant classic win in overtime 20-17. After beating Baltimore twice, the Bluejackets had sealed up the division. Baltimore would fall to the Lions on the final game of the season to fall to 10-4 for the year. A once promising season which had them favored to win the NFA Championship, would end in disappointment. The defending NFA Champions would also have a disappointing season. Across the league, teams were adjusting their offensive lines and schemes to combat against San Francisco's defense. It would work to an extent. Joey Sack would still lead the league with tackles for loss with 26. The Sharks offense however would struggle severely. Halfback Joe Happ would be injured during a week 4 game against Baltimore. He would injure his right ankle, but stayed in the game. He would injure it more and struggle the rest of the season. He would be able to play 11 games of the season, but his rushing production was below average. San Francisco would fall to 9-5 which was good enough for second in the west. Harold Tisch would have another MVP caliber season. Prior to the start of the season, it seemed that Tisch would lose his starting position to the rookie quarterback drafted in the 1960 NFA Draft, Earl Pittman. Tisch would convince Head Coach Malcolm Dunst that he was still able to lead the team to a championship. Dunst would leave Tisch in with the understanding that if the season did not go well, a change would be made. Boston would win 7 straight games to go 7-0 until they lost to the Senators on October 30th. This would be their only loss of the season. Harold Tisch would throw for 3,099 yards, 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. This would be good enough for him to earn his second MVP award in 3 seasons. Boston would secure the number 1 seed in the league and host the 1960 NFA Championship Game. Malcolm Dunst would be awarded the Coach of the Year award for the 1960 season. This would be the first time since 1945 that Boston would have been awarded the MVP and Coach of the Year awards in the same season. The Generals would literally run away with the division. Richie Cannon would be awarded Rookie of the Year as he would rush for 1,071 yards, 13 touchdowns and 7 fumbles. He would also receive for 447 yards and 7 touchdowns. Cleveland would shock the league and win the Central Division with a 12-2 finish. They would also earn home field advantage and host the Playoff Bowl for the first time in franchise history. The team that Cleveland would host would be the Los Angeles Gladiators. Another team that would shock the league. The Gladiators would build up their defense which would be able to hold off the Sharks from defending their division title. The Gladiators would beat the Sharks on both occasions that they met. Their rookie linebacker Don Baugh would live up to expectations. He would finish the season with 5.5 tackles for loss, 1 interception and 1 blocked punt. He would be in the conversation for Rookie of the Year, but would lose to Cannon. His performance though would help the Gladiators win their second NFA West title in franchise history with a 12-2 finish. Los Angeles would have to travel to Cleveland for the Playoff Bowl however. The Gladiators would lose to the Generals on October 9th which would be the tie breaker for home field advantage. AWARDS Coach of the Year: Malcolm Dunst (BOS Bluejackets) Most Valuable Player: Harold Tisch, QB (BOS Bluejackets) Rookie of the Year: Richie Cannon, HB (CLE Generals)
DIVISION RACES
STANDINGS
POST SEASON "PLAYOFF BOWL"
Cleveland Stadium, Cleveland, OH January 1, 1961 1:00 EST, 28F, 12 MPH NW The 1960 Playoff Bowl would be the first post season game hosted by the Cleveland Generals. The Los Angeles Gladiators would travel to Cleveland to play in their second Playoff Bowl in franchise history. The weather would help Cleveland establish home field advantage. The Los Angeles team would have a tough time staying warm in the below freezing temperatures. The game would be a ground and pound for the Cleveland offense. Richie Cannon would score the games only touchdown. The Los Angeles defense would be able to hold the Cleveland offense to under 1,000 yards, but it still wouldn't be good enough. The Gladiators offense would never score a touchdown and would have to settle for 3 field goals. A miscommunication on Los Angeles's defense would allow Cannon to rush 41 yards for a touchdown in the 3rd quarter to give the Generals a 10-9 lead with under 20 minutes left in the game. This score would give the Generals the lead for the rest of the game. The game would end with Cleveland winning 13-9.