Showtime Sports and NFL Films start a five-part series on the 50th Anniversary of the American Football League titled: “Full Color Football,” debuting this week and airing through October.
For those of you too young to remember the AFL, its brash style had a direct affect on its more conservative rival, the NFL.
I spoke to football historian and NFL Films resident Steve Sabol about the Showtime series and what he found out about the AFL:
JW » Talk about the characters that made up the AFL.
Sabol » “You start with Al Davis, Sonny Werblin, Sid Gillman, and of course Hank Stram. Hank Stram in many ways was the guy who epitomized what the AFL was in the beginning because he was the first coach that we ever worked with that realized the game was entertainment. Hank was actually a fan of ‘Star Trek’. You wouldn’t think that many coaches would be that contemporary. Hank, to me, is one of the core personalities in the whole film because he realized, as the whole AFL did, that if it was going to succeed it would have to succeed on television and to do that it would have to be entertaining.
JW » What are some of the things that put the AFL ahead of its time?
Sabol » “The AFL began the practice of putting the players’ names on the backs of jerseys. They introduced the two-point conversion. They were the first to sync the scoreboard and the game clock. There were so many things that they did with the eye on television and entertaining.”
JW » Well, we all know the biggest contribution to football made by the AFL.
Sabol » “The Super Bowl. If the AFL was not a strong, competitive rival to the NFL then there would never have been the biggest sporting event in American history. The AFL and the way they played the gamehad a direct impact on the NFL. Not to mention that the NFL gained 10 teams with the 1970 merger:The Pats, Broncos, Oilers/Titans, Jets, Raiders,Chargers, Dolphins, Chiefs, Bengals and Bills all came into theleague making it stronger.”
The history of the AFL, showcased by Full Color Football, is a must-see series for all football fans. If you really want a true look at how today’s NFL was shaped then watching the Showtime/NFL Films series is a requirement.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on washingtonexaminer.com.
