Bob Tucker, future New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings tight end is pictured on left, with his Bloomsburg State College teammates. Tucker traveled the minor league circuit through Lowell, MA and Pottstown, PA before embarking on a successful NFL career that lasted from 1970 through 1980.

 

Each thirty man roster in the United Football League was to have a salary limit of $15,000.00, and typical for all of the minor leagues of the day, player salaries could range from $100.00 to $500.00 per week. Relative to the specific era of the 1960’s, the fact that there were salaries paid, a “salary cap” for each team, and actual player contracts can in part explain the difference between semi-pro and minor league football. I know that the concept is very much lost among typical New York City area football fans and those of the past two generations due to the paucity of football played outside of the boundaries of the major television networks and big time cable linked programming. Despite the legitimate efforts of the players to do their best and earn a shot at the NFL, the circus like legacy of the XFL and what seemed like a half-hearted and ineffective attempt to establish itself by the United Football League of 2009 – 2012 has left the public with a negative view of what they interpret as minor league football.

 

With definitions firmly dependent upon perspective, one can best think of the 1960’s version of semi-pro football as a group of men and sometimes teenagers, managing to practice weekly and who played games when a suitable number of active participants showed. They did so for the love of the game as most contests were absent of salary. It was certainly common to pass the hat through the stands, and yes, it would be a large old hat or coffee can, and collect donations from appreciative fans but semi-pro most often meant “not paid.” Minor league football was much better organized with paid coaching staffs and players. For a select few, the salaries were competitive with the NFL standard of the day. The most obvious example of a minor league player who was paid well is Don Jonas. The former multi-position stalwart at Penn State University starred for a number of minor league teams after a year with the Philadelphia Eagles, and later played in the Canadian Football League. After moving from receiver to quarterback, he became one of the best known names in the minor league ranks and in 1967, it was accepted as fact that his salary with the Orlando Panthers exceeded an offer he received from the Denver Broncos! Within the ranks of minor league football, everyone received a salary, even if it ranged from only $100.00 to $200.00 per game. The caliber of player was also of a much higher standard in the minor leagues relative to semi-pro ball. While a former pro player and/or college player might populate a semi-pro roster, most of the minor league teams of the mid to late-1960’s fielded teams with former NFL, AFL, and collegiate participants. There certainly were those like the Oakland Raiders’ Otis Sistrunk, whom Alex Karras famously noted was “from The University Of Mars” on a Monday Night Football broadcast and who did not have college playing experience, but the vast majority of players did. Many of those players had resumes that included having been through at least one pro pre-season or try-out camp.