1955-56 Offseason

Retirements 

The main retirements leading into the 1956 season are leading the way for new stars to take their place, as they were all former star players realizing that their playing days are far from what they were. Two lifelong Chicago Hogs players exhibit this more than any other retirement this year, with WR Nicholas Kramer and TE Glenn Chambers retiring after 13 and 14 years of play in the Windy City. Each quickly formed a connection with Hogs QB Alfred Walton, and their performances catapulted the Hogs from the other football team to a regular contender, winning 2 World Series of Football titles in the Midwestern Championship and 3 championships in the AFL. Kramer and Chambers decided it was time for them as the offense was less pass-heavy than in their prime and could not play the supporting roles that were asked of them. Chambers was widely recognized as potentially one of the best players to have ever played the tight end position, being nominated for 3 All-AFL teams and had started in 2 All-Star games. Kramer was not the game-changer like Chambers was, but was still a valuable piece to the rise of the Hogs. Buffalo S Wilbert Ritchie is also calling it a career after 4 years of play in the AFL and 12 years of total play, all with the Hammers. Ritchie began his career at nearby Northern New York for college, and the local Hammers signed him to bolster their secondary. It took a couple of years, but Ritchie blossomed into a quality safety, as was proclaimed one of the best secondary players before the Hammers left the NYPL for the AFL. That status went with him into the AFL, where made both the All-AFL team and the All-Star game in his first year in the AFL. That seemed to be the peak of the 4 years in the league, but still put up the same quality in his play that got him spotted to the pros in the first place. Pittsburgh RB Marion Waters played for 12 years with massive shoes to fill, replacing Pittsburgh Shamrock legend Lonnie Douglas at tailback. He had played alongside Douglas for his first few years, but fully came into his own once he got the starting role, becoming the focal point for a team that had routinely been the underdog. His best season was the 1953 season, where he would have been the talk of the league if not for the emergence of a particular Chicago Hogs running back. That 1953 performance seemed to just be a flash in the pan in the AFL, as he got overtaken by the other two running backs on the Shamrocks’ rosters and called it quits just before the draft this season. The final major retirement was Washington LB Christopher Carney, who did not have any of the prolific careers as any of the other players, but is significant for being one of the original stars of the Columbus Buckeyes before they moved to the D.C.. He was the Buckeyes’ star player when they first entered the AFL, and remained in a starting role once new ownership came in to completely overhaul the team once they moved. He played #2 to new star LB Howard Treadaway, and managed to win a championship with the Federals in their miraculous first year in the nation’s capital. With Carney’s retirement, no starter remains from the inaugural Buckeyes team, though only two players from that team remain with the Federals (WR Victor Bird and DB Thomas Finch). Carney may not have impressed like the other stars, but to the people in Columbus he will be fondly remembered as a lone bright spot in an otherwise forgettable team.  

Coaching Changes

In the regime change in Detroit, new owner Florian Riddle wasted no time cleaning house, firing HC Leonard Holland, OC George Wall, and DC Martin Shaw in his first week of official control of the Knights. Holland was seen as an offensive prodigy, leading Chicago to their best stretch of offensive dominance in their brief history. This leadership did not transfer over when he was hired as head coach, leading the Knights to a 6-16 record over just two seasons. The coaching crew that was supposed to revitalize the team instead kept them down in the depths where they regularly occupied, and the younger Riddle wanted a complete change to thrust them out of the basement. Nearing the basement with them is Pittsburgh, who fired DC Steve McDermott after two years of declining defensive play, giving up the third-most points in 1954 and the second-most in 1955. The coaching carousel was also wide open with the Rattlesnakes and Stallions looking to hire their first coaching crew.

The Detroit Knights kicked off the carousel by hiring Washington OC Tommy Park to their vacant head coaching position. In the 3 years Park has been a coordinator, he transformed an awful offensive unit into one that is feared across the league. The Knights similarly went with the offensive lean by hiring Cincinnati assistant OC Lyle Beach to their OC role, as Beach helped revitalize a slacking Rivermen offense on their way to their first title in nearly 20 years. The Knights went to the collegiate level for their DC, luring Texas HC Dean Frazier to the position. Frazier had created one of the toughest defensive units in the AACA for the Roughriders, and shocked the Red River Conference by leaving for the pros. Washington would not look far to replace Tommy Park, promoting assistant OC Randolph Fields to the vacated position. 

St Louis had Tommy Park as their top option for head coach, but were unable to lure him to their role. Instead, they took to the collegiate level to hire Michigan A&M HC Archie Mathis as their first-ever head coach. Mathis helped turn the Aggies from an afterthought in the Midwest to a school no one wanted to ignore, granting them a spot in the “mid-tier” conference of the Great Lakes Conference from a lowly independent. They also managed to hire Monongalia State HC Stephen Lawrence to their OC position, who helped the Vandals to 5 conference titles and 3 bowl wins in the past decade due to their offensive prowess, making him a great fit for the burgeoning professional team. Lastly, they would hire former St. Louis State head coach Dwight Kirkland to their DC role. Kirkland was more of a puzzling move, as he had not coached any sort of football in half a decade and was most recently seen as a coordinator in the PAFC with the former St. Louis Arrows. He has been a relatively popular coaching figure in St. Louis, so his hiring may help draw crowds to the new team. 

Philadelphia took a fairly defensive approach to their coaching staff, first offering a head coaching position to Chicago DC Anthony Conway. The Rattlesnakes would not hear word back from the Windy City until they received a strongly worded letter from Conway, ending with “the only way I’m leaving [Chicago] is by hearse.” Failing getting their #1 target, they would instead hire Wisconsin State HC Jimmie Crabtree to the same position. Wisconsin State has been home to some of the best defensive talent in the league, sending players such as LB Barry Moore, DB’s Jason and Jeff Brother, and S Tom Meltzger. Crabtree was the mastermind behind that whole operation, and will become the highest paid coach in the league as a result. The ‘Snakes would get their primary coaches to the OC and DC positions, hiring Chicago Christian HC Ray Stevens to the former and Pittsburgh Shamrocks LB coach Alton Long to the latter. Like with Crabtree, they offered a massive contract to Stevens to leave the college game after coaching one of the best teams in the nation for an expansion team, but Stevens did not think twice about taking the new job. The Shamrocks were going to promote Long to their vacated DC position, but the Rattlesnakes scooped him up before Pittsburgh could offer him a better deal. The Shamrocks instead hired LA State head coach Salvatore Weeks to their DC role, who helped develop New York LB Russell Middleton and now-Philadelphia DL Glen Todd to their fullest potential. 

Expansion Draft

Similar to last year, the Philadelphia Rattlesnakes and St. Louis Stallions would participate in an expansion draft, though this time a more thorough one to properly build their teams from scratch instead of supplementing weaker rosters with AFL talent. The Rattlesnakes would win the coin toss in similar fashion to the Dragons, but unlike them elected to pick from the first position in the rookie draft, allowing the Stallions to pick first in the expansion draft. 

St. Louis elected to build their offense first and foremost, taking backup QB Addison Golden and infamous WR Anthony Wheatland as their first two selections from the defending champion Cincinnati Rivermen. Their offensive line would also get to a decent spot, taking Jim Herman from Washington, Marc Buck from Cincinnati, and Herbert Hale from Chicago. Even though they were focused on building the passing game, the Stallions managed to build a relatively decent front 4 given the limited star power in the position. They build a decent line by selecting Mitchell Curry from Boston, Kerry Haley from Chicago, and Steven Duffy from Pittsburgh. The most intriguing pick by the Stallions would be taking disgraced Detroit QB Terry Kadlec as one of their QB options. The Stallions wanted to take a chance on the young QB to see if he can fight for a starting spot, or otherwise send him down to the ASPFL to get the QB out of whatever funk he put himself in. 

Philadelphia on the other hand used the expansion draft to develop the defensive side of the ball, taking DL Roy Kelly from Cincinnati, LB Faolán Doyle from Chicago, and DB Sean Hamby from Cleveland. The Rattlesnakes also seem like they’re building off of the similar model to the Hogs, as they took RB Neal Earnhardt from Cincinnati with their first pick and built their offensive line for him with Phillip Lee from Boston, Donnel Ferguson from Tri-Cities, and Jack Enderle from Detroit. They hold the first overall pick in the draft this year, and will most likely take a pairing for either Earnhardt or to bolster their defensive line. QB’s seemed to be an afterthought for the Rattlesnakes, as they took two QB’s that didn’t have any sort of starting experience in Freddie Hughes and Dwayne Dessena. Dessena briefly started for the Hartford Colts in the ASPFL to a disappointing 5-6 season, while Hughes mostly stayed on the practice squad for the Shamrocks. It will be an interesting battle for the starting position, especially since the Rattlesnakes do not seem to be targeting a QB as an immediate need in the draft. 

Trades

Detroit made it clear to the other teams that the number 3 selection was available to teams to trade for, which led to a scramble between a few teams to figure out if they wanted to trade up. The first two picks were already set in stone, and it became clear that neither the Rattlesnakes nor the Stallions were going to draft a quarterback. The Knights would have been in prime position to take a new quarterback to start their new era, but are opting to stick with Mike Major for the time being. Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia quickly became interested in trading up for the 3rd spot, but the Lions and Rattlesnakes backed down soon after New York offered too little and Philly opted not to trade down from the first pick. Boston were gunning for a quarterback regardless if they got the 3rd pick or not, and decided to part ways with their first starting QB in Adrian Alfonso. The Dragons weren’t too pleased with his first season as a starter, going 3-9 last season in a relatively mediocre offensive unit. They didn’t attract many offers, but they were able to coax a 4th round pick out of the team he was taken from in last years’ expansion draft in the Buffalo Hammers. Alfonso will go back to serving as a backup, though this time to budding star Brendan Turnbull. 

 

The bidding war commenced between Boston and Pittsburgh for the 3rd overall pick, with Boston offering 4 and two fourth round picks for the 3, while Pittsburgh offered 7, a second rounder, and the contract rights to a minor league player. The Dragons front office would not budge on making a better counter-offer to get the third overall pick, and backed out and began looking for other options. The final deal would see Pittsburgh deal pick number 7 and 19, as well as the rights to Burlington Greens DL Raymond Stone in exchange for Detroit sending number 3 and the 40th overall pick. 

 

Pittsburgh now had to go through an ugly divorce with current starter O.J. DeMille, who hasn’t quite lived up to expectations since nearly pulling off an upset win in the 1952 playoffs against the Hammers. He only started for two years, 1954 and 1955, pulling off a mediocre 9-13 regular season record while going one and done in the playoffs. The QB market was dwindling, but St. Louis was able to swoop in and give DeMille a chance to be the first starter for the Stallions. The final deal would see the Shamrocks send DeMille and number 43 to the Stallions in exchange for number 38 this year, a 5th rounder next year, and the contract rights to DL Francis Cassidy and DB Peter Webber on Albany. Now with 4 QB’s on their roster, the Stallions optioned Terry Kadlec to Albany, where they hope he can shake off the yips and live up to what he was to be selected at number 2 for. 

 

Boston would not have to look very far to get their replacement at quarterback, as the Hawks were looking to sell off QB Sam Eagleburger. Current starting QB Gilbert Clay is on the last year of his current contract with Tri-Cities, and they already drafted Rocco Vanthourenhout to replace him. They just happened to take Eagleburger in the 5th round last year on a flier, and he immediately made a difference when sent down to the ASPFL. The young QB won QB and led Providence to a dominating title in the first year of that league’s reorganization. With a logjam at the position with two potential starters, the Hawks made the decision to trade away Eagleburger and continue to develop Vanthourenhout. The Dragons, now not having a starter, would acquire Eagleburger for a 4th round pick in next year’s draft, now not wanting to give up the 4th rounder they acquired from Buffalo. 

 

The Knights were not done this offseason, as their moves pointed towards some sort of incoming rebuilding process. They weren’t dealing away any major contributors, but were looking for any interest in some of their veterans. Philadelphia needed some experience in their secondary, and came to an agreement with the Knights to get DB Herman Schmidt for their 4th rounder this year and the rights to New Haven WR Lonnie Lindsey. Schmidt has started every single game for the Knights at DB since joining the AFL, and will most likely pick up the starting role in Philly while he lets some younger players develop. 

 

 

Just when the trades seemed to be dying down, Chicago went and turned the tides by their announcement of acquiring 3 time All-AFL LB Barry Moore from Pittsburgh. After retirements and the expansion draft, the Hogs only had two starting LB’s (Arthur Conley and Jerry Flowers) and were desperate to keep up in the arms race in the West. Their loss to the Rivermen in the Division Finals seemed to fan the flames to reclaim their place atop the AFL, and they would do so by trading for arguably the best linebacker in the league. The price to acquire Moore was not cheap, as the Hogs gave up number 20 and number 58 this year and a first round pick next year, as well as QB Jehoshaphat Murphy. The Shamrocks look like they’re entering a rebuilding period after two relatively disappointing years below the .500 mark, and the capital they gained from this rebuild should put them back in the race for the East title.