The 1962 American Football League season was the third

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

of the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

. It consisted of 8 franchises split into two divisions: the East Division (

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

Titans of New York The history of the New York Jets American football team began in 1959 with the founding of the Titans of New York, an original member of the American Football League (AFL); they began actual play the following year. The team had little success in ...

Boston Patriots Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

) and the West Division (

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

, Dallas Texans,

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

). The season ended when the Texans defeated the

in the AFL Championship game.

Division races

The AFL had 8 teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other 7 teams in the league for a total of 14 games, and the best team in the Eastern Division would play against the best in the Western Division in a championship game. If there was a tie in the standings at the top of either division, a one-game playoff would be held to determine the division winner. The 1962 season started out as a race between Houston and Boston in the East, and Dallas and Denver in the West. After seven games, the Broncos were 6–1–0 and the Texans right behind at 5–1–0, while Boston and Houston were tied at 4–2–0. In ''Week Eight'', Buffalo beat Denver 45–38, while Dallas won at Houston, 31–7. The Oilers' loss, and Boston's 26–16 win over Oakland, put the Patriots and Texans at the top of their divisions. The next week, though, Houston won its rematch at Dallas, 14–6, and though it did not help the Oilers, Denver made a comeback to win 23–20 at San Diego to reclaim the division lead on November 4. In ''Week Ten'', Boston beat Denver 33–29. Houston stayed half a game behind Boston, while Dallas pulled half a game ahead of Denver. In ''Week Eleven'' (November 18), Houston won at Boston, 21–17, to reclaim the East, and Dallas won 24–3 at Denver to boost its lead. Houston and Boston continued to win, but in the final week, the Oilers clinched the division with a 44–10 win over the Titans.

Regular season

Results

Standings

Playoffs

Awards

Stadium changes

* The

moved from

Candlestick Park Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 ...

in San Francisco to Frank Youell Field in Oakland

Coaching changes

Offseason

Mike Holovak Michael Joseph Holovak (September 19, 1919 – January 27, 2008) was an American football player, coach, and executive. He played college football at Boston College, where he was an All-American at fullback in 1942. Holovak was the fifth ov ...

began his first full season as Boston's head coach. He took over the head coaching duties after

Lou Saban Louis Henry Saban (October 13, 1921 – March 29, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He played for Indiana University in college and as a professional for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference between 1946 a ...

was fired after five games in 1961. *

Buster Ramsey Garrard Sliger "Buster" Ramsey (March 16, 1920 – September 16, 2007) was an American football player for the College of William and Mary and Chicago Cardinals. He was the first head coach of the AFL's Buffalo Bills. Playing career After a ...

was fired and replaced by

. *

: Frank Filchock was fired and replaced by Jack Faulkner. *

Pop Ivy Lee Frank "Pop" Ivy (January 25, 1916 – May 17, 2003) was a football player and coach who was the only person to serve as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL), the American Football League (AFL) and the Western Interprovincial ...

was named as the Oilers new head coach. Lou Rymkus was fired after five games in 1961, and assistant coach

Wally Lemm Walter Horner Lemm (October 23, 1919 – October 8, 1988) was an American football coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels and achieved his greatest prominence as head coach of the American Football League's Houston Oilers an ...

took over the head coaching duties for the rest of that season. * New York Titans:

Sammy Baugh Samuel Adrian Baugh (March 17, 1914 – December 17, 2008) was an American professional football player and coach. During his college and professional careers, he most notably played quarterback, but also played as a safety and punter. He ...

was replaced by

Bulldog Turner Clyde Douglas "Bulldog" Turner (March 10, 1919 – October 30, 1998) was an American football player and coach. He was elected, as a player, to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1960 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966. He was also selec ...

In-season

: Marty Feldman was fired after five games.

Red Conkright William Franklin Conkright (April 17, 1914 – October 27, 1980), known more commonly by the nickname Red, was an American football center and end who played eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and was later the head coach of th ...

served as interim for the rest of the season.

External links

Football Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:1962 American Football League Season American Football League seasons