The Texas Football League (TFL) was a low-level

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

that operated in primarily in the United States from 1966 through 1968, and again between 1970 and 1971 as a new incarnation called the Trans-American Football League (TAFL). The 1971 season of the TAFL was the first season of spring pro football in

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, which made it the first spring pro football league.

History

The league, which initially comprised six franchises from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, was formally announced in May 1966. The league was supposed to begin with eight teams, but entries from

Hammond, Louisiana Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States, located east of Baton Rouge and northwest of New Orleans. Its population was 20,019 in the 2010 U.S. census, and 21,359 at the 2020 population estimates program. Ham ...

and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

were not accepted. With the addition of two franchises in 1967, the TFL expanded to two four-team divisions. During the 1967-68 offseason the

Continental Football League The Continental Football League (COFL) was a professional American football minor league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Football League, and hoped to beco ...

offered a merger of operations with the TFL, but was turned down by TFL commissioner George Schepps. He additionally challenged the CoFL to pit its champion against the TFL's champion for the 1968 campaign. On January 25, 1969, it was announced that the

was adding the entirety of the eight-team TFL to its ranks. The TFL joined as a separate entity and was placed into the new Texas Division (itself split into East and West). The TFL teams were mostly scheduled to play against each other but did also play interleague contests. Joining the Texas division was the

Mexico Golden Aztecs The Mexico Golden Aztecs were a professional American football team based in Monterrey, Mexico. During the team's brief existence it played in the Texas Division of the Continental Football League, and its home games were played at the Estadio U ...

, the first American football franchise based in Mexico. The TFL's San Antonio Toros defeated the Indianapolis Capitols, 44-38 in overtime, to capture the last Continental League championship. (The Toros would ultimately win five straight league titles from 1967-71.)

1966

''W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against'' '' = Division Champion''

1967

''W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against'' '' = Division Champion''

1968

''W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against'' '' = Division Champion''

Trans-American Football League

With the dissolution of the CoFL in early 1970, the Toros announced the formation of the Trans-American Football League, hoping to add teams in a number of major markets; the TAFL planned teams in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

;

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

; Hershey, Pennsylvania and even

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, in addition to San Antonio and existing Continental teams in Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Memphis (relocated from Las Vegas). By the time the league played its 1970 season, it was once again mainly based in Texas, with two other Continental teams, the

Omaha Mustangs The Omaha Mustangs were a professional American football team based in Omaha, Nebraska. They began as an independent, semi-pro team in the early 1960s before joining the Professional Football League of America, a newly formed league based on remna ...

and Texarkana Titans, joining the loop. In 1971, the Trans-American Football League took the unusual step of becoming the first football league to schedule and play all of its games in the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

rather than the autumn, a move that attracted the attention of ''Sports Illustrated'' pro football columnist

Tex Maule Hamilton Prieleaux Bee Maule, commonly known as Tex Maule (May 19, 1915 in Ojus, Florida – May 16, 1981) was the lead American football writer for ''Sports Illustrated'' in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Early life Maule played football (end) at S ...

. The 1971 TAFL season ran from April 25 to June 2

. Although Maule commented that the Trans-American league's four teams' Fort Worth to San Antonio lineup "barely makes it Trans-Texas", he also noted that "This is the first ''bona fide'' attempt to play spring football," a gimmick that the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

did on a larger scale a decade later. On the other hand, attendance for the four teams "reached a new low" and, as sports historian Bob Gill would note in 2002, "it was clear by mid-June that the concept of spring football was dead -- and probably the Texas League along with it". The TAFL folded after its spring 1971 season.

1970

''W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against'' '' = Division Champion''

1971

''W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against'' '' = Division Champion''

Championship games

Southwestern Football League

After the collapse of the Trans-American Football League the two bigger teams - San Antonio Toros and Dallas Rockets - formed a new league called Southwestern Football League, and moved the season back to the fall. The league

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

was pro football hall of famer

Ollie Matson Ollie Genoa Matson II (May 1, 1930 – February 19, 2011) was an American Olympic medal winning sprinter and professional American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1952 to 1966. Drafted into the N ...

, but the SFL operated on a much smaller budget than previous related leagues, and disbanded after only two seasons.

1972

1973

After the first season the SWFL approached to the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

to become an "american branch league of the CFL". The league even sent representative to the CFL league meeting, which were "receptive to the idea", but the SWFL did not survive long enough to see it come to fruition. Semifinals:''San Antonio Toros'' 45 vs. Las Vegas Casinos 3 Finals:''Oklahoma City Wranglers'' 19 vs. San Antonio Toros 16

Aftermath

The Toros continued to exist into 1974 season and joined the semi-pro Mid-America Football League, and even playing an

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against the

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 as ...

on July 16. Because of a players' strike, the Oilers played with an all-rookie roster, narrowly defeating the Toros 13–7 in a much more competitive match than most NFL vs. non-NFL matches were at the time.Today in SA history
(July 19, 2016).

References

{{Professional gridiron football leagues in North America Defunct American football leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 1966 Sports leagues disestablished in 1971

History

1966

1967

1968

Trans-American Football League

1970

1971

Championship games

Southwestern Football League

1972

1973

Aftermath

See also

References