IMMACULATE RECEPTION THE ICE BOWL THE CATCH

AFL-NFL MERGER ARTHUR S. ARKUSH NFL DRAFT

DOOMSDAY DEFENSE WILD-CARD TEAMS THE NFL NETWORK JOEL BUCHSBAUM 17-0 NFL EUROPE SUDDEN-DEATH OVERTIME HEIDI GAME TV CONTRACT

INSTANT REPLAY GEORGE HALAS REALIGNMENT 46 DEFENSE ROBERT DRAZKOWSKI EARLY ENTRY STEEL CURTAIN COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

t first, it was just a dream. Arthur S. Arkush Art to most, Dad to me had five great loves in his life, the newspaper and magazine business, sports, family, friends and a good time. What order they came in depended on the time and the day. His dream was to take the five things he loved the most in the world and somehow weave them into a way of life. He was born June 22, 1925 on the north side of Chicago. His first word was probably Cubs, the second may have been Bears, and the Blackhawks and Bulls were his teams, too. As a kid, if he wasnt on a ball field somewhere, youd find him in the bleachers at Wrigley Field, or at home or school sitting in front of a typewriter writing about sports. He was the editor of his high school newspaper, hoping to both play and write sports in college, when his country called. When he got out of the Air Force in 1948, he

By HUB

ARKUSH

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PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGES

SUPER BOWL III VINCE LOMBARDI WEST COAST OFFENSE MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL PETE ROZELLE THE PRO BOWL

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not to be trifled with. So, if pro football was about to explode, and The Sporting News had succeeded as the bible of baseball, why couldnt he do the same for football? In the summer of 1967, with just a few thousand bucks in his pocket and a certainty in his heart and mind that the newly merged NFL was ready to dominate the sports landscape, Art Arkush launched Pro Football Weekly. Volume I, Issue 1 rolled off the presses at the end of August to kick off the 67 NFL season, and three of my dads five principles in life were in play he was in the newspaper/magazine business, his lifes work was sports and he was having the time of his life. All that was missing was family and friends. Ed Slovick was dads partner from Day One. One of my dads oldest boyhood friends, Eddie was a lawyer who made his way to PFW whenever his day in court was done. After working into the evening on anything and everything it took to launch a national publication from scratch with a two-man shop, Art and Ed would venture out until the wee hours of the morning, trying to solve the mystery of which of their favorite haunts aged the best Scotch in town. PFWs first two employees were Mrs. A. and Uncle Fred. Dads mother, or Mrs. A. as she came to be known by over two decades of PFW readers, was the toughest person Ive ever known, and the most loving and compassionate. An exceptional bookkeeper and office manager, she had reached mandatory retirement age at her old job in the spring of 67 but was nowhere near ready to slow down. The price was right, so Dad put her to work. Uncle Fred was my dads only sibling and had been in the grocery business, learning the struggles of an independent grocer, when he came on to learn circulation and distribution. When the entire editorial and production operations became too much for one man who was dreaming up his business one day at a time, Dad went outside his family and circle of friends in search of the best newspaper man he could find, and afford. The answer was Robert J. Drazkowski. Imagine a mixture of Rudyard Kipling, Ernest Borg-

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33

headed straight for DePaul University, got a degree in journalism, married my mom and set out to find his dream. His first job was at the old American Sun, which eventually became the Chicago SunTimes. He took whatever they gave him, including the city desk and crime beat, and fought for any sports he could get. When I was young, he would tell me about the legends who passed through that newsroom in the early 1950s. He grew up there with Bill Gleason, and they learned from the likes of Red Smith, Shirley Povich and Jack Griffin. I think it was 56 when the need to be free first touched my dad, and in his spare time he founded Lamb Publications. The idea was to grab a piece of this growing fad called television and publish a local schedule of what shows would air. It was his first lesson in what it took, and what it cost, to be a publisher with portfolio, but no capital, and he was out of business fast. Shortly after that, a little mag called TV Guide came along. By 1958 it was time for my dad to add magazines to his rsum, and he left the SunTimes to work at Publishers Development Corp. He started there as an editor and briefly shared the bullpen with another budding young entrepreneur named Hugh Hefner. PDC had 17 titles, as I recall, including Guns Magazine, Boat and Motor Dealers, a movie mag called Players and what passed for a girlie book in those days, Modern Man. In the early 60s hed been promoted to vice president and general manager and was running the day-to-day operation at PDC, but it wasnt his, and it wasnt sports. He loved The Sporting News, but it was essentially a baseball paper. He began to cast an admiring eye at the AFL and sensed there was something big in the air. Dad knew the game, and while George Halas, Vince Lombardi, Paul Brown and the rest of the old guard were men he greatly admired, he sensed Al Davis, Lamar Hunt, Ralph Wilson and the rest of the old AFL crew were men

ner, all you could say was: Sign nine and Studs Terkel, with just a PFW creator dash of Walter Brennan, and that Arthur S. Arkush me up. He always put everyone was Draz. It wasnt long before (right) presents before himself, and when someone absolutely needed to get paid, Draz was family, too. legendary NFL somehow he found a way. The Rounding out that original coach George papers kept getting printed, and starting lineup were Marty, Neil, Allen with an people began to read. Dan and I. Marty Schwartz is my award in 1979 moms oldest sisters son, but he But the sheer weight of it took and Dan and I were raised more its toll. By 74, Dan came home like brothers than cousins. He had from school and I was back for just graduated form Northern Illinois and keeps in 77. Dad was still finding time for shared our passion for sports with his own fun, and friends and family were everywhere, for mathematics and was just starting to but we were almost a million dollars in debt mess around with some crazy new contrapand nothing lasts forever. It was about that tions called computers. Neil Warner was time my dad started to get close with NFL Drazs first hire as associate editor, and hes owners Al Davis and Carroll Rosenbloom. still here to lock the door every night. Dan Throughout the 60s and 70s, The Sportand I were still in high school, but wed ing News received a direct subsidy from either hop on the train or hitchhike into the Major League Baseball. In addition to its office after school and on weekends to do great coverage of the big leagues, the paper anything that needed to be done. provided detailed stats and reports on all the It was hard. There was never enough minor leagues, and each MLB team wrote a money, paychecks were a luxury, we paid check to help defer the cost. My dad thought our bills when we could and our credit terms if he was providing the same service to the were trust us. You had to know my dad to NFL in various ways, wouldnt it make sense understand. A lot of people work hard, but for the NFL to do the same thing? When he no one has ever worked harder than him. approached the league about it, he was This paper was his life, and when he looked turned down cold, but a friendships with you in the eye and told you why you had to Davis and Rosenbloom were born. believe better days were just around the corBelieving that PFW was good for the

PFW TIMELINE
Jan. 15, 1967 In the inaugural
AFL-NFL World Championship, the Packers defeat the Chiefs 35-10 in the first game between teams from the two leagues.

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a career, with Lombardi remaining Green Bays general manager and Chicagos Halas opting for retirement for the fourth and final time. time. The Raiders wind up scoring two touchdowns in the final 42 seconds to win 43-42.

March 14, 1967 Michigan State

DL Bubba Smith is the first overall selection in the first combined AFLNFL draft.

press with a cover date of Sept. 17, 1967. Bart Starr is the cover boy of PFWs season preview, which predicts a third straight world championship for the Packers.

Dec. 15, 1967 A last-

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Aug. 5, 1967 Former

Giants DB Emlen Tunnell becomes the first black player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

EM

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TUNN

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minute QB sneak by Bart Starr lifts the Packers over the Cowboys in a frigid NFL championship (played at 13 degrees below zero) in what will be forever labeled The Ice Bowl.

E L OM BAR

1968 The Houston Oilers move into the Astrodome to become the first NFL team to play its games indoors.
D
I

Jan. 12, 1969 In Super Bowl III, the AFLs Jets defeat the NFLs Colts 16-7 in an upset famously predicted by Jets QB Joe Namath. May 17, 1969 Baltimore, Cleveland and Pittsburgh agree to join the 10 AFL teams in forming the 13-team American Football Conference. Wild-card teams are first introduced to the new leagues playoff format, as well.

Nov. 17, 1968 One of

NBCs most famous blunders occurs when the network cuts away from the Raiders-Jets game 50 seconds early to start the movie Heidi on

August 1967 The first issue of Pro Football Weekly rolls off the

1968 Legendary coaches Vince Lombardi and George Halas call it

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40TH PFWS PFWS 40 TH ANNIVERSARY ANNIVERSARY

game, they worked with my dad to try to find financing. Eventually in October of 78, Davis led a group of investors that purchased 25 percent of the paper and allowed us to pay our bills. As for the propriety of an NFL owner owning a piece of a newsmagazine sworn to cover the game with impartiality and integrity, youll have to form your own opinion. All I can tell you is that for the seven years he was our partner, and in all the years he has been a friend and a mentor to me, Davis has never once tried to influence a single word weve printed. And if it werent for Al Davis, there might not have been a Pro Football Weekly over the past three decades. So, 1979 should have been our year, right? It was until the morning of March 22, when my dad went out for his daily threemile jog and dropped dead of a heart attack. He was 53 and had been out of hock for the first time in 12 years for just five months. That was the day we found out how much a dream can really cost, and how much it can hurt. Suddenly, I was a 26-year-old publisher, and boy, were we in trouble. But somehow we stumbled on and actually made our first profit that year. I think the only thing that could have hurt as much as losing Dad was losing his dream. We did well for a few years until the players strike in 82 clobbered us, so badly that by 85 we were forced to file for bankruptcy. Having learned from the master, I paid a few dues of my own, and we got the doors open again in 86. I put the call out to Neil, and we found this kid named Bob Peters, who, 21 years later, is the most talented art director and production manager Ive ever met. The 90s actually werent bad, and in 96 I sold the company to Primedia, which at the time was the biggest magazine publisher in the country, thinking that maybe while working for them, we could take it to the next level. It looked like it made sense for a few years, but a new century brought the knowledge theyd never love PFW the way we did, and something inside me kept saying he wouldnt want you to do it if you have to work for someone else. So, in 2002 I got together with some family and friends, and we bought PFW back. Where are we now? Well, its actually a pretty lousy time to be a small publisher in America, and the leap from old media company to new media company has been a little tougher than wed hoped. Nobody gets paid enough around here, and there are times when our creditors still have to trust us. As Walter Payton once said, Tomorrow isnt promised to anybody. But heres the thing. This is the 1,183rd issue of Pro Football Weekly to roll off the presses over the last 40 years. Throw in all the annual magazines, books and our Web site, and literally millions of you have read along as weve had the privilege of forging a living document of Americas favorite sport. Weve won more awards than I could possibly list or count, so weve done it well, had an unbelievably great time doing it, and we like to think youve all become family and friends. Look at the masthead of this issue, and if you have any old ones, go back and take a look at those and realize that these pages have been home to the very best writers and editors that sports journalism has offered over the last five decades. This paper is my dads dream, and thanks to everyone whos ever worked with us and for us, thanks to the National Football League, and thanks most of all to each of you, his dream is still alive. Please read on, as several current staffers have highlighted some unique PFW innovations that have influenced football journalism over the years. City in the mid-60s. Art, whom I had never met, didnt know any out-of-town newspaper scribes, and he came to me, knowing of my newsletter, for suggestions, which I was glad to give him, said Wallace, who wasted no time putting out the call to many of the countrys top gridiron bylines. It wasnt long before an all-star cast of PFW pioneers started blazing a trail of instant nationwide credibility for the fledgling publication. Included in the list of heavyweight bylines were Wallace and Jerry Magee of the San Diego Tribune, whose columns quickly became entrenched on Page 2 of every issue of PFW; Brent Musburger, then with the Chicago American; Bob Oates of the Los Angeles Times; Dave Brady of the Washington Post; Peter Finney of the New Orleans Times-Picayune; Cam Snyder of the Baltimore Sun; and numerous other distinguished writers, many of whose names can currently be found in the Pro Football Hall of Fame writers wing. Although the pay was modest and the deadlines in the early days excruciatingly demanding

2007

primarily late on Sunday evenings after they had to file copy for their own newspapers PFWs earliest correspondents seemed to genuinely enjoy their association with a vehicle that they firmly believed in from the start. Many of them took much more than a passing interest in the papers well-being and progress. Musburger, for instance, was a regular Sunday-night visitor to PFWs Chicago-based headquarters on Western Avenue, always willing to roll up his sleeves and pitch in if Art Arkush gave the call. It was a fun time, and the paper gave us all pleasure and knowledge as we pooled our daily lives from July to January, said Wallace. When PFW briefly collapsed (in 1985), many of us were somewhat devastated. But when the paper came back to life, a new crop of esteemed writers would continue carrying the torch, writers such as Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, currently PFWs longest-tenured
PFW WRITERS: GO TO PAGE 36

Whos who of writers

When Pro Football Weekly burst on the scene in advance of the 1967 NFL season, it was treated like an oasis in the desert that doubled as the national pro football writing community. Newspaper pay was low then, and we all scrambled for an extra buck wherever we could find one or more, said veteran New York Times football scribe and longtime PFW lead columnist Bill Wallace, who was enlisted by PFW founder Art Arkush to help line up the publications original cast of team correspondents. Wallace had previously assembled a collection of writers from each NFL city to contribute to a weekly pro football newsletter he produced in New York

Publisher Hub Arkush (back center) is surrounded by editors Dan Arkush, Neil Warner and Robert Drazkowski during a meeting in the PFW offices during the early 1980s

PFW TIMELINE
May 26, 1969 Monday Night Football is introduced to the public by way of a three-year contract between ABC and the NFL.

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outside of North America. tests.

unblemished season in NFL history.

Dec. 16, 1973 Buffalos O.J.

Simpson becomes the first player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season (2,003).

Sept. 12, 1976 The Seahawks and Buccaneers officially join the NFL as expansion teams. March 29, 1977 A 16-game regular season is adopted (up from 14), along with a second wild-card team for the playoffs beginning in 1978.

Nov. 20, 1977 Chicagos Walter

Payton sets the single-game rushing record with 275 yards on 40 carries against the Minnesota Vikings.

Sept. 10, 1970 The Super Bowl trophy is officially renamed the Vince Lombardi Trophy in honor of the legendary coach, who died of cancer a week earlier at the age of 57. Dec. 23, 1972 The Steelers Franco Harris makes what would be known as the Immaculate Reception against the Raiders to give Pittsburgh its first postseason victory ever.

April 25, 1974 Sweeping rules

changes are made, including the creation of a sudden-death overtime period and moving the goal posts from the goal line to the end line.

March 22, 1979 Arthur S. Arkush, the founder of Pro Football Weekly,
dies of a heart attack while jogging on Chicagos lakefront. His son, advertising and circulation manager Hub Arkush, takes over the business at the age of 26.

1975 Home-field advantage is instituted for the playoffs, and referees are equipped with wireless microphones for the first time. Aug. 16, 1976 St. Louis defeats San Diego in a preseason game in Tokyo in the first NFL game played

Jan. 14, 1973 The Dolphins defeat

the Redskins in Super Bowl VII to go 17-0 and complete the first and only

Oct. 12, 1977 Commissioner Pete Rozelle negotiates the largest single television package ever, agreeing to contracts with three networks to PE broadcast all NFL regularTE season and postseason games, as well as selected preseason con-

1979 Pro Football Weekly takes draft analyLE sis to a new level with the R OZEL publication of its first draft preview guide.

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the NFLs five. The top vote-getters on that first combined NFL-AFL All-Pro team were Namath, Browns OG Gene Hickerson and RB Leroy Kelly, Bears LB Dick Butkus and Chargers WR Lance Alworth. All are now members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, with Hickerson being inducted this year. Of the remaining 17 players on that All-Pro team, nine went on to be inducted into the Hall, including Cowboys DT Bob Lilly, Lions CB Lem Barney, Cardinals S Larry Wilson, Rams DE Deacon Jones, Rams DT Merlin Olsen, Bears RB Gale Sayers, Colts TE John Mackey, Chargers OT Ron Mix and Raiders C Jim Otto. In all, an amazing 14 players from that 22-man squad went on to win pro footballs highest honor. PFW instituted several individual awards over the next few years Most Valuable Player and Coach of the Year in 1968, Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year in 69, Defensive Player of the Year in 1970 and Comeback Player of the Year in 72. It also began selecting All-Rookie teams. All of these awards continue to this day. In 1971, PFW decided to honor what was probably the least recognized position in football placekicker/punter. It devised the Golden Toe Award, and the initial award was cosponsored by the Thom McAn Shoe Company and PFW. The winner of the inaugural award was Dolphins PK Garo Yepremian, who pocketed a $1,000 check in addition to a trophy. Yepremian worked as a tie manufacturer during the offseason in those days, when NFL salaries were much, much lower and professional football wasnt considered a year-round occupation. His older brother, Krikor, had called Garo at the start of the season to tell him that PFW and Thom McAn were creating an award for kickers, and Krikor added, You are going to win it. The next week, against Denver, I missed three out of four and thought my chances were gone, Garo recalled at the end of that season. But the next week I made five out of six against Buffalo and I started to feel all right. Thom McAn eventually dropped its sponsorship, but the Golden Toe Award has endured, winning a showcase at the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. In recent years, the trophy has typically been presented to the winner at his home stadium the following season. Seven punters and 28 placekickers have won the award, with PKs Adam Vinatieri, Morten Andersen, Norm Johnson and Mark Moseley the only two-time winners. Beginning with the 1992 season, PFW teamed up with the Professional Football Writers of America to jointly present their postseason awards with the exception of the Golden Toe a partnership that continues to this day. Since then, PFW and the PFWA have added NFL Executive of the Year (1993), Assistant Coach of the Year (93) and Most Improved Player of the Year (2000) to its list of individual awards. The award for Assistant Coach of the Year is regularly presented to the winner at The Ed Block Courage Award Foundation dinner in Baltimore each March. Of the 13 different men who have won the award, nine have gone on to become NFL head coaches, including Dom Capers, who is the only two-time winner. PFW not only presents awards, it wins some, too. PFW staffers have won more than their share of writing awards over the years, particularly those presented annually by the PFWA. Former editor-inchief Ron Pollack was a frequent award winner during his tenure at PFW.

40 YEARS OF PFW
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35
beat man. Pro Football Weekly always has been like the Little Engine That Could, McGinn said. There have been tough times economically and various changes over the years, but through it all, the Arkush family has survived to put out a lively, topical, in-depth publication and probably the finest of the many preseason magazines. The people at PFW really care about the game and their product. It has been my pleasure to contribute in some small way for the last 25 years or so.

The envelope please

When it comes to awards, PFW has been a trendsetter, beginning in its formative years. Although Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League credits the Pro Football Hall of Fame as having selected the first combined NFL-AFL All-Pro team in 1969, Pro Football Weekly, in fact, named an AllPro team combining the two leagues for the 68 season, in its Jan. 23, 1969, issue, in addition to the All-NFL and All-AFL squads it named. That, incidentally, was the same issue in which PFW reported on the 1968 Jets stunning 16-7 upset of the heavily favored Colts of the NFL in Super Bowl III (it was the first year the name Super Bowl was recognized by the NFL) behind the golden arm of Joe Namath and the running of Matt Snell. Although most observers had considered the AFL as a weak stepchild to its older sibling, the Jets put a dent in that perception, and so did PFWs All-Pro team. Based on the vote of PFWs 26 beat writers, the 22-man team was composed of 12 players from the NFL and 10 from the AFL. Known for its wide-open offenses and high-scoring games, the AFL actually had an edge on the offensive side of the ball, placing six All-Pros vs.

The evolution of the draftnik

More than any of its other innovations and improvements to the medias coverage of the National Football League, Pro Football Weekly is in essence responsible for NFL fans fascination with the NFL draft today. In January 1970, just one week after the Kansas City Chiefs had confirmed that the Jets upset of the Colts in Super Bowl III had been no accident by thoroughly thrashing the Vikings in Super Bowl IV, PFW published its first Exclusive NFL Prospect List, rating the top 250 NFL prospects coming out of college. The author was Carl Marasco, a Philadelphia insurance executive who, along with his brother Pete, had been fascinated by the NFL draft and was looking to turn his

PFW was the first to come up with an All-Pro team that combined players from both the NFL and AFL back in 1968 (above); the Golden Toe trophy is awarded annually by PFW to the NFLs best kicking specialist

PFW TIMELINE
Jan. 20, 1980 The Steelers knock off the Rams in Super Bowl XIV to become the first team to claim four Super Bowl trophies. Pittsburgh won all four in a six-year span. Jan. 27, 1980 The Pro Bowl is played at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii the first time in the 30-year history of the game that it is played in a non-NFL city. 1980 After originally being voted down by league owners, ESPN is allowed to cover the 1980 NFL draft, thanks to commissioner Pete Rozelles change of heart. Nov. 17, 1982 Ratification of the Collective Bargaining Agreement by league owners brings to an end a 57-day players strike that reduced

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ures, replaced the final episode of M*A*S*H as the most-viewed program in the history of television with 127 million viewers. March 11, 1986 To further aid officials during the course of a game, league owners agree to the use of limited instant replay. March 15, 1987 The NFL reaches a deal with ESPN to televise 13 prime-time games each season, the leagues first-ever such contract with a cable network. September 1987 Pro Football Weekly airs its first nationally syndicated radio program. Oct. 25, 1987 After a 24-day strike, players return to the field. Week Three was canceled as a result, but Weeks Four, Five and Six were played with replacement players. December, 1987 Pro Football Weekly on TV debuts on NBC in Chicago. 1989 Pro Football Weekly publishes its first official season preview magazine. Oct. 3, 1989 Al Davis and the Los Angeles Raiders name Art Shell as head coach, making him the NFLs first black head coach since the Akron Pros were led by Fritz Pollard in 1921. Oct. 26, 1989 Paul Tagliabue is chosen to succeed Pete Rozelle as NFL commisioner.

the season from 16 games to nine. March 28, 1984 In a controversial move and under the cover of darkness, owner Robert Irsay relocates the Colts from Baltimore to Indianapolis. 1984 League records fall like dominoes: The Dolphins Dan Marino throws for an NFL-record 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns for Miami; the Rams Eric Dickerson rushes for 2,105 yards; the Redskins Art Monk catches 106 passes; and the Bears Walter Payton breaks Jim Browns career rushing mark. Jan. 26, 1986 The Bears defeat the Patriots 46-10 in Super Bowl XX, which, according to Nielsen fig-

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passion and hobby into an entre into pro football. Art Arkush gave them their first big break. By the end of the 1974 season, the Marasco brothers work had proved so good that each ended up fulfilling their dream and moved on to scouting and personnel jobs in pro football. Carl worked for the Packers and in 1982 was named the director of player personnel for the USFL. Pete worked for the Jets and for a time headed the CFLs personnel department. To fill the void left by the Marascos departure, Arkush enlisted Palmer Hughes and his Hughes Draft Ratings in 1975. Hughes proved adept at compiling great lists of prospects with heights and weights, allowing PFWs lists to grow to 700 or 800 names, but he was never as adept at actual scouting as the Marascos. In the spring of 77, Arkush was contacted by a brash and rather incredible 23-year-old character from Brooklyn named Joel Buchsbaum. Buchsbaum was completely addicted to becoming the next great independent NFL scout and begged Arkush for a chance, calling him regularly for weeks at a time. Dubious and yet curious, Arkush had then-associate editor Neil Warner follow Buchsbaums lists and scouting reports throughout the 77 football season. The week after the 1978 draft, Arkush and his staff tallied up the results and discovered that Buchsbaums work had been significantly more accurate than that of Hughes, and in the very next issue of PFW, the 78 draft analysis issue, Buchsbaum was introduced as PFWs new NFL draft expert. Since we were still at least seven or eight years away from using computers to produce newspapers and magazines at that time, Arkush was surprised but not shocked when Buchsbaums copy started arriving in the mail, handwritten in pencil in spiral-bound notebooks. There were far greater revelations of his genius, and eccentricity, to come. Art Arkushs final gift to the pro football world was the plan hatched during that 78 season to publish a handbook, an NFL Scouts Notebook so to speak, authored by Buchsbaum and edited and published by PFW to allow for much more detailed scouting reports on far more prospects and make it available to any NFL fan with an interest in the draft. These folks would later come to be known as draftniks. A cult was born, with Joel as its leading man. What no one saw coming was the death of Art Arkush just weeks after the book hit the streets and four weeks prior to the 1979 NFL draft. The 79 pre-draft issue went to press one week after Arkushs funeral and, faced with the choice of pursuing a safer path for his dream or jumping in with both feet, Buchsbaum unofficially became the fourth Arkush brother. That summer, he told Hub Arkush, the new publisher, Your dad gave me a chance when nobody else would. Im with you till the end. Over the next 23 years, Joel Buchsbaum became the most respected independent evaluator of talent in the country, both inside and outside the league. And the most eccentric, as he rarely left his Brooklyn apartment, doing all his scouting via videotape and a bank of telephones with direct lines into a number of NFL personnel departments. He became a legend in markets like St. Louis and Houston, where he appeared on weekly radio shows and fans marveled far more at his amazing store of knowledge and instant recall on the most obscure players than his grating, nasal Brooklyn twang. In 1987, the Arkushes and Buchsbaum added the Pro Prospects Preview book to their annual arsenal, a look at the top NFL prospects/college players in the land heading into their final year of college as a precursor to the Scouts Notebook (later called Draft Preview) in the spring. Buchsbaums books and articles in PFW were must-reads in every NFL office and by every draftnik, as well. On the morning of Dec. 29, 2002, the last day of the NFL regular season, Buchsbaum was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment of an apparent heart attack at the age of 48. While the PFW crew mourned the loss of a family member, his work had to go on. Joel had turned in almost a third of his original notes for the 2003 Draft Preview book, and a young associate editor at PFW, Nolan Nawrocki, was tabbed to fill his shoes. Nolan struggled and worked tirelessly to achieve Joels lofty stature, never missing a book or a paper, and by 2005, Pro Football Weeklys draft publications were once again head and shoulders above the competition. In the last two NFL drafts,
DRAFT COVERAGE: GO TO PG 38

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Some of his friends speak of his important contributions

fter Joels passing, there was an outpouring of emotion from all types of people who had known him. We received enough phone calls, e-mails and letters from fans of his work to fill a 54-page remembrance book, which was published and given to those who attended a special memorial held in Indianapolis during the Scouting Combine. Below are some of the things NFL insiders had to say about Joel: Just some of the discussions I would have with him, he always wanted what was best for the game, and that always impressed me, because he was such a purist in that regard.

Joel was a special guy that stayed in the background, that didnt always take some of the credit that he really deserved. Its remarkable how, without all of the resources that we have, the remarkable things he could come up with and accomplish for the draft. And his accuracy and all the hard work he put forth, I cant say enough.

The late JOHN BUTLER,

FORMER CHARGERS GM
There was no one better at what he did. He was totally married to his job. There have been a lot of people who have tried to do what Joel has done. No one has done it any more successfully. No one has done it to the scope which he has done it. This was a guy who forget the fact that he was respected by the media and that we all stole from him shamelessly this was a guy that was really well-respected by personnel people, who dont always respect the so-called draftniks.

JOEL BUSSERT,
NFL SENIOR DIRECTOR OF PLAYER PERSONNEL
He to me was a very important part of my business. I used his material a lot in terms of negotiations, reading his opinion on players in the NFL. I really valued it. It was almost like talking to an NFL executive.

LEN PASQUARELLI,
ESPN.COM REPORTER AND FORMER PFW COLLEAGUE
In all the time that I have been in the representation business, Joel has easily been the most accurate evaluator of talent. He not only was a good evaluator himself and when I say evaluator, Im talking about anybody that was outside of the personnel departments in the professional football league. From an evaluation standpoint, Joel was exceptional, and part of that was he understood it himself, but he also had strong relationships with people in the National Football League. And those relationships were strong because they respected him in terms of his own knowledge and work ethic and integrity. Unfailingly, you could look at what Joel was producing in terms of his information, and you knew that it was as accurate as you could hope to get. So we used him extensively.

DREW ROSENHAUS,
PLAYER AGENT
Joel was a guy who genuinely loved the game and the NFL, and he never wanted to harm anyone or anything in the game.

SCOTT PIOLI,
PATRIOTS VICE PRESIDENT-PLAYER PERSONNEL
I found him to be an extremely hardworking, very knowledgeable person. I was amazed by what he truly knew, the inside information that he had.

RON WOLF,
FORMER NFL GM

Joel Buchsbaum and his beloved dog, Miss Brooks (right); PFWs first NFL draft preview book, by Buchsbaum, was published in 1979

TOM CONDON,
PLAYER AGENT

PFW TIMELINE
Feb. 16, 1990 Draft eligibility rules are altered, as college juniors are now allowed to apply for the NFL draft. 1990 The NFL revises its playoff format to include one more wildcard team per conference, giving the NFC and AFC six playoff participants each.

THE1 990s
NFLs all-time leader in receptions and receiving yardage. proves a transfer of the Oilers from Houston to Nashville for the 1998 season. The franchise was renamed the Titans following the 98 season.

becomes the NFLs winningest head coach, surpassing George Halas.

Jan. 29, 1995 The 49ers become the first franchise to win five Super Bowls, defeating the Chargers 4926 in Super Bowl XXIX. April 10, 1995 The NFL
becomes the first major sports league to launch an Internet site.

March 23, 1991 The NFL launches the World League of American Football, which later became NFL Europe.

1993 The NFL awards Carolina and Jacksonville expansion franchises to begin play in 1995.

Nov. 14, 1993 With his 325th

career victory, Miamis Don Shula

1995 Dan Marino surpasses Fran Tarkenton for the NFLs alltime lead in passing JER RY attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns. 49ers WR Jerry Rice becomes the

Feb. 9, 1996 Art Modell receives permission from the league to move the Browns Dec. 6, 1996 Highly regarded former commisto Baltimore and sioner Pete Rozelle dies. rename the franART L M ODEL He led the NFL for 29 years, chise. The city of from 1960 to 89. Cleveland, meanwhile, maintains the Browns Aug. 3, 1998 Pro Football Weekly heritage and records and joins the Internet wave and launchcommits to building a es its Web site, www.ProFootballnew stadium with the Weekly.com. promise that a reactivated team will begin play there RICE Oct. 6, 1999 The city of Houston no later than 1999. is awarded the NFLs 32nd franchise to begin play in 2002. April 30, 1996 The league ap-

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PFWs 40th Anniversary

GENESIS OF THE WAY WE HEAR IT

THE

PFWs featured attraction made waves from the get-go

40 YEARS OF PFW
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37
Nawrockis final mock drafts have ranked No. 1 among independent talent evaluators, and PFW continues to lead the way in independent scouting.

n the beginning, it was short and sweet a quarter of a page in length, to be exact, appearing for the first time on Page 5 of the Oct, 16, 1978, issue of Pro Football Weekly. The first line of the first-ever Way We Hear It column in PFW was an instant attention-grabber: The Bud Wilkinson-Billy Bidwill romance may be over And right from the start, the piece of the PFW puzzle that has consistently earned the top spot in the publications reader polls throughout the years continued grabbing the attention of pro footballs biggest movers and shakers. My first realization of how seriously people connected with the NFL took The Way We Hear It couldnt have been more mind-boggling. It was a late-December day in 78 when the PFW receptionist transferred a call my way from a rather disturbed gentleman. Imagine my shock when the disturbed caller turned out to be none other than Houston Oilers head coach Bum Phillips, taking the time just four days before the Christmas Eve AFC wild-card game in which his team would defeat the Dolphins 17-9 to let me know what a bum steer he thought I had given him. Dan, I have a bone to pick with you, partner, the Oilers coach drawled. The bone, it turns out, was the rumor I had revealed a week earlier in The Way We Hear It that there was bad blood in the Oilers front office between Phillips and a pair of Oilers execs, assistant GM Pat Peppler and senior VP/chief administrative officer Ladd Herzeg, and that the situation had become volatile enough to make Phillips consider abandoning ship. You have no idea how damn good those people have been to me, Phillips said in that umistakable Texas twang of his before cordially ending the call, paving the way for the first-ever Way We Hear It retraction in the Jan. 1, 1979, issue of PFW, which consisted mostly of direct quotes from the colorful Oilers coach. As the 70s turned into the 80s, similar direct quotes from NFL heavyweights just kept on coming, as PFW executive editor The Way We Hear It quickly expandDan Arkush and esteemed ed to as many as five full pages at its early peak in agate type, no less! pro football writer For the first six years of its exisLen Pasquarelli (inset) tence, The Way We Hear It sprung teamed up in 1984 solely from the typewriter you see in the accompanying photo, with enough pigskin patter crackling out of the phone in that same photo to generate occasional team-by-team tomes that no doubt demanded every morsel of stamina I could muster. No wonder I have a chronic neck ailment that continues to come and go to this day. But while The Way We Hear It will no doubt demand major space in my epitaph when the time comes to meet my maker, it has hardly been a solo effort. For one glorious year, 1984, I coauthored the column with Len Pasquarelli, who worked at PFW for a short spell before going on to become arguably the countrys most prolific pro football gossipmonger by virtue of the Tip Sheet, which can be read every week on ESPN.com. Lenny actually handled The Way We Hear It by himself for a year or so as a contributing editor when PFW re-emerged in 86 after a one-year hiatus, and yours truly was employed elsewhere as a trade journalist. A year or so after I returned to PFW full time (the Sept. 11, 1993, issue of PFW, to be exact), The Way We Hear It first appeared in its current form with lively, provocative items on every NFL team guaranteed in every issue and never looked back. Today, it is at the top of six PFW editors weekly to do lists, each of them responsible for covering as many as six different teams, in some cases, including yours truly, who continues to oversee every Way We Hear It effort like a proud papa. Yeah, it can be a real pain in the neck at times. But the fact it has also become PFWs most endearing element continues to make all the hard work that goes into its weekly creation a true labor of love.

By the numbers

DAN ARKUSH

Numbers have played a big role in the development, and success, of PFW. In pro football, as in most sports, statistics are one of the more commonly used standards for measuring success. Cognizant of that fact, PFW featured complete game statistics in its very first issue scoring plays, team stats and individual stats to complement its game stories. In the days before the advent of national newspapers and the Internet, it was difficult to obtain stories and stats for games outside your area, and PFW filled that niche. In those days, PFW not only obtained game stories from its writers, by dictation no less, but it got the game stats from the writers, as well. This could pose problems. Former PFW editorial assistant and statistician Marty Schwartz recalled one Sunday night when all of the game stories and statistics were accounted for but one, the Steelers. Trying to reach Pat Livingston, our correspondent in Pittsburgh, Schwartz was told to phone a particular bar. We called the bar and when someone picked up the phone, we asked, Is Pat Livingston there? Schwartz remembered. Who the hell do you think youre talking to? bellowed the voice on the other end, obviously Livingston, who then proceeded to give us the information we needed. In those days, newspapermen were a different breed. Publishing game statistics was one thing, but calculating up-to-date cumulative indi-

vidual and team statistics was another. Because computers hadnt yet come into vogue, Schwartz and Jim Deerfield took the Sunday game stats and calculated the cumulative stats by hand, using typewriter-sized, mechanical calculators and often working until 3 or 4 a.m. That limited the scope of PFWs statistical coverage in the early days, yet it was more than the average fan could find anywhere else then. Spurred by a distribution deal that required an earlier printing deadline in the mid-70s, Art Arkush asked Schwartz to write a computer program that once again put PFW in the forefront, actually preceding the NFLs computerization by a year. The program enabled PFW to produce far more detailed stats than ever before, and much more quickly. To further streamline the process, Schwartz had to write a program that would enable the printing house to convert the stats into formatted newspaper type. Typically, all of the data entry and running of the program was done at a computer house miles from PFWs offices. Quarterback sacks were added to the program in 1982; tackles/assists, distances of field goals made and missed, and did not play/inactives in 91; and fumbles in 99. In 1990, Schwartz and Sue Nemitz, now PFWs publisher of new media, implemented a PC-based software program that enabled the game statistics to be input at the PFW offices, as well as the running of the roll-up reports. This was a groundbreaking step for a small business like PFWs. In 1997, PFW once again upgraded its stats program with the Internet in mind, another forward-thinking business move. PFW has always strived to make its statistics unique. For example, it ranks punters according to net average rather than the more customary gross average. One innovation PFW can take credit for is the team-rankings table. Originally devised by executive editor Neil Warner to give readers a quick way to compare teams in a number of statistical categories, the team rankings appeared for the first time in a statistical recap of the 76 season. The NFL adopted many of PFWs team-rankings categories years later. Numbers also play a big role in handicapping. Realizing that gambling legal or otherwise was a fact of life, PFW made the Handicappers Corner a fixture beginning in 1975, complete with pointspreads. In

PFW TIMELINE 2000-PRESENT

May 22, 2001 A realignment plan that calls for the leagues 32 teams to be divided into eight divisions with four teams each is unanimously approved. In all, seven teams change divisions, and the Seahawks shift from the AFC to the NFC. Sept. 13, 2001 Commissioner Paul Tagliabue postpones the games scheduled for Sept. 16-17 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Oct. 27, 2002 Cowboys RB Emmitt Smith passes the late Walter Payton to become the NFLs alltime rushing leader. Dec. 29, 2002 Joel Buchsbaum,
whose prolific career as an independent scout and personnel expert helped make Pro Football Weekly the place to go for draft analysis, died unexpectedly at the age of 48. Nov. 4, 2003 NFL Network is launched as the first 24-hour, year-round TV channel dedicated to the sport of football. rights to the Sunday-night package, while ESPN agrees to an eight-year contract to televise Monday Night Football.

Dec. 10, 2006 San Diegos

LaDainian Tomlinson lets Shaun Alexander hold the NFL record for touchdowns (28) for just one year before eclipsing it. Tomlinson finishes the season with 31 scores.

Sept. 19, 2005 The Giants-Saints game is moved from the Superdome in New Orleans to Giants Stadium in New Jersey following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. 2006 Pro Football Weekly

DA

INI

AN

Jan. 2, 2005 Colts QB Peyton Manning edges Dan Marinos record for TD passes in a season by throwing his 49th in the seasons final game. April 18, 2005 NBC returns to NFL programming, acquiring the

launches its draft preview magazine.

Sept. 1, 2006 Roger Goodell, a former administrative intern in the league office, takes over as commissioner, replacing the extremely successful Paul Tagliabue after a lengthy search process.

Feb. 4, 2007 The Colts Tony Dungy and the TOML Bears Lovie Smith become the first black head coaches to reach the Super Bowl. Dungy and the Colts prevail by a 29-17 score, and QB Peyton Manning is named MVP.
IN

SOURCE: PFW archives, 2006 NFL Record & Fact Book.

SO

La

SEPTEMBER 9, 2007

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PFWS PFWS 40TH TH ANNIVERSARY ANNIVERSARY

1980, PFW introduced individual editors selections for every game. field, launching in the past few years. But Pro Football Weekly introduced its highly successful fantasy annual in 1996, and it has been a must-read ever since. (RB Emmitt Smith, WR Jerry Rice and QB Brett Favre graced the cover of the debut issue 11 years ago.) In 2004, PFW joined forces with CBS SportsLine, another leader in the industry, to co-brand the fantasy football preview, which continues to be one of the top-selling publications of the genre. Weeklys publishing roots were deep in print as well as radio and TV, but a new media world was starting to emerge and interest people. It was the Internet, and it required an understanding of a new technology to bring the printed word to computer screens around the world. By the start of the 1998 NFL season, Pro Football Weekly was ready to launch its first Web site ProFootballWeekly.com using the most rudimentary of Web publishing tools. The original intent was to create an infomercial of sorts to highlight our print products. However, by the end of the season, it was clear that people liked what they saw and wanted more of it. With only one seasons experience on the Internet, and relaying content over slow and unpredictable dial-up telephone lines, we hosted our first real-time event by covering the 1999 NFL draft from New York. The draft weekend was a thrilling success, and Internet publishing was here to stay. People were excited about this new way of getting their football news, and we were encouraged by the speed with which we could deliver that news. For the next three seasons, more and more content was created exclusively for the Internet, and our readers had at their disposal more fresh content on a daily basis. By 2002, Pro Football Weekly had seen an amazing growth on the Internet, and our content had grown substantially from the days of repurposing our print content to serving up more and more content that was written strictly for our Internet readers. Insiders who knew how we did our Internet publishing were astounded to realize that we were still using our original rudimentary Web publishing tools. A milestone decision was made to dedicate significant resources both monetary and human to the Internet. After a feverish development pace, we started the 2002 NFL season with a brandnew look and significant Web publishing horsepower under the hood. It was now possible to bring our statistics to the Internet, as well as to maintain a fully searchable archive of our Internet content. Our editors had Webbased writing tools that made it easy for them to cover stories from literally anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. In 2003, we introduced the electronic version of our Pro Football Weekly newsmagazine PFW Online with the intent of integrating our print and Internet media into a one-stop destination where our readers can stay informed all week long. Pro Football Weekly has continued to grow its Internet properties to include many recurring features that attract readers week after week. For the 2007 season, weve launched another new look and feel for our site. The focus is on the way we deliver the content breaking more stories, providing better analysis and creating more buzz. Our blogs give our readers the opportunity to participate with comments, and we encourage that give-and-take. As technology evolves and we begin our 10th season on the Internet, its our goal to always use the unique aspects of Internet publishing to bring you the best and most relevant football coverage available anywhere. Dan Arkush, Neil Warner, Keith Schleiden, Sue Nemitz and Trent Modglin contributed to this report.
MAGEE & WALLACE: GO TO PG 40

2007

FANTASY

FOOTBALL

The fantasy phenomenon

The growth of fantasy football over the past 20 years has been explosive. And Pro Football Weekly has helped fuel the expansion of what was once a unique hobby for handfuls of NFL fans into a full-blown phenomenon that has tens of millions of fanatics religiously obsessing over their fantasy squads each fall. PFW was far ahead of its time when it launched what is believed to be the first-ever fantasy game that allowed people nationwide to draft and run their own teams while competing against others across the country. It was the Pro Draft Challenge, and it made its debut in the Aug. 31, 1981, issue of PFW. The game was sponsored by Anheuser-Buschs Natural Light Beer. This first foray into an organized fantasy game for the masses called for participants to draft a 45-member team. And were not just talking skill-position players here. Offensive lines were drafted, as well as defenses and kick and punt returners. Trades and weekly roster moves were not allowed. Participants earned a weekly point total based on the playing and scoring abilities of the teams they selected. The action began in Week Three and continued until the culmination of the regular season, with the person earning the highest cumulative point total being declared the winner. Who proved to be the ultimate GM in this first-of-its-kind fantasy game? A 16-year-old Packers fan from Spring Green, Wis., named Aaron Anderson. Who did young Aaron ride to his championship? He recently recalled having Chargers QB Dan Fouts, Bengals RB Pete Johnson and a Buccaneers defensive back (the name escapes him 26 years later) who was adept at scoring on interception returns, which provided a huge boost. Winning the first-ever Pro Draft Challenge must have come with quite a prize, you would expect. Not exactly so, in Year One. I specifically remember (a) guy from (another) newspaper that interviewed me was like, Well, what do you win for that? And I just kind of thought and said, Well, nothing. And he was kind of shocked. Anderson, now 42 and still a fantasy football enthusiast who participates in a couple of modern leagues, commented on how different the process of playing was back in the 80s. Nowadays in your fantasy football leagues, you instantly know how everybody else does with the computer and everything. Well, that was like torture; you had to wait the whole week to get the magazine (to see the printed list of leaders). You thought you had a good week, but you didnt have any idea how anybody else did, and you had no idea who anybody else had on their roster because there was no access. But it was a lot of fun back then. Today, the fantasy market has completely changed. An estimated 15 million people participate in fantasy sports, and its been reported that each of those players spends an average of $150 a year on fantasy-related products and services. There are hundreds of Web sites that are devoted to fantasy football, and dozens of print publications that hit the newsstands each summer. Many of the current fantasy magazines available are newcomers to the

Draft philosophies sure have changed in 20 years

magine, for a moment, that youre sitting with your buddies at your fantasy football draft this week. Youre expecting the typical early run on running backs, followed by a smattering of quarterbacks and wide receivers to follow. Kickers, like always, will bring up the rear. No one touches kickers until late in the draft, almost always after the rest of your lineup is secure and an adequate amount of depth has been established elsewhere. But that apparently wasnt the case 20 years ago, when fantasy football was, by most accounts, still in its infancy among sports fans. In 1987, Bob LeGere wrote a feature on the growing popularity of fantasy Dan Marino (below) football, and was the first player alongside the taken in a 1987 story, Pro Foot- fantasy football draft ball Weekly published the first six rounds of an actual draft from a local fantasy league. At first glance, its almost hard not to laugh. Saints PK Morten Andersen was taken ahead of Jerry Rice and Eric Dickerson in the first round. Norm Johnson, remember him? Well, he was the Seahawks kicker in 87, and he was chosen one spot ahead of Joe Montana, four spots before Mark Duper and six ahead of a guy from Chicago named Walter Payton. Chuck Nelson, the kicker in Minnesota, was the first player taken in Round Three, trumping the selections of Steve Largent, Phil Simms and John Elway. I couldnt believe my eyes. Were they listening to a few too many Jimi Hendrix records? Was there a free-flowing keg nearby? Did they just arrive from Norway? The only thing that made sense was seeing Dan Marino and Jim Kelly go first and second off the board. Beyond that, even considering a different scoring format, it was puzzling, to put it politely. Things certainly have evolved in the realm of fantasy football over the years, and in the process, the way we operate what has become a national phenomenon has become a more diverse, more complex operation. Most drafts are carried out via the Internet now, as opposed to a stuffy room with graphs and charts. There is a wider variety of league formats (keeper, auction, etc.) and scoring systems, and information in our technology-obsessed world is indeed at your fingertips, everywhere from an assortment of magazines to your cell phone or laptop to scrolling across the bottom of the TV screen. The basic concept of fantasy football may be the same as it was 20 years ago, but everything else seems drastically different. And based on its incredible popularity, thats a good thing. By the way, Jerry Rice caught 22 touchdowns in 1987. Hope someone is still kicking themselves over Morten Andersen.

PFW goes electric

Beyond the printed work, Pro Football Weekly has been an innovator in delivering the best coverage in the NFL via a host of mediums. PFW has long had a presence over the airwaves with its syndicated radio show and national television program. Furthermore, the changing face of media due to the Internet revolution has opened up a new way to get our content to the masses quicker than ever before. What follows is a look at each of PFWs primary electronic outlets. Radio: In the fall of 1987, PFW publisher/editor Hub Arkush was also working as the color commentator on Chicago Bears radio broadcasts for WGN Radio and the Tribune Radio Network, and the WGN program manager, Dan Fabian, was a fan of Pro Football Weekly. This was prior to the days of all sports radio, and Fabian suggested that a number of the news and talk stations around the country might like a one-hour weekly news and preview show on football and felt that Arkush and his play-by-play partner on the Bears games, Wayne Larrivee, were perfect to host it. Tribune Radio Network was, at the time, one of the most successful radio networks in the country, and Fabian launched the show at the beginning of the 87 season. 2007 will mark the shows 21st season as one of the most successful non-live-game sports syndications on the air. The show is currently syndicated by Syndication Networks in 137 markets around the country and features The Way We Hear It, investigative reporting, game previews and fantasy football tips and information. Television: Toward the end of the 1987 NFL season, Jim Kezios, an independent Chicago broadcast executive, approached Arkush about adapting the newly popular Pro Football Weekly radio show for television in a half-hour format. Kezios approached the NBC-owned and operated affiliate in Chicago, WMAQ, and it agreed to shoot seven pilot episodes at the end of the 87 season with Arkush, Larrivee and Chicago sports anchor Mark Giangreco as the host. The show enjoyed three successful full-season runs at NBC before moving to WGN-TV, airing on the superstation with Dan Roan, Arkush and Larrivee hosting from 1991 through 94. The show moved to Sports Channel/Fox Sports Net in 95, with former NFL WR Tom Waddle joining Arkush and Larrivee as the hosts. Mike Ditka moved into Larrivees chair in 2000, and when Ditka left after the 01 season, Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Hampton filled his spot. The show moved from Fox Sports to Comcast Sports Net in 2005, with Arkush, Waddle and Hampton joined by Pat Boyle. This year will mark its 20th consecutive season on the air. Internet: By the mid-90s, Pro Football

TRENT MODGLIN

DAVID DUROCHIK / SPORTPICS

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SEPTEMBER 9, 2007

1967

ANNIVERSARY PFWs 40th ANNIVERSARY

2007

DEVOTED READERS:

NFL legends graced the pages of PFW and read em, too

BILL WALLACE
though players (and coaches) often claimed they never read the papers. We writers doubted that. Where there is an ego, there is a reader. Another famous quarterback of the Starr era, Fran Tarkenton, provided me with many a column because he was so bright, so voluble, and sometimes so funny. The only time I ever missed a PFW deadline (in 40 years), founder Arkush reprinted one of your Tarkenton columns. I once won a monthly publishers prize at The New York Times, my regular employer, for a Francis Asbury Tarkenton column. That came about during his unhappy seasons with the Giants, 1967-71. During the lunch break at practice one day I found Tarkenton the Giants supposed answer to the Jets Joe Namath eating a sandwich all alone, no teammate in sight. I wrote about an athlete estranged from his teammates, on an island, not a good sign for any team. Did he read the column? I never read the newspapers, he replied, which I knew for sure was a downright fib. Bud Carson, the defensive coach for the Rams and the Steelers, among others, was different in many ways. Nowadays, assistant coaches are estranged from the media, which is a shame. Some of my best football friends, like Carson, were fountains of facts, and you never embarrassed them in print. Did Carson read PFW? Every issue, he told me. My columns? Never miss one. Youre the best. Bud, let me buy you a drink. On the same Rams staffs of the 70s under Chuck Knox was another favorite, Jack Faulkner. He almost wrote some columns for me when the Super Bowls came around, acting as a scout, prying into strengths and weaknesses of the pairings. Faulkner did such a complete job on the Dallas team one year that Tex Schramm, the Cowboys president, complained to Pete Rozelle. Faulkner had broken NFL security policies. Rozelle, wise as ever, let that one go by. Did commissioner Pete Rozelle read PFW? I am sure he did. Rozelle read everything there was to read but never responded or even hinted that he had done so. He was ever the sphinx. Then there was Jim Finks, the best general manager the NFL ever had for the Vikings, Bears and Saints. If you didnt have anything to write didnt know anything that day call Finks. He had a story to tell on all 10 fingers. One time, as we drove to the Vikings training camp at Mankato together, he launched into a diatribe against Howard Slusher, the agent, who had persuaded a quartet of absent Vikings stars to hold out their services collectively. That had not been tried before. Finks did not exactly say, Print this. But he made it quite clear that, You CAN print this. In recent years, many of my PFW columns have been obituaries. I dont think its so ghoulish that I like to write them, to tell the good stories once more. For example: Weeb Ewbank, the coach of the Colts and Jets who had a reputation for penury, died in 1998. I recalled, in my PFW column, the time Ewbank asked Don Maynard, his Hall of Fame receiver, not to tell teammates about his new contract. Dont worry, Maynard is alleged to have replied, Im just as embarrassed as you are. Lets do these 40 years all over again. Bill Wallace, an original PFW columnist, is the author of Yales Ironmen: A Story of Football & Lives In The Decade of The Depression & Beyond.

n the PFW retrospection of four decades, what comes foremost to mind is this: Who read all this stuff? With few exceptions, we can never know. One exception is Vince Lombardi, the most memorable for me because (a) I was afraid of him; (b) I so admired him; and (c) I so wished him to admire me. After Saint Vincent had retired from Green Bay, and then resumed coaching in Washington, I poked fun in some PFW columns, just fooling around. Umbrage was the result. When he saw me next and we were alone he said, Why are you taking shots at me? Wow, he reads PFW! I had a snappy retort. Just want to keep you honest. He exploded. Im the most honest man you ever met, he shouted. There was no arguing that. His Green Bay quarterback also read PFW. How do I know? Because one time I glanced in the training room at Lambeau Stadium, and there was Bart Starr lying back down on a training table, the newspaper ours held aloft in extended arms. Was he reading my column or Magees? In the early years, founder Art Arkush arranged to have free copies of PFW distributed in the stadium locker rooms, even

THROUGH THICK AND THIN:

PFWs voice continues to be heard four decades later

JERRY MAGEE
uncanny. For a time, I talked to him regularly, although I didnt do much talking. Bringing up a name to Buchsbaum was like turning on a recording. He would launch into a soliloquy of sorts. He seldom ventured very far from the Brooklyn apartment he shared with his dog. A haunted genius. During the 1960s, and even beyond, on my travels I did not often retire early. I went out at night, is what Im saying. In my pieces for PFW, I often sought to take the reader with me, to discuss the advantages of being in the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, say, or afoot in Buffalo, one of my preferred locales. Sometimes in those days, I would get calls. A guy would come on the line and say something like, Hey, its Mike from Altoona. Going to Pittsburgh. Wheres the action? I was flattered, I must say. PFW, I would guess, is thriving. It has become a multimedia operation, with interests in radio and television as well as the publication you have in your hands. Times, you should know, were not always bountiful for PFW. There came a time when it was unable to reward its essayists, and most of them took a hike. I determined to stick around in the belief that one day, the publication would achieve solvency and I would be rewarded. Besides, I enjoyed writing for PFW. At the typewriter remember typewriters? I would act to put myself in a flip frame of mind and let the words roll. Since they were not being paid, the authors who were left took to engaging in dialogues with one another. Klein was one. He pilloried me, and I pilloried him. What fun. He was, I must admit, better at it than I was, or maybe he had a more vulnerable target. I viewed him as the best football writer in the East, although I cant remember ever telling him so. Wallace, being a gentleman, removed himself from this nonsense. I remember the first time I met him. The Chargers were holed up at Bear Mountain, N.Y., on their annual excursion through the East. No place is more lonely than a resort in the middle of the winter, but Sid Gillman transported his squad to Bear Mountain for several years. One day, Wallace, a delegate of The New York Times, arrived there while the late Bob Ortman, a fellow San Diego traveler, and I were at lunch. Are you supernumeraries? Wallace asked, archly. He had taught me a new word. Perhaps in the interests of modesty, I should not mention this, but in 1989, I was the recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award, which is for long and so-called meritorious reporting on pro football. The key word there is long. A guy has to have been around for a time to win this thing. PFW gained it for me, and I have always been mindful of that. The hour grows old. This dodge of mine is not what it was. Newspapers are not doing well. Quite the opposite. We are experiencing a technological revolution. Newspapers are reacting to it by becoming lesser newspapers, which I hold is all wrong. Television could not snuff us out, and nothing is more immediate than television. PFWs voices are being stilled. One would be Don Pierson, who is retiring. He was a giant. Every week, I receive a call from a PFW representative, reminding me that a publication date is approaching. At my age, I guess I need to be reminded. One day, possibly one day quite soon, there will be no need to make these calls. Until then, I just have one thing to say. Its been a joy. Jerry Magee has covered pro football for the San Diego Union-Tribune since 1961 and for PFW since its inception in 1967.

hired myself. I am thinking of my beginnings with Pro Football Weekly. Was it so long ago, so long? Yeah, it was. This was in the 1960s, when the American Football League and PFW were young and ambitious and so was I. Wishing above all to increase my income, however minimally, I contacted the late Art Arkush, PFWs founder, and suggested to him that his publication would be well served to have a columnist who could address matters from an AFL perspective. The columnist I had in mind was myself. Art agreed. Soon enough, there were issues. I also was representing another publication that expressed the wish that I limit my jottings to it alone. I took an accounting. Both these publications were paying me, if my memory serves, $15 for an article, but for PFW I could submit two pieces weekly, one concerning the Chargers, the other of an editorial bent. I determined to continue with PFW. Sold, for $15 a week. Let me tell you, its been a hell of a ride. PFW has afforded me a national voice in this marvelous game of ours that I would not have had without it. Guys typing for a newspaper in San Diego dont often get noticed, but I like to think that PFW has given me a bit of an identity, along with a great deal of editorial liberty. Right here, I am thinking of some of the individuals with whom I have conducted dialogues on these pages, of Bill Wallace, whom I referred to as the man upstairs because his column looked down on mine, and Sir Snide, which was my name for Dave Klein when he was offering his often-caustic observations, often of me. I am thinking, too, of the late Joel Buchsbaum, who had more to do, in my thinking, with PFW winning acceptance than any other man. Buchsbaum could break down a football player and a football game with an accuracy that was

You can always rely on

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Full year (30 issues) of PFW in print and FREE online access, plus a 2007-2008 Pro Prospects Preview book, for $79.95 a savings of 47 percent off the newsstand price. Half a year (15 issues) of PFW in print and FREE online access for $44.95 a savings of 40 percent off the newsstand price. A Pro Prospects Preview book is NOT included with this offer.

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Full year (30 issues) of PFW Online (no print copies will be mailed to you), plus a PDF (online) copy of the 2007-2008 Pro Prospects Preview e-pub, for $54.95. You can print the PDF. Half a year (15 issues) of PFW Online (no print copies) for $29.95. A Pro Prospects Preview book is NOT included with this offer.

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ORDER FORM
Send me 30 issues (one year) of Pro Football Weekly by MAIL for $79.95 a savings of 47% off the single-copy price and give me online access to each issue. As a FREE gift with my paid subscription, mail me a 2007-2008 Pro Prospects Preview book. Send me 15 issues (half a year) of Pro Football Weekly by MAIL for $44.95 a savings of 40% off the single-copy price and give me online access to each issue. I understand I will NOT receive a Pro Prospects Preview book with this offer. I would like a one-year INTERNET-ONLY subscription to PFW Online for $54.95. I will have online access to a PDF of each of the 30 issues the same day it is printed, but I wont receive copies by mail. I will also have access to a PDF (online) version of the 2007-2008 Pro Prospects Preview e-pub at no additional cost. (You can take advantage of this option by going online at ProFootballWeekly.com and clicking on PFW Online. However, if you choose to use the order form on this page, you must provide us with your e-mail address.) I would like a half-year INTERNET-ONLY subscription to PFW Online for $29.95. I will have online access to a PDF of each of the 15 issues the same day it is printed, but I wont receive copies by mail. I will NOT have access to a PDF (online) version of the 2007-2008 Pro Prospects Preview e-pub with this offer. (You can take advantage of this option by going online at ProFootballWeekly.com and clicking on PFW Online. However, if you choose to use the order form on this page, you must provide us with your e-mail address.) (Optional for print subscribers only) Deliver my print issues via first-class mail (second-class mail delivery is included in the above print subscription rates). In addition to the cost of the subscription, I will pay $48 for 30 issues, $24 for 15 issues. For a PRINT subscription outside the U.S., add one of the following amounts to the basic cost of the subscription you have selected: Airmail to Canada/Mexico is $64; airmail to all other countries is $135. Surface delivery to all countries is $48. Payable in U.S. funds. You must check one of the following boxes: airmail; surface. My check/money order is enclosed, payable to Pro Football Weekly (U.S. funds only). Charge my credit card in the amount of $____________: American Express MasterCard Visa Discover

BONUS GIFT:
Pro Prospects book
If you order a full-year, 30-issue subscription of Pro Football Weekly, youll receive a 2007-2008 Pro Prospects Preview book FREE! Its the preseason companion book to our annual Draft Preview, and it provides a scouts perspective on more than 700 pro prospects, with heights, weights, 40-times, past achievements, injury histories, strengths and weaknesses. The book sells for $15.95, but its yours FREE with a full-year subscription. Books will be shipped in the first week of September.

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Mail to: Pro Football Weekly, P.O. Box 26, Deerfield IL 60015

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MENTION THE CODE F72209

Offer expires Sept. 30, 2007

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