THE AFL 1960–69: A RETROSPECTIVE
Prior to 1960, It Was Foolish to Try Competing Against the NFL
Several rebel leagues made the attempt and they all failed, but Lamar Hunt didn’t care.
Welcome to the serial release of my book If You Can’t Join ’Em, Beat ’Em, a celebration of the history of the American Football League in this, the 60th anniversary year of the league’s debut in 1960.
Through the turbulent decade of the 1960s, the AFL became the first rebel league to take on an established major American sports entity — in this case the NFL — that not only survived, but thrived, ultimately forcing a merger prior to the 1970 season that helped create the modern-day behemoth that the NFL has become.
In each post, you will be transported back in time and you will meet the great players and coaches who made the AFL what it was, and I will take you onto the field in recounting some of the great games that took place during those 10 years that changed the landscape of professional football.
It was insanity.
It was idiotic.
It was financial suicide being committed by men whose egos had gone mad.
They were fools, really, and in the beginning they knew it, hence their self-imposed…
