The Southern California Sun were at 4-3 and leading the World Football League’s Western Division as they faced the winless Portland Storm, who had a 0-6-1 record, on August 28, 1974 in the eighth week of the first WFL season.
The Sun were coached by Tom Fears, a former Hall of Fame
player for the Rams and, more recently, the first head coach of the New Orleans
Saints. They had good luck in signing draft choices, most notably HB Kermit
Johnson and FB James McAlister from UCLA and OT Booker Brown of USC. They also
had a fair sprinkling of quality veterans such as WR Dave Williams and OT Joe
Carollo, while unheralded QB Tony Adams (pictured above) was proving to be a pleasant surprise
guiding the offense. Southern California had won its last two contests and was
trying to build its lead in the division. However, the Sun was without
McAlister, who was replaced in the starting lineup by Greg “Buffalo” Herd, due
to a thigh injury as well as Booker Brown.
Portland had been the last franchise to enter the WFL and
was guided by Head Coach Dick Coury. QB Greg Barton had CFL experience and replaced
rookie Ken Johnson, who suffered a broken hand in the opening week. Running
backs Rufus “Road Runner” Ferguson and Marv Kendricks were talented but the
team had difficulty producing points, reaching 20 in a game only once thus far.
There were 27,814 fans in attendance at Anaheim Stadium
on a Wednesday night. The Sun started off the scoring following a turnover when
DT Charles DeJurnett forced Marv Kendricks of the Storm to fumble at the
Portland 41 on the game’s second play. Four
plays later, Tony Adams threw to Dave Williams for a 28-yard touchdown. The
pass for the action point was unsuccessful (In the WFL, touchdowns counted for
seven points and were followed by an action point that could not be kicked).
Late in the opening period, Adams tossed another TD pass,
this time to WR Terry Lindsey covering 37 yards, and although the action point
attempt again failed, the home team held a 14-0 advantage.
Heading into the second quarter, Portland came back with
a 61-yard drive that culminated in Greg Barton connecting with TE Bob
Christiansen, who was free in the end zone for a four-yard touchdown. A throw
for the action point was no good. But the Sun quickly advanced to another
score, helped by a pass interference penalty near the goal line, and HB Ralph
Nelson pounded over from a yard out for another TD. Once again the try for the
action point was unsuccessful, but it hardly mattered. On Portland’s next play
from scrimmage, CB Gene Howard intercepted a Barton pass and returned it 44
yards for another touchdown and this time the action point was added thanks to
an Adams toss to Williams that put Southern California well in front by a 29-7
score.
On the final play of the first half, Adams added to the
home team’s lead by finishing off a long drive of 92 yards in 16 plays with an
11-yard completion to Williams, and the two once again connected for the action
point. The halftime score stood at 37-7 and Adams took a seat for the remainder
of the contest.
Southern California’s backup QB Gary Valbuena helped to
pile on to the home team’s lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter when
he threw to Lindsey along the right sideline and, when the defender dove and
missed, he ran 26 yards for another TD. Nelson ran for the action point and the
crowd began heading for the exits.
The Storm finally scored again when a Barton pass
intended for WR Jim Krieg drew a pass interference penalty of 33 yards to the
Southern California two and, three plays later, Kendricks drove over right
tackle for a one-yard touchdown. QB Ken Johnson ran a bootleg to add the action
point. It counted for nothing more than pride as the Sun came away with a
convincing 45-15 win.
The Sun outpaced Portland in total yards (394 to 233) and
first downs (22 to 15). The Storm turned the ball over twice to one suffered by
Southern California.
Tony Adams, in his half of action, completed 12 of 13
passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns while Gary Valbuena, in mop-up duty,
was 8 of 14 for 77 yards and a TD. HB Alonzo Emery gained 40 yards on 7 carries
while, in his relief appearance, Greg Herd (pictured at right) rushed for 31 yards on 8 attempts
and caught an eight-yard pass. Dave Williams had 6 catches for 68 yards and two
touchdowns and Terry Lindsey gained 86 yards on his three pass receptions. MLB
Eric Patton and DT Dave Roller performed notably well on defense.
For the Storm, Greg Barton was successful on 8 of 15
throws for 57 yards and a TD while giving up one interception. Rufus Ferguson
was held to 31 yards on 13 carries and led the club in pass receiving with three
for 50 yards.
“They’re an excellent team,” said Portland’s Coach Coury
of the Sun. “They have good talent, good receivers, and they executed very
well.”
The Sun lost the following week but then reeled off seven
straight wins on the way to easily topping the Western Division with a 13-7
record. However, they also encountered financial problems and the star rookies
Johnson, McAlister, and Brown chose to sit out the playoff game against the
Hawaiians, which the demoralized club lost. As for Portland, the Storm finally
won the next week against the Detroit Wheels, the first of four victories in
five games, and finished the season at 7-12-1.
Tony Adams was named one of the WFL’s three co-MVPs as he
led the league in passing yards (3905) and finished second in attempts (510),
completions (276), and yards per attempt (7.7). He was also a first-team
All-WFL selection by The Sporting News and moved on to the NFL in 1975, where
he spent four seasons primarily as a backup with the Kansas City Chiefs before
moving on to Canada.
