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TWENTY for TEN
© 2003 by
the American Football League Hall of Fame
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       The American Football League, established in 1959, played a total of ten fourteen-game seasons, 1960 through 1969.  Only twenty players were on AFL rosters for each of those ten years.  Three, Tom Flores (1962) Paul Lowe (1962), and Jack Kemp (1968), missed one season for various reasons, but were in the league for all ten years.  Other sources recognize Kemp and Lowe, but leave Flores out, and report the number of ten-year AFL players as nineteen.  There were seventeen men who played in all ten seasons, and twenty who were in the league all ten years.  I prefer to honor all twenty.
       The number in parentheses after each name below indicates the number of regular season AFL games played by that man.
       At a variety of positions, and with varying skills, many became AFL All-Stars, All-Time AFL players, and Hall of Famers. 

#16 George Blanda, QB (140) #33 Billy Cannon, RB (127)
#20 Gino Cappelletti, WR, PK (140) #16 Tom Flores QB (106)
#60 Larry Grantham, LB (136) #65 Wayne Hawkins, OG (136)
#79 Jim Hunt, DT (128) #64 Harry Jacobs, MLB (128)
#15 Jack Kemp, QB (117) #23 Paul Lowe, RB (101)
#15 Jacky Lee, QB (104) #55 Paul Maguire, LB, P (137)
#31 Bill Mathis, RB (137) #13 Don Maynard, WR (132)
#74 Ron Mix, OT (130) #00 Jim Otto, C (140)
#15 Babe Parilli, QB (136) #42 Johnny Robinson, SS (136)
#72 Paul Rochester, DT (128) #75 Ernie Wright, OT (139)
 

        Three men played every game their teams played in the AFL: Blanda did it with the Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders.  Otto and Cappelletti each played every game with a single team, Otto with the Raiders, and Cappelletti with the Boston Patriots.
        Nine men were with a single franchise for the entire ten years of the AFL.  Seven of them remained in one city: Cappelletti, Grantham, Hawkins, Hunt, Mathis, Maynard and  Otto. The other two each played ten years for the same franchise, but in two cities: Robinson in Dallas and Kansas City with the Texans and Chiefs; and Mix in Los Angeles and San Diego with the Chargers. 
        This is another list that puts the lie to the NFL apologists' claim that the early AFL was 'not competitive' with the other league: all these men were with the AFL from its inception.  Blanda, Maynard, Mix and Otto are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Others, like Cappelletti, Grantham, Kemp, Parilli and Robinson have records that would most likely get them into an unbiased Hall of Fame. 
Seven were on World Championship teams: Grantham, Mathis, Maynard, Lee, Parilli, Robinson and Rochester.  Not bad for a 'non-competitive' league.


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©2003  American Football League Hall of Fame  All rights reserved. Duplicate in any form you like, if you're an AFL fan.
You have the permission of the American Football League Hall of Fame.  Please credit/link to: http://www.remembertheafl.com
Last revision: 12 December 2023 ~ Angelo F. Coniglio, nospam.RemembertheAFL@aol.com
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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