Houston Grabs a Professional Sports Franchise: The Houston Oilers Arrive (Part 3 - May 31, 2025)

by Scott Sosebee

This will be the final part of the series on the birth of the Houston Oilers

After Bud Adams and Lamar Hunt started the ball rolling on the AFL and they gathered up owners for all the teams, the nuts and bolts of having a professional football team in Houston began. Adams’ first move was to find the newly christened “Oilers” a place to play, but the options in Houston were somewhat limited. What would seem the most logical choice was Rice University’s football stadium (Rice Stadium), a venue that was opened in 1950 and where Rice University and the University of Houston (until 1964) played their games. It was certainly large enough, as its capacity was 50,000 (it could be expanded to hold almost 70,000 when it hosted Super Bowl VIII in 1974), but Bud Adams was not keen on paying Rice University the rent that they wanted for the Oilers to play—and he was also worried about the aesthetics if the Oilers could not sell out the 50,000 seats in the stadium. That left an old HISD facility, Jeppesen Stadium, as the next best choice. It was near the University of Houston campus, and its capacity was only about 15,000. Adams agreed to finance the expansion of the facility to 36,000, but that did not disguise the smell—people complained that everything smelled like an open sewer—and the sketchy field conditions. When it was dry, the well-used Jeppesen field (high school games were still played there on Thursday and Friday) had a minimal cover of grass that Oiler players grumbled made the field “hard as concrete.” But when it rained, which was frequent in Houston, the field turned it a muddy quagmire that was barely playable. Still, the Oilers played in Jeppesen until 1964 when they decided to move to Rice Stadium; it would not be until 1968 that the Oilers would make the Astrodome their home.

The AFL was eager to get up and running as quickly as possible so it could take the fight directly to the NFL. Their first move was to schedule their first draft on November 22, 1959. The NFL season was still running at that time, and the new league hoped to get a head start on acquiring players. That’s why Adams made John Breen, a long-time scout with the Chicago Cardinals, the very first Houston Oiler employee. He hired Breen as the player personnel director, but he functioned, really, as the team’s general manager. Breen was a keen talent evaluator and set to work on the draft. The first AFL draft was different than what we have come to expect. It was by “territory.” Houston got the rights to players with the University of Texas, the University of Houston, Texas A&M, LSU, and Baylor; Dallas was assigned the players from SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, the University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. The AFL general managers then collectively decided the top eight players from each offensive position and the first eleven choices would be according to position. They would then move on to the defense.

The first Houston Oilers draft pick ever was Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon from LSU. The Los Angeles Rams had already signed Cannon and given him a $10,500 signing bonus. Adams—in a gesture of magnanimity that would NOT become a trademark—made it known he would beat any NFL offer. Cannon spurned the Rams—gave them their bonus check back—and signed with Houston under the goalpost at the end of his last game against Ole Miss. The Oilers filled out a team with the draft, but now they needed a coach and maybe some more experienced players. Adams hired Lou Rymkus to be the first coach of the Houston Oilers. Rymkus was an assistant to the innovative Sid Gillman with the Rams (Gillman would eventually play a large role with the Oilers himself) and at 40 was ready to become a head man. Interestingly, Adams’ first choice to be the leader of the Oilers was the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, a man who had invented the vaunted 4-3 defense. But, Tom Landry turned him down and decided to join the NFL expansion team in Dallas that would be named the Cowboys. Bud Wilkinson, the University of Oklahoma legend, also refused Adams’ offer so he “settled” on Rymkus. The stern tactician and Adams never really meshed and even though the Oilers would win the first AFL championship, Adams’ would fire Rymkus in the middle of his second year.

John Breen knew that Billy Cannon would sell tickets, but he wanted more. He needed someone who could lead the team on the field, a man who could take the offense and make it his own. He found him, in of all places, on George Halas’ Bears’ team. George Blanda had been an All-American QB at Kentucky and been in the NFL for 10 years in 1959. He had been a star in Chicago in his early years—he led the NFL in completions in 1954—but the irascible Halas seemed to dislike the equally headstrong Blanda so for the previous five years he had buried Blanda on Chicago’s bench and used him only as a kicker. Blanda finally had enough of Halas after the 1959 season, so he left Chicago and signed with Houston. Breen also signed an unlikely compliment to Blanda. Charlie Hennigan was a star at little Northwestern State in Natchitoches, but the NFL overlooked him. He signed with Houston and he and Blanda became a lethal passing combination.

They were a dynamic duo, but what made the Oilers tick was Lou Rykmus’ understanding of offensive line play. He had cut his teeth with the great Paul Brown in Cleveland as a line coach, and he designed a blocking scheme that protected Blanda long enough for him to do what he did best—throw the ball down the field. With Blanda at the controls and the line providing great protection, the Oilers finished with a 10-4 record, winning the Eastern Division, and then handily beat the Los Angeles Chargers 24-16 to win the first-ever AFL championship. They were even better in 1961, starting the season strong. But, after three losses in a row in the middle of the season, the mercurial Adams took a drastic measure—he fired Lou Rykmus. Why was a mystery, but Blanda and Rykmus’ relationship had soured, and the coach had even benched the QB in the midst of the streak. Adams installed Wally Lemm as the coach, and they didn’t lose another game all year, going 10-3-1 and once again beating the Chargers for their second straight AFL title.

Unfortunately, that would be the last title the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans would ever win. They lost to the Dallas Texans in the at the time longest football game ever the next year, then they plunged into over a decade of mediocrity that only revived with the “Luv Ya Blue” years of the mid-to-late 1970s. That also didn’t last, and after the last game of the 1996 season, perturbed because the city of Houston wouldn’t fund a new stadium, Bud Adams took his football team and moved to Nashville. He also took the Oilers’ name and records with him. I guess he erased some memories as well, such as my former student who didn’t seem to know there once was a team named the Houston Oilers.

The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is a Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University and the Executive Director of the Association. He can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu or via www.easttexashistorical.org.