If You Can't Join 'Em, Beat 'Em

Sportscaster Curt Gowdy once said that “the story of the AFL, how the league grew and became popular, is one of the best sports stories of all-time.” This is that story.



It was considered “a joke” by Chicago Bears’ patriarch George Halas, and other NFL luminaries predicted a rapid demise for the AFL. Instead, it gained a strong foothold in the pro football marketplace with its entertaining style of play, and ultimately it forced the NFL - albeit grudgingly – to accept the AFL as its equal. The two leagues merged in time for the 1970 season, and it wasn’t long before this superpower entity created a seismic shift in this nation’s sporting passions as pro football surpassed Major League Baseball as our national pastime.



Hunt and his cronies were told they couldn’t join the NFL, so in the end, they simply beat them. In these pages you will re-live some of the greatest games in AFL history, and meet a wonderful cast of characters who shepherded the AFL from the humblest of beginnings to Super Bowl glory.