1983 Boston Breakers season

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The team started out in 1983 as the Boston Breakers, owned by Boston businessman George Matthews and former New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Vataha. However, finding a stadium proved difficult. The lack of a professional-quality stadium had stymied previous attempts at pro football in Boston before the Patriots arrived in 1960.

1983 Boston Breakers season
OwnerGeorge Matthews
General managerRandy Vataha
Head coachDick Coury
Home fieldVeterans Stadium
Results
Record11–7
Division place2nd Atlantic Division
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Uniform

The largest stadium in the region was Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough, home of the Patriots. However, it was owned by the Sullivan family, owners of the Patriots, and Matthews and Vataha were not willing to have an NFL team as their landlord. As a result, their initial choice for a home facility was Harvard Stadium, but Harvard University rejected them almost out of hand. They finally settled on Nickerson Field on the campus of Boston University, which seated only 21,000 people – the smallest stadium in the league.[1] The team's cheerleaders were called "Heartbreakers".

Coach Dick Coury put together a fairly competitive team led by quarterback Johnnie Walton (then 36 years old, a former Continental Football League and World Football League alumnus who had been out of football since the late 1970s) and Canadian Football League veteran halfback Richard Crump. The Breakers finished 11–7, finishing one game behind the Chicago Blitz for the final playoff spot. Walton, who had retired from pro football years earlier and had spent the previous three years coaching college football, was the league's seventh ranked passer. Coury was named coach of the year.

Despite fielding a fairly solid team, playing in Nickerson Field doomed the team in Boston. The stadium had been built in 1955 (though parts of it dated to 1915), and had not aged well. It was so small that the Breakers lost money even when they sold out as visiting teams got a portion of the gate proceeds. The Breakers and Washington Federals were the only teams to draw fewer than 14,000 per game in 1983. The other 10 teams drew over 18,000 per game. (The fans who came to the games were generally passionate; the documentary Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL? made note of a particular Breakers victory in which fans stormed the field afterward.)

Concluding that Nickerson Field was not suitable even for temporary use, Matthews again approached Harvard, but the school refused again. He then hashed out a deal to move to Foxborough, but ultimately decided against being a tenant of an NFL team. He considered an offer to sell a stake in the team to Jacksonville, Florida businessman Fred Bullard, but pulled out after Bullard proposed firing Coury in favor of Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. (Bullard would ultimately land an expansion franchise, the Jacksonville Bulls.) After floating offers to move to Seattle, Honolulu, and Portland, Matthews decided to move to New Orleans. He sold a 31 percent interest to New Orleans real estate developer Joe Canizaro, and the move was approved by the USFL on October 18, 1983. Matthews later sold his remaining stake to Canizaro, but Vataha remained as team president.[1]

Personnel

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Staff

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1983 Boston Breakers staff

Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches



[2]

Roster

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1983 Boston Breakers roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)
  • 78 Bruce Branch G
  • 72 Louis Bullard OT
  • 69 Jerell Franklin G/LB
  • 64 Greg Horton G/OT
  • 62 Dan Hurley OT
  • 60 Brad Johnson C
  • 50 Mike Katolin C
  • 53 Mike McLaughlin C
  • 65 Gerry Raymond G
  • 74 Ernie Rodgers OT
  • 70 Pat Staub OT

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Rookies in italics

[3]

USFL Draft

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Round Pick Player Position School
2 14 Leonard Smith Defensive Back McNeese State
3 35 Clint Sampson Wide Receiver San Diego State
4 38 George Harris Linebacker Houston
5 59 John Tuggle Running Back California
6 62 John Courtney Defensive Tackle South Carolina State
7 83 Dan Dufour Center UCLA
8 86 Todd Seabaugh Linebacker San Diego State
9 102 Tom Holmoe Defensive Back BYU
9 107 Marcus Marek Linebacker Ohio State
10 110 Lorenzo Bouier Running Back Maine
10 115 Mark Brown Linebacker Purdue
11 131 Walter Ross Running Back Northern State
12 134 Herkie Walls Wide Receiver Texas
12 139 Jeff Turk Defensive Back Boise State
13 155 Darral Hambrick Wide Receiver UNLV
14 158 Charles Young Defensive Tackle North Texas

Schedule

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Week Day Date TV Opponent Results Location Attendance
Score Record
1 Sunday March 6 at Tampa Bay Bandits 17-21 0-1 Tampa Stadium 42,437
2 Sunday March 13 at Denver Gold 21-7 1-1 Mile High Stadium 41,926
3 Sunday March 20 Washington Federals 19-16 2-1 Nickerson Field 18,430
4 Sunday March 27 at New Jersey Generals 31-21 3-1 Giants Stadium 41,218
5 Saturday April 2 ABC Birmingham Stallions 27-16 4-1 Nickerson Field 10,976
6 Sunday April 10 ABC Oakland Invaders 7-26 4-2 Nickerson Field 7,984
7 Sunday April 17 at Arizona Wranglers 44-23 5-2 Sun Devil Stadium 20,911
8 Sunday April 24 ABC at Philadelphia Stars 16-23 5-3 Veterans Stadium 10,257
9 Sunday May 1 Michigan Panthers 24-28 5-4 Nickerson Field 10,971
10 Saturday May 7 ESPN at Los Angeles Express 20-23 5-5 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 16,307
11 Sunday May 15 Denver Gold 17-9 6-5 Nickerson Field 4,173
12 Sunday May 22 at Washington Federals 21-14 7-5 RFK Stadium 7,303
13 Sunday May 29 ABC Philadelphia Stars 21-17 8-5 Nickerson Field 15,668
14 Monday June 6 ESPN Chicago Blitz 21-15 9-5 Nickerson Field 15,087
15 Sunday June 12 ESPN at Birmingham Stallions 19-31 9-6 Legion Field 20,500
16 Sunday June 19 ESPN Tampa Bay Bandits 24-17 10-6 Nickerson Field 15,530
17 Saturday June 25 ESPN at Oakland Invaders 16-17 10-7 Oakland-Alameda County Stadium 30,396
18 Sunday July 3 New Jersey Generals 34-10 11-7 Nickerson Field 15,798

[4][5][2]

Rewards

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Award Winner Position
All-USFL Team Marcus Marek LB
All-USFL Team Tim Mazzetti K
USFL Coach of the Year Dick Coury Head coach
USFL Coach of the Year (TSN) Dick Coury Head coach

Final Statistics

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Offense

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Breakers Passing
C/ATT Yds TD INT
John Walton 330/589 3772 20 18
Doug Woodward 16/26 136 3 1
Tim Mazzetti 1/1 15 0 0
Charlie Smith 0/1 0 0 0
Breakers Rushing
Car Yds TD LG
Richard Crump 190 990 8 62
Tony Davis 139 443 6 21
Anthony Steels 55 237 1 18
Dennis Johnson 44 165 1 20
Andy Johnson 13 62 0 14
John Walton 12 32 2 10
Doug Woodward 4 28 0 12
Derek Hughes 6 15 0 7
Charlie Smith 3 13 0 8
Frank Lockett 8 –7 0 7
Mitch Hoopes 1 –11 0 –11
Joe Restic 1 –21 0 –21
Breakers Receiving
Rec Yds TD LG
Nolan Franz 62 848 4 50
Charlie Smith 54 1009 5 58
Richard Crump 44 315 4 22
Tony Davis 42 260 1 18
Frank Lockett 37 535 3 86
Beau Coash 25 343 1 44
Dennis Johnson 23 110 1 12
Anthony Steels 20 148 3 27
Andy Johnson 17 150 0 22
Louie Giammona 13 75 1 16
David Bayle 7 106 0 22
Dwayne Strozier 1 12 0 12
Chris Combs 1 11 0 11
Billy Taylor 1 1 0 1

Defense

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Breakers Sacks
Sacks
Daryl Wilkerson 6.0
Ray Philips 6.0
Larry McClain 6.0
Jeff Gaylord 4.0
Oudious Lee 4.0
Terry Love 3.0
Ben Needham 2.0
Charles Harbison 2.0
Bill Roe 2.0
Joe Restic 2.0
Ernie Price 1.0
Robert Geathers 1.0
Billy Don Jackson 1.0
Marcus Tarver 1.0
Marcus Marek 1.0
Breakers Interceptions
Int Yds TD LG PD
Woodrow Wilson 4 45 0 32
Marcus Marek 4 23 0 10
Ben Needham 3 10 0 8
Joe Restic 3 8 0 8
Terry Love 3 105 0 102
Charles Harbison 2 66 0 46
Tim Smith 2 50 0 31
Ray Philips 2 12 0 7
Lyndell Jones 1 33 0 33
Mike Brewington 1 10 0 10
M.L. Carter 1 0 0 0
Breakers Fumbles
FF Fmb FR Yds TD
Richard Crump 9 3 0 0
Tony Davis 7 3 0 0
Andy Johnson 4 1 0 0
Dave Riley 3 1 0 0
John Walton 3 1 0 0
Woodrow Wilson 3 1 0 0
Nolan Franz 2 1 0 0
Dennis Johnson 2 0 0 0
Ira Matthews 2 0 0 0
Daryl Wilkerson 1 2 15 0
David Bayle 1 0 0 0
Derek Hughes 1 1 0 0
Mike Katolin 1 0 0 0
Oudious Lee 1 1 0 0
Frank Lockett 1 3 0 0
Charlie Smith 1 1 0 0
Tim Smith 1 0 0 0
Anthony Steels 1 0 0 0
Doug Woodward 1 1 0 0

Special Teams

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Breakers Kicking
FGM–FGA XPM–XPA
Tim Mazzetti 27-35 38-38
Breakers Punting
Pnt Yds Lng Blck
Dario Casarino 55 2345 72 0
Mitch Hoopes 23 866 60 0
Joe Restic 11 386 51 0
Breakers Kick Returns
Ret Yds TD Lng
Woodrow Wilson 15 336 0 43
Ira Matthews 13 210 0 27
Anthony Steels 13 204 0 26
Derek Hughes 6 123 0 25
Louie Giammona 4 83 0 27
Frank Lockett 2 66 0 40
Charlie Smith 3 45 0 22
Charles Harbison 2 18 0 10
Bill Gompf 1 18 0 18
Richard Crump 1 13 0 13
Ben Needham 1 5 0 5
Breakers Punt Returns
Ret Yds TD Lng
Woodrow Wilson 15 122 0 26
Anthony Steels 8 45 0 12
Louie Giammona 10 44 0 13
Nolan Franz 5 29 0 10
Ira Matthews 3 15 0 10

[2]

Standings

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Atlantic Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA Stadium 1983 Capacity Avg. Att. Avg. % filled Coach
y-Philadelphia Stars 15 3 0 .833 379 204 Veterans Stadium 72,204 18,650 26% Jim Mora
Boston Breakers 11 7 0 .611 399 334 Nickerson Field 21,000 12,817 61% Dick Coury
New Jersey Generals 6 12 0 .333 314 437 Giants Stadium 76,891 35,004 46% Chuck Fairbanks
Washington Federals 4 14 0 .222 297 422 RFK Stadium 54,794 13,850 25% Ray Jauch

References

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  1. ^ a b Reeths, Paul (2017). The United States Football League, 1982-1986. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1476667447.
  2. ^ a b c "1983 Boston Breakers (USFL) - Pro Football Archives". www.profootballarchives.com.
  3. ^ "1983 Boston Breakers football Roster on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  4. ^ "1983 Boston Breakers football Game-by-Game Results on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  5. ^ "1983 USFL Season - USFL (United States Football League)". www.usflsite.com.