The Manic in Black

Oilers General Manager Ladd Herzeg had two high first-round draft choices in 1985, thanks to the trade that sent Earl Campbell to New Orleans. Although there were quite a few big names to choose from, the Oilers wanted DE Ray Childress of Texas A&M and happily chose him with the third pick in the draft. With the Campbell pick, Herzeg tabbed CB Richard Johnson of Wisconsin. Johnson was the 11th overall pick and the first DB taken. The new QB was not impressed.

"Where was Eddie Brown?" asked Warren Moon, inquiring about the All-American receiver.

Answer: taken by the rival Bengals with the 13th pick while the 49ers moved up to take a fellow by the name of Jerry Rice with the 16th selection. Rice may be in Canton before Moon gets there. Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson’s career peaked on draft day, making as many mistakes as good plays on defense.

Warren was right to ask for a go-to receiver. His current one was Tim Smith, an efficient, if unspectacular ball hawk who had trouble getting open against the league’s better corners. Herzeg answered Moon’s prayers with a little-noticed trade that summer, sending two draft picks to the Rams for Drew Hill. The little wipeout had been used in Los Angeles as an occasional deep threat but he soon became the new favorite receiver in Houston, grabbing 64 passes for 1,164 yards and nine TD’s.

More help for Moon came when RB Mike Rozier signed after finishing his USFL career in Pittsburgh. Rozier shared time with Butch Woolfolk while he learned the offense. PK Tony Zendejas, another USFL refugee, was acquired from Washington to handle the kicking chores.

Opening week would be a showdown with the defending AFC Champion Miami Dolphins. Moon hit Woolfolk on an 80-yard bomb while Rozier scored twice. The lowly Oilers pulled off a 26-23 upset. But after a combined 6-35 record the past three years, losing would prove to be a hard habit to break. Houston dropped their next five games including a shutout to the Steelers, a heartbreaking loss in Washington and a 17-10 home defeat at the hands of the hated Dallas Cowboys. A mid-season three-game winning streak brought a glimmer of hope but it collapsed under the weight of injuries and youthful mistakes. At 5-9 and last again in the AFC Central, Hugh Campbell was fired as head coach.

Herzeg turned to defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville to finish the season. Glanville had taken a very young defensive squad and molded it into a unit that made up in aggression what they lacked in talent. With no head coaching experience, Glanville was told to win or else. The Oilers lost both games yet they played hard. Surprisingly, it was good enough to give Glanville a full season at the helm.

A runt of a man, Glanville was the sort of guy who must have carried a chip on his shoulder as a boy. He was fresh and feisty. Jerry wanted his players to show more heart and hustle than his opponents. Sometimes it went a bit too far.

He started a "hit the beach" award for the best special teams hit. Each week, the winner got to wear an army combat helmet. He encouraged and rewarded aggressive play and was soon receiving lectures from opposing coaches about the Oilers’ rough nature. The team racked up penalties like a bunch of Raider wannabes.

There was also a quirky side to Jerry Glanville. He enjoyed dressing all in black before anyone but Johnny Cash considered it to be stylish. He left complimentary tickets at ballgames for the late Elvis Presley, the late James Dean and the plausibly late D.B. Cooper among others. He acted like Fonzie in his forties.

Jerry also liked a good practical joke. He once was introduced at the start of training camp to a low-round QB they had drafted out of Iowa. Glanville launched into a mock tirade at Herzeg:

"Iowa?" he snapped. "I wanted the guy out of Iowa State! I told you to get me the quarterback at Iowa State, not Iowa. The guy from Iowa was no good, I told you. He can’t play." Turning to the player Jerry continued, "I’m sorry. We made a terrible mistake. We didn’t mean to draft you…"

Not surprisingly, the quarterback didn’t make the roster. But for one day he was the talk of training camp.

It turned out to be less controversial than the quarterback the Oilers drafted from Purdue. With the third overall pick in the 1986 draft, Herzeg lit a fire by claiming Jim Everett. As draft-board value, Everett was an obvious choice. But the Oilers already had millions tied up in Warren Moon and Everett’s agent insisted on millions more. Moon’s critics cheered. His supporters fumed. The draft day drama left the selections of WR Ernest Givins and RB Allen Pinkett completely ignored.

Ultimately, Bud Adams would not pony up the funds for two multi-millionaire quarterbacks and Everett held out. After the season began, Everett was dealt to the Los Angeles Rams for two players and three draft picks. The players were Pro-Bowl OG Kent Hill and a young, quick DE named William Fuller. Hill offered immediate help to a struggling offensive line. Fuller would become one of the best pass rushers in franchise history. For the record, one of the draft choices in the Everett deal became WR Haywood Jeffires and the other two were traded to the Raiders for DE Sean Jones. It could rival the 1978 Tampa Bay deal that brought Earl Campbell to Houston as the best trade the Oilers ever made.

The city of Houston was regaining the sports frenzy of 1980 that year. The Rockets made it to the NBA Finals. The Astros made it to the National League Championship Series. Jerry’s Kids? They blitzed Green Bay on the road, 31-3, to start the season but then proceeded to lose eight in a row. Often, the Oilers outplayed their opponents only to be done in by costly turnovers, untimely penalties or plain old bad luck. The talent was there. Glanville and Herzeg both took a lot of abuse.

A shutout in San Diego left them 3-11 and gasping for air but home wins against Minnesota and Buffalo the final two weeks left some room for guarded optimism.

"Bud is embarrassed," said Herzeg after the Oilers’ sixth straight losing season. "We don’t like the prospect of going out in public."

Ironically, Herzeg said this before Adams began threatening to move the Oilers to Jacksonville and BEFORE Herzeg was arrested in Buffalo for allegedly dropping his pants at a wedding reception that had annoyed him. Adams demanded luxury boxes and more seating if he was going to remain in the Astrodome. After a summer of turmoil, the Oilers struck a deal to stay put but the Dome’s signature scoreboard would have to go. Even with more seats, Houston was never in the running as a Super Bowl venue. The only time Houston hosted one was in 1974 for Super Bowl VIII and it was not at the Astrodome but in roomier Rice Stadium. It was played on a cold, damp, dreary day that stood in poor contrast to warm, sunny California and Florida. No wonder Pete Rozelle scratched Houston off his list

As they had five years earlier, the NFL Players Association staged a strike two weeks into the 1987 season. Player salaries had doubled since the last strike and Houstonians took the strike harder than most. After all, the Oilers hadn’t won a third of their games since the last strike so it was easy to portray the players as greedy and selfish. A cartoon striker in the local paper asked. "Could you live on $850,000 a year?"

The NFL owners took a new approach this time. They brought in replacement players. Enduring sparse crowds and threats of violence, thousands of Walter Mitty’s suited up and played real televised games if just so they could impress the girls back home that they once played in the NFL. The Oilers found some good replacements and stole road wins at Denver and Cleveland, where they would have probably lost if not for the strike. After three weeks, the regulars returned and only a handful of Mitty’s were allowed to stay on.

The real Oilers, showing more hunger than they had in years, toppled the Falcons, 37-33, and began to gel. They bloodied the Steelers in Pittsburgh, 23-3, beginning Glanville’s feud with Steeler coach Chuck Noll. Finally, they closed out the season with back-to-back home wins against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati to finish 9-6 and grab a wild card berth in the playoffs. With the help of scabs, the Oilers were at long last winners again. For their efforts, the replacements saw not a dime of playoff money.

Somewhere in all of this, Herzeg finally got around to signing holdout top pick Alonzo Highsmith. The other first round choice, Haywood Jeffires, was busy dropping passes and looking like a bigger bust than Dolly Parton. These were no polished gems but the Oilers were good enough to host a playoff game.     

Outplaying a Seattle team that was missing their star running back, Curt Warner, Houston almost blew it when ex-Oiler Steve Largent tied the game at 20-20 with a TD catch in the final minute of regulation play. A controversial call negated a Houston turnover in overtime before Zendejas drilled a 42-yard FG for a 23-20 Oiler triumph.

The next stop was Denver, whom the Oilers had plastered in the regular season, 40-10. Oh, wait. Those were the Ersatz Oilers. The real ones were in for a much bumpier ride. Buried on their own four-yard line on their first possession, Glanville called a trick play named "Stagger Lee". Rozier was flanked far left behind the tight end and both tackles. Hill and Givins flanked wide right. Moon, Highsmith and the other three linemen stayed in the middle.

Only one Bronco, Steve Wilson, lined up over Rozier but, when Rozier dropped the backward pass from Moon, Wilson fell on the ball at the Houston one yard line. It took John Elway two plays to cash in his Oiler gift certificate and, after Moon was intercepted, Denver had a quick 14-0 lead. The miscues sapped all the life from the Oilers and they deflated in a 34-10 loss.

"Stagger Lee" became a national joke and the Oilers were suddenly back to being laughingstocks. Jerry Glanville knew only one way to survive it – make his team play more physical next year.

Bob Hulsey has a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He has worked in print and radio covering sports throughout Texas since 1976. He presently works for a telecommunications company in Austin. Jerry Glanville Home

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