Carl Peterson
When Lamar Hunt hired Carl Peterson in January of 1989, Carl saw the AFL trophy in the Chiefs’ offices at Arrowhead. Peterson asked Hunt if he could bring his USFL championship trophy there as well. Hunt said, “I know something about being part of a rebel league. I started one myself.”
The USFL trophy has been sitting in Arrowhead Stadium since Peterson arrived as the general manager 17 years ago.
Peterson was the player-personnel director for the Eagles from 1977 through 1982 when he got the chance to be the general manager of the USFL’s Stars. The Eagles were only two years removed from playing in the Super Bowl against the Raiders, when head coach Dick Vermeil urged Peterson to take the job with the fledgling league.
After eight years with the Eagles, Peterson made the jump to the Stars. “It forced me to get in the totality of the NFL --marketing, tickets, sales and more,” says Peterson from his home in Kansas City, MO., in May 2006. “We just lost to the Giants in the playoffs, and I went on vacation when Dick [Vermeil] called me about this new league. I didn’t want to leave the Eagles; things were going very well. But Vermeil said they were talking big numbers and big responsibility. They offered me 10 percent ownership, and the title of president and general manager.
The ownership of the Stars included general partner, Myles Tannebaum, whose group owned over 30 shopping malls. When Peterson learned of the groups solid backing, his interest was really peaked.
Peterson said, “the concept of football in the spring would be beneficial because the USFL would have its draft three months before the NFL and could entice some real talented college players to the league.”
The USFL also worked out a TV deal with ABC and this new venture backed by Getty Oil, called the Entertainment Sports Programming Network. “ESPN needed programming in the spring and they thought people would watch football and they were right,” says Peterson. “We were the highest rating they had until they got the NFL a few years later.”
Chet Simmons, the former president of ESPN, was named the USFL’s first commissioner and was the one that was truly responsible for bringing instant replay to the USFL according to Peterson.
Instant replay, was just one of the many USFL innovations the NFL adopted after the spring league’s demise in 1986.
Peterson started working for the Stars in July of 1982. By then, ownership was already in discussions with George Perles, the defensive coordinator from the Steelers, to be the head coach of the Stars.
Peterson agreed to hire Perles, but trouble was brewing. Perles was still commuting from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia as the team was being assembled. Then, one December morning Peterson got a call from Perles from his hotel outside of Philadelphia. Perles was very upset and Carl rushed over to see what was wrong. Little did Peterson know he would be looking for a new coach a month before the draft and three months before the season started. “He [Perles] said, ‘Carl I would never do this to you, but the one other job I wanted my whole life, at my alma mater, Michigan State, has called me,’” says Peterson in precise detail of the conversation between himself and Perles.
The Spartans flew Perles in the night before and offered him the job at Michigan State.
"He felt awful that he was leaving us in the lurch," says Peterson. "I told him to take the position and I would find another coach. We’ve been dear friends ever since."
Peterson was now in the hunt for a new coach just three months before the season started. Tannebaum wanted Peterson to hire Sid Gillman, the former Rams and Chargers coach that introduced the West Coast offense to football. But Carl pointed out that Sid was 70-years-old and he really wanted someone that was younger and a teacher.
In late December of 1982, Peterson targeted Penn State’s Joe Paterno. After Penn State won the national championship, Peterson and ownership met with Paterno. But Joe Pa told the Stars, “I’ve given this a lot of thought, but this is where I need to be.” Years earlier, Paterno turned down the heading coaching job with the Eagles before Vermeil accepted the position.
After Paterno pulled his name from the mix, the Philadelphia ownership began to panic a bit says Peterson. But Carl remained cool, as he had a short list of coaches and Jim Mora was on it.
Peterson knew Mora from his days as a coach at UCLA. “I needed a teacher,” says Peterson, who was facing the team’s first crisis five months into the job. “I needed someone that could teach young and new players the game.”
Mora was the defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, who were in the middle of the playoffs. Mora didn’t want his attention taken away at the task at hand, so he was hesitant to meet with Peterson until after the playoffs.
Mora finally agreed to meet Peterson at the Marriott in Newton, Mass., but Mora said he couldn’t focus on another job at the moment. After the Patriots lost to the Dolphins in the first-round, Mora flew down to Philadelphia to meet with Carl and was ready to listen. But Jim didn’t bring his wife, Connie, which concerned Peterson because he thought Jim really wasn’t interested.
Peterson interviewed Jerry Glanville and a few other guys, but Mora was his man. As Mora was getting ready to board his flight from Philadelphia, Peterson told Mora he had 24 hours to make his decision. Mora called back the next day and told him he’d take the j