On Monday, the USFL announced its eight franchises during The Herd with Colin Cowherd. The eight teams were split into two divisions.
The Philadelphia Stars were named as one of the eight teams and will play in the North Division. The North Division features the New Jersey Generals, Pittsburgh Maulers, and the Michigan Panthers. The South Division will feature the Birmingham Stallions, Tampa Bay Bandits, Houston Gamblers, and New Orleans Breakers.
The Stars will play a ten-game regular season schedule, playing their North Divisional opponents twice and once in the South Division. The top two teams in each division will advance to the playoffs. The USFL season will start in mid-April and run to mid-June.
The Philadelphia Stars were a successful team during the original USFL run. Myles Tanenbaum, a real-estate magnate, owned them, and the head coach was Jim Mora. The Stars won a league-best 41 games that included the regular season and playoffs.
The Stars played at Veterans Stadium for two seasons in 1983 and 1984 but during the 1984 postseason played at Franklin Field.
The Stars appeared in all three championship games. In 1983 at Mile High Stadium, they lost the first USFL championship game to the Michigan Panthers 24-22 in front of 50,906 fans. The Stars went 15-3 for the season and featured prominent players from Kelvin Bryant, Sam Mills, Chuck Fusina, Bart Oates, Steve Folsom, and Willie Collier.
The Stars’ defense was the best in the league, only allowing 204 points and tallying 35 sacks led by Don Fielder with 8.5 sacks. Scott Woerner led the team with eight interceptions.
In 1984, the Stars went 16-2. They had to relocate their postseason games from Veterans Stadium to Franklin Field due to a conflict with the Phillies. Nevertheless, the Stars won the 1984 USFL championship in Tampa Stadium over the Arizona Wranglers 23-2 in front of 52,662 fans, and the game was broadcast on ABC.
Quarterback Chuck Fusina threw 465 passes for 3,837 yards, 31 touchdowns, nine interceptions, 40 carries for 251-yards, and one touchdown. Running back, Kelvin Bryant had 297 carries for 1,406 yards, 13 touchdowns, 48 catches for 453-yards, and one touchdown. Willie Collier led the receivers with 56 catches for 757-yards and seven touchdowns.
The Stars’ defense was a force to be reckoned with. George Cooper and Don Fielder were tied with six sacks. The defense had 49 sacks and 28 interceptions, led by Mike Lush with seven interceptions.
In 1985, the Stars moved to Baltimore because the league’s owners voted to move the season to fall and didn’t want to compete with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Stars went 10-7-1 and won the championship over the Oakland Invaders at Giants Stadium 28-24 in front of 49,263 fans. Chuck Fusina finished the season, completing 496 passes for 3,496 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions.
Running back, Kelvin Bryant had 238 carries for 1,207 yards, 12 touchdowns, 40 catches for 407-yards, and four touchdowns. Scott Fitzkee led the receivers with 73 catches for 882-yards and three touchdowns. The defense had 60 sacks led by John Walker with ten sacks and 30 interceptions. Mike Lush led with ten interceptions and one touchdown.
After the league folded, many Stars players went on to have successful NFL careers, including punter Sean Landeta, linebacker Sam Mills, and Offensive Lineman Bart Oates. In addition, stars President Carl Peterson went on to work for the Kansas City Chiefs as a president/general manager/chief executive officer.
The USFL will make more announcements on schedules, tv networks, and head coaches at a later date.
