Fantasy History

A brief history of fantasy football, as told by Andy Mousalimas , one of the original fantasy football players.

PART I

GOPPPL FOUNDED 1963

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

Bill Winkenbach, Scotty Sterling and Bill Tunnell originated the idea of FANTASY FOOTBALL on a rainy night in a Manhattan Hotel; they were sitting in their hotel room at the tail end of the 1962 Raider eastern swing trip from Boston, Buffalo and New York. (the Raiders at the time could not afford to fly back and forth to the East Coast.) When they returned to Oakland the three men, with George Ross, the Oakland Tribune Sports editor, fine-tuned the draft rules.

The league was called GOPPPL:

THE GREATER OAKLAND PROFFESIONAL PIGSKIN PROGNOSTICATORS LEAGUE

The "Club Owners" of GOPPL:

• Raider owner Bill Winkenbach and first commissioner
• George Ross, Oakland Tribune Sports Editor
• Scotty Sterling, Oakland Tribune Sports Writer.
• George Glace, Oakland Raider Ticket Manager
• Bob Blum, Oakland Raider play by play announcer
• Bill Tunnell, Oakland Raiders Public Relation person.
• Phil Carmona, Raider Season Ticket Seller
• Ralph Casebolt, Raider Season Ticket Seller

Scotty Sterling who later became The Raiders and Knicks General Manager asked me to be his partner. Bill Downing, Kaiser executive, and future president of Oakland's Chamber of Commerce, joined Casebolt's franchise. Bob Valli, Oakland Tribune sports writer, joined George Ross's franchise. And George Glace was ahead of his time "drafting" 24-year old Ron Wolf, a Raider Assistant, as his partner.

First draft was held at Winkenbachs rumpus room; thereafter the GOPPPL draft and payoff dinners were held at various Oakland restaurants.

GOPPPL 1963 Official Rules | GOPPPL 1963 Draft Results

PART II

KINGS X DRAFT

1968 I opened the Kings X Sports Bar in Oakland; the first Kings X draft was held in 1969. By 1972 the X had five divisions.

Each division had a specific name and color, beginning with the KINGS Division in 1969; the X Division, 1970; the TAXI Division, and the OTHER Divisions, 1971; the ROOKIE Division, 1972. No women were allowed to participate (if I was in business today and enforced that ruling, my business would be history). In 1974 Al Santini, a long time Safeway manager, urged me to have an all ladies division. It turned out to be an excellent idea; of course we named the division, QUEENS. Santini was anointed as the Godfather of the Division.

Notice two divisions were started in 1971. The Taxi Division filled up immediately; costumers having lunch would ask questions about the colorful Division draft boards, and if they could participate; thus the "Other" was launched the same year. Passion for the draft was not unlike the WCOFF in Vegas.

(NOTE: Taxi Squad was named after the Cleveland Brown's reserve players. The Brown's owner, Mickey McBride, owned the largest taxi company in Cleveland. In order to keep his recently cut players in the Cleveland area, he hired them as cab drivers. Thus Taxi Squad became a part of Pro Football jargon. The AFL was called the "Other League" by the arrogant NFL.)

By 1974 the Kings X Draft had over 200 participants (I retired and sold the X in 1991 but the Kings X continues to use "KINGS X DRAFT" rather than "Fantasy Football"). We had participants from all parts of Northern California and they became the unofficial ambassadors of the draft. My committee launched drafts in San Francisco and many towns in Northern California. We received telephone calls from people, as far away as Hawaii, who had heard of the draft, and requested the rules. I would send them all the particulars. Many groups did not get off the ground because they found the scoring difficult and time consuming.

Street and Smith was the "Bible" of our early drafts; unfortunately there was very little information to help the novices. The franchises that had the football gurus, and took the time to research the new, old, injured players etc, usually ended in the upper bracket of their divisions. The media was no help. Today's flood of Fantasy Football articles has taken the fun out of the draft. Researching and finding sleepers was the ultimate individual prize in the draft.

The participants were required to come to the Kings X to turn in their weekly lineups (no phone calls). Lineups had to be turned in by midnight Friday, unless there was a Thursday game when the lineups were turned in midnight Wednesday Night. On Sundays a large group would watch the game at the X. The participants in the draft couldn't care less who won, they cheered for their respective players. People unaware of the draft were confused. Monday noon the place was jammed for lunch to check the Sunday scoring, and of course there was Monday Night football. Tuesday during lunch the weekend draft scores were posted on the six divisional boards placed across one of X's walls

I scored all six divisions manually.

People love to see their names in "lights" especially if they are in first place. Having the only game in town (in fact in the U.S.) I could pick and choose the franchises. Friday evenings was special. Most of the participants would turn in their lineups, and the good natured ragging from the leaders of each division would be relentless. Many of the participants have told me, with the exception of Draft Night, Friday nights was the highlight of the draft. The camaraderie was exceptional. I am proud to say in the many years of the draft, there were very few grievances.

The dinner at the conclusion of each season was attended by most of the participants. We gave "every" franchise a humorous gift relating to whatever comical or serious problem arose in the past season. One of the best gifts, albeit sad, was a mini coffin presented to the franchise that had drafted St. Louis Cardinal receiver, J.V Cain. Unfortunately J.V. passed away a couple of weeks before the draft. (there was very little news of Pro Football players in the media, no radio sports talk shows, and of course no internet.)

PART III

RULES COMMITTEE

The Kings X draft had a rules committee: A CZAR was appointed to oversee the committee; there was one representative from each division. The aforementioned Bill Downing, a loyal Buckeye, was a terrific representative and the 2nd CZAR of our draft. The Committee, all volunteers, were not only knowledgeable football people, but also successful in the business and professional world.

As the owner of the X, I was an ex officio member without a vote, though I would decide on any rule that might affect my business,

The committee met at least twice during off season, to check out any grievances and/or possibly changes in the rules, and confirm the franchises were set for the coming year.

By 1972 The Kings X Draft Committee had made two crucial scoring changes from the original rules. GOPPPLS rules had a RB, REC or QB receiving the same amount of points for a TD no matter the length of the TD (double over 75 yards). In 1970 the committee inserted an escalating scale for TD's for all skill positions. An interesting note: the season we researched touchdowns, 84% of all RB TD's scored were within the 4 yard line.

We also inserted the yardage system. In the original rules, for example, a RB could rush 10 yards per game, score a couple of one yd TD's and get points.. Meanwhile a RB who ran 100 plus yards would get Zip. Our committee inaugurated the important yardage system in 1971.

A third rule was also adopted: "Defensive and Return Players" were changed to "Defensive Teams and Return Teams."

In 1979 we added another rule, the mid season draft. This is an important rule because of the ambiguous NFL Injury report. A franchise losing two QB's who are not placed on IR would have a terrible handicap. Our rules state a position must be depleted and placed on IR before they are able to replace a player. Mid season is held after the 8th week. The draft is in reverse order of the Division's standings. The mid season draft consists of four rounds.

Note: Players dropped by one franchise cannot be drafted by another franchise. The key word is "Collusion." The same reason I personally vetoed trades, even though many franchises were in favor this rule.

The Kings X rules, basically, are in effect, in most F.F. leagues. Unfortunately Winkenbach was upset that I changed the rules, he sent me a letter that I was no longer welcomed in GOPPPL. I have always given credit to Bill Winkenbach, Scotty Sterling and Bill Tunnell for founding F.F. The Kings X, though, is responsible for perpetuating this terrific game.

PART IV

PUBLICITY AND PERPETUATING F.F.

The Oakland Tribune and both S.F. newspapers (Chronicle and Examiner) gave the draft very little ink, but this was my choice. Gambling is anathema in restaurants and bars and I was worried if we received too much publicity the vice squad would shut down the game and penalize the Kings X.

I received many inquiries for our rules from people in Northern California, and as far as Hawaii; I mailed them the particulars. On game days CBS, NBC, and ABC, who covered the pro football games, refused to acknowledge our draft and couldn't care less. We would call, write and telegraph their respective headquarters and beg them to announce the players who scored on game day. They completely ignored our many requests. In addition the sports media couldn't care less; Ditto the NFL.

Times have changed!

This was an article I found on NFLPlayers.com.  Very interesting.  And because of this information, I have decided to dedicate this season to none other than Ronnie Bull.  Why?  You ask.  Because Ronnie Bull was the Chicago Bears RB that was drafted by the team "Blum" in the innagural Fantasy Football Draft in 1963.  So, to those who question the authenticity of what many of us call a hobby, and to some a past time.  I give you this.  Fantasy Sports are just like any other hobby that you may have.  It is a great conversation piece, it has it's stories, and most of all, it now has it's own history.  Good luck to the owners of this year's Fantasy Football Cartel Leagues.