This Oakland Raiders rookie played for the Spokane Shockers of the Continential Football League

Throwback Week: Vulcans torch the Bombers

CENTER POINT - Born in 1961, I can remember a few remote things from my early years, but I really had no clue that years were numbered until 1967. This was the first year that I can truly remember what year it was. Maybe it was because I was in kindergarten at the time at Our Lady of Lourdes and they made us write it on every thing that was turned in, but the year concept finally clicked in 1967. Our television was black and white, we had a milk man and a trip to Roebuck Shopping City was a big deal. Cousin Cliff, Sergeant Jack, army men, Underdog, Vietnam, Elvis, The Beatles, Bob Hope, Walt Disney, Walter Cronkite, John Wayne and Bear Bryant all stand out in my memory of 1967. The Apollo space program was just getting started and the Crimson Tide football program finished the season with an 8-2-1 record. This was the year of Kenny Stabler's famous 47-yard "Run in the Mud" to beat Auburn 7-3 in the rain at Legion Field. The NFL's Green Bay Packers beat the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, later to be called Super Bowl I, and the Continental Football League was in their third season of "continential" minor league football. The league would continue to grow in North America including teams in Mexico City, Montreal and Huntsville, eventually fielding 22 different teams. Pro Football Hall of Famers Bill Walsh and Stabler were part of the CoFL's history. Walsh coached the San Jose Apaches in 1967 and "The Snake" started the 1968 season with the Spokane Shockers. In Week 6 of the BDFL's 2017 season, we honor the Continential Football League, the 50th Anniversary of their 1967 season and for its contribution to pro football with the league's annual Throwback Week.