Tampa Bay Bandits

This article is about the first edition of the USFL. For the present day USFL, see Tampa Bay Bandits (2022).

Tampa Bay Bandits
Established 1982 Folded 1986 Played in Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida
League/conference affiliations
United States Football League (1983–1985) Eastern Conference (1984–1985) Central Division (1983) Southern Division (1984)
Current uniform
Team colors	Red, Silver, Black, White
Mascot	Smokey
Personnel
Owner(s)	John F. Bassett (managing general partner) Stephen Arky (general partner) Burt Reynolds (general partner) Stan Gelt (general partner) 26 other partners
Head coach	Steve Spurrier
Team history
Tampa Bay Bandits (1983–1985)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (0)
Division championships (0)
Playoff appearances (2)
1984, 1985
Home stadium(s)
Tampa Stadium (1983–1985)

The Tampa Bay Bandits were a professional American football team in the United States Football League (USFL) which was based in Tampa, Florida. The Bandits were a charter member of the USFL and was the only franchise to have the same principal owner (John F. Bassett), head coach (Steve Spurrier), and home field (Tampa Stadium) during the league's three seasons of play (1983–1985). The Bandits were one of the most successful teams in the short-lived spring football league both on the field and at the ticket booth. Spurrier's "Bandit Ball" offense led them to three winning seasons and two playoff appearances, and their exciting brand of play combined with innovative local marketing helped the Bandits lead the league in attendance. However, the franchise folded along with the rest of the USFL when the league suspended play after the 1985 season.

Prominent alumni from the Bandits include future NFL Pro Bowlers Nate Newton and Gary Anderson and coach Steve Spurrier, who spent 25 years coaching college football after his successful first stint as a head coach with the Bandits and was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

History

Preparing to play

Origins

The Tampa Bay Bandits' primary founder was Canadian businessman John F. Bassett, who was still in litigation against the NFL over his previous Memphis Southmen franchise from the World Football League in the mid-1970s. Bassett was initially skeptical about getting into another football venture. However, he soon warmed up to the USFL after discovering that he was nowhere as well off as the other owners. While he had been by far the richest owner in the WFL, he realized that he would be one of the poorest owners in the USFL. Believing that the USFL was on far stronger financial ground than the WFL ever had been, he agreed to sign on. Bassett had a part-time home in the Tampa Bay Area, and when the USFL announced its twelve charter franchises in May 1982, Bassett was introduced as the majority owner of the as-yet unnamed team in Tampa along with Miami attorney Steve Arky.

Establishment in Tampa

After it was decided that the franchise would play in Tampa, several minority owners bought stakes, among them Hollywood star Burt Reynolds, a former college football player at Florida State who was one of the most popular motion picture actors in the world. The team was soon dubbed the "Bandits", and although it was widely assumed that the name referenced Reynolds' role in the hit Smokey and the Bandit movies, Bassett said that the mascot had been chosen before Reynolds joined the ownership group and instead came from the name of Bassett's daughter's German Shepherd. Reynolds was prominently involved in the Bandits' early marketing campaigns, and the cover of the team's first media guide featured a photo of the actor wearing a Bandits jacket and trucker hat.

Also building interest was the hiring of Steve Spurrier as head coach and offensive coordinator in November 1982. Spurrier was well known in the area as a Heisman Trophy-winning college star for the University of Florida Gators and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' first starting quarterback, and had most recently spent three seasons as a record-setting offensive coordinator at Duke University before accepting his first head coaching job with the Bandits. Though Bassett had also considered several established coaches with NFL experience, he chose Spurrier due to his deep connections to the state of Florida and his reputation as an innovative young offensive coach; Spurrier was 37 when hired, making him the youngest head coach in professional football at the time. At Spurrier's introductory press conference, Bassett joked that he knew that he'd found the right coach when he discovered that the Spurrier family also had a dog named Bandit.

Bandit Ball

The Bandits began play in 1983 in Tampa Stadium, and were immediately more successful than the area's NFL franchise, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with whom they shared a home field (though the Bucs played in the fall and early winter while the Bandits played in the spring and early summer). The Bandits narrowly missed the playoffs in their first season and made the postseason the next two years. Spurrier's aggressive offense was usually one of the best in the league; Bandits players are among the USFL career leaders in touchdown passes (John Reaves, 4th), touchdown receptions (Eric Truvillion, 2nd), and rushing touchdowns (Gary Anderson, 3rd). However, an average defense and Bassett's insistence on adhering to the USFL's original financial plan while other franchises spent millions on free agent signings kept the team from serious championship contention.

The Bandits were also successful off the field. They drew the highest average attendance over the three-year history of the USFL, coming in second in attendance in 1983 and leading the league in that category in 1984 and 1985 with over 40,000 fans per game. Also, their memorabilia outsold that of the Buccaneers in the Tampa Bay area. A fan-friendly atmosphere (including a theme song, "Bandit Ball", penned and sung by Reynolds' friend Jerry Reed) was one factor, and the Bucs' futility during the period (they went 10–38 from 1983 to 1985—the start of a 12-year stretch of 10-loss seasons) also helped the Bandits' success. Another key factor in the Bandits' success was the fact that there was no Major League Baseball team in Tampa at the time (the Tampa Bay Devil Rays would not debut for another decade), meaning that unlike other USFL teams, they did not have to compete with a baseball team for spectators. Due to broad local support, the Bandits were one of a very few USFL teams with a stable home and steady finances - they were the only franchise to have the same coach, owner, and home city throughout the league's three-year existence. Due to these factors, the Bandits are considered one of the few USFL teams that had the potential to be a viable venture had the league been better run. The Philadelphia Stars played Tampa Bay at Wembley Stadium in an exhibition game on July 21, 1984.

1983 season

1983 schedule and results

Week	Day	Date	Opponent	Game site	Attendance	Television	Final score	W/L	Record
Regular Season
1	Sunday	March 6, 1983	Boston Breakers	Tampa Stadium	42,437	—	21–17	W	1–0
2	Saturday	March 12, 1983	Michigan Panthers	Tampa Stadium	38,789	—	19–7	W	2–0
3	Sunday	March 20, 1983	at New Jersey Generals	Giants Stadium	53,307	—	32–9	W	3–0
4	Sunday	March 27, 1983	at Philadelphia Stars	Veterans Stadium	18,718	ABC	27–22	W	4–0
5	Saturday	April 2, 1983	Chicago Blitz	Tampa Stadium	46,585	ESPN	3–42	L	4–1
6	Saturday	April 9, 1983	at Denver Gold	Mile High Stadium	46,848	ESPN	22–16 OT	W	5–1
7	Monday	April 18, 1983	Los Angeles Express	Tampa Stadium	32,223	ESPN	13–18	L	5–2
8	Sunday	April 24, 1983	at Washington Federals	RFK Stadium	9,070	—	30–23	W	6–2
9	Saturday	April 30, 1983	Philadelphia Stars	Tampa Stadium	41,559	ESPN	10–24	L	6–3
10	Sunday	May 8, 1983	at Oakland Invaders	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum	26,989	ABC	17–10	W	7–3
11	Sunday	May 15, 1983	Arizona Wranglers	Tampa Stadium	32,327	—	20–14	W	8–3
12	Saturday	May 21, 1983	Oakland Invaders	Tampa Stadium	43,389	ESPN	29–9	W	9–3
13	Monday	May 30, 1983	at Michigan Panthers	Pontiac Silverdome	23,976	ESPN	7–43	L	9–4
14	Sunday	June 5, 1983	Birmingham Stallions	Tampa Stadium	35,623	ABC	45–17	W	10–4
15	Sunday	June 12, 1983	at Chicago Blitz	Soldier Field	21,249	—	9–31	L	10–5
16	Sunday	June 19, 1983	at Boston Breakers	Nickerson Field	15,530	—	17–24	L	10–6
17	Monday	June 27, 1983	Denver Gold	Tampa Stadium	46,128	ESPN	26–23	W	11–6
18	Saturday	July 2, 1983	at Birmingham Stallions	Legion Field	20,300	ESPN	17–29	L	11–7

Sources

1983 Opening Day Roster

1983 Tampa Bay Bandits roster
	Quarterbacks 15 Jimmy Jordan  7 John Reaves Running backs 21 Greg Boone 23 George Ragsdale 34 Willie Wilder FB 44 Ricky Williams Wide receivers 42 Danny Buggs 81 Martin Cox 83 Jim Fitzpatrick 88 Willie Gillespie 80 Anthony Stephens 84 Eric Truvillion Tight ends 86 Lewis Gilbert 61 Wes Phillips 87 Bob Young		Offensive linemen 69 Steve Gettel T 64 Bobby Hopkinks G 60 Doug Mackie T 66 Bob Norris G 70 Joe Robinson T 67 Bob Van Duyne C 55 Bill Winters C Defensive linemen 63 Curtis Bunche DE 75 Walter Carter DE 68 Fred Nordgren DT 78 James Ramey DE 74 Ken Times DT		Linebackers 56 Keith Clark 45 Mike Goedecker 54 Tony Hayes 55 Kelly Kirchbaum 53 Paul Piurowski 59 Russ Washington Defensive backs 25 Alvin Bailey 28 Doug Beaudoin 32 Glen Edwards 33 Jeff George 20 Tim Groves 36 Ken Taylor 22 Leon Williams Special teams  9 Zenon Andrusyshyn K/P		Reserve lists 65 Ed Gantner DT 46 Warren Hanna DB 58 Alonzo Johnson LB 11 Nat Koonce QB 52 Merv Krakau LB 62 Ron Mikolajczyk T 72 Ray Robinson LB 50 Ron Simmons G 48 Jim Tyson LB 30 Greg Wilson RB added during season 43 Gary Anderson RB 83 Jim Fitzpatrick WR 32 Carl Franks RB 35 Richard Holmes FB 12 Mike Kelley QB 29 Sam Platt RB rookies in italics

1984 season

In week three of the 1984 season, the Bandits faced their inter-state rivals, the Jacksonville Bulls for the first time. Jacksonville was 1-1, after soundly defeating the Washington Federals and nearly beating the New Jersey Generals. Jacksonville, led by former Jets and Broncos quarterback Matt Robinson, raced out to a 12–0 lead. The Bandits stormed back to take a 25–18 lead. The Bulls came back to tie the game, but the Bandits won when Zenon Andrusyshyn kicked a field goal to give Tampa Bay a 28–25 lead.

When the season was over, quarterback John Reaves was the leading passer on the squad. Running backs Greg Boone and Gary Anderson ran for 1,009 and 1,008 yards respectively. Eric Truvillion lead the receivers with 1,044 yards on 70 catches and nine touchdowns.

1984 schedule and results

Week	Day	Date	Time	Opponent	Game site	Attendance	Television	Final score	W/L	Record
Preseason
1	Bye									—
2	Saturday	February 4, 1984	7:30 pm	vs. Washington Federals	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	17,225		28–9	W	1–0
3	Saturday	February 11, 1984	7:30 pm	Oklahoma Outlaws	Tampa Stadium	42,247		15–6	W	2–0
4	Saturday	February 18, 1984	7:30 pm	vs. Philadelphia Stars	Orlando, Florida			22–17	W	3–0
Regular Season
1	Sunday	February 26, 1984	2:30 pm	Houston Gamblers	Tampa Stadium	42,915	—	20–17	W	1–0
2	Friday	March 2, 1984	9:00 pm	at Arizona Wranglers	Sun Devil Stadium	31,264	ESPN	20–17	W	2–0
3	Saturday	March 10, 1984	9:00 pm	Jacksonville Bulls	Tampa Stadium	51,274	ESPN	28–25	W	3–0
4	Sunday	March 18, 1984	2:30 pm	at Denver Gold	Mile High Stadium	19,173	—	30–36	L	3–1
5	Monday	March 26, 1984	8:00 pm	Birmingham Stallions	Tampa Stadium	37,899	ESPN	9–27	L	3–2
6	Sunday	April 1, 1984	2:30 pm	at Philadelphia Stars	Veterans Stadium	30,270	ABC	24–38	L	3–3
7	Saturday	April 7, 1984	8:00 pm	Oakland Invaders	Tampa Stadium	58,777	—	24–0	W	4–3
8	Monday	April 16, 1984	9:00 pm	at New Orleans Breakers	Louisiana Superdome	35,634	ESPN	35–13	W	5–3
9	Monday	April 23, 1984	9:00 pm	at Michigan Panthers	Pontiac Silverdome	31,433	ESPN	20–7	W	6–3
10	Saturday	April 28, 1984	8:00 pm	Washington Federals	Tampa Stadium	42,810	ESPN	37–19	W	7–3
11	Saturday	May 5, 1984	8:00 pm	at Jacksonville Bulls	Gator Bowl Stadium	71,174	ESPN	31–13	W	8–3
12	Monday	May 14, 1984	8:00 pm	Oklahoma Outlaws	Tampa Stadium	45,116	ESPN	28–21	W	9–3
13	Sunday	May 20, 1984	2:30 pm	New Orleans Breakers	Tampa Stadium	42,592	ESPN	31–20	W	10–3
14	Friday	May 25, 1984	8:30 pm	at Memphis Showboats	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium	27,422	—	21–31	L	10–4
15	Sunday	June 3, 1984	2:30 pm	New Jersey Generals	Tampa Stadium	45,255	ABC	30–14	W	11–4
16	Saturday	June 9, 1984	8:00 pm	Memphis Showboats	Tampa Stadium	48,785	—	42–24	W	12–4
17	Saturday	June 16, 1984	8:00 pm	at Pittsburgh Maulers	Three Rivers Stadium	16,832	—	21–9	W	13–4
18	Sunday	June 24, 1984	1:30 pm	at Birmingham Stallions	Legion Field	24,500	ABC	17–16	W	14–4
Playoffs
Divisional Playoff	Sunday	July 1, 1984	2:30 pm	at Birmingham Stallions	Legion Field	32,000	ABC	17–36	L	—
Postseason Exhibition
Exhibition	Saturday	July 21, 1984	12:30 pm	vs. Philadelphia Stars	Wembley Stadium London, England	21,000	ESPN	21–24	L	—

Sources

1985 season

1985 schedule and results

Week	Day	Date	Opponent	Game site	Attendance	Television	Final score	W/L	Record
Preseason
1	Bye								—
2	Saturday	February 9, 1985	New Jersey Generals	Tampa Stadium	32,370		21–7	W	1–0
3	Saturday	February 16, 1985	vs. Baltimore Stars	Charlotte, North Carolina	20,000	WTOG	28–26	W	2–0
Regular Season
1	Saturday	February 23, 1985	Orlando Renegades	Tampa Stadium	45,095	ESPN	35–7	W	1–0
2	Sunday	March 3, 1985	Houston Gamblers	Tampa Stadium	42,291	ABC	28–50	L	1–1
3	Sunday	March 10, 1985	at San Antonio Gunslingers	Alamo Stadium	21,822	—	31–18	W	2–1
4	Saturday	March 16, 1985	Arizona Outlaws	Tampa Stadium	41,381	ESPN	23–13	W	3–1
5	Sunday	March 24, 1985	at New Jersey Generals	Giants Stadium	41,079	ABC	24–28	L	3–2
6	Friday	March 29, 1985	at Memphis Showboats	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium	23,952	ESPN	28–20	W	4–2
7	Saturday	April 6, 1985	Jacksonville Bulls	Tampa Stadium	51,286	ESPN	31–17	W	5–2
8	Monday	April 15, 1985	Denver Gold	Tampa Stadium	54,267	ESPN	33–17	W	6–2
9	Sunday	April 21, 1985	at Birmingham Stallions	Legion Field	28,900	ESPN	3–30	L	6–3
10	Sunday	April 28, 1985	Baltimore Stars	Tampa Stadium	41,226	—	28–14	W	7–3
11	Saturday	May 4, 1985	at Los Angeles Express	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	4,912	ESPN	24–14	W	8–3
12	Sunday	May 12, 1985	at Jacksonville Bulls	Gator Bowl Stadium	58,928	—	21–10	W	9–3
13	Saturday	May 18, 1985	Memphis Showboats	Tampa Stadium	44,818	ESPN	14–38	L	9–4
14	Sunday	May 26, 1985	New Jersey Generals	Tampa Stadium	44,539	ABC	24–30 OT	L	9–5
15	Saturday	June 1, 1985	at Orlando Renegades	Florida Citrus Bowl	26,847	—	7–37	L	9–6
16	Saturday	June 8, 1985	at Portland Breakers	Civic Stadium	15,521	—	24–27	L	9–7
17	Saturday	June 15, 1985	Birmingham Stallions	Tampa Stadium	42,131	—	17–14	W	10–7
18	Sunday	June 23, 1985	at Baltimore Stars	Byrd Stadium	12,647	—	10–38	L	10–8
Playoffs
Quarterfinal	Sunday	June 30, 1985	at Oakland Invaders	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum	19,346	ABC	27–30	L	—

Sources

The end of the Bandits and of the USFL

Bandits' majority owner John Bassett was a strong proponent of the "Dixon Plan", which was a plan formulated by the USFL's founding owners that sought to build a sustainable league with budgetary restraint and a commitment to spring football. However, to gain a competitive advantage and draw attention to their teams, some owners attempted to sign more high-profile players to free agent contracts, sometimes engaging in bidding wars against more financially powerful NFL teams. This led to USFL teams losing substantial amounts of money, causing much instability throughout the league. The Bandits did not overspend on player contracts, keeping the franchise stable but making it difficult to compete with the USFL's higher-spending teams, despite making a very good account of themselves on the field.

In April 1985, the USFL (led by New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump) voted 12–2 to switch to a fall schedule for 1986, hoping to compete directly with the NFL and possibly force the more established league to accept a merger. Bassett, who had registered one of the two "nay" votes, immediately declared his intention to pull the Bandits out of the USFL and organize a new spring football league.

However, by mid-1985, the Bandits' ownership group was in disarray. Bassett was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and staffers suspected that his illness was impairing his judgment. At the same time, co-owner Steve Arky's wealth was raided by the Securities and Exchange Commission on fraud charges, triggering the savings and loan crisis; Arky committed suicide not long after. The team began signing mediocre players, most infamously defensive back Bret Clark, to large contracts, and plans for a new spring football league were abandoned. The size of the contracts, particularly Clark's contract, along with Bassett's bizarre proposal for his spin-off league to be a multi-sport league, led Spurrier and other team officials to question whether Bassett was acting or thinking rationally. As his condition worsened, Bassett decided to sell the team. He died in May 1986. Before his death, he unsuccessfully tried to merge the Bandits organization with the Orlando Renegades (whose owner Donald Dizney had previously held a stake in the Bandits, but rejected the merger out of loyalty to Orlando) and Jacksonville Bulls (whose owner Fred Bullard expressed interest, but only if the Bandits owners stayed on as investors in the merged team).

In August 1985, minority owner Lee Scarfone, a local architect, agreed to purchase Bassett's and Arky's stakes and field a team in the USFL for the fall 1986 season, with Tony Cunningham coming on as an additional partner. In March 1986, Bret Clark took the Bandits to arbitration for $159,980 in back pay owed under his contract. He won the case on May 29, but the Bandits did not have any funds available to pay the judgement, as Scarfone and Cunningham had gone into considerable debt to buy the team and had already depleted most of their assets. On August 4, a federal judge placed a lien on the franchise and ordered that the franchise's remaining assets - including everything from weight-lifting equipment to office furniture to memorabilia from the team store - be confiscated to pay off the debt, all but ending any realistic chance of the Bandits returning to the field. With the USFL failing to win the necessary money from its antitrust lawsuit to continue operating, and suddenly without one of its most financially successful franchises, the league suspended operations the same day, never returning to play.

Prominent Tampa Bay Bandits

• Gary Anderson
• Jim Fitzpatrick
• Lex Luger
• Nate Newton
• Chuck Pitcock
• John Reaves
• Ron Simmons
• Zenon Andrusyshyn
• Zac Henderson
• Sam Platt
• Martin Cox
• Steve Spurrier, head coach

Single-season leaders

Rushing Yards: 1206 (1985), Gary Anderson

Receiving Yards: 1146 (1983), Danny Buggs

Passing Yards: 4183 (1985), John Reaves

Season-by-season results

Season records

Season	W	L	T	Finish	Playoff results
1983	11	7	0	3rd Central	--
1984	14	4	0	2nd EC Southern	Lost Quarterfinal (Birmingham)
1985	10	8	0	5th EC	Lost Quarterfinal (Oakland)
Totals	35	21	0	(including playoffs)

Proposed revivals

• In February 2014, the A-11 Football League (A11FL) announced its intention to revive the Tampa Bay Bandits name and logos as one of the eight charter franchises for a new spring league. The A11FL also announced plans to feature the revived Bandits in a "showcase game" to be held at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium in May 2014. However, these plans did not come to fruition, as the A11FL never took the field. The showcase game was cancelled in March 2014, and the league went on permanent "hiatus" in July 2014.

• The Spring League acquired the trademarks of the Bandits in 2021 as part of a planned relaunch of the USFL and included a Bandits squad in its 2022 USFL season. The 2022 Bandits are based in Tampa Bay in name only, as the entire league plays all of its games in Birmingham, Alabama.