====== September 9, 1961 ======

===== News =====

•	The [[Titans|Oilers]] demolished the Raiders, 55-0, in the regular season opener in Houston

•	The Oilers’ 55 points were a new AFL record

•	Houston outgained the Raiders in total yards, 482-130

•	The game was picketed by the local chapter of the NAACP because of the segregation policy in place at Jeppesen Stadium, the site of the game

•	The group reached out to the Black players on the team—who, at the time, included [[Jim Brewington]], [[George Fields]], [[George Fleming]], [[Charley Fuller]], [[Charlie Hardy]], [[John Harris]], [[Riley Morris]] and [[Charley Powell]]—urging them not to cross the picket line and play

•	General manager [[Bud Hastings]] said the team “was not interested in any outside conflict” and that no telegrams had been sent to the players

•	Hastings later said that the Black players had “discussed the situation and decided they had come here to play football”

•	None of the players were quoted directly in the Bay Area press

•	Each of the players did appear in the game

•	The game was played under threat of inundation by Hurricane Carla, a category-three storm that meterologists thought could land on the Texas coast around game time

•	However, aside from higher than usual wind speeds (20-25 mph), the storm had no impact on the contest

•	[[Wayne Crow]] started at halfback ahead of Fuller

•	Quarterback [[Tom Flores]] completed just 7 of 21 passes for 59 yards

===== Injury Updates =====

•	Center [[Jim Otto]] suffered a concussion in the second quarter and missed the rest of the game

•	Halfback [[Jack Larscheid]], thought likely to miss the game because of a leg injury, played after all

•	Defensive end [[Jon Jelacic]] was still recovering from a pulled hamstring and did not play

===== AFL Standings =====
|<30%>|
|  **Eastern Division**  |||| |
|[[Titans|Houston]]|  1|  0|  0| |
|[[Jets|New York]]|  1|  0|  0| |
|[[Bills|Buffalo]]|  0|  0|  0| |
|[[Patriots|Boston]]|  0|  1|  0| |
| | | | | |
|  **Western Division**  |||| |
|[[Chiefs|Dallas]]|  0|  0|  0| |
|[[Broncos|Denver]]|  0|  0|  0| |
|[[Chargers|San Diego]]|  0|  0|  0| |
|Oakland|  0|  1|  0| |

===Scores===
Houston 55, Oakland 0\\
New York 21, Boston 20

=====Coaching Staff=====

|[[Eddie Erdelatz]]|Head coach| |
|[[George Dickson]]|Defensive backfield| |
|[[Marty Feldman]]|Defensive line| |
|[[Tommy Kalmanir]]|Offensive backfield| |
|[[Bob Maddock]]|Offensive line| |


=====Roster=====

|  **Name**  |  **Pos**  |  **Ht**  |  **Wt**  |  **School**  | |
|[[Doug Asad]]|  TE  |  6'3"  |  200  |Northwestern  | |
|[[Al Bansavage]]|  LB  |  6'2"  |  230  |USC  | |
|[[Larry Barnes]]|  G  |  6'2"  |  230  |Colorado State  | |
|[[Alex Bravo]]|  DB  |  6'1"  |  190  |Cal Poly-SLO  | |
|[[Jim Brewington]]|  OL  |  6'6"  |  280  |North Carolina-Central  | |
|[[Jerry Burch]]|  WR  |  6'1"  |  190  |Georgia Tech  | |
|[[Joe Cannavino]]|  CB  |  5'11"  |  185  |Ohio State  | |
|[[Bob Coolbaugh]]|  WR  |  6'3"  |  200  |Richmond  | |
|[[Wayne Crow]]|  HB  |  6'0"  |  205  |California  | |
|[[Bob Dougherty]]|  LB  |  6'1"  |  235  |Kentucky  | |
|[[George Fields]]|  DE  |  6'3"  |  245  |Bakersfield College  | |
|[[George Fleming]]|  HB  |  5'11"  |  185  |Washington  | |
|[[Tom Flores]]|  QB  |  6'1"  |  190  |Pacific  | |
|[[Charley Fuller]]|  HB  |  5'11"  |  175  |San Francisco State  | |
|[[Glen Hakes]]|  G  |  6'2"  |  235  |New Mexico  | |
|[[Charlie Hardy]]|  WR  |  6'0"  |  180  |San Jose State  | |
|[[John Harris]]|  DB  |  6'1"  |  195  |Santa Monica CC  | |
|[[Wayne Hawkins]]|  G  |  5'11"  |  235  |Pacific  | |
|[[Jon Jelacic]]|  DE  |  6'3"  |  245  |Minnesota  | |
|[[Jim Jones]]|  FB  |  6'2"  |  210  |Washington  | |
|[[Jack Larscheid]]|  HB  |  5'6"  |  160  |Pacific  | |
|[[Tom Louderback]]|  LB  |  6'2"  |  235  |San Jose State  | |
|[[Alan Miller]]|  FB  |  6'0"  |  195  |Boston College  | |
|[[Riley Morris]]|  LB  |  6'2"  |  220  |Florida A&M  | |
|[[Jim Otto]]|  C  |  6'2"  |  225  |Miami (FL)  | |
|[[Nick Papac]]|  QB  |  5'11"  |  190  |Fresno State  | |
|[[Volney Peters]]|  DT  |  6'4"  |  240  |USC  | |
|[[Charley Powell]]|  DE  |  6'2"  |  225  |San Diego HS  | |
|[[Harrison Rece]]|  C  |  6'3"  |  235  |Trinity  | |
|[[Herb Roedel]]|  G  |  6'3"  |  230  |Marquette  | |
|[[Ron Sabal]]|  T  |  6'3"  |  200  |Purdue  | |
|[[Hal Smith]]|  DT  |  6'5"  |  250  |UCLA  | |
|[[Willie Smith]]|  G  |  6'2"  |  265  |Michigan  | |
|[[Jack Stone]]|  T  |  6'2"  |  245  |Oregon  | |
|[[Tony Teresa]]|  HB  |  5'10"  |  185  |San Jose State  | |
|[[Herm Urenda]]|  WR  |  5'10"  |  180  |Pacific  | |
|[[Bob Voight]]|  DT  |  6'5"  |  265  |Los Angeles State  | |
|[[Fred Williamson]]|  CB  |  6'3"  |  210  |Northwestern  | |

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<prespan>[[september-8-1961|< Sep 8, 1961]]     [[1961_calendar|Back to Calendar]]     [[september-10-1961|Sep 10, 1961 >]]</prespan>