In 1981 when it appeared that the NFL players would strike in 1982, and Dave Dixon was going to kick off his United States Football League in the spring of 1983, Jim Chambers, a tax accountant and real estate broker living in Houston, Texas at the time, began his efforts to put together a football league that he called the United Football Teams of America (UFTA) . Chambers felt that his new league could draw some fans if the NFL players were on strike, and his players could prepare themselves for the USFL at the same time. Chambers put his league together by trying to find existing teams, and if he could not find existing semi-pro teams in an area, he would organize a league owned team until he could find an owner for the team. He selected cities from Kansas City to Houston and with other teams locations from Oklahoma to Louisiana. There was a team in Oklahoma City called the Oklahoma City Thunderbirds that was owned by Russ Burns, the owner of a court reporting service. At first, Burns had agreed to put his team into the UFTA, but later joined an existing semi pro league with teams around the Dallas area because he would have less travel expenses. Burns told Chambers that the Thunderbirds had Oklahoma City sewed up. The same day, Chambers put a small ad in the Daily Oklahoman for a general manager, no experience necessary. Terry Smedley, a fork lift operator at the time, was hired by Chambers because of his positive attitude. Chambers named the team the Drillers from the name of a team in Houston that was coached by former NFL linebacker Steve Kiner. Chambers organized a team in Houston and told Smedley that he would bring the team to Oklahoma City on July 31, 1982 for an exhibition game. Smedley hired an advertising agency to help him promote the game. Smedley hired Ben Hart, a former Oklahoma University and New Orleans Saint player as his head coach. Bill Thomas, the owner of the advertising agency, became the owner after the first game. The game was sponsored by Ronald Mcdonald house, and a new sports broadcasting network called ESPN took a vhs tape of the game to see if it was a quality of football that they could put on cable tv if the NFL went on strike. It was this team that Toby Keith played on in 1982 and 1983. The NFL players did strike in 1982 and played a short season, and the USFL did start their season in 1983, and a few players did go from the UFTA to the USFL. The "oil depression" hit Texas and Oklahoma in 1983 and Jim Chambers decided that he could not financially afford to keep the league going. In January of 1983, Chambers received a phone call from Roger Gill and Clinton Manges in San Antonio. Manges had applied to get into the USFL in 1984 with the San Antonio Gunslingers, and he owned the San Antonio Bulls of the American Football Association. (This is not the same AFA that operates today.) The Bulls had sold season tickets for the Western Division of the AFA, but because of the economic conditions in the area, most of their teams had folded. It was not going to look good that the Bulls would fold after selling season tickets, and Gill and Manges thought this might affect their application with the USFL. Chambers took the Houston, Oklahoma City, and Baton Rouge teams from the UFTA and combined them with San Antonio, Dallas, and Shreveport to play the Western Division schedule. As soon as is was announced that the USFL had approved the San Antonio Gunslingers for entry into the USFL, Manages withdrew all of his financial support for the UFTA teams, and the UFTA teams folded. Contact Jim Chambers at 205-491-6421 or email him at the address below. Check out the link about Toby Keith.
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