Week 1

March 1986 Opening weekend of the USFL schedule

   My name is Gene Sanny, and I'm the new quarterback of the USFL's Arizona Outlaws. A 2nd round draft selection, I opted for the USFL after being drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the 8th round of this years NFL draft. I wanted to play right away, and I figured i'd have to wait a couple of years for Dan Fouts to retire... trying to fill a future hall-of-famers shoes didn't sound as attractive as the money the Outlaws were putting up, so here I am.
   The best part is the Outlaws drafted my brother to play wide reciever.... we hadn't played together since high school. I went to Nebraska, and he stayed in our home state of Iowa to play for the Hawkeyes.

   So opening weekend we traveled to Jacksonville to take on the Bulls. The USFL decided to stay in the Spring for this year, so it was beautiful to me for this time of the year. Arizona is awesome too, but remember, where i'm from there's still snow on the ground. I was a bundle of nerves.... it might not be the NFL, but it's still my first pro football. Here I am warming up before the game.

   I chose to wear number 21 because 2 was taken (my college number), and I always thought John Hadl of the Chargers looked cool wearing 21.... the USFL doesn't have restrictions on uniform numbers for quarterbacks, so I'm 21.

   Here's my brother Brian and I getting some last minute instructions from Coach Frank Kush.... notice we both shunned the newer face masks for the old school look.

Brian made a great catch in the 2nd quarter in between 2 Bulls defenders setting up a score.

Here I am throwing my first pro touchdown.

Our defense was incredible this afternoon. They tallied 2 fumble recoveries and an interception. They held my Husker teammate Mike Rozier to under 50 yards and gave QB Brian Sipe fits all day. Here's a great pass break-up.

Here's the defense forcing Brian Sipe to rush his throw, resulting in an interception.

Here's my favorite play. Victory formation, baby!

  I finished 16 of 33 with 1 TD and no INT's. Not too bad, but I gotta work on the completions. Brian had 2 catches for 33 yards and a ton of return yards in a 22-12 win.
   We are tied for first place in the Independence Division with Orlando at 1-0.... next week we face Steve Spurrier and his BanditBall offense at home.... I can't wait to suit up in front of our home fans.