A legacy of futility for those '76 Bucs

More than three decades later, winless season still stings.

By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer
Published November 11, 2007

TAMPA - More than 30 years have passed, yet the frustration in Richard Wood's voice sounds in-the-moment fresh. Clearly, it bothers him to be a part of this legacy.

It hurt to go 0-14.

Wood was a starting linebacker for the Bucs in 1976, the expansion franchise's first season. That luckless team of draft picks and waiver-wire pickups bears a dubious distinction: It is the only NFL team since World War II to lose every game of an entire season.

Perfection, upside down.

This season, as members of the NFL's only perfect team, the 1972 Dolphins, keep a nervous eye on the Patriots' attempt to go unbeaten, Wood and a few of his former Bucs teammates find they have something in common with that Super Bowl-winning Miami team. They do not want to share their place in history, either.

They don't want company.

Halfway through the 2007 regular season, the Dolphins and Rams are 0-8. Halfway to 0-16. Halfway to record-setting futility. Halfway to infamy.

"I know what the feeling is, and it's sickening," said Wood, 54. "I hope it doesn't happen again. In a way I feel sympathy, because I know how it feels. But in a way I don't, because not these days. The NFL is too competitive. There's no way you can't win some games."

Dallas went 0-11-1 as an expansion team in 1960. The Colts went 0-8-1 in the strike-shortened 1982 season. In recent years, several teams have gone 1-15, including the 2001 Panthers, 2000 Chargers, 1996 Jets, 1991 Colts and 1990 Patriots.

But in the past 63 years, only the 1976 Bucs failed to win or tie.

So far.

"If all cylinders are not clicking, games can be lost, whether it's injuries, team chemistry, confidence, strategies," said Hall of Fame defensive end Lee Roy Selmon, the No. 1 overall draft pick of the Bucs in 1976. "But with eight more games to go, I would think the odds are those teams are going to win a game. Hopefully, we won't have teams joining us in that distinction. I do not wish that on anyone or any team."

The '76 Bucs were, in a word, awful. Coach John McKay's team, with quarterback Steve Spurrier, totaled 125 points, lowest in the league. It gave up 412 points, second highest in the league. Tampa Bay was shut out five times.

"If you're on a good team, you play 40 or 50 plays on defense," said Pat Toomay, a starting defensive tackle whose only season with the Bucs was 1976. "We were out there for close to 90 plays a game, which is two seasons in one. It would take me from Sunday to Sunday to recover physically. You just get beat up."

Oh, they had a few close calls with victory, all at home. They lost the third game of the season to Buffalo 14-9, the sixth to fellow expansion team Seattle 13-10 and the seventh to Miami 23-20.

But in the second half of the season, injuries began to pile up, and replacements were hard to find. Toomay recalled as many as 21 players being put on injured reserve, most with knee injuries. The Bucs lost their final six games by a combined score of 228-50, an average margin of 30 points.

"It's a horrible situation to be in for everybody," said Toomay, 59, who played 10 seasons, wrote two books about the NFL and is a freelance writer living in New Mexico. "You go into survivor mode. But I don't think we're in danger of losing the reverse immortality we obtained."

It wasn't all drudgery. The expansion franchise's fans, Toomay recalled, were extremely supportive. After a late-season trip to the West Coast, the team plane landed in Tampa at 4 a.m. As they descended the stairway, players were greeted by three fans.

"Everybody was beat up and exhausted and couldn't wait for the season to end, and at the foot of the stairs there were three Bucs fans, totally wasted," Toomay said. "They all scramble and unfurl this huge banner of the Bucs logo. The most drunk of the three turns around and starts the chant: 'What have we got? Bucs fever!' I just fell out over that. It was one of the most amazing moments I ever experienced in pro football."

When losses mount, playing becomes a matter of personal pride. Wood, a high school state champion in New Jersey and college national champion at USC, worked hard each week to get a victory.

"Dadgone right," said Wood, best known by his Batman nickname. "I'm a professional. I want to win. This is what I do. This is what I get paid for. There's 75,000 fans screaming for us. You have to get prepared, and you have to go out and play. That was my mind-set."

The perspectives are different considering the Bucs were an expansion team and the Dolphins and Rams are established franchises with Super Bowl victories. But Selmon knows the key to weathering difficult times is universal. Players and coaches must stick together.

"It's discomforting not to achieve the success we are accustomed to achieving," said Selmon, 53, who remains in Tampa as president of USF Foundation Partnership for Athletics, a fundraising organization.

"To get through it, you have to trust your teammates and view each time out as another opportunity. I'm sure each player, from time to time, looks at how they match up against an upcoming opponent and feels real good about it: 'Now is going to be the time.' I know how painful and discouraging it is when it doesn't happen, but that's when your teammates have to come in and lift you up. You have to keep a positive attitude."

Each season, when the last unbeaten team loses, select members of the '72 Dolphins pop open a few bottles of champagne and toast their singular place in history. The '76 Bucs have no such tradition, though their desire to remain alone in history is just as strong.

"We don't celebrate: 'Hey, guys, we're in a distinction of our own still. Let's have a drink to that,'" Selmon said. "I see some of our teammates from the '76 team, but we don't do a whole lot of reflecting on our record."

They do have a unbreakable bond.

"People don't forget exemplary suffering," Toomay said.

Joanne Korth can be reached at korth@tampabay.com or 727893-8810.

[Last modified November 10, 2007, 20:05:16]