The United States Football League awarded an expansion franchise to Fresno businessman William Tatham, Sr., his son William Tatham, Jr. and San Diego political consultant Ken Rietz on May 16th, 1983. Tatham Sr. was the former owner of the World Football League’s short-lived Portland Thunder franchise. The investors paid a $6 million expansion fee to join the springtime football league for its second season. Tatham and the USFL sought to place the club – due to begin play in March 1984 – at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium. This marked the second time in two years that the USFL attempted to plant its flag in San Diego. The new league was first rebuffed by the city’s stadium committee in 1982. Investors Bill Daniels and Alan Harmon moved their franchise to the Los Angeles Coliseum instead.
Both USFL bids faced opposition from Jack Murphy’s three existing tenants, the Padres baseball team, the NFL’s San Diego Chargers and the San Diego Sockers of the North American Soccer League. While the Tatham group awaited a response from the City Council, the proposed club moved forward in other areas. The team hired Pro Football Hall-of-Fame and longtime San Diego Chargers head coach Sid Gillman as General Manager and began negotiating with Chargers All-Pro free agent quarterback Dan Fouts. But in mid-June 1983, the City Council voted 4-3 not to open lease negotiations with the USFL.
The Tathams now looked eastward to Tulsa, Oklahoma. On July 7th, 1983, the USFL formally announced the Oklahoma Outlaws as a new franchise for the 1984 season. The move was part of an aggressive expansion campaign by the young league. The USFL added six new cities for its second season after beginning play with twelve clubs in 1983. The Outlaws signed a lease with the University of Tulsa to play at 40,000-seat Skelly Stadium, which also played host to the Tulsa Roughnecks of the North American Soccer League.
On August 9, 1983 the Outlaws announced the signing of Tampa Bay Buccaneers free agent quarterback Doug Williams. The Bucs drafted Williams in 1978 out of Grambling, the first black quarterback ever selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Between 1979 and 1982, Williams led the Bucs to three playoff appearances in four seasons and an appearance in the 1980 NFC Championship Game. Yet by the end of his fifth season, Williams remained one of the lowest paid starting quarterbacks in the NFL. His salary for the 1982 campaign was $120,000. Williams rejected a new contract from cheapskate Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse to jump to the USFL.
Coaching Staff and Front Office
Owner: William Tatham
| Head Coach: Woody Widenhofer |
| Wright Anderson | Receivers/Special Teams |
| Charlie Butler | Offensive Line |
| Ed Chlebek | Offensive Coordinator |
| Jim Johnson | Defensive Coordinator/Secondary |
| Jim McKinley | Linebackers |
| Frank Novak | Offensive Backs |
| Ralph Staub | Defensive Line |