Team History
The Tampa Bay Bandits’ primary founder was Canadian businessman John F. Bassett, who was still in litigation against the NFL over his previous Memphis Southmen franchise from the World Football League in the mid-1970s. Bassett was initially skeptical about getting into another football venture. However, he soon warmed up to the USFL after discovering that he was nowhere as well off as the other owners. While he had been by far the richest owner in the WFL, he realized that he would be one of the poorest owners in the USFL. Believing that the USFL was on far stronger financial ground than the WFL ever had been, he agreed to sign on.[1] Bassett had a part-time home in the Tampa Bay Area, and when the USFL announced its twelve charter franchises in May 1982, Bassett was introduced as the majority owner of the as-yet unnamed team in Tampa along with Miami attorney Steve Arky.[2]
After it was decided that the franchise would play in Tampa, several minority owners bought stakes, among them Hollywood star Burt Reynolds, a former college football player at Florida State who was one of the most popular motion picture actors in the world. The team was soon dubbed the “Bandits”, and although it was widely assumed that the name referenced Reynolds’ role in the hit Smokey and the Bandit movies, Bassett said that the mascot had been chosen before Reynolds joined the ownership group and instead came from the name of Bassett’s daughter’s German Shepherd.[3][4][5][6] Reynolds was prominently involved in the Bandits’ early marketing campaigns, and the cover of the team’s first media guide featured a photo of the actor wearing a Bandits jacket and trucker hat.[5]
Also building interest was the hiring of Steve Spurrier as head coach and offensive coordinator in November 1982. Spurrier was well known in the area as a Heisman Trophy-winning college star for the University of Florida Gators and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ first starting quarterback, and had most recently spent three seasons as a record-setting offensive coordinator at Duke University before accepting his first head coaching job with the Bandits.[7] Though Bassett had also considered several established coaches with NFL experience, he chose Spurrier due to his deep connections to the state of Florida and his reputation as an innovative young offensive coach; Spurrier was 37 when hired, making him the youngest head coach in professional football at the time. At Spurrier’s introductory press conference, Bassett joked that he knew that he’d found the right coach when he discovered that the Spurrier family also had a dog named Bandit.[4][8]
The Bandits began play in 1983 in Tampa Stadium, and were immediately more successful than the area’s NFL franchise, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with whom they shared a home field (though the Bucs played in the fall and early winter while the Bandits played in the spring and early summer). The Bandits narrowly missed the playoffs in their first season and made the postseason the next two years. Spurrier’s aggressive offense was usually one of the best in the league; Bandits players are among the USFL career leaders in touchdown passes (John Reaves, 4th), touchdown receptions (Eric Truvillion, 2nd), and rushing touchdowns (Gary Anderson, 3rd). However, an average defense and Bassett’s insistence on adhering to the USFL’s original financial plan while other franchises spent millions on free agent signings kept the team from serious championship contention.
Coaching Staff and Front Office
John Bassett, Owner
| Head Coach: Steve Spurrier |
| Charlie Bailey | Defensive Coordinator |
| Jack Burns | Running Backs |
| Jimmy Dunn | Wide Receivers |
| Marty Galbraith | Offensive Line |
| Pete Kuharchek | Linebackers |
| Charlie Lyle | Defensive Backs |
| John Rauch | Special Teams/Tight Ends |
| Barry Wilson | Defensive Line |