History of SFL Seasons 1-10
What was the SFL?
In
the mid 1980’s, something started that would forever change the lives of a
bunch of kids from the small rural Iowa community of Estherville. This game was likely a precursor of the game
we know today as fantasy football (all of us are very familiar with that game).
Lon & Lane Anderson had an idea
for a board game which utilized old style gumball football helmets (the type
with the snap on facemask), a pair of dice & their family’s pool table (I
will go into further explanation of this in another web document later). Lon & Lane played what was considered the
first game in SFL history shortly thereafter (billed as “The Game”) on January
1, 1983. Lon’s team was the AFC All
Stars while Lane’s team was the NFC All Stars.
When the first game was all said & done, Lon’s AFC team won 15-14.
With further tooling, the second SFL
game took place on January 1, 1984. This
time however, Lane’s NFC team took the win over Lon’s AFC team (no score was
available on this game). After the
second ever SFL game, the Anderson brothers decided to kick this game up a
notch.
They
contacted friends Rob Spalding & Doug Clymer to start up a trial league
(pre-SFL) by running several small tournaments.
A draft took place after Spalding & Clymer agreed to join this group
for the tournaments. Each team would
have 17 players. The 4 teams were know
as the Totally Awesomes (Rob’s team), the Super Supremes (Lane’s team), the
Ruthless Ramblers (Lon’s team) & the Doug All Stars (Doug’s team). The records for the 3 combined tourneys saw
the TA @ 6-1, the SS @ 3-3, the RR @ 3-3-1 & the DAS @ 2-4-1. The TA was the dominant team throughout the 3
tourneys as their record would indicate.
These 4 teams became the corner stone for what would become the SFL
(Strategy Football League).
SFL Season 1: The Beginning
The first of many seasons for the
SFL started shortly thereafter. An
expansion of the league’s original 4 teams took place & the league’s first
expansion team was the Super Awesomes, owned by Dave Spalding (Rob’s younger
brother). The Super Supremes, not to be
confused with the Super Awesomes, changed their name to the Gold Rush (team
owned by Lane Anderson). The records for
S1 looked like this:
|
SFL S1 Standings |
RS Record |
Pt Diff |
PS Record |
|
Totally
Awesomes (Rob Spalding) |
6-2-0 |
+13 |
1-1-0 |
|
Ruthless
Radicals (Lon Anderson) |
4-4-0 |
-5 |
2-0-0 |
|
Doug
All Stars (Doug Clymer) |
4-4-0 |
-8 |
0-1-0 |
|
Gold
Rush (Lane Anderson) |
3-5-0 |
-5 |
0-1-0 |
|
Super
Awesomes (Dave Spalding) |
3-5-0 |
-14 |
1-1-0 |
The first round of playoffs saw the
#5 SA defeat the #4 GR 14-8. The playoff
semis saw the #1 TA defeat the Super Awesomes 16-8, while the #2 RR defeated
the #3 DAS 27-22. This set up the
league’s championship game, the Classic Bowl, with the TA facing the RR in a
David vs Goliath showdown. The RR pulled
a mild upset winning CB I by defeating the TA 9-0 in a very defensive battle.
Regular Season MVP: QB Dan Marino (RR)
CB I MVP: DB Glenn Blackwood (RR)
SFL Coach of the
Season: Rob Spalding (TA)
SFL Season 2: Six Teams Strong
The second SFL season wasn’t a whole
lot different from S1. The league
allowed 1 expansion franchise for S2 as Lesly Anderson (sister of Lon &
Lane Anderson) started up the Killer Bears (KB). The GR underwent another name change in
becoming the Ropin’ Rustlers (RoR). The
TA were predicted to repeat as RS champion despite being upset in CB I. The league standings were as follows:
|
SFL S2 Standings |
RS Record |
Pt Diff |
PS Record |
|
Super
Awesomes (Dave Spalding) |
8-2-0 |
+39 |
0-1-0 |
|
Killer
Bears (Lesly Anderson) |
5-4-1 |
+26 |
0-1-0 |
|
Ruthless
Rads (Lon Anderson) |
4-5-1 |
-35 |
2-0-0 |
|
Ropin’
Rustlers (Lane Anderson) |
4-6-0 |
+31 |
1-1-0 |
|
Doug
All Stars (Doug Clymer) |
4-6-0 |
-12 |
0-0-0 |
|
Totally
Awesomes (Rob Spalding) |
4-6-0 |
-26 |
0-0-0 |
The TA & DAS were not part of
the S2 playoffs. The top four teams made
the playoffs with the SA & KB being hosts for a R1 game. The RR & RoR pulled stunning upsets of
the top 2 seeds. The RR defeated the KB
12-8 in a defensive gem while the RoR upset the SA 16-8. The RR & RoR met for CB II. The RR, behind QB Dan Marino & RB Sammy
Winder, won their 2nd league championship in a row, defeating the
RoR 22-8.
Regular Season MVP: QB Dan Marino (RR)
CB II MVP: QB Dan Marino (RR)
SFL Coach of the
Season: Dave Spalding (SA)
SFL Season 3: TA again #1 (will
they win the championship or choke?)
The third SFL season saw the same
six teams vying for the crown. However,
there were some new faces running a few of the teams. Lane Anderson, former owner/coach of the
GR/RoR, moved into the HC spot for the RR (Lon Anderson stepped down as RR HC
to focus on league commissioner duties prior to S3). Newcomers Henry Nerd & Dave Clymer took
over as KB HC & RoR owner/HC respectively.
The TA were #1 in the preseason rankings & were out to prove critics
wrong. The league standings looked like
this:
|
SFL S3 Standings |
RS Record |
Pt Diff |
PS Record |
|
Totally
Awesomes (Rob Spalding) |
8-4-0 |
+57 |
2-0-0 |
|
Super
Awesomes (Dave Spalding) |
7-5-0 |
+32 |
1-1-0 |
|
Doug
All Stars (Doug Clymer) |
6-5-1 |
+29 |
0-1-0 |
|
Killer
Bears (Henry Nerd) |
6-6-0 |
+2 |
0-1-0 |
|
Ruthless
Rads (Lane Anderson) |
6-6-0 |
-18 |
0-0-0 |
|
Ropin’
Rustlers (Dave Clymer) |
2-9-1 |
-85 |
0-0-0 |
The
RR & the RoR didn’t participate in the S3 playoffs as the top 4 teams made
the S3 playoffs (SA & TA were host of R1 playoff games). The TA shutout the KB 16-0 while the SA
defeated the DAS 30-12 to make CB III an all-Spalding championship game. The TA proved way too much for the SA in CB
III as the TA clobbered the SA 28-14 to claim their first CB title & remove
“the monkey from their back”.
Regular Season MVP: RB Eric Dickerson (KB)
CB III MVP: LB Dave Butz (TA)
SFL Coach of the
Season: Doug Clymer (DAS)
SFL Season 4: The League Expands
to 10
The fourth SFL season saw some new
blood in the ranks. 4 teams made their
debuts during S4. They were the
Tropicana All Stars (TS, owned by Pete Bergum), the new Gold Rush (GR, owned by
Lane Anderson), the Daring Rebels (DR, owned by Dave Johnson) & the Kroenke’s
Donkies (KD, owned by Mike Kroenke).
Returning to the league as owner was Lon Anderson (RR). The league standings ended like this:
|
SFL S4 Standings |
Record |
|
#1
Ruthless Rads (Lon Anderson) |
7-0-0 |
|
#2
Doug All Stars (Doug Clymer) |
3-2-0 |
|
#3
Totally Awesomes (Rob Spalding) |
4-2-0 |
|
#4
Kroenke’s Donkies (Mike Kroenke) |
3-3-0 |
|
#5
Super Awesomes (Dave Spalding) |
2-2-0 |
|
#6
Daring Rebels (Dave Johnson) |
1-2-0 |
|
#7
Tropicana All Stars (Pete Bergum) |
1-2-0 |
|
#8
Gold Rush (Lane Anderson) |
1-2-0 |
|
#9
Killer Bears (Henry Nerd) |
0-3-0 |
|
#10
Ropin’ Rustlers (Dave Clymer) |
0-3-0 |
The playoffs saw the RR, DAS, TA
& expansion KD make it in. The R1
games saw the RR defeat the DAS 19-8, while the TA made short work of the KD
40-18. The RR entered CB IV with a 6-0
record and were threatening to become the first undefeated team in SFL
history. CB IV proved to be the most
exciting CB yet as the scoring went back & forth. Finally in the end, the RR narrowly defeated
the defending champion TA 26-24 to win their 3rd SFL crown.
Regular Season MVP: QB Bobby Hebert (KD)
CB IV MVP: QB John Elway (RR)
SFL Coach of the
Season: Lon Anderson (RR)
SFL Season 5: 7 Teams Remain
The fifth season saw some
contraction in the league. Gone were the
GR, the KB & the RoR. Dave Clymer
took over HC duties for the Doug All Stars as Doug Clymer headed off for
military training. Preseason rankings
saw the SA ranked #1. Two of the S4
expansion teams, the KD & TS, made impressive second season bids. The league standing ended like this:
|
SFL S5 Standings |
RS Record |
Pt Diff |
PS Record |
|
Ruthless
Rads (Lon Anderson) |
8-2-0 |
+41 |
2-0-0 |
|
Kroenke’s
Donkies (Mike Kroenke) |
7-3-0 |
+49 |
0-1-0 |
|
Totally
Awesomes (Rob Spalding) |
6-4-0 |
+10 |
1-1-0 |
|
Tropicana
All Stars (Pete Bergum) |
5-5-0 |
+12 |
0-1-0 |
|
Super
Awesomes (Dave Spalding) |
5-5-0 |
-12 |
0-0-0 |
|
Doug
All Stars (Dave Clymer) |
3-7-0 |
-30 |
0-0-0 |
|
Daring
Rebels (Dave Johnson) |
1-9-0 |
-95 |
0-0-0 |
The SA, DAS & DR did not qualify
for the S5 playoffs while the RR, KD, TA & TS all made it in. The R1 games saw the host RR defeat the TS
22-16 in OT and the TA upset the KD 34-24 to make it a RR vs TA Classic
Bowl. CB V saw the RR defeat the TA
24-16 to give the RR their 4th title in 5 seasons.
Regular Season MVP: QB Bobby Hebert (KD)
CB V MVP: QB John Elway (RR)
SFL Coach of the
Season: Mike Kroenke (KD)
SFL Season 6: Could the RR win
the CB again?
The sixth SFL season saw more
contraction in the league as the SA folded.
Preseason rankings saw the DAS take the #1 ranking (coached by Lane
Anderson). The KD were strong again this
season & proved to be a force to be reckoned with. The league standings ended like this:
|
SFL S6 Standings |
RS Record |
Pt Diff |
PS Record |
|
Ruthless
Rads (Lon Anderson) |
7-3-0 |
+53 |
0-1-0 |
|
Totally
Awesomes (Rob Spalding) |
7-3-0 |
+28 |
2-0-0 |
|
Kroenke’s
Donkies (Mike Kroenke) |
6-4-0 |
+8 |
0-1-0 |
|
Doug
All Stars (Lane Anderson) |
4-6-0 |
-16 |
1-1-0 |
|
Tropicana
All Stars (Pete Bergum) |
4-6-0 |
-23 |
0-0-0 |
|
Daring
Rebels (Dave Johnson) |
2-8-0 |
-48 |
0-0-0 |
The TS & DR did not qualify for
S6 playoffs. First round games saw the
host TA defeat the KD 22-16 in OT & the DAS to the RR 6-0 to set up a TA vs
DAS final. CB VI saw the TA defeat the
DAS 16-14 to give the TA their 2nd league championship.
Regular Season MVP: RB Eric Dickerson (RR)
CB VI MVP: S Richard Johnson (TA)
SFL Coach of the
Season: Lane Anderson (DAS)
SFL Season 7: Rebels Change their
Luck
The seventh season saw the same 6
franchises go at it again (the DAS had Dave Spalding as HC this season). The RR was the odds on favorite to repeat
with the KD lurking in the wings to take over at any time. However, the DR, who had won only 4 games in
their prior 3 seasons, were the team to surprise everyone in winning the RS
title. The league standings looked like
this:
|
SFL S7 Standings |
RS Record |
Pt Diff |
PS Record |
|
Daring
Rebels (Dave Johnson) |
7-3-0 |
+37 |
1-1-0 |
|
Ruthless
Rads (Lon Anderson) |
7-3-0 |
+20 |
1-1-0 |
|
Kroenke’s
Donkies (Mike Kroenke) |
6-4-0 |
+24 |
1-1-0 |
|
Totally
Awesomes (Rob Spalding) |
4-6-0 |
-10 |
0-1-0 |
|
Doug
All Stars (Dave Spalding) |
3-7-0 |
-11 |
0-0-0 |
|
Tropicana
All Stars (Pete Bergum) |
3-7-0 |
-15 |
0-0-0 |
The DAS & TS did not make the S7
playoffs. The R1 games saw the DR
hosting the KD & the RR hosting the TA.
The RR beat the TA 13-7 in OT, while the KD initially defeated the DR
20-14 in OT. Upon review of a call by
league officials of a play in regulation, it was ruled that the KD received
points they shouldn’t have so the DR was given the victory over the KD. In CB VII, the DR finished off their
cinderella season by defeating the RR 19-13 in OT to win their first league title
& first league title won by an expansion team.
Between seasons 7 & 8, Lon
Anderson stepped down as league commissioner.
Doug Clymer succeeded Lon as LC prior to S8 & remained there until
end of S9.
Regular Season MVP: QB Bobby Hebert (KD)
CB VII MVP: DB Spencer Tillman (DR)
SFL Coach of the
Season: Dave Johnson (DR)
SFL Season 8: Double Elim Holiday
Tournament
The eighth season saw the league
have a double elimination tourney over the holiday season. It also saw some expansion as the Hostile
Hawks (HH, Eric Petersen), the Devastating Dolphins (DD, Brad Trosin), the
Lytle Express (LE, Rick Lytle) & Matt’s Miners (MM, Matt Rembold) joined
the league. Returning were the Super
Awesomes (SA, Dave Spalding) & Ropin’ Rustlers (RoR, Dave Clymer).
The DR were picked to repeat as
league champ, but the DAS got the #1 seed going into the tournament. The league rankings ended like this:
|
SFL S8 Standings |
Record |
|
Doug
All Stars (Doug Clymer) |
6-2-0 |
|
Totally
Awesomes (Rob Spalding) |
6-1-1 |
|
Hostile
Hawks (Eric Petersen) |
4-3-0 |
|
Daring
Rebels (Dave Johnson) |
3-3-0 |
|
Tropicana
All Stars (Pete Bergum) |
4-3-0 |
|
Kroenke’s
Donkies (Mike Kroenke) |
2-3-0 |
|
Super
Awesomes (Dave Spalding) |
3-2-0 |
|
Devastating
Dolphins (Brad Trosin) |
2-2-1 |
|
Ropin’
Rustlers (Dave Clymer) |
0-4-0 |
|
Lytle’s
Express (Rick Lytle) |
1-4-0 |
|
Matt’s
Miners (Matt Rembold) |
0-4-0 |
The TA won the winner’s bracket
final & the DAS won the loser’s bracket final. The first DAS-TA matchup went to the DAS 13-7
in OT, which forced a second DAS-TA game for the CB title. The TA won 20-14 in OT to claim the CB VIII
title behind RB Walter Payton.
Regular Season MVP: RB Walter Payton (TA)
CB VIII MVP: RB Walter Payton (TA)
Rookie Player of the Season: RB James Jones (HH)
SFL Coach of the
Season: Eric Petersen (HH)
SFL Season 9: Longest SFL Season
The ninth SFL season saw the RR
& TA at the top of the predictions for preseason for the Lombardi &
Halas conferences. The regular season
title saw the DAS & RR battle for the Lombardi title & the TA & SA
battle for the Halas title. The season also
set a new mark for games in a season with 98 games played. Three new teams were brought into the league:
Fagre’s Flyers (FF, Tim Fagre), Stine’s Superstars (StS, Rob Stine) & Super
Stangs (SS, Sean Stepanek/Matt Miller).
The standings ended like this:
|
SFL S9 Lombardi Standings |
RS Record |
OA Record |
|
Ruthless
Rads (Lon Anderson) |
12-2-0 |
13-3-0 |
|
Fagre’s
Flyers (Tim Fagre) |
10-4-0 |
13-4-0 |
|
Doug
All Stars (Doug Clymer) |
10-4-0 |
10-5-0 |
|
Tropicana
All Stars (Pete Bergum) |
9-5-0 |
10-6-0 |
|
Kroenke’s
Donkies (Mike Kroenke) |
6-8-0 |
6-9-0 |
|
Daring
Rebels (Dave Johnson) |
2-12-0 |
2-12-0 |
|
Stine’s
Superstars (Rob Stine) |
2-12-0 |
2-12-0 |
|
SFL S9 Halas Standings |
RS Record |
OA Record |
|
Totally
Awesomes (Rob Spalding) |
11-3-0 |
12-4-0 |
|
Ropin’
Rustlers (Dave Clymer) |
8-6-0 |
8-7-0 |
|
Hostile
Hawks (Eric Petersen) |
7-7-0 |
9-8-0 |
|
Super
Awesomes (Dave Spalding) |
7-7-0 |
8-8-0 |
|
Lytle’s
Express (Rick Lytle) |
5-9-0 |
5-10-0 |
|
Super
Stangs (Sean Stepanek/Matt Miller) |
5-9-0 |
5-9-0 |
|
Devastating
Dolphins (Brad Trosin) |
4-10-0 |
4-10-0 |
The top five teams from each
conference made the playoffs (the LE made it in on a tiebreaker). R1 games saw the #4 & #5 seeds in each
conference face off, with the TS & SA advancing from their respective
games. In R2, the RR, FF, TA & HH
advanced to their conference finals. The
Halas final was a rematch of S8, but this time the HH defeated the TA 13-7 to
advance to CB IX. In the Lombardi final,
the FF upset the RR 21-14 to advance to CB IX.
In CB IX, the FF defeated the HH 14-13 to win their 1st ever
CB title.
Also
it was announced prior to the conference finals that Doug Clymer would be
stepping down as league commissioner to let AC Dave Johnson take over for S10.
Regular Season MVP:
RB Johnny Hector (SA)
CB IX MVP: LB Kyle
Clifton (FF)
Rookie of the Season:
RB Ickey Woods (TS)
SFL Coach of the
Season: Tim Fagre (FF)
SFL Season 10: The End of the
League/Stars Get Rid of a Monkey
The tenth & final season of SFL
saw Dave Johnson running the league. It
also saw that the 4 teams that did not make the S9 playoffs form a new
conference, the Hunt. The Chitown Heat
(CH, Steve Anderson) joined as an expansion team to make the Hunt have 5 teams
(15 teams in the league overall).
Standings looked like this:
|
SFL S10 Lombardi Standings |
RS Record |
OA Record |
|
*Doug
All Stars (Doug Clymer) |
4-0-0 |
7-0-0 |
|
Ruthless
Rads (Lon Anderson) |
2-2-0 |
4-3-0 |
|
Tropicana
All Stars (Pete Bergum) |
3-1-0 |
3-2-0 |
|
Kroenke’s
Donkies (Mike Kroenke) |
1-3-0 |
1-4-0 |
|
Fagre’s
Flyers (Tim Fagre) |
0-4-0 |
0-4-0 |
|
SFL S10 Halas Standings |
RS Record |
OA Record |
|
*Super
Awesomes (Dave Spalding) |
4-0-0 |
4-1-0 |
|
Totally
Awesomes (Rob Spalding) |
2-2-0 |
2-2-0 |
|
Ropin’
Rustlers (Dave Clymer) |
1-3-0 |
3-3-0 |
|
Hostile
Hawks (Eric Petersen) |
2-2-0 |
2-3-0 |
|
Lytle’s
Express (Rick Lytle) |
1-3-0 |
1-4-0 |
|
SFL S10 Hunt Standings |
RS Record |
OA Record |
|
Daring
Rebels (Dave Johnson) |
3-1-0 |
4-2-0 |
|
Chitown
Heat (Steve Anderson) |
3-1-0 |
4-2-0 |
|
*Super
Stangs (Mike Kroenke) |
3-1-0 |
3-2-0 |
|
Stine’s
Superstars (Rob Stine) |
1-3-0 |
1-3-0 |
|
Devastating
Dolphins (Brad Trosin) |
0-4-0 |
0-4-0 |
*-Regular
season division champion
Qualifying for the playoffs were the
DAS, the RR & the TS (representing the Lombardi), the SA & the HH
(representing the Halas) & the SS, the DR & the CH (representing the
Hunt). R1 playoff games were DR v HH, CH
v TS, RR v SA & DAS v SS. The teams
advancing to R2 were the DR (d. HH 20-14 in OT), the CH (d. TS 21-14), the RR
(d. SA 28-21) & the DAS (d. SS 21-13).
R2 saw RR v DR & CH v DAS.
Advancing to CB X were the RR (d. DR 21-6) & DAS (d. CH 20-14). The CB X matchup saw the 4 time champion RR
face the ball controlling & undefeated DAS offense. In the end, the DAS would prevail 14-7 to
claim their 1st & only SFL/CB championship.
Regular Season MVP: RB Ickey Woods (TS)
CB X MVP: RB Ronnie Harmon (DAS)
SFL Coach of the Season: Steve Anderson (CH)
SFL Most Improved Coach: Dave Johnson (DR)