Story of the USFL

Below is a loose (very loose) chronology of the headline stories from the USFL: Herschel Walker signs on When football was F-U-N Young signs with Express The Class of '84 Marcus Dupree: The phenom Blitz 'em in Chi ... uh, Buffalo Only the sky was their limit The cradle of NFL coaching? Perpetual motion (The pursuit of) USFL trivia The Donald (Trump, of course) The $3.76 lawsuit Stick with the plan Landeta and Flutie -- Greg Garber

While the Panthers defeated the Stars by two points in the inaugural championship, the Stars returned to the last two title games and won them both.

"Our team, from top to bottom, was pretty amazing," said Sean Landeta, the punter for the Stars all three years. "So many good people in that organization."

Recently, Carl Peterson, Bill Kuharich and Bob Moore were sitting around the Kansas City Chiefs offices, talking about the USFL. Peterson, the team president, Kuharich, director of pro personnel, and Moore, director of public relations, all held the equivalent of their present jobs with the Stars. Their conversation turned into a detailed (though they claim not definitive) list of USFL non-playing personnel that are in the NFL today. The list has 72 names, from the aforementioned marquee names to trainers to secretaries to ticket managers to video coordinators. Seventeen of those people worked for the Stars.

"When we started out, Tex Schramm (then Cowboys president), who is still a close friend, said our players were a bunch of rejects and that he didn't want any of them in the NFL," Peterson said. "Our plan was to build the team intelligently. I knew where the players were. I had a van set up in the parking lot of the Eagles training camp in Westchester (Pa.) and as soon as they cut a player, I signed him.

"One day, Sam Rutigliano, the Cleveland Browns coach called me and said, `We're cutting Sam Mills -- it was (defensive coordinator) Marty Schottenheimer's call -- and I think it might be a mistake. He turned out to be the best defensive player ever in the USFL. Bill Walsh called me and gave me a heads up on our quarterback, Chuck Fusina."

George Perles was hired to coach the Stars, but he left for Michigan State with Peterson's blessing. After a brief (but serious) flirtation with Penn State's Joe Paterno, Peterson named Jim Mora the head coach. Mora later prowled the sidelines for the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts for 15 seasons and won 135 games in the process. Oh, and the Stars had a few good players, too.

"We had seven guys who went on to play 10 years in the NFL," Landeta said. "Sam Mills, Mike Johnson, William Fuller, Bart Oates, me and Irv Eatman, and all of them Pro Bowlers. OK, six guys. How many NFL teams have six guys who played 10 or more years?"

How would the Stars have fared against NFL teams of their day?

"Oh, they'd have been very competitive," Polian said. "The running back RB (Kelvin Bryant) was terrific. The defensive players, for all intents and purposes, were very good. They would have won their share of games."

Next: The cradle of NFL coaching?

Greg Garber is a senior writer at ESPN.com.