Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 182

I April 8, 1976: Hugh Culverhouse introduces the Bucs' first pick in their first-ever college draft Outland Trophy winner Lee RoySelmon of Oklahoma. THE BUGS fv jjjf unwilling or unable to conjure up lines that make him football's most noted wit McKay turned down several opportunities to leave Southern Cal for the National Football League. He was asked more than once by the Rams, who shared the Los Angeles Coliseum with his Trojans. Then, suddenly, he leaped. Hugh Culverhouse, a Jacksonville tax lawyer who made millions in real estate, had bought himself a football team.

His first choice as coach was McKay. Today, as then, McKay has been his only choice for the job. He offered a five-year package worth just under $l-million and has since promised McKay lifetime employment. McKay had become dismayed about the developing pol- From idea tfo ffhe play otitis BY RON MARTZ ong before they played their first game, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a history. It is a history that began not with the awarding of the franchise in 1974 but with an idea conceived more than 10 years earlier to build a major-league football stadium in Tampa.

With that stadium, it was reasoned, the city could lure a National Football League team. So, in 1965, the forces were set in motion to put professional football in Tampa. That effort reached fruition in 1976 when the Buccaneers played their first game and the success became complete on Dec. 16, 1979 when the team reached the NFL playoffs in only their fourth year of existence. The following is a chronological history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from idea to playoffs: 1965 May 28: Florida Gov.

Hayden Burns signs legislation authorizing the formulation of the Tampa Sports Authority (TSA), the primary purpose of which is to get a football stadium built in Tampa. Nov. 30: TSA orders preliminary construction plans for a stadium. 1966 July 8: The Florida Supreme Court validates a bond issue, allowing the TSA to proceed with plans to build a stadium on North Dale Mabry Highway. Oct.

20: Ground is broken by TSA officials for stadium construction at a site northwest of Al Lopez Field. 1967 Jan. 5: The TSA officially names the stadium being built Tampa Stadium. Nov. 24: The first football game is played in Tampa Stadium after dedication ceremonies by Gov.

Claude Kirk. The University of Tampa loses to the University of Tennessee 38-0. 1968 Aug. 10: Promoter Bill Marcum brings the first pro football game to Tampa Stadium. The Washington Redskins beat the Atlanta Falcons 16-14 in a preseason game before more than 42,000 fans.

1969 Nov. 30: Marcum pulls off a minor RON MARTZ, sports columnist (or The St. Petersburg Times, covered the Bucs during the teom's first three seosons. be in the running for an expansior franchise. April 24: The NFL awards and Seattle expansion franchise Both teams will begin play in 197f, April 27: The cost of the Tamp,) franchise is put at $l6-million with 14 groups still vying for own ership.

Oct. 31: Philadelphia businessman Tom McCloskey is awarded thi Tampa franchise. Dec. 5: McCloskey unexeetedly withdraws as owner of the team, calling it a "sound business deci sion." Jacksonville attorney Hugh Culverhouse is immediately of fered the franchise. He quickly agrees to pay the $16-million.

1975 Feb. 15: The franchise is officially named "The Tampa Bay Bucca neers" despite some objections from the St. Petersburg area. April 24: The Tampa City Council votes to expand the stadium to nearly 72,000 seats. April 30: Ron Wolf, the director of player personnel for the Oakland Raiders, is named vice president of operations for the Bucs.

June 14: The Bucs adopt orange and white with red trim as their official colors. July 9: Ground is broken for expansion of Tampa Stadium. July 30: After months of rumors, Culverhouse confirms that University of Southern California coach John McKay is the leading candidate to be the Bucs' first head coach. Oct. 31: McKay agrees to coach the Bucs and signs a five-year contract.

Nov. 19: The stocking formula for Tampa Bay and Seattle is announced, with the two teams able to claim veterans from other teams through a complicated allocation draft. Dec. 27: Culverhouse draws the first pick in the college draft while Seattle receives the first pick in the veteran allocation draft. 1976 Jan.

27: Bucs announce signing of their first three players, all free agents. They include guard Tom Alward, defensive end Pete Duran-ko and wide receiver Wayne Wheeler. March 30: The veteran allocation draft is held and among the 39 players selected by the Bucs are Anthony Davis, J. K. McKay, Barry Smith, Doug Swift, Dave Pear and Pat Toomay.

April 2: The Bucs acquire quarterback Steve Spurrier, the former Heisman Trophy winner from Florida, from the San Francisco 49ers for a second-round draft pick and two players obtained in coup by getting a regular-season NFL game in Tampa Stadium. The Boston Patriots dump Miami 38-23 in front of 32,000 fans. 1970 Jan. 29: Boston Patriots' owner Bill Sullivan discusses the possibility of moving his team to Tampa. Feb.

4: The Florida Suncoast Pro Football Committee (FSPFC) offers to host several of the Patriots' regular-season games but Sullivan eventually gets a better deal in Boston. 1971 Feb. 10: Fort Lauderdale furniture magnate Harry Mangurian and Wisconsin industrialist Willard Keland tell the FSPFC they are candidates for ownership of an NFL expansion franchise and would like that franchise to be in Tampa. No v. 2 1 Baltimore Colts' owner Carroll Rosenbloom explores the possibility of moving his team's preseason training site to Tampa and playing three preseason games in Tampa Stadium.

1972 May 20: Representatives from Seattle, Memphis and Phoenix announce they will join forces with Marcum to make a pitch for NFL expansion at a Sept. 7 league meeting. Sept. 1: The Colts close out their three-game Tampa Stadium stand with a 1-3 record and an average attendance of 40,000. 1973 April 4: The NFL owners convene in Scottsdale, and agree that league expansion should be considered.

Tampa is one of the sites to be studied. June 6: The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce helps form the Tampa Bay NFL Super Task Force, a 90-man group, to convince the league that Tampa would be a prime site for an expansion team. 1974 Feb25: Tampa and four other cities (Seattle, Phoenix, Memphis and Honolulu) are said by the NFL to 7 a itics in college football. Frank Broyles quit as Arkansas coach, ditto Darrell Royal at Texas. Bob Devaney was no longer coaching at Nebraska.

For McKay, the time and the money and the challenge all became ripe. Ah, yes, the challenge McKay would be the father of a baby, an NFL expansion team berthed 2,400 miles east of the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a nonentity about to wear helmets that bore a soft-looking cavalier that I could only name Bucco Bruce. At a time when his age was catching up with the color of his hair, the snow-capped coal miner's son returned to the diaper-changing, shoulder-burping stage of coaching. It's now four years later.

McKay's Buccaneers are almost Continued R.OWDIAN, Dcmbr 13, 1979.