Meet the Saints S ports fans like to joke about teams with strange names For many years they laughed at the New Orleans Saints A saint can be a kind person who does good deeds or someone who performs religious miracles For many years the joke was that it would take a miracle for New Orleans to win a championship Football is a funny game however After years of struggles and disappointments the Saints lived up to their name Through their words and deeds they lifted the spirits of a city destroyed by natural disaster And by winning the Super Bowl they achieved the miracle no one thought possible This book tells the story of the Saints They have had amazing ups and downs great victories and shattering defeats and tremendous hope and heartbreak In the part of America where people love to say let the good times roll the Saints are now the hottest ticket in town Drew Brees calls a play in the huddle Brees led the Saints to the top of the football world 5
Glory Days D uring the 1950s and 1960s college football was the most t popular sport in the South The people of New Orleans Louisiana loved professional football too Whenever the National Football League NFL staged exhibition games there fans showed up in huge numbers So when the NFL decided to add new teams in the 1960s New Orleans was an easy choice th 1950 d 1960 i ll f tb ll th A businessman named John Mecom Jr led a group of investors that funded the team They chose the name Saints after one of the city’s most famous songs When the Saints Go Marching In New Orleans played its first season in 1967 The team’s first coach was Tom Fears who was one of the greatest pass receivers in history Fears built the Saints with experienced stars taken from other NFL teams including Jim Taylor 6
Doug Atkins Billy Kilmer and Dave Whitsell Over the next few seasons the Saints found other good players including kicker Tom Dempsey and receivers Danny Abramowicz and Dave Parks Even so every year the team lost more games than it won The first true star for the Saints was quarterback Archie Manning In 1972 he finished tied for third in the NFL in touchdown passes even though New Orleans won just two games Toward the end of the 1970s it looked like Manning would finally turn the Saints into a winning team Unfortunately in 1980 they lost their first 14 games before getting their one and only win of the year Disappointed fans started calling them the Aints Seven more years passed before New Orleans finally enjoyed its first winning season In 1987 coach Jim Mora pushed his players hard No team in the National Football Conference NFC wanted to win more The extra work paid off The Saints won 12 games and advanced to the playoffs for the first time The New Orleans offense relied on the skills of quarterback Bobby Hebert running back Rueben Mayes kicker Morten Andersen and kick returner Mel Gray The Saints were even better LEFT Archie Manning passes on the run ABOVE Bobby Hebert looks for a receiver during practice 7
