Glory Days F ootball has a proud history in Florida College and high school teams have been popular there for a long time However fans in the Sunshine State were introduced to professional football only a few decades ago The first team to make an impact there was the Miami Dolphins They began in the 1960s By the 1970s football fans on the opposite side of the state wanted their own team In 1976 they got their wish The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were born New teams usually have a hard time winning in the NFL but no team ever had it harder than the Buccaneers They lost all 14 of their games in 1976 and their first 12 in 1977 People started calling them the Yuccaneers and the Bad News Bucs Fortunately Tampa Bay fans had the last laugh In 1979 the Buccaneers won the Central Division of 6
the National Football Conference NFC and nearly reached the Super Bowl Coach John McKay built a rock-solid defense with young stars such as brothers Lee Roy and Dewey Selmon Dave Pear Dave Lewis and Richard Wood Tampa Bay’s leader on offense was Doug Williams a strong-armed quarterback who never backed down from a challenge Running back Ricky Bell and tight end Jimmie Giles were also important contributors After their great 1979 season the Buccaneers returned to the playoffs in 1981 and 1982 In 1983 Williams signed a contract to play in the new United States Football League USFL The Bucs struggled to find a new leader For 14 seasons in a row the team lost more games than it won Many talented players wore the Tampa Bay uniform during this time including James Wilder Mark Carrier Reggie Cobb Steve Young Vinny Testaverde Ricky Reynolds and Errict Rhett Unfortunately the Buccaneers couldn’t find the winning formula In 1996 the team hired coach Tony Dungy He went to work on rebuilding the Tampa Bay defense Dungy assembled a group LEFT Doug Williams made front-page news with the Bucs in the 1970s ABOVE James Wilder led the team in the 1980s 7
of hard-hitting stars that included Hardy Nickerson Derrick Brooks John Lynch and Warren Sapp They made the fans forget about all of the team’s disappointing years and instead remember the old days when the Bucs had the most fearsome defense in the NFL In 1997 Tampa Bay returned to the playoffs The defense attacked opponents from all angles On offense running backs Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn fueled a great rushing attack Trent Dilfer threw 21 touchdown passes and rarely made a mistake In December of that year the Bucs won their first playoff game in nearly two decades As the Buccaneers added more quality players including Brad Johnson Keyshawn Johnson Ronde Barber Anthony McFarland Simeon Rice and Dexter Jackson they made the postseason year after year But the team needed a new spark to get to the Super Bowl In 2002 the Bucs hired Jon Gruden to be their coach LEFT Derrick Brooks keeps a watchful eye on a Tampa Bay opponent ABOVE Ronde Barber and Warren Sapp 9
