History of The New Orleans Saints - 1960s

1960s

The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, was awarded an NFL franchise on November 1, 1966, thanks to a combination of local activism (most notably by David Dixon and by members of the local media, such as New Orleans States-Item sports editor Crozet Duplantier) and political force (Senator Russell Long and Congressman Hale Boggs, who made approval of the NFL-AFL merger conditional on the awarding of a franchise to New Orleans).

In December, oilman John W. Mecom, Jr. became the majority shareholder and thus president of the team; later that month Tom Fears was named head coach. In December the team was named "Saints" due to its birthday on the Roman Catholic Church's All Saints Day -- a fitting nickname for a team in the largely Catholic New Orleans area. The team's original stadium was Tulane Stadium, which could seat more than 80,000 fans. The team was placed in the Capitol Division of the NFL's Eastern Conference; their division foes were the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Redskins The team started off well, with a 5-1 pre-season record; then, on the first play of the regular season, wide receiver John Gilliam returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. However, this was not enough for the Saints and they lost their regular season opener to the Los Angeles Rams 27-13. Their first win came on November 5 as they defeated the Eagles 31-24. That would be one of the Saints' only triumphs in their inaugural campaign; they ended the season 3-11, the second-worst mark in the league and three-and-a-half games behind Washington in the divisional race. At the time, however, the Saints' 3 wins tied for the most ever for an expansion team's inaugural season.

Their next few seasons continued along similar lines. They improved slightly in 1968, putting up a 4-9-1 record as they competed in the Century Division against the Cleveland Browns, St. Louis Cardinals, and Pittsburgh Steelers; in 1969 they returned to the Capitol Division (featuring the same opponents as 1967) and managed to go 5-9.