After many years of waiting football fans in the Deep South would finally have an NFL team to support as the New Orleans Saints began play September 17, 1967 against the Los Angeles Rams in a sold-out Tulane Stadium.
This clip includes a little background info going on during the off season as well as a few sound bytes from that historical opening day in 1967.
I've been following the Saints since a kid in the 70s watching the likes of Archie Manning and Tommy Myers.
We may not have as grandiose a history as some NFL teams, but there are scores of memories the New Orleans Saints have given to their fans and I have done my best to record them here at New Orleans Saints History.
Picture of Gary Cuozzo – the Saints first starting quarterback.
The Saints are born as New Orleans is awarded a Professional franchise from the NFL & John Mecom Jr is named as the new owner.
The New Orleans Saints began their NFL play in 1967 with a complement of cast-offs and misfits of other teams and finished the season with a 3 wins the most yet for an NFL expansion team. Here are some highlights of that inaugural first year of the New Orleans Saints.
Jim Taylor scores against the Steelers during the Saints-Steelers game in 1967.
Early Saints Action from 1967. Big Doug Atkins along with other New Orleans Saints defenders move in on Colts runner Tom Matte.
An write-up on the first players of the New Orleans Saints – a little bit of info on who they were and what happened to many of them. Thanks to Sports writer Rene Nadeau at SportsNola.com for the article.