View source for San Antonio Texans

{{Short description|Canadian Football League team}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox American football team
| name = San Antonio Texans
| bgcolour = #006663
| fontcolour = #FFFFFF
| helmet =
| logo = San Antonio Texans.png
| uniform = 
| uniformsize = 250px
| founded = [[1993 in sports|1993]]
| folded = 1995
| location = [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]], United States
| field = [[Alamodome]]
| league = [[Canadian Football League]]
| division = [[CFL USA|South]]
| colours = Teal, old gold, black, burgundy, and white <br> {{color box|#006663}} {{color box|#8C734A}} {{color box|black}} {{color box|#800000}} {{color box|white}}
| coach = [[Kay Stephenson]]
| owner = [[Fred Anderson (football owner)|Fred Anderson]]
}}

The '''San Antonio Texans''' were a [[Canadian Football League]] (CFL) team that played in the [[Alamodome]] in [[San Antonio, Texas]], in the [[1995 CFL season]]. They had relocated from [[Sacramento, California]], where the team had been called the [[Sacramento Gold Miners]]. After relocating, the team still had the same ownership in [[Fred Anderson (football owner)|Fred Anderson]] and the same staff, including President Tom Bass and Head Coach/General Manager [[Kay Stephenson]].  The Gold Miners/Texans franchise played three seasons (five if the Texans' [[World League of American Football|WLAF]] iteration, the [[Sacramento Surge]], is also counted) before folding in 1995.  They were the southernmost team in CFL history and the only team in CFL history to have ever officially relocated from another market (the [[Baltimore Stallions]] and [[Montreal Alouettes]] are considered separate teams by the league).

==History==

Before the [[1993 CFL season|1993 season]], the CFL granted expansion franchises to the owners of two WLAF teams, the Sacramento Surge and [[San Antonio Riders]].  The Riders changed their name to the Texans to avoid confusion with the [[Ottawa Rough Riders]] and [[Saskatchewan Roughriders]]. However, the original Texans franchise folded without ever playing a down when its owner, Larry Benson, ran out of money and was forced to withdraw.  In a second attempt to place a team in San Antonio, [[Larry Ryckman]] threatened to move the [[Calgary Stampeders]] to San Antonio for the 1995 season if Calgary fans did not buy 16,000 season tickets; the tickets were purchased, though Ryckman was forced to sell the team a year later.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1995/07/23/not-so-friendly-persuasion-selling-tickets-in-canada/ |title=Not-so-friendly persuasion selling tickets in Canada |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=July 23, 1995 |access-date=February 5, 2014}}</ref>

The Surge changed their name to the Gold Miners, and played the 1993 and [[1994 CFL season|1994]] seasons in Sacramento.  However, their home stadium, [[California State University, Sacramento|Sacramento State]]'s [[Hornet Stadium (Sacramento State)|Hornet Stadium]], was completely inadequate as a professional football venue.  At the time, it consisted mostly of temporary-style bleacher seats, had few amenities and did not have permanent bathrooms.  Additionally, it was uncovered, and thus offered no protection from Sacramento's blistering summer heat.  They were also relatively isolated from the rest of the league; for their first two seasons, their nearest opponent was the [[BC Lions]], {{convert|890|mi}} north.

Unable to persuade Sacramento State to upgrade Hornet Stadium to something approaching CFL standards, Anderson tried to build a new stadium, but those plans fizzled.  Neither of the other two stadiums in the Sacramento area, [[Toomey Field]] and [[Charles C. Hughes Stadium]], offered anything significantly better; like Hornet Stadium, they were both inadequate even for temporary use. The failure of the [[Las Vegas Posse]] after only one season left the Gold Miners once again isolated from the rest of the league. Faced with an inadequate stadium and an unsustainable travel situation, Anderson reluctantly opted to move the team to San Antonio as the Texans.  The move brought the Texans closer to the league's three Southern teams—the [[Birmingham Barracudas]], [[Memphis Mad Dogs]] and [[Shreveport Pirates]].

===On the field===
The Texans were unique in that their stadium, the Alamodome, had a playing surface large enough to accommodate a regulation [[Canadian football]] field.  Although the facility had been designed primarily with [[American football]] in mind, its sideline seats could be retracted to create a playing surface wide enough for the full 65-yard width of a CFL field, and its end zone seating could be retracted to accommodate the full 150-yard length of a CFL field.

In their third season in the CFL and their first as the Texans, the team had the second-highest scoring offence in the league, which was led by veteran quarterback [[David Archer (quarterback)|David Archer]]. The franchise finished the [[1995 CFL season]] with a 12–6 record, finishing in second place of the South Division, which sent them to their first playoff berth.

In the playoffs, the Texans soundly defeated the Barracudas, 52–9, in the Southern Semi-Final at the Alamodome, in what was the only CFL playoff game ever held in an American city other than [[Baltimore]]. However, their playoff run would end with a loss to the eventual [[83rd Grey Cup|Grey Cup champion]] [[Baltimore Stallions]] in the Southern Final by a score of 21–11.  As it turned out, it would be the last game the Texans would ever play, and (as of the 2015 season) the last meaningful CFL game ever played in the United States.

San Antonio's two backup quarterbacks had connections to the [[National Football League]]{{'}}s (NFL) [[Buffalo Bills]]. The first was 45-year-old former Bills quarterback [[Joe Ferguson]], who had retired five years earlier and came out of retirement when Dave Archer, the Texans' long-time starting quarterback, suffered an injury.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/03/sports/sports-people-football-ferguson-45-signs-cfl-deal.html|title=SPORTS PEOPLE: FOOTBALL; Ferguson, 45, Signs C.F.L. Deal|newspaper=The New York Times|date=3 August 1995}}</ref> The second was [[Jimmy Kemp]], son of Bills quarterback (and politician) [[Jack Kemp]]. Head coach Kay Stephenson was Jack Kemp's backup on the Bills squad in 1968 and served as head coach of the Bills during Ferguson's last season with the team in 1984.

===Off the field===
The San Antonio Texans had respectable attendance, with the average being 15,855. In one of their games at the Alamodome, attendance reached 22,043, in a 38–32 loss to the [[Calgary Stampeders]]. The turmoil surrounding most of the other American CFL teams was not a significant factor in San Antonio.

===The end===
Anderson was heavily committed to the American CFL experiment. Indeed, by most accounts, he and the [[Baltimore Stallions]]' [[Jim Speros]] were the only truly dedicated American-based owners.  When the experiment appeared to be in jeopardy near the end of the 1995 season, Anderson attempted to orchestrate a plan to save it. Under the plan, the Stallions, who were about to be forced out of Baltimore due to the [[Cleveland Browns relocation controversy|pending establishment]] of the NFL's [[Baltimore Ravens]], would have moved to [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], a city that was about to lose their NFL team, the [[Houston Oilers|Oilers]], and Speros would have sold a minority stake to [[Houston Astros]] owner [[Drayton McLane]]. Meanwhile, the Barracudas would have been sold to a new investment group and relocated to Shreveport to take the place of the Pirates.  This would have matched up a team that made a good account of itself in its first season with a market that at least had the potential to support it.  The 'Cudas' attendance had dwindled to unsustainable levels once college football season started.  In contrast, while Shreveport was the smallest American market in the league, it had proven it could support CFL football for a full season despite being saddled with one of the league's worst teams both on and off the field.  The plan would have concentrated the CFL's American experiment in the Southwest, and the three cities would have been close enough to make both it and the three teams more viable. The proposal would likely have meant the end of the CFL's South Division. The most likely alignment would have been to place the three U.S. teams in a re-constituted East Division, while the [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]] would have returned to the West Division.

However, only two months after the Grey Cup, the Mad Dogs and Pirates had both folded.  The Barracudas were about to be euthanized as well, as by then it was obvious the CFL would not approve their proposed sale and relocation to Shreveport. Speros was seriously considering moving his team to [[Montreal]], in response to pressure from the league office.<ref name=Ralph>Ralph, Dan. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19960126&id=iBUmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2P0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4313,1970578 Speros reportedly close to pulling Stallions]. [[Associated Press]], 1996-01-26.</ref>  Anderson was not enamored at the prospect of being the only American owner in the CFL once again. He believed that the league needed at least three more American teams for the Texans to be viable in the long term.<ref name=businessweek>{{cite web |url= http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1995-12-03/canadian-football-is-running-out-of-plays |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130814013016/http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1995-12-03/canadian-football-is-running-out-of-plays |url-status= dead |archive-date= August 14, 2013 |title=Canadian football is running out of plays|last1=Symonds |first1=William C. |date=3 December 1995  |publisher= Bloomberg BusinessWeek |access-date=23 January 2014}}</ref>  However, he was willing to play another season in San Antonio provided the Stallions stuck to their initial plan to move to Houston.<ref name=Ralph/>

On February 3, 1996, the Stallions received formal approval to move to Montreal (they later reconstituted themselves as the third incarnation of the [[Montreal Alouettes]]) and the Texans were shuttered along with the Mad Dogs, Pirates and Barracudas.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19960204&id=GrgfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=q9cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3044,359055 CFL's American experiment ends as Stallions move north to Montreal]. [[Associated Press]], 1996-02-03.</ref>  Anderson had little choice but to accept the euthanization of his team; earlier he had stated that he'd lost $6 million in 1995—far too much to make it worth the effort to go it alone.<ref name=Ralph/> With the Stallions' move to Montreal, his nearest opponent would have been in Hamilton, over 1,400 miles away.  With the Stallions opting to move to Montreal, there was no longer a viable place for Anderson to relocate had he decided to follow the Stallions' example.  Although several other markets in Canada had expressed interest in joining the CFL, none had a stadium at the time that was suitable even for temporary use.

[[Malcolm Frank]] was the last remaining player from the Texans to play in the Canadian Football League when he was a member of the [[Edmonton Elks|Edmonton Eskimos]] in 2006. He retired after that season.

== Seasons ==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
![[List of Canadian Football League seasons|Season]]
!League
!Finish
!Wins
!Losses
!Ties
!Playoffs
|-
! [[1995 San Antonio Texans season|1995]]
| [[1995 CFL season|CFL]]
| 2nd, South
| 12
| 6
| 0
| Lost in Division Finals
|-
|}

== Players and builders of note ==
* [[Tom Bass (American football)|Tom Bass]]
* [[Greg Korn]] - Assistant GM - Business Operations
* [[Mike Kiselak]]
* [[Kay Stephenson]]
* [[David Archer (quarterback)|David Archer]]
* [[Joe Ferguson]]
* [[Jimmy Kemp]]
* [[Malcolm Frank]]
* [[Judd Garrett]]

==See also==
* [[CFL USA all-time records and statistics]]
* [[Comparison of Canadian and American football]] 
* [[1995 CFL season]]
* [[Sacramento Gold Miners]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091027101351/http://geocities.com/DGarcia879/SanAntonioTexansFOREVER CFL Texans Shrine]
*[http://www.oursportscentral.com/cflinamerica/sananton.htm San Antonio Texans History]

{{San Antonio Texans}}
{{CFL USA}}

[[Category:San Antonio Texans| ]]
[[Category:American football teams established in 1993]]
[[Category:American football teams disestablished in 1995]]
[[Category:1993 establishments in Texas]]
[[Category:1995 disestablishments in Texas]]
[[Category:Defunct American football teams in Texas]]
[[Category:Defunct Canadian Football League teams]]
[[Category:Defunct Canadian football teams in the United States]]
[[Category:Defunct sports clubs and teams in Texas]]