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BLITZ
TRIVIA |
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| Dr.
Ted Diethrich is the founder of the Arizona
Heart Institute in Phoenix. Today he
continues his work there, and also appears on
local Phoenix television with segments on heart
health. |
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| George
Allen's tenure with the Blitz was his last stop
as a pro football coach. He would go on to
coach at Long Beach State in 1990, but died on
New Years Eve that year. |
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| Allen
was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in 2002. His son George was a member of
the United States Senate from 1997 to 2003,
representing Virginia. |
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Both
majority owners of the Blitz, Drs. Ted Diethrich
and James Hoffman, lived far removed from the
Chicago area. Diethrich called Phoenix,
Arizona home (this later would prove a key factor
behind the "franchise swap" between the
Blitz and the Arizona Wranglers after the 1983
season), while Hoffman called Milwaukee home.
A unique feature of the Chicago Blitz was their
inclusion of the Chicago city flag on its
helmet. Allen requested its inclusion.
The Blitz signed Tim Wrightman to the first USFL
contract on August 5, 1982. Wrightman would,
unlike most of the 340-plus players signed to
contracts by the team, go on to make the 1983
Blitz squad.
In a poll conducted by the Pittsburgh Press
newspaper in March 1983, the Blitz was chosen by
readers as "the most fierce" team
nickname in the USFL.
On July 6, 1982, George Allen announced a
"Name the Team" contest would be
conducted, suggesting that "The name should
be aggressive... short and puncy, probably no more
than six or seven letters." Over the
next 10 days the team received over 20,000
suggestions of 3,351 different names, including
Aces, Butchers, Cohos, Fury, Grizzlies, Hit Men,
Rhinos, Skyscrapers, Zephyrs, and of course,
Blitz.
The Blitz name was submitted by Mike Wehrli of
Naperville, Illinois, who included with the name a
detailed list of 20 reasons why it should be
selected.
George Allen's son Bruce served as the Blitz
General Manager in 1983, starting a front office
career that continues today in the National
Football League. |
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