Remember When: The Houston Oilers Trained in San Angelo
Wade Phillips, the former Dallas Cowboys head coach and son of former Houston Oilers head coach Bum Phillips, was recently in San Angelo for the Angelo Football Clinic.
The younger Phillips is one of the directors for the clinic which returned to San Angelo this year following a one year hiatus due to the Corona virus pandemic. Phillips has been involved with the clinic since its inception back in the 1970s.
Back in 1978, the Angelo State Rams won the NAIA championship, the Oilers would draft Texas Longhorn running back Earl Campbell with the number one pick in the NFL Draft and that very same year the elder Phillips moved the Oilers training camp from Nacogdoches, Texas to the Angelo State campus in San Angelo.
It would be a good year for the Oliers as the "Luv Ya Blue" movement was going strong.
Bum's Oilers would make it all the way to the AFC Championship where they would fall to their division rival and the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.
Houston would return to the AFC Championship the next year and again fall to the Steelers, who would repeat as Super Bowl champions.
Angelo State would host the Oilers for 10 years until they moved their training camp site to SW Texas State in San Marcos in 1988. Just think of all the Oiler legends who spent time here in San Angelo during those hot summer days. The names of Earl Campbell, Warren Moon and Ray Childress all come to mind.
Click on the link to the YouTube video courtesy of the NFL below. The video features the Oilers at Angelo State University at about 2:30 into the video.
Do you remember when the Oilers trained in San Angelo? Did you go see them train at Angelo State? Tell us about it on Facebook or chat with us on our station app.
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