HOUSTON — The Oilers have had a double zero and a beloved number seven. Those being wide receiver Ken Burrough and quarterback Dan Pastorini, respectively.
But a 007?
It’s November 30, 1965. On the front page of a Houston newspaper: “Undercover man used by Oilers in Talent War.”
Wait. "Undercover?"
‘An Undercover Agent,’ as word spreads around the country.
Let’s explain.
Back then, the Oilers in the American Football League were fighting teams in the National Football League for players.
After a poor season, team owner Bud Adams decides to fire one of his top evaluators, a man named Donald ‘Red Dog’ Ettinger.
Ettinger was later bad-mouthing the Oilers an belittling the AFL. He goes to work for something called the "Phoenix Firebirds."
It was all a lie/cover and part of a secret system devised by Bud Adams – and for his eyes only - named "Cross-Check," allowing "'Red Dog' to roam all over the country using the excuse he was scouting – for a team that didn’t exist,” wrote Wells Twombly.
And what’s with this "Red Dog" stuff? Ettinger was once an All-Pro linebacker. He Loved to "dog the quarterback." That morphed into "red-dogging," which later became "blitzing," the term we use today.
Now back to the story.
Did this espionage – "Operation Red Dog" - work?
"No one suspected it," said Adams. “He was able to get us information from National League clubs that wouldn't have been available to us otherwise.”
He also claims "Red Dog" poached a player right off the Minnesota Vikings’ sideline.
So, 007? Not quite.
Still, Bud Adams proudly proclaims he employed the first secret agent in the history of pro football.