Oilers leave rich legacy of low-budget absurdity

By Al Carter / The Dallas Morning News, Monday, June 30, 1997

Bud Adams made his first fortune finding oil where no one else cared to look. Figuring the world was similarly bloated with undiscovered football talent, Adams set out to find it.

In 1966, he fired team scout "Red Dog" Ettinger; the firing was all pretense. In reality, Ettinger was assigned to head up Operation Cross-Check, a $250,000 scheme to locate and sign all the great players Adams knew the rest of pro football had missed.

While Ettinger gathered 325 part-time agents and set up a minor-league front in Arizona, Adams did his part. While dining out one night, Adams took notice of the South American waiter. Might be a great kicker, Adams thought. The owner invited the waiter out for a middle-of-the-night tryout at Jeppesen Stadium. Adams turned on the lights and, with the help of a friend, applied a rush while the waiter took his whacks at the ball. Adams signed him.

More than 100 Cross-Check recruits showed up at training camp in July. Nine failed their physicals. Twenty-nine were cut the first day. Not a single Cross-Check discovery made the team - and two of the rejects sued Adams.

Both Operation Cross-Check and "Red Dog" Ettinger faded from the scene, much to the relief of Oilers coaches. Ettinger had long been a source of irritation to the staff, partly because of his habit of sneaking into the meeting room and drawing mice on the chalkboard. One day, Ettinger left a drawing of a piece of Gouda cheese. Asked to explain, Ettinger pointed to his mice.

"Well," he said, "them little rascals gotta eat."