'83 Chronology-Sole Survivor

Event Date: February 16th, 1983

Event Description: Express Cut Foreman

Source-New York Times

Chuck Foreman got the bad news yesterday in the camp of the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League: At the age of 33, attempting a comeback after two years on the sidelines, he was cut from the squad.

Foreman had unusual credentials. Five times he was an all-pro running back for the Minnesota Vikings; three times he played in the Super Bowl. But he also had extra weight, about 15 pounds extra. ''He gave us a maximum effort,'' said Coach Hugh Campbell of the Express, ''but the time factor simply caught up with him.''

His departure left Anthony Davis as the senior veteran in camp, and Davis was conceded a better chance of surviving. But his comeback attempt is an even more difficult one. He is 30, he has played in three other football leagues, he has suffered repeated injuries and he has not played football in four years.

Davis began his travels as a star running back at Southern California, where he was an all-American twice and played in the Rose Bowl three times. In 1975, he was the first draft choice of the Jets but instead signed with the Southern California Sun of the World Football League, which folded. In 1976, he went to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League but broke his leg. 

In 1977, he switched to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League and his former coach at U.S.C., John McKay. Then the next year he went to the Houston Oilers and the Los Angeles Rams. But injuries again hampered him.

If he makes it, he will be a rare one: four professional leagues. The coach says: ''He's one of the three or four quickest players on the club, at this point.'' But for Davis, the problem is to keep his comeback alive until Los Angeles opens the season March 6 against the New Jersey Generals.

Story-(New York Times)