USFL '86: The Season That Never Was

Monday, April 12, 2021

'86 Chronology-Shock Value

Event Date: December 18th, 1986

Event Description: Dupree Set


Source: UPI



Running back Marcus Dupree, the Portland Breakers' youngest and most expensive player, flew to Portland Wednesday and ended speculation he would play for another team.


Dupree said he will be on the field when the United States Football League team makes its Civic Stadium debut this spring.


Rumors had circulated since the team's move from New Orleans was announced that Dupree did not want to move, but he told newsmen in Portland he always intended to make the move.


“I was coming to Portland all the time. I did have a little doubt about it at first. People were telling me it was real cold here, that it rains all the time -- and you never see a leading rusher who plays in the rain,” he said.


“At first it was a shock. I had to get adjusted to it, as a business. I had a job to go to. Well, I'm staying here to play.”


Dupree started as a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, then transferred to Southern Mississippi before dropping out of school.


He signed a five-year contract for approximately $6 million with the Breakers in 1984.


Breakers' Coach Dick Coury said Dupree, in the next few years, “will be one of the top running backs in all of football.”


Story-(UPI Modified)

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