Bubba Wyche

Detroit Wheels

Photo above right courtesy of Johnny Wofford

In 1958 Bubba Wyche equaled the Little League world record for strikeouts when he set down every player he faced --18 -- in a regulation six-inning game. On October 21, 1967 as a third-team quarterback, Wyche paced Tennessee to a 24-13 win over Alabama to end a 25-game unbeaten streak by Hall of Fame head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Crimson Tide.

About Wyche, the Atlanta Journal's Furman Bisher wrote,  "This kid Wyche has more acts than a Vaudeville show. If he were sight-seeing at Niagara Falls, he would be compelled to go over it in a barrel,"  Greatness ran in the Wyche family, his brother Sam was a famous football player who would become a Super Bowl coach.

After Tennessee, Wyche played for the Saskatchewan Rough Riders of the CFL. He was considered a star in the making by the newly organized Detroit Wheels of the WFL. Wyche was the starter from the inception of the ill-fated franchise. The wheels were a financial and organizational disaster Of all the sad stories to emerge from the WFL “experiment, perhaps Wyche’s was the saddest. Hobbled by injured knees, Wyche had been sacked 44 times in 14 games. The Wheels finished 1-13 and folded at the end of the season. Wyche became a spokeman of sorts for all the players of the league who had been short-changed, at one point contacting the Commissioners office to state, "The situation here is desperate. "Please give us some relief, will you?" His agony was the epitome of the Wheels sorry season.

When the Wheels folded, Wyche landed in Chicago as a back-up. When the Fire’s star, Virgil Carter was lost to injury along with his back-up, Wyche relieved them very well. He joined the Shreveport Steamer for the 1975 weason and served as a back-up there until the demise of the league. He finished as the WFL’s sixth leading passer in 1974 with the Wheels and Fire. He also rushed for 287 yards in two seasons.

WFL Career Statistics

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