College and professional career
Sampson graduated from Stanford University in 1972, where he starred as a defensive end, playing on two Rose Bowl-winning teams (1971 and 1972).
Sampson grew up in Long Beach, California and graduated in 1968 from Millikan High School, where he first joined the football team his junior year as the kicker.
In 1972, he was selected in the first round by the Houston Oilers as a defensive end. In 1974, he switched to offensive tackle and steadily improved, until he became second-team ALL-AFC in 1978. But then during a 1979 pre-season drill with his teammates, his helmet was struck and a blood clot in the brain developed. A surgical intervention removed it, probably saving his life, but he could no longer play and retired after the 1979 season.
In 2010, Sampson was voted by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times as the Houston Oilers best offensive lineman in the history of the team.
Roland Owen McDole is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
John Perry Pardee was an American professional football player and head coach. He played as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). As a coach, he is the only head coach to helm a team in college football, the NFL, the United States Football League (USFL), the World Football League (WFL), and the Canadian Football League (CFL). Pardee was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1986.
Dwight Andre Sean O'Neil Jones is a Jamaican-born former professional football defensive end, who played for the Los Angeles Raiders (1984–1987), Houston Oilers (1988–1993), and the Green Bay Packers (1994–1996). He won Super Bowl XXXI with the Packers, beating the New England Patriots. Jones was selected to the Pro Bowl after the 1993 season. Sean Jones' brother Max Jones played college football at Massachusetts and later played professional football with the Birmingham Stallions in the USFL in 1984.
Harold Wade Phillips is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas of the United Football League (UFL). He has served as head coach of the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, and Houston Roughnecks. He has also served as interim head coach for the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and the Houston Texans. Additionally, Phillips has long been considered to be among the best defensive coordinators in the NFL. In his long career, he has served as defensive coordinator in eight separate stints with seven different franchises. Multiple players under Phillips' system have won Defensive Player of the Year: Reggie White, Bryce Paup, Bruce Smith, J. J. Watt and Aaron Donald. Others under Phillips have won Defensive Rookie of the Year: Mike Croel and Shawne Merriman. In Phillips' lone Super Bowl victory, a defensive player would be named Super Bowl MVP: Von Miller.
John Daniel Matuszak, nicknamed "Tooz", was an American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) who later became an actor.
Les Steckel is an American football coach currently serving as the quarterbacks coach at Centre College. He was the third head coach of the Minnesota Vikings in 1984, and he has also worked as an assistant coach with the San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Kenneth Ray Houston is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.
Dante Anthony Pastorini is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Houston Oilers. He played college football for the Santa Clara Broncos and was selected third overall by the Oilers in the 1971 NFL draft. A Pro Bowl selection during his Oilers tenure, he was also part of the Oakland Raiders team that won a Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XV alongside fellow 1971 pick Jim Plunkett. Pastorini spent his final three seasons in sparse appearances for the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles. After retiring from the NFL, Pastorini pursued a career as Top Fuel dragster driver in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).
Kevin Bernard Gilbride is an American football head coach. He was a coach for twenty years in the NFL, spending seven of them as the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, with whom he earned two Super Bowl rings. From 1997 to 1998, he was the head coach for the San Diego Chargers. Most recently, Gilbride served as the head coach for the New York Guardians of the XFL.
Edward D. Hughes was an American football player and coach whose career spanned more than three decades. His most prominent coaching position came in 1971 when he served as head coach of the National Football League (NFL)'s Houston Oilers.
Gerry Blaine Mullins is an American former professional football player who was a guard for nine seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the USC Trojans.
Bruce Rankin Matthews is an American former professional football player who played as a guard, center, offensive tackle, and long snapper in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons, from 1983 to 2001. He spent his entire career playing for the Houston / Tennessee Oilers / Titans franchise. Highly versatile, Matthews played every position on the offensive line throughout his NFL career, starting in 99 games as a left guard, 87 as a center, 67 as a right guard, 22 as a right tackle, 17 as a left tackle, and was the long snapper on field goals, PATs, and punts. Having never missed a game due to injury, Matthews' 293 NFL games started is the third most of all time, behind quarterbacks Brett Favre and Tom Brady.
Emory Dilworth Bellard was a college football coach. He was head coach at Texas A&M University from 1972 to 1978 and at Mississippi State University from 1979 until 1985. Bellard died on February 10, 2011, after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis since the fall of 2010.
Alan D. Lowry is a former National Football League (NFL) and college football coach, best known as the architect of the Music City Miracle. He coached for several teams over more than 25 years, winning one Super Bowl and going to another. Prior to coaching he played football at the University of Texas, where he won a national championship and three conference championships, was named to the All-Conference team twice at two different positions and was named the 1973 Cotton Bowl Offensive MVP.
Bruce Edward Davis was an American professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders and the Houston Oilers. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins, switching to the offensive line after beginning his collegiate career as a defensive tackle. He won two Super Bowls with the Raiders.
Don Larry Talbert is a former American football offensive tackle who played eight years, interrupted by two years in Vietnam, in the National Football League (NFL) for the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints and Dallas Cowboys including the Super Bowl VI champion Cowboys. Prior to that he was an All-American college football at the University of Texas at Austin.
James Franklin Eddy was an American football coach in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at New Mexico State University.
The 1994 Houston Oilers season was the 35th season overall the Oilers played and their 25th with the National Football League (NFL), and was part of the 1994 NFL season. The Oilers missed the playoffs for the first time since 1986.
The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas from its founding in 1960 to 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL) and won two AFL championships before joining the NFL in the AFL–NFL merger of the late 1960s.
James Charles White was an American football defensive end for the New England Patriots, the Houston Oilers, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Denver Broncos of the National Football League, as well as the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. He played college football at Colorado State.
