When Donald Trump signed Doug Flutie to a six-year, $8.3 million contract in 1985, it was the richest contract ever signed by a rookie. The USFL just swept its third-consecutive Hesiman Trophy winner in Flutie; Trump’s Generals had two of them (Walker the other). Flutie was on the cover of the Feb. 25, 1985 Sports Illustrated’s issue -- the headline read: “CAN THIS MAN SAVE THE USFL?” The USFL was facing a fork in the road by the time Flutie put on a New Jersey General uniform. The decision was made by the USFL owners – really Donald Trump -- that the league would go head-to-head with the NFL in the fall of ’86. Most of the teams were losing money, but Trump’s Generals were averaging close to 37,000 a game in '83 and '84. Flutie’s signing raised the Generals home attendance close to 42,000 in 1985. Flutie’s appeal help bolster attendance on the road as well. While many USFL teams were tightning their belts, Trump was on a spending spree. "We were the New York Yankees of the USFL," says Charlie Steiner, the play-by-play voice of the Generals.

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Herschel Walker rushed for more than 5,500 yards and 54 touchdowns in his three years in the USFL. “Herschel Walker was the rarest combination of strength and speed I’ve ever seen in my life,” says Dave Lapham, who blocked for Walker on the offensive line in the ’84 and ’85 seasons. “He had world-class speed on a 225-pound body. A genetic phenom -- he was freak of nature.” Walker led the Generals to the playoffs in ’84 and ’85, but New Jersey was stone-walled both times by Jim Mora’s Philadelphia Stars. The Stars were the USFL’s most dominate team – winning 47 games and two championships in three years; they were loaded with future NFL All Pro players like LB’s Sam Mills, Mike Johnson, DE William Fuller, C Bart Oates and T Irv Eatman. The Generals made the headlines with their flamboyant owner Donald Trump and their two Heisman Trophy winners -Walker and Doug Flutie. Philadelphia got it done on the field by winning championships. While Walker was making the weekly highlight reel in the USFL, the NFL was surveying the landscape of the spring league in preparation of the its demise in 1985. Several NFL GM’s like Mike Brown, Jim Schaaf and Gary Vainisi were "iffy" towards the talent they would find from the USFL refugees. Cowboys’ president Tex Schramm, like many of his NFL contemporaries, was lukewarm towards the USFL 20 years ago, but saw "gold" in Walker.

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