New Orleans Breakers Flashback: Frank Lockett

The New Orleans Breakers were a United States Football League franchise that played in the Louisiana Superdome for one season, in 1984.

The Breakers began their USFL tenure in Boston, in 1983, but a stadium issue forced a move, allowing New Orleans real estate developer Joe Canizaro to buy the team, and move it to New Orleans for the 1984 season.

In 1984, the Breakers began the season 5-0, but went 3-10 the rest of the way, and missed the USFL playoffs.

New Orleans supported the team well, with the Breakers averaging 30,557 per game, but the USFL opted to move their schedule from the spring to the fall in 1986, and with the Saints in town, the franchise elected to move to Portland for the 1985 season.

All summer long, we’re looking back at former players for the New Orleans Breakers.

Today, wide receiver Frank Lockett.

A native of Independence, Louisiana, Lockett's family moved to Richmond, California during his freshman year of high school, before he went on to play his college football with the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Selected in the 10th round of the 1979 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, Lockett was out of football, until joining the Boston Breakers of the USFL in 1983, where he caught 37 passes for 535 yards and three touchdowns.

In 1984, the Breakers moved to New Orleans, and they were interested in trading for the rights to running back Marcus Dupree, which was held by the New Jersey Generals.

The Generals wanted Lockett in return, to which the Breakers balked.

A deal for Dupree ultimately got worked out, but it was easy to see why New Orleans was reluctant to part with him, as he went on to catch 56 passes for 1,199 yards and eight touchdowns in 1984 as the top big-play threat for quarterback Johnnie Walton.

When the Breakers moved to Portland in 1985, Lockett caught 43 passes for 794 yards and three scores.

The 6-foot, 200-pound Lockett made his NFL debut with the Miami Dolphins in 1985, returning five punts, in three games, for 23 yards.

Below, we see Lockett catching a game-winning pass from Walton against the Philadelphia Stars in 1983, to help the Boston Breakers to a big win:

Here's most of that Breakers/Stars game from Sunday, May 29, 1983: