‘Gus’ Reminds Football Fans Everywhere About The Importance Of Special Teams

With the debut of Disney+, viewers have gained access to a deep library of streaming content with something for seemingly everyone — there’s classic Disney princess films, fresh Star Wars storylines in The Mandalorian, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and much more! What some people don’t realize, though, it’s that it’s also got some terrific archival sports documentary content. One such film is the 1976 documentary Gus, which covers a strange and forgotten moment in NFL history. Thankfully, we have access to terrific journalistic archives here, and we uncovered a contemporaneous account of the events depicted in this absolutely-true film, which is definitely not a misguided late-1970s pre-Renaissance Disney sports comedy:

How A Trip To Yugoslavia, A Farm Animal, And A Desperate Coach Turned A Disaster Into A Dream Season

LOS ANGELES — Few could have predicted at the outset of this season that the California Atoms would be the team to beat this postseason; in fact, the mere presence of the once-forlorn franchise on the playoff stage is a major upset for fans and gamblers alike. It all began with a foreign newspaper, an innovative ownership group willing to take risks — and a long-shot trip to Yugoslavia.

Hank Cooper didn’t fit the profile of an NFL owner; he’s not a deep-pocketed millionaire with the resources to pay top free-agents or trade for expensive six-figure contracts, and in recent years, it’s shown in the performance of the California Atoms, who’ve been the worst team in the league over the previous decade. There’s been precious few bright spots — miscues on both sides of the ball have plagued the team, and many began to doubt the ability of affable Coach Venner to turn things around. Rather than sell the team or be content with the subpar performance, Cooper embraced analytics (that’s a term we just coined now, in 1976), looking for places where the team could take advantages that other teams hadn’t.

“The Mule Stays In, And He Kicks” — Hank Cooper

When Andy Petrovic and his fabulous field-goal-kicking mule Gus were brought into the Atoms organization from their native Yugoslavia, most assumed it was a publicity stunt – a cheap trick, a silly halftime act to distract fans from another dismal season at Atoms Stadium. Cooper had other designs, though — recognizing a loophole in the NFL’s rule book that made no explicit mention of the players needing to be human. In an early-season game against the Rams, Cooper’s master plan was revealed. The mule would be the secret weapon that would revolutionize NFL offenses — a 1300-pound kicker who could split the uprights with deadly accuracy from anywhere on the field.

Gus’s special-teams contribution produced an immediate turn-around for the Atoms, who rocketed to unfamiliar heights at the top of the West Division standings. It wasn’t without tension in the locker room — star linebacker Gus Cargil was said to have expressed strong reservations to the presence of a non-human teammate — but the Atoms’ turnaround couldn’t be denied.

“This is a proud team. This season we’ve won four times — last week we went down together. But the mark of a great team is if we can come back together!” — Coach Venner

Crowds like hadn’t been seen in years filled Atoms Stadium, and Andy and Gus quickly became international celebrities, the success of the once-hapless team and their animalian savior making headlines around the world. Some questioned Gus’s kicking technique — kicking backwards, while facing away from the goalposts, makes his accuracy seem the product of luck more than anything. The low angle required for 100-yard attempts leaves critical kicks liable to be blocked. And perhaps Cargil has a point — when a team is never planning on scoring more than three points per possession, it puts a heavy onus on the defense to hold the other teams’ touchdown-oriented offenses in check.

Still, a trip to the Super Bowl seems likely, and surely nothing strange, wacky, or convoluted will happen there — it’s this sportswriter’s opinion that Hank Cooper’s clever innovation will change the NFL forever, with all sorts of animals taking the field next season.

CORRECTION:

Upon further editorial review, it has come to our attention that Gus is actually a work of fiction, a family comedy that in no way represents real events or characters. (We regret the error.) Hank Cooper, who we believed to be a groundbreaking sports owner, is actually Ed Anser, and Coach Venner is lovable character actor Don Knotts. Several real personalities from the sports world do make appearances, with NFL Hall of Famers Johnny Unitas and Dick Butkus showing up on screen.

Apparently, Gus is not a documentary. What it is, though, is good for a chuckle — a low-budget precursor to important cinematic works like Air Bud and Air Bud: Golden Receiver, and a reminder of a time when Disney Pictures wasn’t the world-conquering juggernaut it is these days. In 1976, anything was possible: a mule kicking field goals, and Disney making a picture like this.

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and internet user who lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, two young children, and a small, loud dog.

Stream Gus on Disney+