Showboatin' in Memphis chronicles the journey of the Bluff City to gain an NFL franchise as one of the strongest franchises in the upstart USFL. 1983-1986 are among the city's proudest professional sports moments in a past littered with failed professional sports franchises. When the upstart league's antitrust lawsuit yielded only a $1 victory, it signaled the league's impending doom and the city's loss of its most successful professional football franchise. Yet, the memory of the Showboats remains a point of pride for Memphians, who embraced the USFL's Memphis franchise. Coached by one of the game's most charismatic and eccentric strategists, Pepper Rodgers left his indelible mark on the city. The team's highest-profile draft pick, defensive end Reggie White, led the team on the defensive side of the ball for two seasons before going on to a Hall of Fame career in the NFL. Walter Lewis, the team's starting quarterback, had been the first African-American to start at Alabama for Coach Bryant. He brought excitement as a multiple-threat quarterback decades before this style of play became prevalent in the NFL. The team's owner was a homegrown entrepreneur who made his millions as one of the leading cotton brokers in the world, William Dunavant. And, the team's general manager gave up his position as one of the top executives in the USFL to come to Memphis to guide the franchise, Steve Ehrhart. The Showboat moniker matched the city's history as the quintessential riverboat town in a league that was as rogue as playing in the spring suggested. Showboatin' in Memphis hopes to take the reader back through the journey leading up to the team's arrival, their two seasons in the USFL, and the aftermath of the league's demise.