Category: World Football League

Portland Thunder WFL

Portland Thunder (1975)

May 25, 2014

The 1975 Portland Thunder were the Rose City’s second and final go-round with the World Football League, a ramshackle mid-70’s start-up that briefly sought to challenge the NFL for top collegiate and veteran stars. The Thunder followed on the feels of the Portland Storm, who played in WFL’s debut season of 1974 before tax problems and bounced checks drove the team out of business. Like the Storm before them, the similarly-named Thunder dressed in green & blue and played at Civic Stadium. The Thunder had a record of 4-7 when the WFL went out of business midway through its second campaign in October 1975.

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1974 Birmingham Americans media guide from the World Football League

Birmingham Americans

December 8, 2013

The Birmingham Americans were the first and only champions of the World Football League during the autumn of 1974. The Ams drew big crowds to Legion Field and won the World Bowl on their home turf in December 1974. The victory was upstaged when Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies arrived at the post-game celebration to seize the Americans’ uniforms and equipment on behalf of a local business holding bad debt from the team. The Americans never played another game and were replaced by a new Birmingham franchise, the Vulcans, for the WFL’s second and final season in 1975.

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1974 New York Stars Media Guide from the World Football League

New York Stars (1974)

October 22, 2013

The New York Stars of 1974 were one of biggest misfires of the ill-fated World Football League. The WFL launched that summer with ambitions of taking on the NFL head-to-head, much as the AFL had done a decade earlier. But the league was plagued by numerous problems from the outset, with the Stars and their wretched dump of a home field, Downing Stadium on Randall’s Island, high up on the list. The team lasted a little over two months in the Big Apple before owner Robert Schmerz threw in the towel. The team was shifted to North Carolina under new ownership in the middle of the 1974 season and re-named the Charlotte Hornets.

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1974 Detroit Wheels Media Guide from the World Football League

Detroit Wheels

July 13, 2013

The Detroit Wheels were a pro football venture that failed to complete their first and only season in the start-up World Football League in 1974. The Wheels’ misadventures became a point of national embarrassment for the WFL – although far from the only one – as the new league tried to establish itself as a reputable competitor to the National Football League, as the AFL had done in the 1960’s.

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Linebacker Marty Huff on the cover of a 1975 Charlotte Hornets program from the World Football League

Charlotte Hornets (1974-1975)

February 26, 2013

Charlotte’s football Hornets were members of the World Football League for parts of two seasons in 1974 and 1975. The team began play in July 1974 as the New York Stars, but bombed in the Big Apple, lost its owner, and fled to Charlotte in October. The Hornets’ second season in 1975 was also abbreviated, as the entire WFL folded in October 1975 before completing its regular season schedule.

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