When asked what was most notable about the 1975 World Football League (aside from its collapse after 12 weeks of the regular season), many people will tell you it was the debut of Super Bowl champions Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield and Jim Kiick with the Memphis Southmen.
Fair enough.
But if you’re looking for the most historically significant moment for the WFL – as well as professional football – it was the elevation of Willie Wood to head coach of the Philadelphia Bell.
When Wood was named to the post on July 29, 1975, it marked the first time an African-American had been head coach of a professional football team since Fritz Pollard in the early days of the NFL.
Pollard coached the Akron Pros in 1921 and his last stint was with the Chicago Black Hawks traveling team in 1928, meaning Woods knocked down a wall that had stood for 47 years.
“My original idea was to play (the race angle) down,” Wood told the Associated Press. “But obviously, the mere fact that I’m black means I feel I have to do a good job. If I can put forth all the energy I feel I have in store, if we can develop a winning team here, maybe somewhere down the road they’ll think of the Philadelphia Bell as a winning team and not me as a black coach.”
Wood was no stranger to breaking barriers.
As quarterback for the Southern California Trojans, he was the first black quarterback to play in what was then the Pacific 8 Conference. He went undrafted, but Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi signed him as a free agent and converted him to safety. In 12 seasons with the Packers, the future Pro Football Hall of Famer was part of five NFL championship teams, earning All-NFL honors six times and making eight Pro Bowl appearances.
But his first shot at being a head coach was unexpected.
Wood, 39, was hired as the Bell’s defensive coordinator for the 1975 season. However, head coach Ron Waller abruptly resigned on July 23. Wood was named Waller’s replacement just four days before Philadelphia opened the regular season against The Hawaiians.
“There are others in line for the job, but virtually everybody – from the players through the front office – thinks Willie is the best qualified man for the job,” Bell assistant publicity director John Waldeyer said.
With such a short turnaround, Wood realized the opener would be a challenge.
“Whenever you have a change of administrations, there are problems,” he said. “I do anticipate problems, but of what kind and degree I don’t know. We have the finest bunch of players I know, and I don’t anticipate any problems with them.”
Although the 1975 WFL was actually a different entity than its 1974 predecessor, the Bell and Hawaiians had many of the same players from the year before when both teams finished with 9-11 regular season records.
When they met again on August 2, 1975 – before a grand total of 3,266 fans at Franklin Field – Philadelphia escaped with a 21-15 victory, making Wood a winner in his debut.
“Frankly, I haven’t been able to answer all the calls, letters and telegrams I’ve received,” Wood told the Philadelphia Daily News for an August 6, 1975, story. “I’ve been asked over and over what it all means, so I attach a sense of importance to it. I don’t know exactly how to answer.
“It’d be erroneous to say it means nothing, but it’d also be wrong to say it’s the most important thing. It’s most important to have the job.”
Yet, while Wood had a happy beginning to his coaching career, there was no happy ending. Philadelphia was 4-7 when the WFL folded on October 22, 1975.
Wood became the first black head coach in Canadian Football League history when he was hired by the Toronto Argonauts in 1980, but they finished 6-10 that year (the franchise’s seventh consecutive losing season) and he was fired in 1981 after an 0-10 start.
As for the rest of professional football, the drought for black head coaches continued until Art Shell was hired by the NFL Los Angeles Raiders in 1989.
Wood’s Hall of Fame achievements came as a player, and he’ll forever be known as one of the all-time great Packers. But even though his coaching career was brief and there were far more losses than wins, he made an indelible mark 50 years ago today.
