Category: Alternative Football

As much as I pride myself on having a pretty good memory when it comes to Birmingham sports history, details sometimes get fuzzy.

For example, back in the late 1960s or early 1970s, my dad took me to the local YMCA to see a semi-pro football game. The home team, I think, was called either the Birmingham (or possibly Fairfield) Steelers, and the opposition was a club from Kenner City, Louisiana.

We arrived early to watch warm-ups, and I got to see the Steelers stretch and run and pitch and catch. If I recall, they were decked out in orange jerseys and plain white helmets.

What I didn’t get to see was the other team.

The Kenner City Whatevers were no-shows, and there was no explanation why.

Roughly a half hour after the scheduled kickoff, the public address announcer let the crowd (30 people, tops) know that the game had been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances.

I never found out what happened to those guys, but I hope they’re OK.

Anyway, while searching through old news archives to see if there was any information about the game that never was (unsurprisingly, I found none), I stumbled across something much more interesting.

Seems Birmingham – very briefly – had a club in the late, great Continental Football League back in 1969 when the Huntsville-based Alabama Hawks decided to relocate.

Known as the COFL to differentiate it from the Canadian Football League (CFL), this circuit lasted from 1965 through 1969. Formed by a combination of clubs from the existing Atlantic Coast Football League and recently folded United Football League, it originally set its sights on joining the NFL and AFL at the top of the pro food chain.

“This will not be a minor league, this will be a major league,” Alex Schoenbaum, owner of the Charleston, West Virginia, franchise, told the Associated Press in February, 1965. “Ours will be a league stretching from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. We are throwing away salary restrictions and plan to go big time all the way.

“We are dealing with men able to finance big budgets, such as those in the National and American leagues. We’ll bid for top player talent. We’ll go for big crowds and national television.”

That didn’t happen, of course, so by 1966 COFL officials were angling to make it the next best league outside the NFL and AFL and develop working relationship with the big leagues.

Such arrangements had already proved successful for the ACFL, which was formed in 1963 and became what you might call a “major” minor league, even after four of its charter franchises (Newark, Richmond, Springfield and Hartford) defected to the new organization.

As for the Hawks, they were founded in 1963 and competed in three other minor leagues before making the Continental move in 1968.

As a member of the Professional Football League of America in 1967, they became one of five PFLA teams to develop an official deal with the NFL, serving as a farm club for the Atlanta Falcons.

Two years later – its second in the COFL – Alabama made a bit of history when it hosted a team made up primarily of Atlanta rookies. The Hawks’ 55-0 loss to the Falcons on August 2, 1969, played before 9,300 fans at Milton Frank Stadium, is the last time a team playing under the NFL banner squared off against minor league competition.

But the big crowd for the exhibition was an anomaly. Alabama had trouble putting fans in the stands, so midway through the season general manager Earl Dotson announced that the team was moving two of its final three scheduled home games to Birmingham. The other would be played in Orlando, where the Panthers always drew well at the Tangerine Bowl.

“We had hoped to retain the franchise in North Alabama but there seems to be no one interested in football here,” Dotson told the Associated Press in a story that appeared on October 12, 1969.

Although the team still practiced in Huntsville and never formally changed its identity, the Hawks made their Magic City debut on October 25 with a 21-7 victory over the Arkansas Diamonds at Fair Park.

However, only 1,661 people showed up for the game.

They tried once more to woo Birmingham fans on November 8 when they hosted the Omaha Mustangs. The home team came away with an impressive 32-10 win, but a crowd of 2,004 was underwhelming.

Turns out, that was the final Continental Football League game ever played in the state of Alabama. (For the record, the Hawks finished 6-6 and missed the playoffs).

By the summer of 1970 the league had fallen apart, with some teams folding outright and others moving back to the ACFL. In August the COFL suspended operations with the promise to return, but since operations remain suspended 49 years later, that return appears unlikely.

By 1969 football consumed most of my thoughts, and the fact that I don’t remember Birmingham kinda/sorta had a COFL team part of that year makes me disappointed in myself.

Then again, if I can’t recall the name of a team I actually went to see (was it the Birmingham or Fairfield Steelers?), maybe I should give myself a break.

It’s Thursday, August 29, 2019, so I know a lot of you are sitting around wondering what the biggest sports story was on this day in 1974.

I’m just joshing – none of you were wondering that.

But now some of you might be, and before you can consult the sports desk calendar you got for Christmas, I’ll tell you what some people think was the big news.

On this date 45 years ago, 19-year-old Moses Malone became the first player to go directly from high school to major professional basketball when he signed with the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association.

Granted, that was a pretty big deal.

For me, however, that news was secondary to an event that would take place beginning at 8 o’clock that night. That was the time and Chicago was the place the Birmingham Americans became the first pro football team from Alabama to appear on national television.

And I was pumped.

If you’ve ever read me, met me or been forced to sit next to me on a plane, you know that I have great affection for the World Football League and, especially, its franchises in the Magic City.

The WFL is as vivid to me now as it was when I was a kid, and when you’re a kid who has recently been gifted with a pro team to call your own, you soak in everything about it.

The WFL featured colorful uniforms (Southern Cal wore magenta and orange), cool nicknames (the Portland Storm and Detroit Wheels) and innovative rules (touchdowns were worth seven points and the “action point” replaced the PAT).

But it also had a television contract with TVS Sports, meaning the league would be broadcast nationally – or at least to markets that opted to carry the independent network. TVS covered 80 percent of the nation and had almost 100 stations on board.

The WFL scheduled most of its games on Wednesday nights, but the TVS telecasts were all on Thursdays with Merle Harmon providing play-by-play and Alex Hawkins doing color.

Finally – eight weeks into the season – it was Birmingham’s chance to shine on the national stage.

The Americans had already played seven games and won them all, and leading up to their trip to the Windy City I witnessed them beat Southern Cal, Memphis and Detroit in person at Legion Field.

But back in the 1970s there was still something special about televised games, and getting to watch “my” team take on the Chicago Fire at historic Soldier Field was a source of pride and cause for genuine excitement. It was also the first opportunity I’d have to see Birmingham wearing blue jerseys; one of the WFL’s gimmicks was that most teams wore white at home.

With my dad in his usual lounge chair perch and me sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV – armed with a large bowl of popcorn and youthful enthusiasm – this was my version of must-see TV.

It sounds silly now, especially considering the number of great televised sporting events I’ve seen in my lifetime, but this week eight showdown from a fledgling (and as we’d soon learn, flailing) league still stands out.

Former NFL standout Alex Karras (who, at the time, was riding high from his star turn as Mongo in 1974’s “Blazing Saddles”) joined Harmon and Hawkins in the booth, and all three had plenty of good things to say about the Ams. Birmingham was the only team in the league that had an unblemished record, and was generally considered the team to beat. Apparently Chicago fans were impressed, too, since the Fire’s largest crowd of the season – 44,732 – came to watch.

For the record Birmingham won, 22-8, getting rushing touchdowns from Jimmy Edwards and Art Cantrelle and a George Mira to Paul Robinson scoring toss.

The Americans never trailed but I never got too comfortable, either, since they led just 14-8 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

But this was a team that had built its reputation on surviving close calls, and in their national TV debut they came away with an 8-0 record and two game lead over both Chicago and Memphis in the Central Division.

While they didn’t have the same “wow” effect as the first time, Birmingham appeared on national TV twice more that season, with both games beaming live from Legion Field. The Americans beat Shreveport, 42-14, on September 19, and edged the Florida Blazers, 22-21, in the World Bowl (the WFL championship game) on December 5. That contest was the last for the Ams; the franchise folded and was replaced by the Birmingham Vulcans in the league’s ill-fated 1975 reboot.

For many the WFL is long forgotten, if it’s even remembered at all. Malone’s signing with Utah, on the other hand, was a seminal moment in professional sports.

So if you want to tell me his $3 million contract with the ABA was the biggest sports story of August 29, 1974, I can’t argue with you.

But as someone who still pines for the Birmingham Americans, I can’t agree with you, either.

Three days before the 2019 college football season’s soft launch and two weeks ahead of the NFL regular season, the XFL got a chance to grab a piece of the spotlight.

The rebooted league – set to kick off in February, 2020 – released its team nicknames and logos today in an effort to generate some buzz while fans are in a gridiron state of mind.

Taking the field for the inaugural campaign will be the Dallas Renegades, DC Defenders, Houston Roughnecks, Los Angeles Wildcats, New York Guardians, Seattle Dragons, St. Louis BattleHawks and Tampa Bay Vipers.

“The team names and logos were chosen exclusively to represent the spirit of football fans in their respective cities and signify fun and football – nothing more,” XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck said during the reveal.

In terms of creativity I’d have to give the nod to the BattleHawks, which is not a nickname you hear every day. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Wildcats is an extremely “meh” selection.

The Dragons logo is similar to that of the UAB Blazers (those of us who cheer for UAB notice such things), while the Renegades’ masked man is quite reminiscent of the Gotham Rogues logo from the fictional team in “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Design-wise I think my favorite is the Guardians, although it has a bit of a “Masters of the Universe” vibe.

That being said, packaging doesn’t mean a lot unless there’s a quality product inside, and that remains to be seen.

Unlike the ill-fated Alliance of American Football, which we now know banked on the hope of getting money instead of having actual money in the bank, the new XFL has a solid financial foundation.

League owner Vince McMahon has sunk $500 million into it (he cashed out a big chunk of his World Wrestling Entertainment holdings), which is reportedly enough to fund the league for its first three years.

So unless he gets a case of billionaire buyer’s remorse, he can prevent the XFL (a single entity business) from going the way of the AAF and folding before the first season is completed.

More importantly, the people associated with the league – coaches, players, team employees, etc. – can expect to get paid on time.

Bob Stoops was the first coach announced – he’ll guide the Renegades – and the rest of the sideline lineup features known commodities like June Jones and Marc Trestman.

And while rosters are obviously still in the works, the XFL is currently sending out “Commissioner’s Invitations” to top free agents.

Already the league has signed Landry Jones and is expected to add Ryan Mallett, both former college quarterback stars with several years of NFL experience. Getting guys like these is important because it shows the XFL is going after players talented enough to play in the NFL but who haven’t yet been able to crack the starting lineup.

And unlike the over the top, WWE-influenced XFL of 2001, this time the emphasis appears to be strictly on football. There will be some rule changes (reportedly one, two and three-point conversion options will follow touchdowns, for example) and that’s both expected and welcome. But the lowbrow gimmicks surrounding the game will be gone.

Of course while in nature spring is a time of renewal, the nature of spring football is to die and, in many cases, die quickly.

The USFL lasted three seasons, the original XFL was one-and-done, and the AAF closed up shop with still two weeks to go in its lone campaign.

Regardless of how first-rate this league looks – and so far, it does – surviving and thriving will defy all odds.

But for now, it’s mostly sunshine and rainbows for the new and improved XFL. Luck and company enter the traditional football season on a positive note, and get six months before they have to worry about hitting the right note with fans.