1974 World Football League season

October 2024 October 2024First of two seasons of the WFL The 1974 World Football League season was the first season of the World Football League. Twelve teams began the inaugural 1974 season, which launched July 10 and lasted 19 weeks with no bye week. The league doubled up the week of Labor Day by playing four games over the course of three weeks on a Wednesday, Monday (Labor Day), Friday, Wednesday schedule, giving the WFL teams 20 games each. Two teams, the Detroit Wheels and Jacksonville Sharks, dropped out and folded after fourteen weeks, with the New York Stars and Houston Texans relocating to other markets (Charlotte and Shreveport respectively) during the season. Portland and Detroit played a week 9 regular season game in London, Ontario, at Little Stadium. The season culminated in World Bowl 1 on December 5, 1974, won by the Birmingham Americans. Teams USA2 400 WFL teams: 8px West, 8px Central, 8px East* During the season, the New York Stars relocated to become the Charlotte Hornets (underlined), and the Houston Texans relocated to become the Shreveport Steamer (italics). 1 United States Green pog.svg 8 80 Blazers left 28.538889 -81.402778 United States Green pog.svg 8 80 Stars right 40.793889 -73.924167 United States Green pog.svg 8 80 Hornets right 35.2182 -80.8283 United States Green pog.svg 8 80 Sharks right 30.323889 -81.6375 United States Green pog.svg 8 80 Bell left 39.9014 -75.1719 United States Purple pog.svg 8 80 Americans right 33.511389 -86.842778 United States Purple pog.svg 8 80 Fire left 41.8623 -87.6167 United States Purple pog.svg 8 80 Wheels top 42.2561 -83.6473 United States Purple pog.svg 8 80 Southmen left 35.121111 -89.9775 United States Yellow pog.svg 8 80 Hawaiians bottom 28.25 -105.5 United States Yellow pog.svg 8 80 Texans right 29.685 -95.407778 United States Yellow pog.svg 8 80 Steamer left 32.475556 -93.791944 United States Yellow pog.svg 8 80 Storm right 45.521389 -122.691667 United States Yellow pog.svg 8 80 Sun right 33.800278 -117.882778 right 1974 World Football League Division Team City Arena Capacity East Florida Blazers Orlando, Florida Florida Citrus Bowl 28,000 New York Stars Charlotte Hornets New York, New York Charlotte, North Carolina Downing Stadium American Legion Memorial Stadium 22,000 24,000 Jacksonville Sharks Jacksonville, Florida Gator Bowl Stadium 72,000 Philadelphia Bell Philadelphia, Pennsylvania John F. Kennedy Stadium 102,000 Central Birmingham Americans Birmingham, Alabama Legion Field 68,821 Chicago Fire Chicago, Illinois Soldier Field 55,701 Detroit Wheels Ypsilanti, Michigan Rynearson Stadium 22,227 Memphis Southmen Memphis, Tennessee Memphis Memorial Stadium 50,160 West The Hawaiians Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu Stadium 25,000 Houston Texans Shreveport Steamer Houston, Texas Shreveport, Louisiana Astrodome State Fair Stadium 50,000 50,000 Portland Storm Portland, Oregon Civic Stadium 25,218 Southern California Sun Anaheim, California Anaheim Stadium 43,202 1974 season Final standings W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against Eastern DivisionTeamWLTPCTPFPA Florida Blazers1460.700416280 Charlotte Hornets10100.500467350 Philadelphia Bell9110.450493413 Jacksonville Sharks4100.286258357 Central DivisionTeamWLTPCTPFPA Memphis Southmen1730.850629365 Birmingham Americans1550.750500394 Chicago Fire7130.350446599 Detroit Wheels1130.071209358 Western DivisionTeamWLTPCTPFPA Southern California Sun1370.650485441 The Hawaiians9110.450411422 Portland Storm7121.375264424 Shreveport Steamer7121.375240415 Notes: (a) Jacksonville and Detroit folded after 14 games; each week thereafter, the teams that had games scheduled against those teams played each other. (b) Shreveport Steamer began the season as Houston Texans. (c) Charlotte Hornets began season as New York Stars; upon announcing move to Charlotte, played one away game as Charlotte Stars, and remaining games as Hornets. (d) Chicago forfeited its 20th game to Philadelphia, 2–0. Source:http://wflfootball.tripod.com/1974/results.html 1974 World Football League Game Results 2015-11-11 1974 playoffs The original WFL schedule had the three division champions plus one wild-card qualify, culminating in a "World Bowl" on the evening after Thanksgiving at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. With financial problems mounting, various formats were bandied about: The playoffs would be scratched and the team with the best record would be declared champion. Three teams (Memphis, Birmingham, and Florida) would qualify for the playoffs, with West champ Southern California left out. The best eight of the remaining 10 teams would qualify. The top two teams in each division would qualify, seeded entirely by won-lost record. Eventually, the playoffs were set with the opening rounds consisting of two teams from each division, with the two qualifying teams from the Central Division (Memphis and Birmingham), who ranked first and second in overall record, given byes to the next round. The Hawaiians faced Southern California in the West, but in the East, Florida instead faced Philadelphia, even though, at 9–11, the Bell were 1 game behind 10–10 Charlotte in the standings. However, when only 1,000 advance tickets were sold for the Blazers-Hornets matchup, league officials replaced the Hornets with the Bell. The Hornets were still reeling from their New York debts, and it was believed that the advance gate would not be nearly enough to justify the trip (reportedly, the players would have been lucky to get $100 for the game). The Bell, on the other hand, were on far stronger financial ground, and it was believed they could cover their own expenses. Quarterfinals Hawaiians defeated the Southern California Sun, 32–14 (at Anaheim, California, on Wednesday, November 20, 1974) Florida Blazers defeated Philadelphia Bell, 18–3 (at Orlando, Florida, on Thursday, November 21, 1974) Semifinals Birmingham Americans defeated The Hawaiians, 22–19 (at Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday, November 27, 1974) Florida Blazers defeated Memphis Southmen, 18–15 (at Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday, November 29, 1974) World Bowl World Bowl (WFL) Birmingham Americans 22, Florida Blazers 21 (at Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday, December 5, 1974) 1974 All-WFL Team Offense WR–Tim Delaney, Hawaiians (TSN, P&C) WR–Alfred Jenkins, Birmingham Americans (TSN, P&C) TE–Ed Marshall, Memphis Southmen (TSN) TE–Greg Latta, Florida Blazers (P&C) OT–Bob Wolfe, Birmingham Americans (TSN) OT–Wally Highsmith, Memphis Southmen (P&C) OT–Ron Mikolajczyk, Memphis Southmen (P&C) OG–Rick Anthony, Florida Blazers P&C (P&C) OG–Dave Bradley, Chicago Fire (TSN) OG–Buddy Brown, Birmingham Americans (TSN, P&C) C–Bob Kuziel, New York Stars/Charlotte Hornets (TSN) C–Ralph Hill, Memphis Southmen (P&C) QB–Tony Adams, Southern California Sun (TSN) QB–Randy Johnson, Hawaiians (P&C) RB–Tommy Reamon, Florida Blazers (TSN, P&C) RB–J.J. Jennings, Memphis Southmen (TSN, P&C) K–Grant Guthrie, Jacksonville Sharks/Birmingham Americans (TSN, P&C) Defense DE–Gerry Philbin, New York Stars/Charlotte Hornets (TSN, P&C) DE–Louis Ross, Florida Blazers (TSN) DE–John Ricca, Florida Blazers (P&C) DT–Mike McBath, Florida Blazers (TSN, P&C) DT–John Elliott, New York Stars/Charlotte Hornets (TSN) DT–Dave Roller, Southern California Sun (TSN, P&C) LB–Ross Brupbacher, Birmingham Americans (TSN, P&C) LB–Rudy Kuechenberg, Chicago Fire (TSN, P&C) LB–John Villapiano, Houston Texans/Shreveport (TSN, P&C) CB–Miller Farr, Florida Blazers (TSN, P&C) CB–Ron Mabra, Philadelphia Bell (TSN, P&C) S–Dave Thomas, Memphis Southmen (TSN, P&C) S–Jeff Woodcock, New York Stars/Charlotte Hornets (TSN, P&C) P–Ken Clark, Portland Storm (TSN, P&C) Head Coach: Jack Pardee, Florida Blazers (TSN, P&C) Tri-MVPs: Tony Adams, Southern California, J.J. Jennings, Memphis, and Tommy Reamon, Florida. http://www.worldfootballleague.org/ WFL All-Star teams WFL.org April 6, 2009 Key: PC = voted on by players and coaches of the WFL; TSN = selection by The Sporting News See also 1975 World Football League season References World Football League Category:World Football League