
Team
and League History |
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July 1988 |
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Canadian
Football League Commissioner Doug Mitchell
indicates in an interview that the league may
consider dropping its unique rules and expand
into the United States. Mitchell said the league
would form a long-term planning committee that
will study the prospect of expanding into such
cities as Birmingham, Baltimore, Oakland, St.
Louis, Jacksonville, Memphis, Portland,
Sacramento and New York.
Mitchell believes that a new league could be organized by someone
within the next four years and would like to see the CFL move into those
cities first.
CFL rules such as a wider field, twelve players to a side, three downs
and the "rouge", a single point for balls downed in the end
zone, make some wonder if the league would be accepted by American fans.
Jerry Sklar, former President and General Manager of the now-defunct
United States Football League's Birmingham
Stallions, is one of those people. "I think Birmingham is a good
football town. I don't know if CFL football would be acceptable here, but
I do know that American football is very acceptable here. If they want to
expand into the US, they are going to have to change a number of their
rules to Americanize their game to make it as popular as it needs to be to
be successful," Sklar said.
In Canada, the game
of football developed through rugby associations organized in each
province. In 1884, the Canadian Rugby Football Union was created as the
sports governing body. By 1890, the game was played in each province and
it is from this organization that the Canadian Football League developed.
Melvin Miller, Director of the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board,
said the city would welcome the CFL. "Its a pretty stable league. Our
ultimate goal would be something with the National Football League but
certainly the CFL is not bad," Miller said.
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??? 1993 |
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In 1993, the Sacramento Gold Miners became the first American team in the
history of the CFL. In 1994, the CFL added 3 more American teams, which
were located in Baltimore, Shreveport and Las Vegas. In 1995, in addition
to Birmingham, Memphis was granted a franchise, the Las Vegas franchise
folded and the Sacramento franchise will relocate to San Antonio. |
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January 1995 |
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The CFL announces that Birmingham has been
awarded one of the league's two expansion
franchises for 1995. Memphis would receive the
other expansion franchise.
The Birmingham
franchise will be owned by insurance magnate A. L. "Art" Williams.
Williams, also a published author and motivational speaker, made his fortune
in selling term life insurance through his own business before selling it to
Primerica Corporation in 1989. Williams also holds a Master's Degree in
education from Auburn. |
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??? 1995 |
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Jack Pardee is named
Head Coach. "I'm not here as a stepping stone to somewhere else. What I
plan on doing is spending the rest of my coaching career here," Pardee
said.
Pardee is unique among coaches; he is the only person who has been a
coach in the NCAA's Division 1-A level, the National Football League, the
United States Football League, the World Football League and now the
Canadian Football League.
Before joining the CFL's Birmingham franchise,
Pardee was the Head Coach of the NFL's Houston Oilers from 1990-1994. In
1987, he went to the University of Houston as their Head Coach for 3 years.
In 1986 he served as a scout with the NFL's Green Bay Packers. In 1984 and
1985, he was the Head Coach of the USFL's Houston Gamblers. In 1982, Pardee
took a break from coaching and worked at Runnels Mud Company as their Vice
President of Marketing. In 1981, he was the Defensive Coordinator for the
NFL's San Diego Chargers. From 1978 to 1980, Pardee was the Head Coach of
the NFL's Washington Redskins. In 1975, Pardee was the youngest Head Coach
in the NFL when the Chicago Bears hired him to be their coach for 3 years.
His first head coaching job came in 1974, when he was hired to coach the
WFL's Florida Blazers. Pardee took that team to the World Bowl in 1974 where
the Blazers lost to the Birmingham
Americans. He got his first job in the professional ranks the year
before as an assistant with the NFL's Washington Redskins. In 1957, Pardee
joined the NFL's Los Angeles Rams as a linebacker and played for 15 years. A
battle with cancer forced Pardee to miss the 1965 NFL season. During that
time, he was an assistant to Gene Stallings at Texas A&M. During his
college years, he played for Paul "Bear" Bryant at Texas A&M.
Pardee and Stallings were survivors of Bryant's famed Junction preseason
camp in 1954.
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June 1995 |
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1995 Canadian Football League |
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North Division |
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South Division |
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British
Columbia Lions |
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Baltimore
Stallions |
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Calgary
Stampeders |
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Birmingham
Barracudas |
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Edmonton
Eskimos |
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Memphis Mad
Dogs |
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Hamilton
Tiger-Cats |
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San Antonio
Texans |
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Ottawa Rough
Riders |
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Shreveport
Pirates |
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Saskatchewan
Roughriders |
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Toronto
Argonauts |
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Winnipeg
Blue Bombers |
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Epilogue |
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In 1996, the
Baltimore franchise moved to Montreal to become the Alouettes, but due to
financial hardships the remaining American-based franchises folded,
effectively ending the CFL's plan to expand into the United States. |
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