Established | January 1975 |
---|---|
Folded | October 1975 |
Based in | San Antonio, Texas |
Home field | Alamo Stadium (22,000) |
Head coach | Perry Moss |
General manager | Duncan McCauley |
Owner(s) | Norman Bevan |
League | World Football League |
Division | Western |
Colours | Blue & Silver |
The San Antonio Wings were an American football team who played in the World Football League in 1975. The team started as the Florida Blazers in 1974, then moved to San Antonio in 1975 and became the San Antonio Wings.
The Florida Blazers never drew well, leading team owner Rommie Loudd to openly discuss moving the team to Atlanta in the middle of the 1974 season. The players and coaches were not paid for three months. During the playoffs, owners David L. Williams and Loudd agreed in principle to sell the team to Cocoa Beach financier Robert Prentice for $100 million. However, the initial $1.5 million payment never arrived. Finally, in early March, San Antonio banker Norman Bevan bought the Blazers and moved them to San Antonio as the Wings.
The new Wings retained 16 former Blazers, including running back Jim Strong and tight end Luther Palmer. Larry Grantham, a linebacker on the 1974 Blazers, retired but joined the Wings' coaching staff. However, several former Blazers, including Pardee, wanted nothing more to do with the WFL. This forced the league to restock the team with an expansion draft. The new head coach was Perry Moss, a former head coach at Marshall and a former NFL assistant coach.
Veteran NFL quarterback Johnnie Walton led the WFL in passing in 1975. The Wings held their home games at Alamo Stadium, which seated 25,000. San Antonio finished with a 7-6 record (winning all seven home games and losing all six road games) before the league folded on October 22, 1975.