Tombstone
Born: 1973 – WFL founding franchise
Folded: October 10, 1974
First Game: July 11, 1974 (W 14-7 vs. New York Stars)
Last Game: October 2, 1974 (L 47-19 @ Memphis Southmen)
World Bowl Championships: None
Stadium
The Gator Bowl
Opened: 1928
Demolished: 1994
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Fran Monaco
Our Favorite Stuff
Jacksonville Sharks
World Football League T-Shirt
Before the Jags, before even the USFL’s Bulls, the 1974 Jacksonville Sharks were the city’s first “Major League” pro football team. Or at least they dreamed big – the Sharks signed NFL All-Pro Ted Hendricks to a contract for the 1975 season. Unfortunately, owner Fran Monaco didn’t have a Major League bank balance and it all came crashing down in a matter of weeks.
This iconic Sharks design is available from Royal Retros.
Background
The Jacksonville Sharks were a high-profile flop in the World Football League (1974-1975). The poorly financed club is remembered primarily for going out of business in the middle of the league’s first season in October 1974.
The team was established by Fran Monaco, owner of a string of medical laboratories throughout Florida. In the NFL Films documentary Lost Treasures: The World Football League, he is misidentified as a maker of brassieres.
Monaco was, in fact, a huge fan of pro football and had attended every Super Bowl. Despite the vehement protests of his business advisors not to invest in the WFL, the lure of owning his own team was too great, and all in with Gary Davidson’s scheme.
The Sharks debut on July 11, 1974 seemed promising. A huge announced crowd of 59,112 showed up at the Gator Bowl to watch the Sharks defeat the New York Stars 14-7. The next Sharks home game on July 24, 1974 drew over 46,000. But word soon got out that many of the tickets were freebies and attendance plummeted. By September, crowds dwindled to fewer than 20,000 per game.
In early August the Sharks made headlines by signing NFL All-Pro linebacker Ted Hendricks of the Baltimore Colts to a futures contract for the 1976 season. But by the beginning of September, the club was in financial straits and owner Fran Monaco stopped paying his players. Monaco surrendered his franchise back to the league on September 22nd. Sharks players, unpaid for a month, threatened to boycott a September 25th road game against the Southern California Sun. They were placated with game checks issued by the league office, but lost the game 57-7. Another blowout loss followed a week later in Memphis (47-19) and this proved to be the final game the Sharks would play. On October 10th, 1974, the WFL cut its losses and shut down the Sharks along with another floundering club, the Detroit Wheels.
The Sharks final record was 4-10. The team’s final six games were cancelled.
The WFL returned to Jacksonville and the Gator Bowl the following year with a new franchise called the Jacksonville Express. This time the entire league folded in mid-season on October 22, 1975.
Trivia
The kickoff of the August 8, 1974 game between the Sharks and the Hawaiians was delayed 15 minutes so that the 43,869 fans in attendance could listen to a live broadcast of President Nixon’s resignation speech on the Gator Bowl loudspeakers. When Nixon announced his decision to resign the crowd broke out into loud applause.
Sharks quarterback Kay Stephenson later became Head Coach of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills from 1983 to 1985. He also coached in the World League of American Football and the Canadian Football League in the 1990’s.
In Memoriam
Former Sharks defensive coordinator and Head Coach Charlie Tate passed away in 1996 at age 77.
Head Coach Bud Asher died on July 5, 2013 at age 88.
Offensive lineman Eddie Foster died of a heart attack on May 15th, 2015 at age 63. Tulsa World obituary.
Links
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One Response
Would add my husband’s name to ==In Memoriam==? Eddie Foster (#78) passed away from a heart attack May 15, 2015. Foster was inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame 2013. Thank you for your kindness!