National Lacrosse League (1974-1975)
Tombstone
Born: February 11, 1974 – NLL founding franchise
Folded: February 13, 1976
First Game: May 16, 1974 (L 17-14 @ Maryland Arrows)
Last Game: August 29, 1975 (L 19-17 @ Long Island Tomahawks)
Nations Cup Championships: None
Arena
The Spectrum (17,007)11974 Philadelphia Wings Media Guide
Opened: 1967
Demolished: 2010-2011
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owners
- 1974-1975: Ed Tepper
- 1975: Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr.
FWIL FAVORITE
Philadelphia Wings 1974
Logo T-Shirt
The Original National Lacrosse League lasted only two seasons in 1974 and 1975, but it was a hit in the City of Brotherly Love, where big crowds piled into the Spectrum to cheer on the likes of John Grant, Larry Lloyd and moonlighting Philadelphia Flyers star Doug Favell.
Remember Philly’s original box lacrosse stars with this Vintage Wash logo tee from Streaker Sports.
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Background
The Philadelphia Wings were one of the founding franchises in the National Lacrosse League (1974-1975), a mid-1970’s attempt to introduce the sport of box lacrosse to major arenas in the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada.
The original six clubs were the Maryland Arrows, Montreal Quebecois, Philadelphia, Rochester Griffins, Syracuse Stingers and Toronto Tomahawks. Teams played a 40-game summer schedule between May and September 1974.
Culturally, the sport of box lacrosse shared a lot of DNA with ice hockey. Many Canadian players of the era also had experience playing lacrosse and several NHL players moonlighted in the National Lacrosse League to make extra cash during the summer. Wings forward Doug Favell was a goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs during the winter (and a former Philadelphia Flyer).
The NLL also attracted NHL owners and investors with NHL connections. Detroit Red Wings owner Bruce Norris owned the Toronto franchise. Wings owner Ed Tepper, a local real estate developer, was a personal friend of Flyers owner Ed Snider.
1974 Season
The Wings debuted in Philadelphia in remarkable fashion on Sunday night, May 19th, 1974. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins that afternoon at the Spectrum to capture the Stanley Cup. While the city celebrated, stadium workers hurriedly flipped the building, laying the NLL’s wooden court over the ice for the Wings game that same night. Wings players made their way through the revelers out on the streets to get to the arena. But the lacrosse team was hardly an afterthought. An announced crowd of 12,841 turned out to watch the Wings beat the Montreal Quebecois 18-11.
Philadelphia put up the best record in the NLL in 1974, finishing the regular season at 27-13. They were also the most popular box office draw, claiming just under 9,000 fans per game. Larry Lloyd (82 goals) and John Grant (78 goals) finished #3 and #4 in the league in scoring, respectively. In a mild upset, the Wings lost the best-of-seven Nations Trophy championship series to the 2nd place Rochester Griffins in September 1974.
After the 1974 inaugural season, three of the NLL’s original six franchise shifted cities. The league was unable to attract new expansion teams, despite Wings’ owner Ed Tepper’s public pronouncement in January 1975 that the league expected to add new clubs in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Kansas City.
Wings Clipped
Philadelphia remained as one of the league’s few stable franchises. That stability increased immensely when Tepper sold the Wings. Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr. purchased the club as the NLL’s second season got underway in the spring of 1975. The heir to the Widener family fortune was enormously wealthy . He would be named to Forbes‘ list of the 400 Richest Americans several times during the 1980’s and 1990’s. Dixon was able to absorb the Wings’ estimated $1 million loss in 1975. He also reportedly pumped in additional money to prop up the NLL’s struggling Boston Bolts franchise that summer.
The Wings were a disappointment in 1975, finishing in 5th place and out of the playoffs with a 21-25-2 record. Following the season, the NLL’s Boston, Long Island and Montreal ran into financial and arena problems. With only the Wings, the Maryland Arrows and the Quebec Caribous prepared to continue the National Lacrosse League folded on February 13, 1976.
Aftermath
Three months after the NLL’s demise, former Wings owner Fitz Eugene Dixon purchased the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers from Irv Kostloff $8 million. Dixon would own the 76ers form 1976 to 1981 and was responsible from bringing Julius Erving to the City of Brotherly Love.
In 1987, professional box lacrosse returned to the American sports scene with the debut of Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse. Among the league’s four teams was a Philadelphia club, which chose to revive the Wings brand name. The “new” Wings went on to play 28 seasons in Philadelphia before moving to Connecticut in 2015. They were the longest continuously operating pro lacrosse team in American history. One player – John Grant Sr. – returned from the original Wings of the 1970’s to see action for the new Wings. In later years, his son John Grant Jr. would don the Wings’ red & black.
Yet another re-boot of the Philadelphia Wings began play in the National Lacrosse League in December 2018.
Philadelphia Wings Shop
Philadelphia Wings Video
6th and deciding game of the 1974 Nations Cup championship series between the Wings and the Rochester Griffins at the Rochester War Memorial. September 28, 1974.
In Memoriam
Wings owner Fitz Eugene Dixon died after battling melanoma on August 2, 2006 at age 82. New York Times obituary.
Downloads
5-23-1974 Wings vs. Syracuse Stingers Roster Sheet
5-23-1974 Philadelphia Wings vs. Stingers Roster
Links
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3 Responses
i was one of those wingnuts back in the ’70’s. the nll was an eye opener for any field lacrosse fan. box was and still is the better game which requires better shooting, timely passing, goalies facing shots from every angle, every shift was a sprint, and the hitting was ferocious. my favorite player was jimmy wasson, not the biggest guy, but mr. clutch for his game winning touch.
the wars between philly’s carm collins and nll superstar from the maryland arrows, paul suggate, were wars.
Did you play with John Hamilton? That is my dad 🙂
Loved the article. I remember watching the games on TV with Gene Hart doing the play-by-play. One nitpicky thing, though. No matter how hard we wish that the U Del alum did, John Grant, Jr. has never played for the Wings.