American Football Association (1981)
Tombstone
Born: 1981 – AFA expansion franchise
Folded: Spring 1982
First Game: May 30, 1981 (L 23-20 @ Shreveport Steamer)
Last Game: August 30, 1981 (L 29-21 @ West Virginia Rockets)
AFA Championships: None
Stadium
Stadium: Soldier Field
Marketing
Team Colors:
Radio: WRMN-AM 1410 & WLNR 106.3 FM
Broadcaster: Jack Hubbard
Cheerleaders: The Fire Belles
Ownership
Owners: Bill Feda and Howard Miller
Our Favorite Stuff
Chicago Fire
WFL Logo T-Shirt
The Chicago Fire were a charter member of the World Football League in 1974. The team started off well, posting a 7-2 record in the first half of the season and drawing an average of 34,000 fans to Soldier Field. However, after a 10-game losing streak, owner Tom Origer forfeited the last game and subsequently folded the team. The Chicago Winds would represent the Windy City in the WFL’s second and final season in 1975. The Fire name and logo was recycled by a similarly short-lived minor league team that played at Soldier Field in 1981.
This Fire design is also available as a Hooded or Crewneck Sweatshirtright now at Old School Shirts!
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Background
The 1981 Chicago Fire were a pro football outfit that competed in the summer-season American Football Association. The club was a brand re-boot of the old Chicago Fire of the World Football League, resuscitating that team’s name, logo and helmet design (visible in the schedule poster top right).
Unlike the WFL, which made a brief go of challenging the NFL for elite talent in 1974 and 1975, the American Football Association was a decidedly minor league operation. Club officials spotted an opportunity with the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, which wiped the Cubs and the White Sox off the map from early June to mid-August. WGN-TV, scrambling for summer sports programming during the strike, broadcast a Fire game from Soldier Field on June 27, 1981. But lukewarm ratings led the pioneering cable superstation to cancel Fire broadcasts scheduled for later in the season.
The Fire won the AFA’s Western Division with an 8-4 record in 1981 and advanced to the league title game. The Fire traveled to Charleston, West Virginia on August 30th, 1981 and lost to the defending league champion West Virginia Rockets 29-21.
Doused
As late as May 1982 Fire owners Bill Feda and Howard Miller were still trying to scrape together funds to play a second season in the AFA. But the team was in financial straits and the formation of the big-budget United States Football League on May 11th, 1982 drove a final nail into the coffin. The Fire folded quietly shortly thereafter. The USFL’s Chicago Blitz would begin play at Soldier Field in the spring of 1983.
Ex-Fire General Manager Ron Potocnik would become (briefly) GM of the Blitz in 1984.
Chicago Fire Shop
Editor's Pick
Outsiders II
by Bob Gill with Tod Maher & Steve Brainerd
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Downloads
6-27-1981 Fire vs. Dallas Wranglers Roster
6-27-1981 Chicago Fire Roster
7-25-1981 Fire vs. San Antonio Charros Roster
1981 Chicago Fire Belles Cheerleaders Roster & Headshots
Links
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