Jacksonville Firebirds
October 16, 2012
The Jacksonville Firebirds were a briefly popular entry in the American Football Association. The league, which played a spring/summer schedule, expanded across the Southeast in the late 1970’s and found a nice niche in Jacksonville, where the Firebirds began play in 1979. The Firebirds drew an astonishing 153,000 fans for 13 games at the Gator Bowl during their debut season, a campaign that capped off with a championship game victory over the Carolina Chargers.