The Thunderbolts (typically abbreviated just as the “Bolts”) were Birmingham’s entry in the original XFL, the much-maligned pro football joint venture between WWE wrestling impresario Vince McMahon and NBC Sports during the winter and spring of 2001. The Bolts suffered a grim fate, posting the league’s worst record at 2-8 and folding along with the rest of the XFL after just one season.
The Vulcans were the second of two Birmingham franchises that took part in the World Football League, a short-lived rival to the NFL that played parts of two seasons in 1974 and 1975. The Birmingham Americans were the first (and only) champions of the WFL in 1974 and drew strong crowds to Legion Field. But financial problems sunk the club immediately following the season. New owners organized the Vulcans for the 1975 season but the team played only a dozen games before the World Football League went belly up in October 1975.
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