United Football League (1962-1964)
Continental Football League (1965-1969)
Tombstone
Born: 1962
Folded: December 1969
First Game: September 9, 1962 (W 24-21 @ Cleveland Bulldogs)
Last Game: November 15, 1969 (L 48-14 @ Indianapolis Capitols)
United Football League Championships: 1962 & 1963
Continental Football League Championships: None
Stadium
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owners: Michael Valan, et al. and community stockholders
Our Favorite Stuff
Continental Football League
Logo T-Shirt
Variously described as everything from “semi-pro” football to the “third Major League” behind the NFL and AFL during the late 1960’s, the Continental Football briefly established a sprawling network of pro football clubs that stretched from Florida to Mexico City to British Columbia. The Continental League helped launch the careers of Hall-of-Famers Bill Walsh and Ken Stabler and other NFL stars of the 1970’s including Otis Sistrunk, Bob Kuechenberg and Coy Bacon.
Our friends at Old School Shirts make the only Continental League shirt we’ve found and like all of their retro Americana tees, it’s soft and fits great!
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Background
The Wheeling Ironmen were a minor league football team in the coal-mining Ohio Valley region of West Virginia during the 1960’s. For their final two seasons, in 1968 and 1969, the team was known as the Ohio Valley Ironmen.
The team formed in 1962 when a group of 15 local business leaders ponied up $1,000 apiece to enter a club in the United Football League. The UFL featured teams in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio in addition to West Virginia. The Ironmen defeated the Grand Rapids Blazers 30-21 to win the UFL championship in their debut season. They repeated as champs in 1963, knocking off the Toledo Tornadoes 31-21.
Struggles in the Continental League
The UFL folded in early 1965. The Ironmen joined the start-up Continental Football League in February 1965. The Continental League was more ambitious than the UFL had been. By the end of the Sixties it expanded to a nationwide circuit. Though most competition was still regional – the Ironmen didn’t play against the CoFL’s Texas or California or Pacific Northwest clubs – the team did travel by air to play division opponents from Toronto to Orlando.
Wheeling struggled to recapture their UFL dominance in the Continental League. The Ironmen were 2-12 in 1965 and 0-14 in 1966. The team found its form somewhat by the end of the decade with a 9-3 finish in 1968 and a 6-6 mark in 1969.
The Ironmen’s finances and future were in continuous peril by the mid-60’s. A lengthy profile in a December 1968 issue of Sports Illustrated described the club’s finances. Players could earn a maximum of $200 per game and the team’s total salary cap was $5,000 per week. Wheeling’s total budget for 1967 was $270,000 and the Ironmen finished $90,000 in the red. The team briefly folded in April 1968, only to scrape together enough community support to re-group for two more seasons, which proved to be their best.
Famous Alumni
Wheeling saw some terrific players during the Ironmen era. Future Cincinnati Bengals head coach Sam Wyche saw time at quarterback for the Ironmen during their 0-14 campaign in 1966. When the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs met in Super Bowl I in January 1967, both teams had former Ironmen defensive linemen on the roster. Andy Rice suited up for the Chiefs. Bob Brown recorded a sack in Super Bowl I for the Packers. Brown would win two Super Bowls with Green Bay. He earned an NFL Pro Bowl nod in 1972.
Running back John Amos saw limited action with the Ironmen in 1965. After his minor league career petered out in the late 60’s, Amos turned to acting. We starred as family patriarch James Evans Sr. in the Norman Lear sitcom Good Times on CBS from 1974 to 1976.
The Ironmen finally went out of business in late 1969. The Continental Football League itself split apart and folded several months later.
Wheeling Ironmen Shop
Editor's Pick
Outsiders II
by Bob Gill with Tod Maher & Steve Brainerd
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In Memoriam
Ironmen President/General Manager (Ironmen ’62-’69) Michael Valan passed away in August 1986 at age 76.
Defensive lineman Bob Brown (Ironmen ’64-’65) passed away on December 10, 1998. The two-time Super Bowl champion was 58.
Quarterback Benjy Dial (Ironmen ’66) died of a heart attack on April 5, 2001 at the age of 57.
Running back Merlin Walter (Ironmen ’66) passed away in May 2015 at age 72. McNeese State Athletics obituary.
Links
“Pro Football on a Shoestring“, Harold Peterson, Sports Illustrated, December 16, 1968
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14 Responses
Great page. My dad was the trainer for the Ironmen (63-65 time frame), Thomas Edward Wilson from Martins Ferry, OH. My mom Mildred Nickerson from Wheeling Island was apart of the team too, by have the team over for food and such when my sister and I were little. My dad passed away on October 16, 2003 in Deland, FL. Being apart of the Ironmen was a part of my dad’s history he loved.
Also my mom had a picture of John Amos holding me as a baby in 1965-65 at my parent’s house. I am still trying to find that picture.
Was your dad also a trainer for Wheeling Central high school ? Say 1964 through 1967?
Anyone have any info, newspaper clippi gs, or pics of the Steel Vallet Bandits? A fee of the guys from the Ironmen went to that team in Ohio after they folded. I am looking for info around 1970-1971
Yes. The same one.
Would anyone be interested in old film reels from the Wheeling Ironmen?
Yes. We would love to get a copy or see some old reels. I just came across this site. My father in law played for them for several years. His name was John Lawrence. Thanks!
Yes
My husband, Albert Brown, played for the Steel Valley Bandits he was from the 1972 team and got a trophey for Outstanding Defense. Been looking for info on that team too…also the 1972-73 team Ohio Valley Panthers a professional team playing out of the Wheeling Island Stadium.
Did anyone ever hear of a William (Bill) Mullner playing for the Wheeling Ironmen? He live in Brookline (near Pittsburgh) PA.
My brothers and I would attend every game because we lived only one street over from the stadium on Broadway street. We would sneak in by climbing the fence. After the games we would take to the field to ask the players for their chinstraps for souvenirs. This league gave us as youngsters an opportunity to make money.we parked cars in an empty lot behind our house .50 per car. After it folded a player Jake Olsasky taught my brother at Wheeling Central Catholic HS. Jake stayed in teaching in Ohio and became head football coach for local high school.
Does anyone have a copy of the September 17, 1967 program with the Akron Vulcans?
I played with the Ohio Valley Panthers 1975. We made the record books by beating a team from Detroit 102- 0. We had some outstanding athletes.
Did you play with Sylvester Ritter?