The Mexico Golden Aztecs were a professional American football team based in Monterrey , Mexico . During the team's brief existence it played in the Texas Division of the Continental Football League , and its home games were played at the Estadio Universitario . The team's only head coach was Duncan McCauley.
19-662: On July 26, 1969, the Golden Aztecs played the Chicago Owls in a preseason game that was the first professional American football game from a United States league played in Mexico. Citing a lack of fan support, team owner Red McCombs announced in September that he was pulling the then-undefeated team from Monterrey and seeking a move to Mexico City or another city that could support the team. The Golden Aztecs played their next four games on
38-596: A Mexican sports club is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Chicago Owls The Chicago Owls were a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois . They were members of the Professional Football League of America (PFLA) in 1967 and, after the leagues merged, the Continental Football League (COFL) during the league's last two years (1968–1969). The club
57-513: A contest and a small fraction of their stadium's capacity. The team was practically invisible amid the crowded Windy City sports scene, with a running gag in the Chicago press that mentions of the Chicago Owls brought a response similar to an owl's hoot: "Who?" The CoFL revoked their franchise on December 15, 1969, for failing to meet the league's financial obligation (this would soon become moot, as
76-689: A new incarnation called the Trans-American Football League ( TAFL ). The 1971 season of the TAFL was the first season of spring pro football in United States , which made it the first spring pro football league. The league, which initially comprised six franchises from Texas and Oklahoma , was formally announced in May 1966. The league was supposed to begin with eight teams, but entries from Hammond, Louisiana and New Orleans were not accepted. With
95-636: The Cardinals moved out in 1959 (the Owls' tenancy on the lakefront preceded the NFL's Bears by three years). Offensive lineman Bob Kuechenberg , younger brother of Bears linebacker Rudy Kuechenberg , began his professional career with the Owls; the younger Kuechenberg would go on to a 14-year career with the Miami Dolphins . After dropping four of their first five games, the Owls fired Branby and replaced him with Webb, who
114-572: The Continental Football League was adding the entirety of the eight-team TFL to its ranks. The TFL joined as a separate entity and was placed into the new Texas Division (itself split into East and West). The TFL teams were mostly scheduled to play against each other but did also play interleague contests. Joining the Texas division was the Mexico Golden Aztecs , the first American football franchise based in Mexico. The TFL's San Antonio Toros defeated
133-660: The Indianapolis Capitols, 44-38 in overtime, to capture the last Continental League championship. (The Toros would ultimately win five straight league titles from 1967-71.) W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against y = Division Champion W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against y = Division Champion W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against y = Division Champion With
152-534: The Trans-American league's four teams' Fort Worth to San Antonio lineup "barely makes it Trans-Texas", he also noted that "This is the first bona fide attempt to play spring football," a gimmick that the United States Football League did on a larger scale a decade later. On the other hand, attendance for the four teams "reached a new low" and, as sports historian Bob Gill would note in 2002, "it
171-495: The addition of two franchises in 1967, the TFL expanded to two four-team divisions. During the 1967-68 offseason the Continental Football League offered a merger of operations with the TFL, but was turned down by TFL commissioner George Schepps. He additionally challenged the CoFL to pit its champion against the TFL's champion for the 1968 campaign. On January 25, 1969, it was announced that
190-762: The collapse of the Trans-American Football League the two bigger teams—the San Antonio Toros and the Dallas Rockets—formed a new league called the Southwest Professional Football League (SWPFL), and moved the season back to the fall. The league commissioner was Pro Football Hall of Famer Ollie Matson , but the SWPFL operated on a much smaller budget than previous related leagues, and disbanded after only two seasons. After
209-505: The dissolution of the CoFL in early 1970, the Toros announced the formation of the Trans-American Football League , hoping to add teams in a number of major markets; the TAFL planned teams in Birmingham ; Tampa ; Hershey, Pennsylvania and even Los Angeles , in addition to San Antonio and existing Continental teams in Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Memphis (relocated from Las Vegas). By the time
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#1732852522634228-506: The entire CoFL would fold soon after). Despite this setback, the Trans-American Football League announced it would include the Chicago Owls on its schedule for 1970, but the team folded prior to the start of the season. Texas Football League The Texas Football League ( TFL ) was a low-level American football minor league that operated in primarily in the United States from 1966 through 1968, and again between 1970 and 1971 as
247-589: The first season the SWPFL approached to the Canadian Football League to become an "American branch league of the CFL". The league even sent representative to the CFL league meeting, which were "receptive to the idea", but the SWPFL did not survive long enough to see it come to fruition. Semifinals : San Antonio Toros 45 vs. Las Vegas Casinos 3 Finals : Oklahoma City Wranglers 19 vs. San Antonio Toros 16 The Toros continued to exist into 1974 season and joined
266-598: The league played its 1970 season, it was once again mainly based in Texas, with two other Continental teams, the Omaha Mustangs and Texarkana Titans, joining the loop. In 1971, the Trans-American Football League took the unusual step of becoming the first football league to schedule and play all of its games in the spring rather than the autumn, a move that attracted the attention of Sports Illustrated pro football columnist Tex Maule . The 1971 TAFL season ran from April 25 to June 26 [1] . Although Maule commented that
285-526: The road but could not come to an agreement with Estadio Azteca officials due to their insistence that tickets be priced at 38 cents. The franchise's final game took place on September 18, 1969, and was a road win against the Dallas Rockets. On September 21 the franchise ceased operations and forfeited the remainder of their 1969 schedule. This American football team article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about
304-575: The time.) Bob Webb, who grew up in nearby Gary, Indiana , was the Owls' main quarterback; he would remain with the team in 1968. After spending three seasons with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League , former Arlington High School and Northern Illinois University Huskies star George Bork returned to Chicago as the Owls' starting quarterback in 1968. The club raised some eyebrows when they announced they would move into Soldier Field , which had been unused by pro football since
323-503: Was clear by mid-June that the concept of spring football was dead -- and probably the Texas League along with it". The TAFL folded after its spring 1971 season. W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against y = Division Champion W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against y = Division Champion After
342-518: Was owned by Marty O'Connor and initially coached by Don Branby . The Owls inaugural season in PFLA was not a successful one: they finished last in the league's Eastern Division with a 3–9 mark. Nor did they play in Chicago; the Owls' home games were in suburban Niles, Illinois , at Notre Dame College Prep School, where they played in front of a few thousand fans per contest. (Future baseball star Greg Luzinski attended and played football for Notre Dame at
361-544: Was still the Owls' backup quarterback. Webb led Chicago to a 5–2 record the rest of the year, enough to even up the Owls' record at 6–6, third place in the Central Division. Playing primarily on Saturdays, the club drew only 35,835 fans to cavernous Soldier Field all season, or less than 6,000 a game. Things did not improve for the Owls in 1969, as their record slipped to 5–7 and continued to draw small crowds: just 21,403 paid their way to their games this season, barely 3,500
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