1975 (regular season title, league folded before World Bowl could be played)
The Birmingham Vulcans were a professional American football team located in Birmingham, Alabama. They were members of the five-team Eastern Division of the World Football League (WFL). The Vulcans, founded in March 1975, played in the upstart league's second and final season in 1975. The team was owned by a group of Birmingham businessmen with Ferd Weil as team president.
The Vulcans replaced the Birmingham Americans who had held the WFL franchise for Birmingham in 1974, winning World Bowl I in December 1974 before suffering financial collapse.[1] The Vulcans were the best team in the league in 1975 with a 9–3 record and the best at the box office until the league folded in mid-season. After the WFL ceased operations, the Vulcans were declared league champions by virtue of having the best record.[2]
When the league folded, Birmingham and the Memphis Grizzlies attempted to get admitted into the National Football League for the 1976 season, although unlike the similar and more extensive effort in Memphis which involved actual cash deposits toward season tickets, it seemed to consist mainly of getting fans to sign a "statement of support" somewhat similar to a petition. When the Memphis effort failed, Vulcans followers were forced to accept the inevitable as well, and efforts to get the team into the more established league were abandoned.
The Vulcans name would be recycled for the Alabama Vulcans, a member of the American Football Association, in 1979.