Birmingham Barracudas
Encyclopedia
The Birmingham Barracudas were a Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...

 team that played the 1995 season
1995 CFL season
The 1995 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 42nd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 38th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 1995:...

 in the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

. The Barracudas were part of a failed attempt to expand the CFL into the United States
CFL USA
The term CFL USA refers to the abortive expansion of the Canadian Football League into the United States in the early-to-mid 1990s. The 1993 CFL season saw the addition of the first American team to the league, the Sacramento Gold Miners...

.

In the beginning

Art Williams
Arthur L. Williams, Jr.
Arthur L. "Art" Williams, Jr. is a billionaire insurance executive living in Palm Beach, Florida. He is the founder of A.L. Williams & Associates, known as Primerica Financial Services since 1991.-Early life and education:...

, a businessman from Georgia, was awarded a CFL expansion franchise in Birmingham. He wanted a nickname for the team that would "scare the spit out of people," and chose Barracudas.

The Barracudas hired an experienced head coach in Jack Pardee
Jack Pardee
-NFL:-External links:...

, who had coached at the college level with the University of Houston
Houston Cougars football
The Houston Cougars football program is an NCAA Division I FBS football team that represents the University of Houston. The team is commonly referred to as "Houston" or "UH" . The UH football program is currently a member of the Conference USA intercollegiate athletic conference, and is coached by...

 and at the professional level with the WFL, USFL, and NFL. (Pardee is perhaps better known as the only six-man football
Six-man football
Six-man football is a variant of American football that is played with six players per team, instead of 11.-History:6-man football was developed in 1934 by Chester High School coach Stephen Epler as an alternative means for small high schools to field a football team during the Great Depression...

 player to have ever made it to the professional leagues; his knowledge of that wide-open game proved to serve him well in the similarly wide-open CFL.) The Barracudas were also led by veteran CFL quarterback Matt Dunigan
Matt Dunigan
Matt Dunigan is a former quarterback, coach, and executive in the Canadian Football League who is currently a CFL sportscaster for Canadian sports television channel TSN...

, who had his greatest season while in Birmingham.

During the season

Birmingham competed in the Southern Division along with the San Antonio Texans
San Antonio Texans
The San Antonio Texans were a Canadian Football League team that played in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1995 CFL season. They had relocated from Sacramento, California, where the team had been called the Sacramento Gold Miners...

, Baltimore Stallions
Baltimore Stallions
The Baltimore Stallions were a Canadian Football League team based in Baltimore, Maryland, which played the 1994 and 1995 seasons. They were the most successful American team in the Canadian Football League, having two winning seasons and a division title. In 1995 they became the only American team...

, Memphis Mad Dogs
Memphis Mad Dogs
The Memphis Mad Dogs were a Canadian football team that played the 1995 season in the Canadian Football League. The Mad Dogs were part of a failed attempt to expand the CFL into the United States....

, and Shreveport Pirates
Shreveport Pirates
The Shreveport Pirates were a Canadian Football League team, playing at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA, in 1994 and 1995....

. After losing their only two pre-season games, they played their first game July 4, 1995, versus the Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League . They play their home games at Canad Inns Stadium, and plan to move to a new stadium for the 2012 season.The Blue Bombers were founded...

 in Winnipeg. They won 38–10, and would lose to the Tiger-Cats
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a Canadian Football League team based in Hamilton, Ontario, founded in 1950 with the merger of the Hamilton Tigers and the Hamilton Wildcats. The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Ivor Wynne Stadium...

 in Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

 31–13. They would get their revenge a week later at home by beating the Cats 51–28 in front of 31,000 fans.

The biggest home game of the season came against the Baltimore Stallions
Baltimore Stallions
The Baltimore Stallions were a Canadian Football League team based in Baltimore, Maryland, which played the 1994 and 1995 seasons. They were the most successful American team in the Canadian Football League, having two winning seasons and a division title. In 1995 they became the only American team...

. It also proved to be the biggest disappointment, as the Barracudas lost 36–8. After that, attendance did not exceed 10,000 fans a game.

In the team's final home game, against the Edmonton Eskimos
Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Eskimos are a Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. They currently play in the West Division of the Canadian Football League . Edmonton is currently the third-youngest franchise in the CFL, although there were clubs with the name Edmonton Eskimos as early as 1895...

, Matt Dunigan left the game due to a shoulder injury, and Birmingham was forced to turn to back-up quarterback Jimmy Klinger. Despite the loss, the Barracudas still had a chance to claim home-field advantage in the playoffs. However, they lost a shootout of a season finale in San Antonio, finishing third in the Southern Division. They returned to San Antonio the following week for the Southern Division Semi-Final, but were whipped by the Texans 52–9, ending their first and only playoff run.

After the season

Attendance at Legion Field
Legion Field
Legion Field is a large stadium in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but is occasionally used for other large outdoor events. The stadium is named in honor of the American Legion, a U.S. organization of military veterans. At its peak...

 was very good at first. The Birmingham crowds were some of the largest in the league. Once the college football season started, the numbers started to decline even though the 'Cudas played on Sundays, not directly competing against Alabama or Auburn. The Memphis Mad Dogs
Memphis Mad Dogs
The Memphis Mad Dogs were a Canadian football team that played the 1995 season in the Canadian Football League. The Mad Dogs were part of a failed attempt to expand the CFL into the United States....

 were plagued by similar attendance problems, and the Birmingham Americans
Birmingham Americans
The Birmingham Americans were a professional American football team located in Birmingham, Alabama. They were members of the four-team Central Division of the World Football League . The Americans, founded in late December 1973, played in the upstart league's inaugural season in 1974...

 of the World Football League
World Football League
The World Football League was a short-lived gridiron football league that played in 1974 and part of 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the WFL reached was placing a team – the Hawaiians – in Honolulu, Hawaii. The...

 had been hamstrung by a similar situation 20 years earlier.

Owner Art Williams was quoted that he was probably losing between 4 to 6 million dollars on the team – however, outside sources quoted the losses at around 10 million dollars. He also began criticizing the Canadian Football League, and its unique concept. Along with other U.S. owners, Williams wanted several changes made:
  • Reducing the size of a CFL field to American football standards.
  • Allowing only 11 players on each side of the ball, rather than 12.
  • Changing the name of the league to show more of a U.S. presence.


Wiliams sold the team to a group of investors called Ark-La-Tex Football Association from Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

. It was intended for the team to play in Shreveport (where a more consistent and numerous fan base had established itself, but whose team, the Pirates
Shreveport Pirates
The Shreveport Pirates were a Canadian Football League team, playing at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA, in 1994 and 1995....

, had folded under the mismanagement of infamous CFL owner Bernard Glieberman
Bernard Glieberman
Bernard "Bernie" Glieberman is an American real estate mogul and the president of Crosswinds Communities. Despite having made his fortune in real estate, Glieberman was perhaps best known for, with his son Lonie, making several unsuccessful and controversial forays into sports team ownership and...

). However, the CFL instead opted to shutter the team along with the Mad Dogs and Posse. Soon afterward, the Baltimore Stallions
Baltimore Stallions
The Baltimore Stallions were a Canadian Football League team based in Baltimore, Maryland, which played the 1994 and 1995 seasons. They were the most successful American team in the Canadian Football League, having two winning seasons and a division title. In 1995 they became the only American team...

 moved to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 to become the new Alouettes, and the San Antonio Texans
San Antonio Texans
The San Antonio Texans were a Canadian Football League team that played in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1995 CFL season. They had relocated from Sacramento, California, where the team had been called the Sacramento Gold Miners...

 folded as well, ending the CFL's American experiment.

Players and builders of note

  • Gene Snisky, former WWE wrestler, was on the pre-season roster
  • Shonte Peoples
    Shonte Peoples
    Shonte Peoples is a former linebacker in the Canadian Football League.Having played his college football at the University of Michigan, Peoples signed on with the Las Vegas Posse, a CFL expansion franchise, in 1994...

  • Keith Woodside
    Keith Woodside
    Keith A. Woodside is a former professional American football running back in the National Football League and Canadian Football League. He played four seasons for the Green Bay Packers and then the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1994 and Birmingham Barracudas in 1995....

  • Reggie Slack
    Reggie Slack
    Reggie Slack is an American-born Canadian and American football quarterback.Slack was Auburn University's starting quarterback in 1989 when the Crimson Tide from the University of Alabama came to Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time in the history of the Iron Bowl rivalry...


Trivia

  • Quarterback Reggie Slack
    Reggie Slack
    Reggie Slack is an American-born Canadian and American football quarterback.Slack was Auburn University's starting quarterback in 1989 when the Crimson Tide from the University of Alabama came to Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time in the history of the Iron Bowl rivalry...

    , who played college football at Auburn
    Auburn University
    Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...

    , was signed to Birmingham. He started both pre-season games, but was traded to Winnipeg, after the second regular season game. On August 12, his new team lost to the Cudas in Birmingham, 50–24.
  • Former Cincinnati Bengals
    Cincinnati Bengals
    The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...

     running back Ickey Woods
    Ickey Woods
    Elbert L. "Ickey" Woods is a former American football fullback who played his entire NFL career with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played college football at UNLV...

     signed with Birmingham before the start of the season, but was cut in training camp.
  • Art Williams
    Art Williams
    Arthur T. Williams is an American former professional basketball player.A 6'1" guard from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Williams played seven seasons in the National Basketball Association as a member of the San Diego Rockets and Boston Celtics...

     later owned the Tampa Bay Lightning
    Tampa Bay Lightning
    The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2003–04. They are often referred to as the...

     of the National Hockey League
    National Hockey League
    The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

     during the 1998–99 season.
  • Fob James
    Fob James
    Forrest Hood James, Jr., known as Fob James , is an American politician, a civil engineer, and an all-American half-back...

    , at the time Alabama's governor, played running back for Montreal in 1956.

See also

  • CFL USA all time records and statistics
    CFL USA all time records and statistics
    CFL USA all time records and statisticsThis list combines the statistics and records of the seven CFL American teams from 1993 to 1995: Baltimore Stallions, Birmingham Barracudas, Las Vegas Posse, Memphis Mad Dogs, Sacramento Gold Miners, San Antonio Texans, and the Shreveport Pirates...

  • Comparison of Canadian and American football
    Comparison of Canadian and American football
    American and Canadian football are very similar, as both have their origins in rugby football, but there are some key differences.-History:Football was introduced to North America in Canada by the British Army garrison in Montreal, which played a series of games with McGill University...

  • 1995 CFL season
    1995 CFL season
    The 1995 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 42nd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 38th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 1995:...


External links

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