The American Football Association (AFA) was a professional American football minor league that operated from 1977 to 1983.

The AFA was concentrated in the southern United States and served as the second tier of professional football between the World Football League, which folded in 1975, and the United States Football League, which began play in 1983. Unlike the WFL or USFL, the AFA always fashioned itself as a minor league, and never planned to rival the National Football League for "major league" status. Players were paid one percent of gross gate revenue, which often meant players were paid only menial sums for their service (often comparable to minimum wage for three hours of work), and the league struggled to acquire recognizable players.

The league played its games on Saturday nights in the summer (beginning its season Memorial Day weekend and ending in August) to avoid direct competition against other football in the fall, a move that foreshadowed the USFL's similar spring football schedule. The AFA ended operations in 1983, unable to take advantage of the strike that hit the NFL the year prior or weather the competition from the USFL.

Teams and cities represented

State City Team(s) Oklahoma Tulsa Oklahoma Thunder Tulsa Mustangs Alabama Birmingham Alabama Vulcans Alabama Magic Kentucky Louisville Kentucky Trackers Florida Jacksonville Jacksonville Firebirds Jacksonville Sunbirds Orlando Orlando Americans North Carolina Charlotte Carolina Chargers Texas San Antonio San Antonio Charros Austin Austin Texans Dallas Dallas Wranglers Burleson Fort Worth Wranglers Houston Houston Hotshots Houston Armadillos Arkansas Little Rock Arkansas Diamonds Mississippi Jackson Mississippi Stars Virginia Norfolk Virginia Hunters Louisiana Shreveport Shreveport Steamer West Virginia Charleston West Virginia Rockets Illinois Chicago Chicago Fire

Many nicknames came from previous leagues, with minor alterations to avoid trademark disputes: the Steamer, Vulcans and Fire all took their names from WFL teams, while the Rockets borrowed their moniker from a Continental Football League and United Football League team of the same name.

The operations were often fly-by-night, with most teams lasting only one season (or less) before folding, and players played for a paycheck equal to one percent of the net gate receipts after expenses (In August 1980, Shreveport Times sports reporter Ron Higgins estimated the average Steamer game check to be about $35 per man).

Despite its minor-league status, the league's teams often were able to secure leases for unusually large stadiums, often those used by the WFL and the USFL: the Orlando Americans, in their lone season, played in the 70,000-seat Citrus Bowl, while the Vulcans and Magic played at similarly-sized Legion Field, Houston played at 73,000 seat Rice Stadium, and the Fire played at Soldier Field. The Mustangs played at 30,000-seat Skelly Stadium. The Jacksonville Firebirds played in the Gator Bowl.

History The AFA was founded in May 1977 and began to play that summer. It was formed to take advantage of the places where the WFL was the most popular, while avoiding the overspending that led to that league's demise.

Billy Kilmer, the former NFL quarterback (and coach of the AFA's Shreveport Steamer in 1979), was named commissioner in 1981. Kilmer lasted one season as commissioner, working unpaid, during which he encountered numerous problems in the AFA, including a scandal in San Antonio which a player named Robert Lee Johnson misrepresented himself as former NFL offensive lineman Randy Johnson. The Carolina Chargers, one of the league's more successful and stable teams, dropped out of the league mid-season but re-emerged in 1982 under new ownership as the Carolina Storm.

In 1982, with former San Antonio Wings executive Roger Gill at the helm, the league attempted to expand northward by absorbing other semi-pro teams in Buffalo, New York, Racine, Wisconsin and Canton, Ohio.

The USFL's securing of a TV contract, especially after the AFA had failed to do so (the AFA was only able to get a few of its teams onto local cable stations, still a nascent technology at the time), led to the AFA eventually declining into semi-pro status and folding after its 1983 season.

The AFA lasted six seasons, one of the longest runs of a minor professional football organization in the sport's history, and considered the strongest league in the era between the WFL and the USFL.Bob Gill, with Tod Maher. Outsiders II: Minor League And Independent Football, 1951-1985, p. vii. St. Johann Press, 2010. The development of arena football and its numerous imitators has effectively reduced most outdoor leagues to amateur or semi-pro status, with some exceptions, until the modern era of professional spring football began in 2019 with the Alliance of American Football and subsequently the component leagues that would form the United Football League of 2024.

The modern American Football Association, a sanctioning body for semi-pro and amateur football, is unrelated to the former AFA.

1977 Harry Lander and Roger Gill, from the existing San Antonio Charros amateur club, decided to create a new minor league football league and attract local investors. Five other clubs from Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, Wichita Falls, and Oklahoma City joined the Charros to establish the AFA.

The plan was to play two exhibition games, and then each team would play twelve regular-season games beginning on July 2. The players were promised 1% of each game's gate receipts.

After three games (including two preseason) where they failed to score any points, the Fort Worth Stars were forced out of the league, while the Houston franchise—which had failed to secure a home stadium, pay their league dues, or secure medical insurance for their players—folded mid-August.

TeamWLTPct.PFPANotes San Antonio Charros8001.00032981Champions Oklahoma City Warriors430.57119273 Austin Texans440.500168177 Wichita Falls Steelers 250.28574162 Houston Seagulls050.00038183Folded mid-season Fort Worth Stars010-077Forced out of the league

The San Antonio Charros finished undefeated in the regular season and were declared league champions.

1978 The AFA entered an agreement for a loose affiliation with the California Football League for the 1978 season, that both leagues will play their normal league schedules, and at the end of the season the champions of each league will play in the "King Kong Bowl" to determine the "national champion". TeamWLTPct.PFPA Shreveport Steamer910.900375161 San Antonio Charros640.600235185 Houston Titans640.600226206 Oklahoma City Stampede640.600263185 Wichita Falls Roughnecks 280.200101300 Austin Texans190.100158273

Playoffs

Indicates overtime victory.

King Kong Bowl (September 30 at State Fair Stadium) San Jose Tigers 32 vs. Shreveport Steamer 6

1979 The league grow to nine teams and had plans to divide to Eastern and Western divisions, but after Tulsa Mustangs folded the remaining teams has gone from two divisions format to one, with the top four teams making the playoffs.

TeamWLTPct.PFPA Alabama Vulcans1350.722406220 San Antonio Charros1040.714405301 Carolina Chargers1250.705457277 Jacksonville Firebirds1150.687497277 Shreveport Steamer970.562387279 Mississippi Stars5110.312220386 Kentucky Trackers4120.250342544 Tulsa Mustangs140.25039120 Arkansas Champs2140.125138503

Playoffs

1980 The AFA started the season with eight teams and split up to Eastern and Western divisions. The league revoked Kentucky Trackers license after several cases of misconduct with four remaining weeks in the regular season. The Trackers' remaining games was filled with semi-pro teams from the Atlantic Coast League and the Dixie League, but those games did not count in AFA standings.

Eastern DivisionTeamWLTPct.PFPA Carolina Chargers1030.769315231 West Virginia Rockets940.692294183 Jacksonville Firebirds850.615306225 Kentucky Trackers0130.000135248 Western DivisionTeamWLTPct.PFPA Shreveport Steamer910.900265122 San Antonio Charros640.600227179 Austin Texans460.400189245 Fort Worth Wranglers0100.00085307

Playoffs

1981 Billy Kilmer was introduced as the first full-time commissioner of the American Football Association. Also, for the first time, the league expended behind southern United States, when they add the Chicago Fire.The Chargers players voted to walk out on the team four games into the season, while both Shreveport Steamer and Austin Texans folded before season end, resulting in Kilmer resignation before the American Bowl. He was replaced by AFA president Roger Gill.

During the season a member of the Orlando Americans admits he impersonated former NFL guard Randy Johnson to make the team. He was discovered when he couldn't crack the starting lineup.

Eastern DivisionTeamWLTPct.PFPA West Virginia Rockets1110.916307144 Jacksonville Firebirds840.666228206 Virginia Hunters750.583187210 Orlando Americans570.416229202 Carolina Chargers2100.166102117 Western DivisionTeamWLTPct.PFPA Chicago Fire840.666311223 San Antonio Charros660.500276297 Shreveport Steamer660.500169182 Texas Wranglers570.416149237 Austin Texans2100.166184324 Includes forfeit games.

Playoffs

1982 The AFA expanded to 18 teams, and split up to three divisions, while two teams (Florida Sun and Roanoke Valley Express) folded mid-season.

Southeastern DivisionTeamWLTPct.PFPA Carolina Storm10001.00033989 Georgia Pride640.600178179 Alabama Magic640.600209138 Tallahassee Statesmen550.500120178 Jacksonville Sunbirds370.300136225 Florida Sun*0100.0007141 Southwestern DivisionTeamWLTPct.PFPA Shreveport Americans820.800291124 Oklahoma Thunder820.800308125 Texas Wranglers820.800291124 San Antonio Bulls460.400203195 Houston Armadillos280.20054308 Austin Texans0100.000113345 Northern DivisionTeamWLTPct.PFPA Racine Gladiators10001.00030988 West Virginia Rockets730.700363121 Akron Bulldogs640.60022998 Roanoke Valley Express*370.30063106 Buffalo Geminis370.30093294 Virginia Chargers190.10027410 Includes forfeit games.

Playoffs First Round (August 7): Racine 44 vs. Akron 6 Carolina 61 vs. West Virginia 18 Texas 17 vs. Oklahoma 14 Shreveport 42 vs. Georgia 35

1983 It was the seventh and final year of the AFA. The United Football Teams of America league champion – Oklahoma City Drillers – joined the league but later announced that they would play the season as a travelling team before folding altogether after two weeks. Among the Drillers' players was defensive lineman Toby Covel, an unemployed oil worker who remarked of his experience that "semi-pro means semi-pay" and, after the teams' closure, turned to his side job as a country musician, which would earn him fame under the name Toby Keith. The majority of the teams followed, and the league decided that division champions Carolina and San Antonio would meet in the final American Bowl.

The Bulls knew before season's end that they would join the United States Football League as an expansion team for the 1984 season, where they played as the San Antonio Gunslingers (as the Jacksonville Bulls had already claimed rights to the "Bulls" name). Eastern DivisionTeamWLTPct.PFPA Carolina Storm6001.00028944 Canton Bulldogs410.8008777 Charleston Rockets130.25010881 Pittsburgh Colts150.16680236 Western DivisionTeamWLTPct.PFPA San Antonio Bulls610.85727658 Shreveport Americans520.714237113 Baton Rouge Red Wings 230.40043224 Dallas Wranglers240.333115137 Houston Mustangs040.00045159 Oklahoma City Drillers020.000796

Playoffs

Notes

References

External links Encyclopedia of Italian Football - includes all schedules of AFA teams, but includes a spurious 1977 season that may have been a predecessor league.