| Detroit Wheels | |
| Founded | December 1973 |
| Folded | September 1974 |
| Based in | Ypsilanti, Michigan |
| Home field | Rynearson Stadium |
| League | World Football League |
| Division | Central |
| Colors | Red, Gold & Black |
| Head coach | Dan Boisture |
| General manager | Sonny Grandelius |
| Owner(s) | Louis Lee (team president), et. al. |
The Detroit Wheels were an American football team, a charter member of the ill-fated World Football League.[1]
The Wheels were founded December 13, 1973 by ten investors, whose number eventually grew to 33, including singer Marvin Gaye, Motown Records vice-president Esther Edwards, and Little Caesars founder (and future Red Wings and Tigers owner) Mike Ilitch. Detroit attorney and philanthropist Louis Lee was named team president. Sonny Grandelius, a former star running back at Michigan State, was named general manager.
However, even by WFL standards, the Wheels were severely undercapitalized. The owners didn't appear to make an initial capital investment; instead, team expenses were seemingly paid out-of-pocket as they arose. They initially refused to spend more than $10,000 per player. Most of their draft picks were unwilling to play under such conditions; the Wheels signed only three of their 33 draft picks, forcing them to hold open tryouts. None of the men who tried out made the team.
They then had trouble finding a place to play. Their first choice was Tiger Stadium, home of the NFL's Detroit Lions. However, they were unable to get a lease due to pressure from the Lions. The Silverdome hadn't been built yet, and the University of Michigan, home of cavernous Michigan Stadium, also said no (despite Lee being a Michigan alumnus). Finally, the Wheels signed a deal to play at Eastern Michigan University's Rynearson Stadium in Ypsilanti, Michigan, 37 miles from downtown Detroit. The club even hired EMU's head coach, Dan Boisture, to helm the Wheels.
Things weren't encouraging on the field, either. The Wheels had a decent quarterback in Bubba Wyche (brother of former NFL quarterback and head coach Sam Wyche), but little in the way of protection (Wyche was sacked eleven times in one game) or receivers. Only 10,631 people attended their first home game, and their final home game drew an announced crowd of 6,351 fans (though actual attendance was closer to 2,000). A home game against the Portland Storm was moved to London, Ontario. The Storm's owner was from London, and he needed the money. The Wheels lost in front an announced crowd of 5,105.
As the losses piled up, the team's ramshackle financial structure became more problematic. Boisture and Grandelius badly wanted to put together a serious football organization, but the owners refused all requests for more money. For one home game there were no programs available because the printer hadn't been paid. Several practices were canceled because the cleaning bill went unpaid, leaving the team without uniforms. They couldn't pay their phone bill, and they were unable to reserve hotel rooms or fly to away games without advance payment. Players were forced to share food and rent due to several missed paydays, and several players ended up sharing a house. The situation prompted Wyche to write to league president Gary Davidson and beg the league office to intervene.
The low point came during the Wheels' eighth game, against the Philadelphia Bell. When the players arrived at John F. Kennedy Stadium, they discovered that they didn't have any medical supplies or tape. Wheels' players refused to take the field until a Johnson & Johnson salesman donated tape so that the Wheels were able to play. They lost, 27-23.
After losing their first ten games the Wheels got their only win, 15-14 over the Florida Blazers at Orlando. Soon afterward, the league took control of the team and began searching for a new home. Their first choice was Shreveport, but the Houston Texans moved there and became the Steamer. They then tried to move to Louisville, but talks collapsed. John DeLorean tried to buy the team in hopes of keeping it in Detroit, but he backed out at the last minute. The next choice was Charlotte, where former New England Patriots general manager Upton Bell was hoping to put together financing for a WFL team. Although impressed with Wyche, he was unable to come to an agreement, and instead opted to buy the New York Stars and move them to Charlotte as the Hornets.
On September 24, the Wheels faced the Stars in Downing Stadium, losing 37-7 in what proved to be the Stars' last game in New York.
After a 14-11 loss to Shreveport, the league folded the Wheels (and the equally struggling Jacksonville Sharks). While the franchise officially folded on October 7, players and coaches had been taking their uniforms and personal items home with them for some time to keep them from being seized. The Wheels franchise was the only one not reissued when the World Football League returned in 1975.
The Wheels finished their lone season with the WFL's worst record at 1-13, and the worst luck as well: eight of Detroit's losses came by less than a touchdown, and they held fourth-quarter leads in seven games. Playing in the tough Central Division with the league's two best teams, Memphis (17-3) and Birmingham (15-5), made things even more difficult for the hapless Wheels.
Stan Hansen, the professional wrestler, had a brief stint as a player with the Wheels. Nevertheless, he was promoted as a "former star" of the team when wrestling in a promotion in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas.[2]
|
|||||||||||