The Hawaiians were a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team based in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

that played in the World Football League. They played two seasons, 1974 and 1975. Their records were 9–11 in 1974 and 4–7–1 in 1975. Their home stadium was Honolulu Stadium in 1974 and Aloha Stadium in 1975. The best known player to play for the Hawaiians was former

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

Calvin Hill Calvin G. Hill (born January 2, 1947) is a retired American football player. He played running back in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. Hill played for the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, and Cleveland Browns. He also p ...

, though quarterback

Jim Fassel James Edward Fassel (August 31, 1949 – June 7, 2021) was an American college and professional football player and coach. He was the head coach of the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) from 1997 to 2003. He was offensive coor ...

became better known as a head coach decades later. The Hawaiians head coach was Michael Giddings who guided the Hawaiians through both the 1974 and 1975 World Football League seasons. The franchise was originally going to be called the Honolulu Warriors, but a local team had trademarked that name. As a result, the team was known simply as "The Hawaiians", although the press frequently mistakenly called them the "Honolulu Hawaiians" or the "Hawaii Hawaiians." They were owned by real estate developer

Christopher Hemmeter Christopher Hemmeter (October 8, 1939 – November 27, 2003) was an American real estate developer who pioneered the concept of destination resorts in Hawaii and was involved in gambling development of casinos, primarily in New Orleans and Col ...

for the first season. He was named league president in 1975, and sold the Hawaiians to jewel merchant Edward Sultan, Jr. Though lasting for less than two seasons of play, the Hawaiians represented a serious attempt to form a viable professional football organization, one that at least had the potential for success had the WFL been better run. They were one of only three teams that did not miss a payroll during the league's first season. (False accounts had said some players released from the team could not afford to get to the mainland.) Hemmeter and his original partner, Sam Battisone (who also owned the NBA's New Orleans Jazz) were among the few owners thought to be capable of fielding a team in 1975. It was the first and, to date, only major professional American football team to establish its home base outside the contiguous 48 states.

Schedule and results

1974 regular season

:Source

Playoffs

1975 regular season

:Source

References

External links