The Wilmington Renegades were a minor league
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 with ...
team based in
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
. They joined the
Atlantic Coast Football League
The Atlantic Coast Football League (ACFL) was a professional american football minor league that operated from 1962 to 1973. Until 1969, many of its franchises had working agreements with NFL and AFL teams to serve as farm clubs. The league pai ...
(ACFL) as the Wilmington Clippers on February 20, 1966. Most of the team's ownership and management carried over from another Wilmington football franchise, the Wilmington Comets of the North American Football League. The team's first signing was
Dick Christy
Richard Joseph Christy (November 24, 1935 – July 8, 1966) was a collegiate and professional football player.
At St. James High School, Christy was twice named 1st Team All-Scholastic by the Philadelphia Bulletin (1952 & 1953). He also led S ...
, former running back with the
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...
,
Boston Patriots
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...
, and
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...
.
Despite losing $80,000 in 1966, the Clippers returned to the ACFL for the 1967 season. The team announced a five-year working agreement with the NFL's
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...
in March 1967, which saw the Eagles help with the cost of running the team. Despite the agreement, the Clippers continued to lose money and announced their dissolution in September 1967, just two games into the regular season.
The league stepped in immediately and offered to finance the franchise, which was renamed as the Renegades. Newspapers reported the team's full name alternately as the Wilmington Renegades or
Delmarva
The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a large peninsula and proposed state on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore regions of Maryland and Virginia. ...
Renegades. The franchise ceased operations permanently in November 1967, canceling their final two regular season games.
Season-by-season
Further reading
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References
Atlantic Coast Football League teams
American football teams in Delaware
Sports in Wilmington, Delaware
American football teams established in 1966
American football teams disestablished in 1967
1966 establishments in Delaware
1967 disestablishments in Delaware
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