Shreveport Pirates
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The Shreveport Pirates were a
Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
team, playing at
Independence Stadium Independence Stadium may also refer to: * Independence Stadium (Bakau) in Gambia * Independence Stadium (Namibia) in Windhoek * Independence Stadium (South Africa) in Mthatha, a football stadium in South Africa * Independence Stadium (Tanzania) ...
in
Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...
, United States, in
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
and
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
. Despite a relatively strong fan base, they were one of the least successful of the CFL's American franchises on and off the field.


History

The Pirates were created when
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 Glieberman, Lonie, making several un ...
and his son Lonnie, owners of the
Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...
, expressed a desire to move the struggling franchise to the United States.Back in town again
CBC Sports CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...
, 2005-06-09.
The CFL rejected this move, but engineered a deal in which the Rough Riders were essentially split in two. The Gliebermans received an expansion franchise in Shreveport, while a new ownership group took over the Rough Riders name, colours, and history. General manager
J. I. Albrecht J. I. Albrecht (February 15, 1931 – March 11, 2008) was an American-Canadian executive who worked in college and professional sports for 53 years, notably as a general manager and several key director spots in the CFL. He also worked in NFL, NCA ...
hired
John Huard John Roland "Big John" Huard (born March 9, 1944) is an American business executive and a former gridiron football player and coach. After playing college football at the University of Maine, he played professionally as a linebacker with the Den ...
as head coach, but the Gliebermans overruled him and installed
Forrest Gregg Alvis Forrest Gregg (October 18, 1933 – April 12, 2019) was an American professional American football, football player and coach. A Pro Football Hall of Fame Tackle (gridiron football position), offensive tackle for 16 seasons in the Nationa ...
as coach before the team took its first snap. They needed until week 15 to record their first victory, a 24–12 win over the
Sacramento Gold Miners The Sacramento Gold Miners were a Canadian football team based in Sacramento, California. The franchise was the first American team in the Canadian Football League. The Gold Miners inherited a home stadium, front office staff and much of the rost ...
. After the historic victory, the team won two out of their last three games, but they still finished last in the
CFL East Division The East Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League, its counterpart being the West Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues. T ...
with a 3–15 record. Albrecht resigned and sued Glieberman and the Pirates. Top performers were wide receiver Charles Thompson with 641 yards receiving and three touchdowns and running back
Martin Patton Martin Patton (October 21, 1970 – November 20, 2012) was a running back in the Canadian Football League. Originally playing with the powerhouse University of Miami Hurricanes, Patton ran into legal trouble. He received probation for credit ...
was the team leading rusher with 659 yards and eight touchdowns. Terrence Jones had 1,046 yards passing with four touchdowns and nine interceptions and Mike Johnson, of the
University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...
, passed for 1,259 yards and four touchdowns with 12 interceptions. The club averaged 17,871 fans per game (second-highest of the American teams, behind only
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
), and once the team snapped its losing streak, attendance rose near the end of the season, with a high of 32,011 for their season-ending victory over the
Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...
, a single-game attendance record for the American teams outside of Baltimore. Shreveport averaged more than 26 points per game in 1995, but gave up more than 28 en route to a 5–13 record.
Billy Joe Tolliver Billy Joe Tolliver (born February 7, 1966) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) for twelve seasons with the San Diego Chargers, Atlanta ...
completed 252 of 429 passes for 3,440 yards and 14 touchdowns. His favorite target was fellow
Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...
product Wayne Walker, who caught 51 passes for 790 yards.
Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.
led the team in receptions with 58 for 846 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The team's leading rusher was former
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...
player
Martin Patton Martin Patton (October 21, 1970 – November 20, 2012) was a running back in the Canadian Football League. Originally playing with the powerhouse University of Miami Hurricanes, Patton ran into legal trouble. He received probation for credit ...
, who ran for 1,040 yards, third in the league. Kicker
Björn Nittmo Björn Arne Nittmo (born July 26, 1966) is a former Swedish born American football placekicker, being the only Swedish-born player ever to complete as much as a full season in the National Football League. Football career The left-footed Nittmo, ...
finished 46 of 53 in field goals and was sixth in the league in scoring.


Fan support

Despite their dreadful on-field record and the Gliebermans' mismanagement, the Pirates had a very loyal following. Shreveport was by far the smallest U.S. market to host a CFL team, and second smallest in the entire league after
Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...
. Also, the Shreveport market had four major college teams with large fan bases in the region–
LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
,
Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
, and
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
. On paper, this should have resulted in attendance severely dropping off once college football started, as was the case with the CFL's other Southern teams, the
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. They played at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. ...
and
Birmingham Barracudas The Birmingham Barracudas were a Canadian football team that played the 1995 season in the Canadian Football League. The Barracudas were part of a failed attempt to expand the CFL into the United States. Franchise history In the beginning Ins ...
. However, Shreveport was far enough away from the campuses of LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, and Arkansas that high school football was the Pirates' biggest local sports competition in the second half of the season. As such, despite winning only eight games in their history, the Pirates' attendance remained roughly comparable with the established Canadian teams throughout their run.


Demise

The problems continued off the field as the Gliebermans tried to relocate the team to
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
. However, officials there broke off talks after learning that Glieberman faced several lawsuits in Shreveport. Notable about the move to Virginia was "the Great Tucker Caper" when the City of Shreveport tried to seize Bernard Glieberman's 1948
Tucker Tucker may refer to: Places United States * Tucker, Arkansas * Tucker, Georgia * Tucker, Mississippi * Tucker, Missouri * Tucker, Utah, ghost town * Tucker County, West Virginia Outer space * Tucker (crater), a small lunar impact crater in the s ...
(which was on loan to a classic automobile museum in downtown Shreveport) for defaulting on debts related to the Pirates' lease at Independence Stadium, including payments for the scoreboard. Glieberman's lawyer, Mark Gilliam, tried to escape with the car and hide the vintage auto, but he ran out of gas along the way. The police spotted him, and took the car back to the museum where it was being stored until the case could be settled. Norfolk was not interested in the team in any event due to the Gliebermans' poor business record. By the end of 1995, anticipating that the Pirates would not continue beyond that season, a group of investors dubbing itself the "Ark-La-Tex Football Association" proposed purchasing the Barracudas and moving them to Shreveport. The Barracudas had compiled a winning record and made the playoffs, winning two more games than the Pirates had won in their entire existence. However, owner
Art Williams Arthur T. Williams (September 29, 1939 – September 27, 2018), also known as Hambone Williams, was an American professional basketball player. A 6'1" guard from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Williams played seven seasons (196 ...
had already decided not to bring the team back to Alabama once it became clear the Barracudas could not successfully compete with the state's well-established college football programs for an audience late in the season.Cudas Apparently Through in Birmingham. Gadsden Times, Associated Press, November 7, 1995, accessed 29 January 2014 https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19951107&id=KrwfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FNgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4898,678628 The Ark-La-Tex Football association bought the 'Cudas from Williams for a significant discount, provided that the league approve the sale. The sale would have brought the team closer to the
San Antonio Texans The San Antonio Texans were a Canadian Football League (CFL) 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 Miner ...
and what would have been the
Houston Stallions The Houston Stallions were a professional indoor football team that competed in the Lone Star Football League (LSFL). Based in Houston, Texas, the Stallions played their home games at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. 2011 inaugural season In t ...
(as Baltimore had proposed moving to Houston after the season) and created a three-team nucleus that would have made the CFL's long-term presence in the U.S. viable. It would have also matched a team that made a good account of itself on the field with a market that was at least potentially capable of supporting it at the box office. Instead, on February 2, 1996, the CFL euthanized four of its American franchises and allowed the owners of the fifth, the Stallions, to resurrect the
Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...
, ending the CFL's experiment south of the border.


Aftermath

The Gliebermans eventually re-emerged in the CFL owning the
Ottawa Renegades The Ottawa Renegades were a Canadian Football League franchise based in Ottawa, Ontario founded in 2002, six years after the storied Ottawa Rough Riders folded. After four seasons, the Renegades franchise was suspended indefinitely by the league ...
. Like their previous efforts, the Renegades were a failure. Some notable players include former
New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...
running back
Gill Fenerty Lawrence Gill Fenerty, aka "Gill the Thrill", (born August 24, 1963) is a former running back in the Canadian Football League, National Football League, and the Italian Football League. Fenerty graduated from Jesuit High School (New Orleans) an ...
and defensive end
Dexter Manley Dexter Keith Manley (born February 2, 1959) is a former American football defensive end for the Washington Redskins, Phoenix Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He also played in the Canadian Football Lea ...
. Kicker
Björn Nittmo Björn Arne Nittmo (born July 26, 1966) is a former Swedish born American football placekicker, being the only Swedish-born player ever to complete as much as a full season in the National Football League. Football career The left-footed Nittmo, ...
was also a fan favorite, both for making some very long field goals and for being friendly to the fans, often attending meetings of their booster club.
Jon Heidenreich Jon Heidenreich (born June 28, 1972) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known simply as Heidenreich. He is best known for his tenure with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its SmackDown brand where he was a one time Tag ...
played two seasons with the club, and later became popular as a wrestler (
WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship The WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the top title contested for in the Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council. The championship was establi ...
). Curiously, two players,
Joe Montford Joe Montford (born July 30, 1970) is a Canadian and American football defensive end. Montford played with the Shreveport Pirates (4 games in his first year in the CFL), the Toronto Argonauts, the Edmonton Eskimos, the Charlotte Rage of the Arena ...
and Elfrid Payton, later went on to fame as winners of the
CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award The Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award is annually awarded to the best defensive player in the Canadian football League. The winner of the award is selected by members of the Football Reporters of Canada along with the head coaches in the CFL. ...
(added to this pair is
Greg Stumon Greg Stumon (born May 26, 1963) is a former award-winning defensive end and linebacker who played the Canadian Football League. A native of Plain Dealing, Louisiana, he attended the Southern Arkansas University, and was inducted into that schoo ...
, who was a former winner of the same award).
Uzooma Okeke Uzooma Okeke (born September 3, 1970) is a former Canadian Football League Offensive tackle, tackle for the Montreal Alouettes. He won a Grey Cup with Montreal in 2002 Grey Cup, 2002. Okeke is currently the Football Operations Assistant/Scout fo ...
went on to become one of the best linemen in the history of the
Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...
and won the 1999 CFL Most Outstanding Lineman award. He became a scout with the Alouettes in 2007. The Pirates booster club was formed during the team's first season to support the team, and remained active long after the team became defunct, spearheading various later attempts to get another professional football team in the Shreveport area.


Seasons


See also

*
CFL USA all-time records and statistics This 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 American and Canadian football are gridiron codes of football that are very similar; both have their origins in rugby football, but some key differences exist between the two codes. History Rugby football was introduced to North America in C ...
*
1994 CFL season The 1994 CFL season is considered to be the 41st season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 37th Canadian Football League season. CFL news in 1994 Expansion The CFL admitted three more United States-based teams, to ad ...
*
1995 CFL season The 1995 CFL season was the 38th season of the Canadian Football League, and the 42nd in modern-day Canadian football. CFL news in 1995 Expansion, relocation, folding and realignment Two more United States-based teams were admitted, the Birming ...


References


External links


Shreveport Pirates team profile
{{Shreveport, Louisiana Defunct Canadian Football League teams Defunct American football teams in Louisiana Defunct Canadian football teams in the United States 1994 establishments in Louisiana 1995 disestablishments in Louisiana