San Antonio Wings
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San Antonio Wings rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the old Florida Blazers in the World Football League. The Blazers existed for one season, in 1974, from Orlando, Florida.
Coached by John "Jack" Pardee, he had a 13-year NFL career as an excellent linebacker who had played for the Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Rams, and Chicago Bears. For his first ever head coaching position, Pardee brought the debt-ridden Blazers one point short of winning the World Bowl championship. Awarded WFL Coach of the Year, he relocated to Chicago to coach the Bears while the moribund Florida franchise was relocated to San Antonio, Texas, renamed the Wings before the WFL 1975 season.
The Blazers had played its home game in the Tangerine Bowl, in Orlando, Florida. Before the stadium was renovated, the Tangerine Bowl seated an anemic 14,500. Its 1975 San Antonio Wings would play their games at Alamo Stadium.
Before the 1974 season had even started, the franchise had originally been planned to play in the Washington, D. C. area. E. Joseph Wheeler bought the rights to Washington. First he called the team the Washington Capitols, then briefly the Americans, before finally naming the franchise Washington Ambassadors. But from the start, Wheeler had a tough time trying to obtain a lease at R.F.K. Stadium, home of the NFL Washington Redskins, circa 1974. He investigated other cities, including Annapolis, or Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia. In mid-April 1974, Wheeler moved the club out of the Capitol to Norfolk. He renamed the team the Virginia Ambassadors.