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Detroit Wheels
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Detroit Wheels
The Detroit Wheels were an American football team, a charter member of the defunct World Football League.
Soon after Gary Davidson announced the WFL's formation in October 1973, he was approached by a man named Bud Hucul about putting a team in Detroit. In a harbinger of things to come, however, it emerged that Hucul had a long history of legal problems, including 30 arrests and 27 lawsuits.
A more credible offer came from a consortium of ten Detroit-area investors who were formally awarded a franchise on December 13, 1973. The group would eventually expand to 33 people, including singer Marvin Gaye, Motown Records vice-president Esther Gordy Edwards, Milford Fabricating owner Edward Nishon, and Little Caesars founder Mike Ilitch (who would later own the Detroit Caesars, Drive, Red Wings and Tigers). Detroit attorney and philanthropist Louis Lee was named team president, while Sonny Grandelius, a former star running back at Michigan State, was the team's general manager.
The Wheels' owners didn't appear to make an initial capital investment, instead opting to pay team expenses out-of-pocket as they arose. The result was a team that was badly undercapitalized even by WFL standards. It showed during the WFL's initial draft. Despite selecting such future stars as Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Rick Middleton and Randy Grossman, the Wheels initially refused to spend more than $10,000 per player. They thus wound up signing only three of their 33 draft picks. (Michigan State track star Herb Washington, who later became pro baseball's only full-time pinch runner with the Oakland A's, rejected the Wheels offer, claiming the club was offering only "sandlot salaries".)
Desperate for players, the Wheels were forced to hold open tryouts, which ended with none of the 665 potential players who tried out making the team.
The owners also had trouble finding a place to play. Their first choice was Tiger Stadium, home of the NFL's Detroit Lions and Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers. However, they were unable to lease the stadium due to pressure from the Lions. (The further damage to the turf that a second football team would cause was also a concern for the Tigers, especially since the WFL schedule began in July and coincided with much of the Tigers' season.) The Silverdome wouldn't be finished for another year, and University of Detroit Stadium (home of the Continental Football League's Michigan Arrows) had been demolished three years prior. Lee approached his alma mater, the University of Michigan, about playing at cavernous Michigan Stadium, only to be turned down.
Finally, the Wheels signed a deal to play at Eastern Michigan University's 15,500-seat Rynearson Stadium in Ypsilanti, Michigan, 37 miles (60 km) from downtown Detroit. The stadium had no lighting at the time, and the Wheels had to install their own; these lights remain at the stadium to this day (although subsequently updated). 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 quarterback with Canadian Football League experience 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.
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Detroit Wheels
The Detroit Wheels were an American football team, a charter member of the defunct World Football League.
Soon after Gary Davidson announced the WFL's formation in October 1973, he was approached by a man named Bud Hucul about putting a team in Detroit. In a harbinger of things to come, however, it emerged that Hucul had a long history of legal problems, including 30 arrests and 27 lawsuits.
A more credible offer came from a consortium of ten Detroit-area investors who were formally awarded a franchise on December 13, 1973. The group would eventually expand to 33 people, including singer Marvin Gaye, Motown Records vice-president Esther Gordy Edwards, Milford Fabricating owner Edward Nishon, and Little Caesars founder Mike Ilitch (who would later own the Detroit Caesars, Drive, Red Wings and Tigers). Detroit attorney and philanthropist Louis Lee was named team president, while Sonny Grandelius, a former star running back at Michigan State, was the team's general manager.
The Wheels' owners didn't appear to make an initial capital investment, instead opting to pay team expenses out-of-pocket as they arose. The result was a team that was badly undercapitalized even by WFL standards. It showed during the WFL's initial draft. Despite selecting such future stars as Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Rick Middleton and Randy Grossman, the Wheels initially refused to spend more than $10,000 per player. They thus wound up signing only three of their 33 draft picks. (Michigan State track star Herb Washington, who later became pro baseball's only full-time pinch runner with the Oakland A's, rejected the Wheels offer, claiming the club was offering only "sandlot salaries".)
Desperate for players, the Wheels were forced to hold open tryouts, which ended with none of the 665 potential players who tried out making the team.
The owners also had trouble finding a place to play. Their first choice was Tiger Stadium, home of the NFL's Detroit Lions and Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers. However, they were unable to lease the stadium due to pressure from the Lions. (The further damage to the turf that a second football team would cause was also a concern for the Tigers, especially since the WFL schedule began in July and coincided with much of the Tigers' season.) The Silverdome wouldn't be finished for another year, and University of Detroit Stadium (home of the Continental Football League's Michigan Arrows) had been demolished three years prior. Lee approached his alma mater, the University of Michigan, about playing at cavernous Michigan Stadium, only to be turned down.
Finally, the Wheels signed a deal to play at Eastern Michigan University's 15,500-seat Rynearson Stadium in Ypsilanti, Michigan, 37 miles (60 km) from downtown Detroit. The stadium had no lighting at the time, and the Wheels had to install their own; these lights remain at the stadium to this day (although subsequently updated). 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 quarterback with Canadian Football League experience 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.