Sports' Forgotten Heroes

When the World Football League launched its inaugural season in 1974, all of the leagues 12 teams had very high hopes. But one team in particular thought it was going to do much better than it did – the Detroit Wheels. But, in reality, this team never stood a chance. After all, how can team expect to succeed when it’s operated with a pay-as-you-go mentality? The Wheels had 33 owners and none of them stepped forward to become the face of the team and actually run the franchise. Sure, the Wheels had a team president, general manager and a head coach. But none of them had a budget to run the franchise. The team president and general manager couldn’t sign any players while they sat idly by watching other WFL teams sign players. The team couldn’t find a place to play in Detroit, so it had to turn to Ypsilanti and Eastern Michigan University for a home. Fans didn’t show up. In fact, much to the embarrassment of the team, they thought they were going to sell out games, so they brought in auxiliary stands and at one