Alabama Hawks
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File:Alabama Hawks (semi-pro American CFL football club) brochure, 1960s.jpg
{{Infobox sports team
| logo = Alabama Hawks logo.jpeg
| pixels =
| founded = 1963
| league = Southern Football League
North American Football League
Professional Football League of America
Continental Football League
| history = Alabama Hawks
1963–1969
| arena = Milton Frank Stadium
| city = Huntsville, Alabama
| colors = Columbia Blue and Yellow Gold
| owner =
| coach = Steve Sucic (1968)
David N. Sington (1968–1969)
| championships =
| titles = 1967 PFLA Western Division
| mascot =
}}
The Alabama Hawks were a professional American football team based in Huntsville, Alabama. They were members of various minor league football circuits in the 1960s: the Southern Football League (1963–64); the North American Football League (1965–66), the Professional Football League of America (1967), and finally the Continental Football League during the league's last two years (1968–1969). While in the CoFL, the Hawks played in the Eastern Division of the Atlantic Conference. During the 1968 season, the team was also known as the Huntsville Hawks.
In 1967, in the PFLA's last year of operation, the Hawks won the Western Division with a 9–3 record and hosted the league's championship game at Milton Frank Stadium, losing 31–20 to the Joliet Chargers.
The Hawks served as an "unofficial" minor league affiliate of the Atlanta Falcons. On August 2, 1969, the Falcons came to Huntsville to play an exhibition game against the Hawks at Milton Frank Stadium; playing mostly rookies, Atlanta easily beat Alabama, 55–0. The contest marked the only time an NFL squad played a Continental League team. (In 1972, the New York Jets rookies would play the minor league Long Island Chiefs and in 1974, the Houston Oilers rookies would play the minor league San Antonio Toros){{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/07/30/archives/packer-excels-at-quarterback-as-jets-top-li-chiefs-293.html | title=Packer Excels at Quarterback as Jets Top L.I. Chiefs, 29‐3 | newspaper=The New York Times | date=30 July 1972 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/communities/southside/article/Today-in-S-A-history-8385205.php|title = Today in S.A. History|date = 19 July 2016}}
The Hawks sent several notable players on to the NFL including Jeff Van Note, Chip Myers, Glen Condren, and Art Strahan, uncle of Michael Strahan. Hawks running back Billy "Tootie" Hill—who set a record by scoring ten touchdowns in a single game—went on to coach high school football in the area and, later, the semi-pro Rocket City Titans of the Gridiron Developmental Football League.
References
{{reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite news |work=Sports Illustrated |title=A Roundup Of The Sports Information Of The Week |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1082703/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100730005948/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1082703/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 30, 2010 |date=August 11, 1969 |access-date=January 8, 2011}}
{{cite news |work=The Tuscaloosa News |title=Falcon To Miss Another Season |agency=Associated Press |page=19 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i_QhAAAAIBAJ&pg=1838,522528&dq=huntsville-hawks&hl=en |date=July 3, 1969 |access-date=May 10, 2010}}
{{cite news |first=John |last=Pruitt |work=The Huntsville Times |location=Huntsville, AL |title=Exhibitions Flunk Test In Huntsville |page=32 |date=May 5, 1968}}
{{cite news |work=The Spokesman-Review |title=Shocks Head for Alabama |page=26 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19681101&id=4LQRAAAAIBAJ&pg=6889,293834 |date=November 1, 1968 |access-date=January 19, 2010}}
{{cite news |work=The New York Times |title=Continental League Issues a Schedule |page=S9 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/06/02/archives/continental-league-issue-a-schedule.html |date=June 2, 1968 |access-date=January 19, 2010}}
{{cite news |work=The New York Times |title=Continental Lists 5 Preseason Games |page=S9 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/08/11/archives/continental-lists-5-preseason-games.html |date=August 11, 1968 |access-date=January 19, 2010}}
{{cite news |work=The New York Times |title=Neptunes Top Hawks, 20-7 |page=43 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/09/22/archives/neptunes-top-hawks-207.html |date=September 22, 1969 |access-date=January 19, 2010}}
{{cite news |first=Yvonne T. |last=Betowt |newspaper=The Huntsville Times |location=Huntsville, AL |title=Rocket City Titans are a hit with football fans |url=http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/05/rocket_city_titans_are_a_hit_w.html |date=May 23, 2010 |access-date=March 8, 2015}}
}}
{{Continental Football League}}
Category:Continental Football League teams
Category:American football teams in Alabama
Category:American football in Huntsville, Alabama
Category:American football teams established in 1963
Category:American football teams disestablished in 1969
Category:1963 establishments in Alabama
Category:1969 disestablishments in Alabama
Category:Professional Football League of America teams
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