The Seaboard Football League was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in N ...

that operated from 1971 to 1974.Bob Gill, with Steve Brainerd and Tod Maher, ''Minor League Football, 1960-85'' (McFarland and Co., 2002), pp84, 99-100 It folded during the 1974 season as a result of the founding of the World Football League, which deprived the league of talent. Some of the more notable Seaboard Football league alumni include

Vince Papale Vincent Papale (born February 9, 1946) is a former American football wide receiver. He played three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League, primarily on special teams, following two seasons with the Philadelphia Be ...

, who went on to the WFL's

Philadelphia Bell The Philadelphia Bell was a franchise in the World Football League, which operated in 1974 and a portion of a season in 1975. The Bell played their home games in 1974 at JFK Stadium in South Philadelphia. The team logo was a representation of t ...

and later the NFL's

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

;

Joe Klecko Joseph Edward Klecko (born October 15, 1953) is an American former American football, football player, of Polish descent, best remembered for his days as a defensive lineman, a member of the New York Jets' famed "New York Sack Exchange." Templ ...

, who "was never paid a penny" for his time and used the opportunity to earn a college scholarship and propel himself into a professional career; wide receiver

Jack Dolbin John Tice Dolbin, Jr. (October 12, 1948 – August 1, 2019) was a professional American football wide receiver who played five seasons for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. He started for the Broncos in Super Bowl XII and playe ...

, who later appeared in

Super Bowl XII Super Bowl XII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

; and King Corcoran, the career minor-league quarterback who would also go on to play for the Bell in the WFL. While players (such as Klecko) could play as amateurs, most players were paid a sum of $50 per game; a starting quarterback could make as much as $600 per game. During the 1972 season, after the folding of the

Atlantic Coast Football League The Atlantic Coast Football League (ACFL) was a professional american football minor league that operated from 1962 to 1973. Until 1969, many of its franchises had working agreements with NFL and AFL teams to serve as farm clubs. The league paid ...

, the Seaboard Football League was the second-highest ranking professional football league in the United States, behind only the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

. The NFL played an interleague

exhibition match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against an SFL team in 1972, when the New York Jets rookies defeated the SFL's Long Island Chiefs 29–3"Hartford Gets Grid Franchise", ''Reading Eagle'' - May 31, 1972, p58 The Chiefs played an exhibition game against the New York Jets rookies on July 29, 1972, losing 29-3
"Packer Excels at Quarterback As Jets Top L.I. Chiefs, 29-3"
''New York Times'', July 30, 1972, pS-3
"Rookie QB Fires Jets"
''Pittsburgh Press'', July 30, 1972, pD-8 the last such game against other pro league (In 1974 the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

rookie squad would play a preseason game vs the semi-pro San Antonio Toros). The league dropped to third-tier after the Hartford Knights left for a revived ACFL and the league picked up teams from the semi-pro Empire Football League for play in 1973. The league was founded with eight teams in 1971, five of which came from the Interstate Football League, two from the Mason-Dixon Football League, and one independent. The teams played a 14-game season, with all games taking place on Saturday nights. In 1972, the Hartford Knights of the ACFL joined the league, going undefeated and winning the championship then returned to the reincarnated ACFL for its 1973 season. The Seaboard League again had eight franchises, but played a ten-game season. After the ACFL folded, the Bridgeport Jets and the New England Colonials joined the Seaboard League, which fielded six teams in 1974, only two of which (the Jets and Wilkes-Barre Barons) would survive to season's end.

Championship games

The following championship games took place in the Seaboard Football League: *

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

Schuylkill Coal Crackers 13,

Hagerstown Hagerstown is the name of several places in the United States of America: *Hagerstown, Indiana *Hagerstown, Maryland **Hagerstown Metropolitan Area *Hagerstown, Ohio Hagerstown is an extinct town in Preble County, in the U.S. state of Ohio Ohi ...

Bears 0 *

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Hartford Knights 17, Chambersburg Cardinals 7 *

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

Chambersburg Cardinals 31,

Albany Metro Mallers The Albany Metro Mallers are a semi-professional football team. The team has regularly appeared in national semipro playoffs and won the national semipro title in 2008, 2013, and 2016. Some of the team's players have gone on to play professional fo ...

12 *

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the seco ...

Bullets 20,

Bridgeport Jets The Bridgeport Jets were a minor league American football team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They began play in the Atlantic Coast Football League in 1966 as the Waterbury Orbits. The Orbits, already officially affiliated with the New York J ...

Teams

The following teams played in the Seaboard Football League: *

(NY) (1973)The team was described in 1972 as "a farm team of Montreal of the Canadian Football League", "Ex-Ag signs pro contract, ''Deseret News'' (Salt Lake City), August 9, 1973, p2-D *Aston (PA) Knights (1972–73) / Ridley Township (PA) Knights (1971) (known as the "Green Knights" to distinguish them from the Hartford Knights in 1972) *Tri-Cities (NY) Jets (1973) *Boston Colonials (1974) *

(1974) *Bucks County (CT) Steelers (1973) * Chambersburg Cardinals (PA) (1971–74) *Conshohocken (PA) Steelers (1971–72) *Frederick (MD) Falcons (1971) *Hagerstown (MD) Bears (1971–73) * Hartford Knights (1972) *Long Island (Freeport, NY) Chiefs (1972) *Portsmouth (VA) Bucks (1972) *Reading (PA) Coal Crackers (1972) *Schuylkill County Coal Crackers (Pottsville PA) (1971)"Bronco Recalls Days He Was Busted"
''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', January 13, 1978, p9 *Lackawanna County (PA) Eagles (1973–74) *Valley Forge (PA) Minutemen (1974) *Washington (PA) Generals (1971) *Westminster (MD) Chargers (1971) *Wilkes-Barre (PA) Bullets (1974) *Wyoming Valley (PA) Giants (1973)

References

External links

complete record
Empire Football League
history * {{Profootball Defunct American football leagues in the United States Semi-professional American football