The Jacksonville Sharks were a professional American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 team based in Jacksonville

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. They competed for part of the 1974 season in the World Football League

World Football League

The World Football League was a short-lived gridiron football league that played in 1974 and part of 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the WFL reached was placing a team – the Hawaiians – in Honolulu, Hawaii. The...

, a failed attempt to launch a major professional football league in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in competition with the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. The team played seven home games at the Gator Bowl Stadium

Gator Bowl Stadium

Gator Bowl was an American football stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally built in 1927, it was radically reconstructed in 1994 in preparation for the Jacksonville Jaguars inaugural season and became Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, now EverBank Field. It is most notable for hosting the Gator...

 in Jacksonville. The Sharks roster was a mixture of rookies such as Mike Townsend, Eddie McAshan and Reggie Oliver, and veterans like Ike Lassiter

Ike Lassiter

Ike Lassiter is a former American college and professional football defensive lineman. He is an alumnus of St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he received a Bachelor's Degree in physical education...

, John Stofa

John Stofa

John Stofa son of the late John and Ann Stofa and a former American college and professional American football quarterback. He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and graduated from Bishop McCort High School. He attended the University at Buffalo where he played as a member of the Buffalo Bulls...

 and Drew Buie. The Sharks front office claimed to have sold 18,000 season tickets, and the team drew 59,112 for the home opener against the New York Stars and 46,000 against the Southern California Sun

Southern California Sun

The Southern California Sun were an American football team based out of Anaheim, California that played in the World Football League in 1974 and 1975. Their records were 13-7 in 1974 and 7-5 in 1975. Their home stadium was Anaheim Stadium...

. The club later admitted to giving away 44,000 tickets. Six weeks into the season owner Fran Monaco fired head coach Bud Asher, replacing him with Charlie Tate

Charlie Tate

Charles William "Charlie" Tate was an American college football player and coach. Tate served as the head coach of the University of Miami for six seasons during the 1960s and two games during the 1970 season....

.

Despite this embarrassment, the Sharks were second in the league in attendance. However, the team was so poorly managed that they soon ran dangerously low on cash. Monaco tried to sell the team to New York financier William Pease. However, after it emerged that Pease was under indictment regarding a Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 land deal, the WFL took over the franchise on September 22. The players, unpaid for over a month, threatened not to fly to Anaheim to play the Southern California Sun

Southern California Sun

The Southern California Sun were an American football team based out of Anaheim, California that played in the World Football League in 1974 and 1975. Their records were 13-7 in 1974 and 7-5 in 1975. Their home stadium was Anaheim Stadium...

. League Commissioner Gary Davidson paid them $65,000 in escrow and the players made the trip. A week later, after vetoing several prospective owners, the league folded the team.

1974 game results

Week	Winner	Loser	Location
1	Jacksonville Sharks 14	New York Stars 7	Jacksonville
2	Chicago Fire 25	Jacksonville Sharks 22	Chicago
3	Southern California Sun Southern California Sun The Southern California Sun were an American football team based out of Anaheim, California that played in the World Football League in 1974 and 1975. Their records were 13-7 in 1974 and 7-5 in 1975. Their home stadium was Anaheim Stadium...  22	Jacksonville Sharks 19	Jacksonville
4	New York Stars 24	Jacksonville Sharks 16	New York
5	Jacksonville Sharks 21	The Hawaiians The Hawaiians The Hawaiians were a professional American football team based out of Honolulu that played in the World Football League. They played two seasons, 1974 and 1975. Their records were 9-11 in 1974 and 4-7-1 in 1975. Their home stadium was Honolulu Stadium in 1974 and Aloha Stadium in 1975...  14	Jacksonville
6	Florida Blazers 33	Jacksonville Sharks 26	Orlando
7	Birmingham Americans Birmingham Americans The Birmingham Americans were a professional American football team located in Birmingham, Alabama. They were members of the four-team Central Division of the World Football League . The Americans, founded in late December 1973, played in the upstart league's inaugural season in 1974...  15	Jacksonville Sharks 14	Jacksonville
8	Jacksonville Sharks 14	The Hawaiians 8	Honolulu
9	Memphis Southmen Memphis Southmen The Memphis Southmen were a franchise in the World Football League which operated in 1974 and 1975. They played their home games at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, United States.-From North to South:...  16	Jacksonville Sharks 13	Jacksonville
10	Jacksonville Sharks 34	Philadelphia Bell 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 at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. The team logo was a representation of the Liberty Bell....  30	Jacksonville
11	Philadelphia Bell 41	Jacksonville Sharks 22 (OT)	Philadelphia
12	Portland Storm Portland Storm The Portland Storm were an American football team based out of Portland, Oregon, playing in the World Football League. When the World Football League was created in October 1973, the Storm was the original New York franchise. When the Boston Bulls merged with New York to become the New York...  19	Jacksonville Sharks 17	Jacksonville
13	Southern California Sun 57	Jacksonville Sharks 7	Anaheim
14	Memphis Southmen 47	Jacksonville Sharks 19	Memphis
15	vs. Florida Blazers	Jacksonville (Cancelled)
16	vs. Portland Storm	Portland (Cancelled)
17	vs. Birmingham Americans	Birmingham (Cancelled)
18	vs. Detroit Wheels Detroit Wheels The Detroit Wheels were an American football team, a charter member of the ill-fated World Football League.The Wheels were founded December 13, 1973 by ten investors, whose number eventually grew to 33, including singer Marvin Gaye, Motown Records vice-president Esther Edwards, and Little Caesars...	Jacksonville (Cancelled)
19	vs. Houston Texans	Houston (Cancelled)
20	vs. Chicago Fire	Jacksonville (Cancelled)

Jacksonville Express

The WFL returned to Jacksonville the following season with the Jacksonville Express, which had different ownership and front office personnel than the failed Sharks. The Express had a 6-5 record when the league folded during the 1975 season.