The Hawaiians were a professional American football team based out of Honolulu, Hawaii 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. The best known player to play for the Hawaiians was former Dallas Cowboys running back Calvin Hill, though quarterback Jim Fassel became better known as a head coach decades later.
The franchise was originally going to be called the Honolulu Warriors, but a local team had trademarked that name. As a result, the team was known simply as "The Hawaiians," although the press frequently mistakenly called them the "Honolulu Hawaiians" or the "Hawaii Hawaiians."
In order to keep the NFL out of Hawaii, the WFL had the Hawaiians play their games on Sundays, while the rest of the league played on Wednesday night. This resulted in confusion since one team played a different schedule than the rest of the league, and teams had to fly back to the mainland Sunday night to play again on Wednesday night. The franchise also made the mistake of allowing a same day tape delay of their home games, meaning many Hawaiians enjoyed their Sundays away from the stadium, and enjoyed a game on TV later on. Eventually, they also switched to playing on Wednesday nights.
It was the first and to date only major professional American football team to establish its home base outside the contiguous 48 states. (This excludes the Pro Bowl teams, which called Hawaii home from 1980 to 2009.)
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| World Football League |
| Birmingham Americans (1974) | Birmingham Vulcans (1975) | Charlotte Stars (1974) | Charlotte Hornets (1974-75) | Chicago Fire (1974) | Chicago Winds (1975) | Detroit Wheels (1974) | Florida Blazers (1974) | The Hawaiians (1974-75) | Houston Texans (1974) | Jacksonville Sharks (1974) | Jacksonville Express (1975) | Memphis Southmen (1974-75) | New York Stars (1974) | Philadelphia Bell (1974-75) | Portland Storm (1974) | Portland Thunder (1975) | San Antonio Wings (1975) | Shreveport Steamer (1974-75) | Southern California Sun (1974-75) |
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