First, in the 1970s, there were the Jacksonville Sharks of the World Football League.

In Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Sharks admitted that anywhere from 14, 000 to 44, 000 people had attended their first two games for free or at significantly reduced prices.

In October, the league pulled the plug on the Wheels and the Sharks after 14 games ; the folding of the Jacksonville franchise meant that the Gator Bowl would not host World Bowl I.

The Jacksonville Sharks and Detroit Wheels were liquidated owing nearly $ 4 million, and Detroit had 122 creditors looking to recoup losses.

The deceased Sharks of Jacksonville came back as the ' Express.

In 2010, Jacksonville received an Arena Football League expansion franchise, which revived the Sharks name.

Notable local announcers include John Sterling ( New York Stars / Charlotte Hornets television ), Spencer Ross ( New York Stars radio ), Bob Sheppard ( New York Stars PA ), Mike Patrick ( Jacksonville Sharks ), Larry King ( Shreveport Steamer ), Larry Matson ( Birmingham Americans / Birmingham Vulcans ), Fred Sington ( Birmingham Americans / Birmingham Vulcans ) and Eddie Doucette and Vince Lloyd ( Chicago Fire radio and TV respectively ).

* Jacksonville Sharks 1974 / Jacksonville Express 1975

They lost the game to the Jacksonville Sharks when Jacksonville quarterback Aaron Garcia threw a game-winning touchdown pass on the game's final play.

Arizona advanced to ArenaBowl XXIV, but lost to the Jacksonville Sharks in the championship.

In 2011, the Predators finished the regular season 11 – 7, but fell to the Jacksonville Sharks in the conference semifinals by a score of 63 – 48.

Aided by a Southern Division where nobody has pulled away, a three game winning streak, including an emotional victory over the Jacksonville Sharks has put the VooDoo in first place heading into the final month of the regular season.

Among the victims were the Jacksonville Sharks, Southern California Sun, Portland Storm, and Houston Texans.

The Jacksonville Sharks were a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida.

# REDIRECT Jacksonville Sharks ( WFL )

( The team did however play one " controlled scrimmage " against the Jacksonville Sharks on Saturday, June 29, 1974.

The Americans travelled to Florida to face the Jacksonville Sharks, 27, 140 Jacksonville fans, and the Sharks ' new coach, Charlie Tate.

The name has been adopted by sports franchises, including the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars and the Mexican football club Jaguares de Chiapas.

Ponzi was released on bail as he appealed the state conviction, and fled to the Springfield neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida and launched the Charpon Land Syndicate (" Charpon " is an amalgam of his name ), offering investors in September 1925 tiny tracts of land, some under water, and promising 200 % returns in 60 days.

Iowa, Milwaukee, Tennessee Valley ( which changed its name to Alabama to reflect the state, rather than the region ), Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Bossier-Shreveport, and Spokane all seamlessly moved to the new AFL to join " old " AFL teams Arizona, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Cleveland, along with expansion teams in Dallas and Jacksonville, and the AIFA team in Utah which had originally been in the old AFL.

One early map shows a village called Ossachite at the site of what is now downtown Jacksonville ; this may be the earliest recorded name for that area.

The WFL also arguably had an impact on locations of other professional football teams: from the NFL, Hawaii hosted the Pro Bowl from 1980 through 2009, Jacksonville got the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995, Charlotte received the Carolina Panthers in the same year, and Houston's expansion franchise, the Texans, revived the name of the WFL team in 2002.

Originally known as the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, its name was changed to the Bacharach Giants in honor of the city's mayor, Harry Bacharach.

On January 23, 1896, the General Assembly passed an Act officially changing the name of the Town of Jacksonville to the town of Floyd.

Not many years later, the town of Tompkinsville was sold to a firm in Jacksonville and the name was changed to Inverness.

The name was changed to Baldwin in honor of Dr. Abel Seymour Baldwin, the president of the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad, a railroad that ran from Lake City to Jacksonville.

On June 15, 1925, the name was changed to Jacksonville Beach.

The name Lake Alfred was adopted in 1913, and was taken from the nearest large lake, named for Alfred Parslow, who came to Florida in 1877 and obtained a charter to build the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad.

When the townsite was laid out in 1850, the name Jacksonville was chosen in honor of these two men.

The name of the post office was changed from Gum Creek to Jacksonville in June 1850.

Pickerington was known as Jacksonville until 1827 when the citizens petitioned the state legislature to change the name to Pickerington in honor of its founder, Abraham Pickering.

In addition, UCF graduates have held leadership positions in the United States Congress, United States Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, Orlando Magic, NOAA, and Bright House Networks to name just a few.

The university was founded as Jacksonville State Normal School, and in 1930 the name changed to Jacksonville State Teachers College, and again in 1957 to Jacksonville State College.

It is generally called the " Florida – Georgia game " in Florida, or " Georgia – Florida game " in Georgia ; some entities, including the Jacksonville newspaper, The Florida Times-Union, rotate the name each year to list the designated home team first.

In 1944, the brothers adopted Winn-Lovett as the company name and moved the company headquarters to Jacksonville.

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The nickname " Bulls " was taken from team owner Fred " Bubba " Bullard, a Jacksonville businessman, although there was a ' name the team ' promotion with a write-in campaign for publicity purposes.

On January 23, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coach and former linebackers coach for the 2000 Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens Mike Smith was named the Falcons ' new head coach.

On October 26, 1993, the league announced that the owners had unanimously voted for the Carolinas to receive the 29th franchise, the first new NFL team since 1976 ( Jacksonville was named the 30th team a month later ).

When Aaron traveled around Jacksonville, Florida and the surrounding areas, he was often separated from his team because of Jim Crow laws.

The city hosted the American Football League All Star Game in 1967 and 1968, but after the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, Jacksonville was shut out.

When new professional leagues started up to challenge the NFL's post-merger monopoly on professional football, Jacksonville was ready to join.

announced its bid for a team, and Jacksonville was ultimately chosen as one of five finalists, along with Charlotte, St. Louis, Baltimore and Memphis.

Jacksonville was considered the least likely expansion candidates, for several reasons.

Jacksonville looked like a team on the rise coming off of their 12 – 4 season, and was considered a playoff contender entering the season.

Heading into December, Jacksonville was at the top of the AFC South and in playoff contention.

From 1995 – 1997 and again from 2006 – 2009, the stadium was named Jacksonville Municipal Stadium.

Another well known backward pass in the NFL was the River City Relay in a game between the New Orleans Saints and the Jacksonville Jaguars on December 21, 2003.

The second was on September 26, 2010, in a 28 – 3 win at the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Twelve cities were part of the bidding process, which was scheduled to award two Super Bowls ( XXIII and XXIV ) The bidding cities included: Anaheim, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Tempe.

On the other side of the world in 1983, Howard Jacobs created several wakeboards by mounting windsurfing foot straps and partial hydroslide pads on some smaller surfboards that he had shaped ; by 1984, he was throwing backflips on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida.

Quarterback Mark Brunell — an off-season acquisition from the Jacksonville Jaguars — struggled in his first season, and was replaced midway through the season by backup Patrick Ramsey.

Ezekiel Stone Wiggins, known as the Ottawa Prophet, proposed that the cause of a Yellow fever epidemic in Jacksonville, Florida in 1888 was astronomic.

He was stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, serving as safety officer and quality control officer for Heavy Photographic Squadron 62 ( VAP-62 ) flying the A3D-2P ( later RA-3B ) Skywarrior.

The money was used to buy a large number of stores and move the company from its base operations in Youngstown, Ohio, to Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1993, the Memphis Hound Dogs was a proposed NFL expansion that was passed over in favor of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers.

In 2010, Jacksonville was listed as a " High sufficiency " world city in the World Cities Study Group ’ s inventory.

During the American Civil War, Jacksonville was a key supply point for hogs and cattle being shipped from Florida to aid the Confederate cause.

From 1893 to 1938 Jacksonville was the site of the Florida Old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Home with a nearby cemetery.

On May 3, 1901, downtown Jacksonville was ravaged by a fire that started at a fiber factory.