WHA Teams: Birmingham Bulls

By Wikipedia

The Birmingham Bulls (previously the Toronto Toros and Ottawa Nationals) were an ice hockey team based out of Birmingham, Alabama that played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1976 to 1979.

At a glance... Franchise Facts Established 1972 Disbanded 1979 Located Ottawa Toronto Birmingham Purchase Price $1.8M (1973) Owner(s) John Bassett Steve Stavro Postseason/Titles NONE   Nicknames Ottawa Nationals (1972-73) Toronto Toros (1973-1975) Birmingham Bulls (1976-1979) Arena Ottawa Civic Centre (10,500) 1972-73 Varsity Arena (4,860) 1973-74 Maple Leaf Gardens (16,485) 1974-76 Birmingham-Jefferson County Civic Center (16,723) 1976-79

The WHA had originally announced a franchise for "Ontario", and there was some expectation that Hamilton would be the team's home, but the franchise was eventually placed in Ottawa. Doug Michel and Martin Fishman purchased the franchise for just $25,000, but managed to turn it over to the tune of $1.8M from a group of investors led by John Bassett. (Flipping original franchises was about the only way to make money in leagues founded by Gary Davidson.)

Their home ice was originally the Ottawa Civic Center, but continuing financial disagreements with the arena's operators resulted in the Nationals moving their playoff games to Toronto. For the 1973-74 WHA season, the team was moved to Toronto where it played as the Toronto Toros.

The Toronto Toros were majority owned by John Frederick Bassett, with Steve Stavro as a minority shareholder. They played from 1973 to 1976. In their first two seasons in Toronto, the Toros compiled a respectable 84-66-6 record. In their first season, played at Varsity Arena, the team met with enough success that they were able to justify moving to Maple Leaf Gardens the second season. But crowds dwindled the next year when the club won just 24 games and failed to reach the postseason and the franchise moved again.

For their first season to attract attention Bassett signed offense stars Pat Hickey and Wayne Dillon to aid the offensive attack. The two new players helped a lot giving the team a 41-33-4 record in the regular season and helped coach Billy Harris with the Howard Baldwin Trophy as coach of the year. The team also faired well in the playoffs making it to the Eastern conference final only to lose to the Cinderella team the Chicago Cougars. Most hockey critics agree that a large portion of the teams success came from stellar goaltending from Gilles Gratton and Les Binkley and a great defensive corps which included ex-Maple Leaf Carl Brewer.

The 1974-75 season presented high expectations for the squad. In the off-season the team signed NHL stars Frank Mahovlich and “The Man who scored the GOAL” from the 1972 Summit Series, Paul Henderson. With the two new snipers which the team signed and the existing players the team was shaping up to look like the team to beat for the Avco World Trophy. Unfortunately even after sporting a 43-33-2 record the team was knocked our of the first round of the post-season by the San Diego Mariners. Some say that the loses of Carl Brewer and the trade of Guy Trottier to the Michigan Stags affected the teams character and some of its scoring. Both these characteristics could have helped the team with a different out come then the one which they received.

With the early retreat to the playoffs in the 1974-75 season the 1975-76 season was an emotional low for the team. These emotions showed as they played to a 24-52-5 record. Although they sported a bad record the attendance was still good. They averaged over 8,000 fans per game, which on the down side was a 2,000 fan drop from the 1974-75 season. Mark Napier won the Lou Kaplan Trophy as rookie of the year. Even though owner John Frederick Bassett put a good product out on the ice and during the intermissions entertained the fans by presenting Evel Knievel the Toros overstayed themselves in Toronto. Bassett, who also owned the Memphis Grizzlies of the World Football League then decided to move the team to Birmingham, Alabama.

The Toros's rivalry with the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and their owner, Harold Ballard was an integral part of their history. With the start of the Toros the WHA had literally moved into Ballard's backyard. The were owned and operated by Ballard's former partner, John F. Bassett, and went head-to-head with the Leafs for Toronto fan loyalty. Despite the competition, Ballard held the one trump card that brought the Toros down: ownership of Maple Leaf Gardens.

Ballard raised the arena lease to the astronomical sum of $15,000 per game for the Toros. Bassett grudgingly accepted. He was outraged, however, when the rink was dim for his team's opening night. Ballard offered to turn all the lights on for an additional fee of $3,500 per game. Bassett howled at the demand, but gave in.

Ballard poked one further insult at his rival. He ordered the cushions on the teams' bench removed. "Let 'em buy their own cushions," he told an arena worker.

Ballard was abusive toward the WHA players. He labeled Czech defector Vaclav Nedomansky as a "traitor" for fleeing from the communist country to play for the Toros (yet later called Maple Leafs Miroslav Frycer and Peter Ihnacak, two Czechs who joined his team "brave men for having the guts to leave their native land to start life anew in Canada.")

He attempted to ban the WHA Winnipeg Jets' Bobby Hull from playing in the Gardens after Hull threatened to remove his memorabilia from the Hockey Hall of Fame. When Hull later confronted him, Ballard lied to his face.

On the night Gordie Howe scored his 1,000th career goal, while playing for the WHA's Houston Aeros, Ballard ordered that the scoreboard over center ice not flash the news. "Why, that's not an accomplishment worthy of recognition," he told the Garden media. "A blind man can score goals in that league."

The years in Birmingham were saw the team go from a goon outfit (having the top four in PIM in 1977-78) to a rookie haven over a single off-season. John Brophy managed to win the final Robert Schmertz Trophy as coach of the year despite his team falling from a 36-41-3 record the previous year to 32-42-6. The team survived to the bitter end of the WHA, but was not one of the four teams merged into the NHL and the owners accepted a buyout instead.

WHA Bibliography
The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association by Ed Willes
The Complete Historical and Statistical Reference to the World Hockey Association by Scott Adam Surgent
WHA Pro Hockey '75 - '76 by Dan Proudfoot
WHA Media Guides (each team published one each year)

These and many other WHA items can be found at eBay - check our links on the far right of this page!