Pottstown Firebirds revisited

Post Reply
lastcat3
Posts: 503
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2015 11:47 pm

Pottstown Firebirds revisited

Post by lastcat3 »

A few years ago I started a thread about a documentary I found on youtube about a semi pro football team called the Pottstown Firebirds where NFL Films covered their season from either the late '60's or early '70's. I tried looking for that old thread but couldn't find it anylonger. But in anycase I just came across another documentary NFL Films did where they went back and revisited that old team and caught up with some of the old players and they said it was thirty years after the season they covered.

THe revisited documentary here was either made in the late '90's or early '00's. If you want to I'm sure you can find the original documentary on youtube simply by searching for Pottstown Firebirds.

Anyway here is the revisited video that was made about thirty years after the fact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUEMGHbugRE&t=1206s
User avatar
Rupert Patrick
Posts: 1746
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:53 pm
Location: Upstate SC

Re: Pottstown Firebirds revisited

Post by Rupert Patrick »

The new documentary was part of the Lost Treasures of NFL Films series from circa 2000. Those were really good. I wish Steve Sabol had continued with the Lost Treasures series as there were a lot of interesting stories hidden in all of those cans of film that he never quite got to, and he more than anybody knew what was in all of those cans.

The original Pottstown Firebirds show is one of my favorite NFL Films programs ever, because it is so unlike anything they've ever done, following a year in the life of a major semi-pro team. King Corcoran was undeniably one of the great characters in pro football history; he would have been the second coming of Joe Namath if only he had the arm. He had the swagger down pat. He must have stuck out like a sore thumb in a run down two-bit factory town like Pottstown, driving around in his sports car with a phone in it in 1970 like he's Joe Mannix or something, wearing snazzy leisure suits and if I remember correctly, his salary was 80K a year, more than half the Firebird's total salary. The locals must have considered him a figure of Biblical proportions; they probably told King Corcoran anecdotes years after he left town.

After Pottstown, Corcoran (who failed in a brief stint with the Patriots in 1968) caught on with the WFL and with the Philadelphia Bell in 1974 led the WFL in passing touchdowns with 31. His 644 passing attempts, 325 completions, 34 TD passes and 36 interceptions will forever be the most in World Football League history. His football career ended after the WFL, and after that it should come as no surprise that he later wound up in Vegas with his own show for a while. He died about ten years ago. I would love to see somebody make a movie about the life of King Corcoran.
"Every time you lose, you die a little bit. You die inside. Not all your organs, maybe just your liver." - George Allen
Post Reply