Chicago Owls
The Chicago Owls were a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They were members of the Professional Football League of America in 1967 and, after the leagues merged, the Continental Football League during the league's last two years. The club was owned by Marty O'Connor and initially coached by Don Branby.
1967 season
The Owls inaugural season in PFLA was not a successful one: they finished last in the league's Eastern Division with a 3–9 mark. Nor did they play in Chicago; the Owls' home games were in suburban Niles, Illinois, at Notre Dame College Prep School, where they played in front of a few thousand fans per contest. Bob Webb, who grew up in nearby Gary, Indiana, was the Owls' main quarterback; he would remain with the team in 1968.1968 season
After spending three seasons with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, former Arlington High School and Northern Illinois University Huskies star George Bork returned to Chicago as the Owls' starting quarterback in 1968. The club raised some eyebrows when they announced they would move into Soldier Field, which had been unused by pro football since the Cardinals moved out in 1959. Offensive lineman Bob Kuechenberg, younger brother of Bears linebacker Rudy Kuechenberg, began his professional career with the Owls; the younger Kuechenberg would go on to a 14-year career with the Miami Dolphins.After dropping four of their first five games, the Owls fired Branby and replaced him with Webb, who was still the Owls' backup quarterback. Webb led Chicago to a 5–2 record the rest of the year, enough to even up the Owls' record at 6–6, third place in the Central Division. Playing primarily on Saturdays, the club drew only 35,835 fans to cavernous Soldier Field all season, or less than 6,000 a game.