Seattle Seahawks
 | For current information on this topic, see 2008 Seattle Seahawks season. |
| Seattle Seahawks | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Established 1976 Play in Seattle, Washington | |||
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| League/conference affiliations | |||
National Football League (1976–present)
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Current uniform | |||
| Team colors | Seahawks Blue, Dark Navy, Bright Green, White | ||
| Mascot | Blitz, and Taima the hawk | ||
| Personnel | |||
| Owner(s) | Paul Allen | ||
| General manager | Tim Ruskell | ||
| Head coach | Mike Holmgren | ||
| Team history | |||
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| Team nicknames | |||
| The Hawks | |||
| Championships | |||
| League championships (0) | |||
Conference championships (1)
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| Division championships (6) | |||
| Home fields | |||
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The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington, USA. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team, along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, joined the NFL in 1976 as expansion teams. Seattle is the only team to have played in both the AFC (American Football Conference) and NFC Championship Games. The Seahawks have one Super Bowl appearance, Super Bowl XL.
Franchise history
On June 15, 1972, Seattle Professional Football Inc., a group of Seattle business and community leaders, announced its intention to acquire an NFL franchise for the city of Seattle, WA.[1] Almost two years later on June 4, 1974, the NFL awarded the group an expansion franchise. On December 5, 1974, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle announced the official signing of the franchise agreement by Lloyd W. Nordstrom, representing the Nordstrom family as majority partners for the consortium. Nordstrom died of a heart attack on January 20, 1976, just months before the Seahawks played their first game.[2]
On March 5, 1975, John Thompson, a former University of Washington executive, was hired as the general manager of the yet-unnamed team. The name Seattle Seahawks (a seahawk is another word for an Osprey) was selected on June 17, 1975 after a public naming contest which drew more than 20,000 entries and over 1,700 different names. Thompson recruited and hired Jack Patera, a Minnesota Vikings assistant coach, to be the first head coach of the new team. Patera was introduced as the new head coach at a press conference on January 3, 1976. The expansion draft was held March 30-31, 1976, with Seattle and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers alternating picks for rounds selecting unprotected players from the other 26 teams in the league.[3] The Seahawks were awarded the 2nd overall pick in the 1976 draft, a pick they used on defensive tackle Steve Niehaus. The team took the field for the first time on August 1 1976 in a pre-season game against the San Francisco 49ers in the then newly constructed Kingdome.
The Seahawks are the only NFL team to switch conferences twice in the post-merger era. The franchise began play in 1976 in the NFC West division but switched conferences with the Buccaneers after one season and joined the AFC West. This realignment was dictated by the league as part of the 1976 expansion plan, so that both expansion teams could play each other twice and every other NFL franchise once during their first two seasons. In 2002, the Seahawks were returned to the NFC West as part of an NFL realignment plan that gave each conference four balanced divisions of four teams each. This was done after the Houston Texans were added as the thirty-second team. This realignment restored the AFC West to its initial post-merger roster of original AFL teams Denver, San Diego, Kansas City and Oakland.
Seattle has won six division titles in their franchise history: the 1988 and 1999 AFC West titles, and the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 NFC West titles. They have won the NFC Championship Game once in 2005, and lost the AFC Championship Game once in 1983. Before 2005, Seattle had the longest drought of playoff victories of any NFL team, dating back to the 1984 season. That drought was ended with a 20-10 win over the Washington Redskins in the 2005 playoffs. The all-time Seahawks playoff record is (7-10).
As a tribute to the raucous fans that made the Kingdome one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL the Seahawks retired the number 12 on December 15 1984. Since then #12 Jerseys have been sold by the team and worn by Seahawk fans, often with the name "Fan" on the back. The Seahawks also have a ceremony before each home game where a flag bearing the #12 is raised by a prominent individual. In the 2005 season the fans were again making a difference in games and were recognized with the presentation of a special game ball for their efforts in a game against the New York Giants, a game in which the Giants committed 11 false start penalties in large part because of the crowd noise.[4]
The team's use of the phrase "12th Man" was in a legal limbo for a while between the 2005 and 2006 season when Texas A&M University sued the team for trademark infringement. Before going to trial, both parties settled out of court with Seattle agreeing to acknowledge ownership rights to the 12th Man slogan to A&M. In return the Seahawks were allowed to continue to use the phrase.[5]
Starting in the 1998 season, Blitz has been the Seahawks' official mascot. In the 2003 and 2004 seasons, a hawk named Faith would fly around the stadium just before the team came out of the tunnel. However, because of her relative small size and an inability to be trained to lead the team out of a tunnel, Faith was replaced by an augur hawk named Taima before the start of the 2005 season. Taima started leading the team out of the tunnel in September 2006.[6]
A week before the Seahawks played the Giants in October 2008 an idiot fan posted jokes about the terrorist atacks that took place in New York City on September 11, 2001. The Giants went on to blow out the Seawawks 44-6 gaining over 500 yards for the first time since 1972.
Headquarters and training camps
During the Seahawks' first ten seasons (1976-85), the team was headquartered at Carillon Point on the shore of Lake Washington in Kirkland. The summer training camps were held at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, just southwest of Spokane. When the team's new headquarters across town in Kirkland were completed in 1986, the Seahawks held camp at home for the next eleven seasons (1986-96), staying in the dormitories of the adjacent Northwest College. In Dennis Erickson's third season as head coach, the team returned to the hotter and more isolated Cheney in 1997, where they held training camp through 2006. In 2007, training camp returned to their Kirkland facility, because of the scheduled China Bowl game that was later canceled. In 2008, the Seahawks held the first three weeks of camp in Kirkland, then moved to the new 19-acre Virginia Mason Athletic Center on August 18th for the final week of training camp. The new facility, adjacent to Lake Washington in Renton, has four full-size practice fields: three natural grass outdoors and a one FieldTurf indoors. [7][8]
Logo and uniforms
When the Seahawks debuted in 1976, the team's logo was a stylized royal blue and forest green hawk's head based on Northwestern tribal art. The helmet and pants were silver while the home uniforms were royal blue with white, blue and green arm stripes. The road uniform was white with blue and green arm stripes. Black shoes were worn for the first several seasons, one of the few NFL teams that did in the late 1970s.
In 1983, coinciding with the arrival of Chuck Knox as head coach, the uniforms were updated slightly. The striping on the arms now incorporated the Seahawks logo, and the TV numbers moved onto the shoulders. Helmet facemasks changed from silver to blue.
In 2002, to coincide with the team moving to the NFC as well as the opening of Seahawks Stadium, both the logo and the uniforms were heavily redesigned. The Wordmark was designed by Mark Verlander and the logo was designed by NFL Properties in house design team. The colors were modified to a lighter "Seahawks Blue", a darker "Seahawks Navy" and neon green piping. The helmets also were changed from silver to the lighter "Seahawks Blue" color after a fan poll was conducted. The logo artwork was also subtly altered, with an arched eyebrow and a forward-facing pupil suggesting a more aggressive-looking bird. At first, the team had planned to wear silver helmets at home and blue helmets on the road, but since NFL rules forbid the use of multiple helmets, the team held the fan poll to decide which color helmet would be worn. Because of the reflectivity of the paint used, the appearance of the helmets' color can vary widely between gray, navy, and turquoise, depending on the lighting. The team has usually worn all blue at home and all white on the road since 2003. The blue jersey and white pants combo has been worn for only one regular season game, the 2005 season opener at the Jacksonville Jaguars, while the white jersey and blue pants combination has not been worn regularly since late in the 2002 season and made its final appearance to date in a December 7, 2003 game against the Minnesota Vikings. The Seahawks also wore their home blues during Super Bowl XL despite being designated as the visitor, since the Pittsburgh Steelers insisted on wearing their road uniforms because of their recent road success.
The Seahawks are the only NFL team to have never worn their white jerseys at home.
Seasons
As of 2007, the Seattle Seahawks have competed in 32 NFL seasons, dating back to their expansion year of 1976. The team has compiled a 241-249 record (246-258 counting the playoffs) for a .492 winning percentage (.488 counting the playoffs). Seattle has reached the playoffs in nine separate seasons, including losing Super Bowl XL in 2006 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Currently the Seahawks have reached the playoffs in five straight seasons (2003-2007), second longest current streak in the NFL, after securing a fourth straight NFC West Division Championship.
Team records
Players of note
Current roster
Pro Football Hall of Famers
| Player | Year inducted |
|---|---|
| Franco Harris | 1990 |
| Steve Largent | 1995 |
| Carl Eller | 2004 |
| Warren Moon | 2006 |
Note: Although Mike McCormack served as head coach, president, and general manager for the Seahawks, he is only listed in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his contributions as a tackle for the New York Yanks and the Cleveland Browns.
Coaches of note
Head coaches
| Head Coach | Years served | Regular Season Record | % | Playoff Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Patera | 1976-1982 | 35-59 | .372 | 0-0 |
| Mike McCormack | 1982 | 4-3 | .571 | 0-0 |
| Chuck Knox | 1983-1991 | 80-63 | .559 | 3-4 |
| Tom Flores | 1992-1994 | 14-34 | .292 | 0-0 |
| Dennis Erickson | 1995-1998 | 31-33 | .484 | 0-0 |
| Mike Holmgren | 1999-2008 | 82-62 | .569 | 4-6 |
| Jim L. Mora | 2009- | 0-0 | .000 | 0-0 |
Current staff
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Sea Gals (Cheerleaders)
The Seahawks cheerleaders are called the Sea Gals.[9] During the off-season, a select performing group from the Sea Gals travel parades and with other NFL Cheerleaders on the road.
Team owners
- The Nordstrom family: 1976-1988
- Ken Behring & Ken Hofmann: 1988-1996
- Paul Allen: 1997-present
Radio and television
As of 2006, the Seahawks' flagship station is KIRO 710AM. It is the only AM radio station the team has ever had although it has been simulcasted on different FM radio station affiliated with KIRO. Beginning in 2008 all Seahawks games will be simulcasted on the FM station, B97.3. The current announcers are former Seahawks Steve Raible (who was the team's color commetator from 1982-2003) and Warren Moon. The Raible-Moon regular season pairing has been together since 2004 (during the preseason Moon works for the local television broadcast so the color commentary is split between former Seahawks Paul Moyer and Sam Atkins). Pete Gross, who called the games from 1976 until just days before his death from cancer in 1992, is a member of the team's Ring of Honor. Games are heard on 47 stations in five states and Canada.
Past announcers include; Steve Thomas (Radio: 1992-1997), Lee Hamilton also known as "Hacksaw" (Radio: 1998-1999), and Brian Davis (Radio: 2000-2003). Preseason games not shown on national networks are televised by KING-TV, channel 5 (and, in 2008, also on KONG-TV since KING, an NBC affiliate, is committed to the Summer Olympics in China). Verne Lundquist was the play-by-play announcer and Warren Moon provided commentary in both 2006 and 2007; the games were produced by FSN Northwest.
See also
Notes and references
- ^ Look Back
- ^ Look Back
- ^ 1976 NFL Expansion Draft - Pro Football Hall of Fame
- ^ "Seattle Times Story".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessdaymonth=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ José Miguel Romero (2006-05-09). "Hawks' 12th Man lives". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Danny O'Neil (2006-09-01). "First hawk out of the tunnel". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ http://www.seahawks.com/vmacwebcam.aspx
- ^ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/seahawks/2008123067_hawk19x.html
- ^ "Sea Gal Official Page".
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External links
- Seattle Seahawks official web site
- Pro Football Hall of Fame - Seattle Seahawks history page
- Pro Football Hall of Fame - 1976 NFL expansion history page
- Seahawks History - Sports Encyclopedia
- Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History - Origins of Seattle Seahawks franchise
- Greenglare - NFL Seahawks memorabilia archives site