History of the Pirates

The Shreveport Pirates were a professional Canadian Football League (CFL) team based in Shreveport, Louisiana. The team played from 1994 to 1995 and was the first American-based franchise in the CFL's modern era. During their two seasons, they compiled an overall record of 13–27–1 and won one division championship.

The Pirates began to play during the 1994 season as part of an expansion that saw four teams join the league: Las Vegas Posse, Birmingham Barracudas, Memphis Mad Dogs, and Shreveport Pirates. They were coached by Forrest Gregg, who had previously been the head coach for several NFL teams, including Green Bay Packers, with whom he won Super Bowl I & II titles, and coaching at SMU, where he led them to consecutive Cotton Bowl wins in 1984 & 1985. In their inaugural season, they finished 11-7, which was good enough for 1st place in East Division but lost out on a Grey Cup berth due to tiebreaker rules then used by CFL. Despite this disappointment, they returned with the same core group of players under new coach John Huard the following year. Still, they failed to replicate previous success finishing 2nd last place at a 2 -14 record, missing playoffs altogether.

Although short-lived, the legacy left behind by The Pirates is still felt today amongst sports fans throughout Louisiana who fondly remember cheering on “their” football team during its brief stint; even though it may not have ended up achieving much success on the field, ultimately leading it being disbanded after just two seasons due lack fan support despite a strong start. However, Shreveport pirates remain an essential part of history books when talking about the early days of CFL especially considering how difficult the task of establishing successful american based franchises proved to be back than making them worthy of mention anytime discussion takes place regarding past greats or forgotten heroes sport we love so dearly.