1971 IDA Season
The Independent Driveball Alliance made its debut roughly one month after the start of the UDA season. ABC carried most of the marquee IDA matchups in prime time, at a time when the UDA played the majority of its contests on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
In an attempt to give the IDA a little bit of legitimacy, ABC assigned the upstart league to be part of the network's long running sports anthology series:
EASTERN DIVISION
Birmingham Magicians 10-4
Memphis Hound Dogs 8-6
New York Emperors 6-8
Tampa Bay Tortugas 4-10
WESTERN DIVISION
Phoenix Gila Monsters 10-4
Anaheim 55ers 7-7
Portland Chinooks 6-8
San Antonio Armadillos 5-9
1971 IDA Grand Final
Anaheim Stadium
Anaheim, California
August 15, 1971
TV: ABC
Announcers: Howard Cosell, Bernie Berman and Art Tempest
The story of the IDA season had been the attempt by two of its franchises to land Driveball's biggest star at that time period. The Anaheim 55ers and New York Emperors both wanted the services of Australian born attacker Tony Malcolm. The problem was that Malcolm, 27, still had three years left of an extension he barely signed last season with the Cleveland Mad Hatters. Fearing the loss of their current marquee star, the Mad Hatters took the IDA to court, filing suit in Columbus with the Supreme Court of Ohio. A judge ruled in the Mad Hatters favor, leaving the Fivers and Emps to leave Ohio empty handed.
On the field, the fight to keep Malcolm under contract was a clear distraction for his Mad Hatter teammates. After starting 1971 at 4-0, the Hatters would drop seven straight and win only three more games. The Hatters slipped to second place while their cross state rival Cincinnati Gladiators grabbed the National Central crown. For the Emps and 55ers, the broken promises of trying to lure Malcolm to their side took the wind out of both team's sails.
The Phoenix Gila Monsters fought through adversity all season. The club was expected by many to finish dead last in their division. Others predicted the Gilas would run out of money before season's end. The hot weather forced the Gilas to play their home games exclusively in prime time. The only facility available to them was Sun Devil Stadium on the Arizona State Campus. Still, the Gilas used the heat to their advantage in a season that would see them win the West and qualify for the Grand Final.
The Birmingham Magicians thought they had stable ownership under the control of Birmingham native Marvin L. Warner. Born in Alabama, Warner had actually made much of his fortune in Ohio. He, along with George Steinbrenner, the Gund Brothers, Nick Mileti and Vernon Stouffer, was among many Ohio businessmen that attempted to purchase the Mad Hatters from the Scarfiotti family. When that didn't come to pass, he was briefly involved with the Cincinnati Gladiators until selling his minority stake to Taft Broadcasting last year.
The Magicians and Gila Monsters met in Anaheim for the first IDA Grand Final. It would turn out to be a sloppy, defensive struggle that was not decided until after the siren. When the horns blared, Phoenix forward Declan O'Shaugnessy, former Gaelic footballer of GAA side Limerick, kicked the over that won the premiership for the Gilas.
Final Score:
Phoenix Gila Monsters 18
Birmingham Magicians 15
MVP:
Declan O'Shaugnessy
(Forward; Gila Monsters)