Swing Sets Atlanta

June 30, 1965, will always be remembered as both an end and a beginning of the history of professional sports in Atlanta. To this day, the Falcons were born and started their exciting history in the National Football League.

Everything that happened before was put aside for the immediate task of putting a team on the field. A stage of 18 million dollars to play in the construction (Atlanta Fulton County Stadium), but as an "expansion" teams of all details should be treated!

Rankin Smith, a senior insurance young, had control of the property Falcons.

Virtually unknown to the public, Smith was immediately endeared him to fans of the sport by posing a rhetorical question choice at a press conference following the acquisition of the franchise: "Are not all men adult Americans want to own his own football team? "Not every adult male American has the means to swing such an agreement, but it is heartening to learn that a man can dream like any other type.

In the first day there were more than 1,000 phone calls to the offices of Smith for tickets. In August, a competition was completed which resulted in the nickname Falcons. Several people suggested the name "hawks" in the contest winner, but a school teacher near Griffin, GA (Julia Elliott), was chosen because of his reasons: "The falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight. He never falls prey. It is deadly and has a great sporting tradition. "

In mid-December, Smith had signed the player most coveted college football in the nation, Texas, Tommy Nobis linebacker. On Christmas Eve, when the Falcons cut a Ticket memory 54 a day with almost no promotion, a new record for the national soccer league was created for subscriptions sold by a new team (45,000). I was one of 45,000!

Green Bay Packer assistant Norb Hacker was hired as head coach first and immediately started to search a huge list of NFL players available to the Atlanta expansion team by other teams in the league.

Three men have been chosen from each club in the NFL and these 42 formed the core of the list. Added to this group have been drafted rookies, free agents' notes and some different players obtained in trades. In all, Hecker and his colleagues were faced with the evaluation of over 130 men from July to September, during their first training camp at Black Mountain, North Carolina.

On August 27, in Columbia, South Carolina, the Falcons recorded their first victory, beating San Francisco 49ers, 24-17 in a preseason game. This was the beginning of a frustrating time and "less exciting" history of the Atlanta Falcons.

In more than 35 years the property of the Smith family, the Falcons had only "very brief" moments of success! When Rankin Smith Sr. died in October 1997, his family has retained control over the Falcons. The team had one less than stellar. Under the ownership Rankin Smith, the team won a division title in 1980 and reached the playoffs five times. The only "real success" as the Falcons made over the ownership of Smith was under the direction of head coach Dan Reeves, the Falcons franchise captured its first NFC championship following the 1998 regular season. On January 31, 1999 in Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami, Florida, Denver Broncos beat the Falcons 34-17.

On December 6, 2001 another chapter in the history of the Atlanta Falcons started! That day, Arthur M. Blank, co-founder of Atlanta-based Home Depot has entered into an agreement to buy the team. A new era begins!

With the turmoil and tragedies of recent years, the Falcons are in the midst of another "new beginning". No more Michael Vick and his legal problems. Finish Bobby Petrino and his coaching style college "which had a very bad".