Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are a NFL team playing in the National Football Conference (NFC). The club, which is located in Seattle, Washington, plays in the NFC West. The Seahawks entered the league in 1976 the sane year that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played their premiere season.

The plan to establish the franchise was created on June 15, 1972, when a group of community leaders and businesses in Seattle formed an organization called Seattle Professional Football, Inc. The majority partners in the group were the Nordstrom family, which was represented by Lloyd W. Nordstrom. The franchise contract with the NFL was signed on December 5, 1974. Lloyd W. Nordstrom died on January 20, 1976 of a heart attack just a few months prior to the start of the Seahawks’ initial season.

The Nordstrom family owned the team until 1988 when philanthropist and real estate developer Ken Behring bought it. Behring co-owned the team with Ken Hoffman. Present owner Paul Allen purchased the Seahawks in 1997 when Behring threatened to move the club to California. Allen, who owns numerous professional sports franchises, originally formed Microsoft with Bill Gates.

The Seahawks first played in the NFL’s NFC West in 1976 and then in the American Football Conference (AFC) West Division (1977-2001). They moved back into the NFC West in 2002 and are still members of that conference and division.

The Hawks have won six Division Championships, taking the AFC West in 1988 and 1999 and the NFC West in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. They won the NFC in 2005 and played in Super Bowl XL where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-10.

From 1976-1999, the Seahawks played in The Kingdome, except for 1994 when they occupied Husky Stadium as the “Dome” was undergoing repairs. They also called Husky Stadium home from 2000-2001 and then moved into their present venue—Qwest Field. The stadium, which cost $460 million to build, holds over 68,000 football fans. It became Qwest Field in 2004 after Qwest purchased the naming rights for 15 years for a total of $75,000 million.

The Seattle Seahawks, who are also known as the Hawks, have a very muscular anthropomorphic seahawk as their mascot. This body building bird with an attitude is named Blitz.

Although four players who have worn the Seattle Seahawks uniform have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, only one, Steve Largent, was a member of the team for more than two years. Largent, a wide receiver, played his entire career with the Seahawks. Largent was with the Hawks from 1976-1989. During that time he caught 101 touchdowns and 819 receptions. Largent, who was selected to the Pro Bowl seven times, had 13,089 receiving yards. He is a member of the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team.

Mike Holmgrem, who coached the Seahawks to the NFC Championship in 2005, has been the headman of the team since 1999. Tim Ruskell has served as the club’s GM since 2005, replacing the fired Tom Whitsitt.