Shreveport Pirates The Shreveport Pirates were a Canadian Football League team , playing at Independence Stadium in Shreveport , Louisiana , USA , in 1994 and 1995 . The Pirates were known to be one of the least successful of the CFL ' s American franchises on and off the field . It was created when Bernard Glieberman and his son Lonnie , owners of the Ottawa Rough Riders , made noises about moving the struggling franchise to the United States . The CFL rejected this move , but engineered a deal in which the Rough Riders were essentially split in two . The Gliebermans received an expansion franchise in Shreveport , while a new ownership group took over the Rough Riders name , colours and history . The team was doomed from the beginning . General manager J . I . Albrecht hired John Huard as head coach , but the Gliebermans overruled him and installed Forrest Gregg as coach before the team took its first snap . It took them until week 15 to record their first victory , a 24 - 12 victory over the Sacramento Gold Miners After the historic victory , the team won two out of their last three games , but they still finished last in the CFL East Division with a 3 - 15 record . Albrecht resigned and sued Glieberman and the Pirates . There were some bright spots , however . Top performers were wide receiver Charles Thompson with 641 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns and running back Martin Patton was the team leading rusher with 659 yards and 8 touchdowns . Terrence Jones had 1 , 046 yard passing with 4 touchdowns and with 9 interceptions and Mike Johnson , of the University of Akron , passed for 1 , 259 yards and 4 touchdowns with 12 interceptions . The club averaged a respectable 17 , 871 fans per game with a high of 32 , 011 for their victory over the Ottawa Rough Riders . The problems continued off the field as the Gliebermans tried to relocate the team to Norfolk , Virginia but the deal fell through . Notable about the move to Virginia was " the Great Tucker Caper " when the City of Shreveport tried to seize Bernard Glieberman ' s 1948 Tucker ( which was on loan to a classic automobile museum in downtown Shreveport ) for defaulting on debts related to the Pirates ' lease at Independence Stadium . Glieberman ' s lawyer , Mark Gilliam , tried to escape with the car and hide the vintage auto , but he ran out of gas along the way . The police spotted him , and took the car back to the museum where it was being stored until the case could be settled . Norfolk wasn ' t interested in the team in any event due to the Gliebermans ' poor business record . The soap opera saga led to the contraction of the team . It appeared that the Birmingham Barracudas would move to Shreveport , but that proposal came to nothing when the CFL ' s American teams either moved ( Baltimore to Montreal ) or folded . Some notable players were quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver and kick returner Freeman Baysinger . Kicker Björn Nittmo was also a fan favorite , both for making some very long field goals and for being friendly to the fans , often attending meetings of their Booster Club . Jon Heidenreich played two seasons with the club , and later became popular as a wrestler ( WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship ) . Curiously , two players , Joe Montford and Elfrid Payton , would later go on to fame as winners of the CFL ' s Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award ( added to this pair is Greg Stumon , who was a former winner of the same award ) . Uzooma Okeke went on to become one of the best linemen in the history of the Montreal Alouettes and won the 1999 CFL Most Outstanding Lineman award . He became a scout with the Alouettes in 2007 . Shreveport averaged more than 26 points per game in 1995 , but gave up better than 28 en route to a 5 - 13 record . Billy Joe Tolliver completed 252 of 429 passes for 3 , 440 yards and 14 touchdowns . His favorite target was fellow Texas Tech product Wayne Walker , who caught 51 passes for 790 yards . Curtis Mayfield led the team in receptions with 58 for 846 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns . The team ' s leading rusher was former University of Miami player Martin Patton , who ran for 1 , 040 yards , third in the league . Kicker Björn Nittmo finished 46 of 53 in field goals and was sixth in the league in scoring . The Pirates booster club was formed during the team ' s first season in order to support the team , and remained active long after the team became defunct , spearheading various later attempts to get another professional football team in the Shreveport area .