Speros is an alumnus of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, where he was a member of the football team from 1977 to 1981. Speros played linebacker and defensive line while at Clemson University and later served as a graduate assistant on their coaching staff. Speros was a member of the 1978 Gator Bowl winning team, and the 1981 National Championship team during his time at Clemson.[1] After winning the National Championship with the Tigers, Speros took an assistant coaching position with the Washington Commanders (then the Washington Redskins) in 1982 under legendary Head Coach Joe Gibbs. When Speros accepted the job to serve on Joe Gibbs' staff, it made him the youngest full-time assistant coach in NFL history. In Speros' first year as an assistant coach with the Redskins in 1982, they defeated the Miami Dolphins 27–17 in Super Bowl XVII. In Speros' second year with Washington, the 1983 Redskins won the NFC Championship before falling to the Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII. In 1984 Speros accepted a coaching position with the Buffalo Bills, where he served from 1984 to 1985.
Baltimore CFL Colts/Stallions ownership
In 1993, the Canadian Football League finalized their six-team expansion into the United States, with Speros being named the Owner and Team President of the Baltimore CFL Colts (later known as the Baltimore Stallions), the most successful team from the Canadian football league expansion south to the United States. The Stallions' success was due in large part to Speros' involvement. He managed to build a successful franchise in Baltimore with crowds that consistently topped 30,000 at the renovated four-decade old Memorial Stadium on 33rd Street in northeast Baltimore over its two-year existence. During his time with the Stallions, Speros also served as Vice Chairman of the Canadian Football League under commissioner Larry Smith.[2]
The Stallions were a runaway success on the field as well. He knew that Canadian football was very different from the American game, and stocked the Stallions with CFL veterans. This approach paid off very well, as the Stallions advanced all the way to the Grey Cup final in both seasons, winning it in 1995–Baltimore's first major-sports title since the Orioles won the 1983 World Series. The 1995 Baltimore Stallions were the first American franchise in the CFL to win the Grey Cup, and as of 2024 are still the only American based team to win the CFL championship in the leagues 100+ year history.
However, Speros' ambitious ownership of the Stallions would not last long. During the 1995 Grey Cup playoffs, the Cleveland Browns under long-time owner Art Modell, announced plans to move to Baltimore. The resulting dispute ultimately resulted in the Browns' franchise being suspended for four years, while the Browns' players and personnel moved to Baltimore and were renamed as the Baltimore Ravens. Although the Stallions had been a hit, Speros knew that they could not even begin to compete with an NFL team. Rather than face being effectively reduced to "minor league" status (as he put it years later),[3] Speros moved the team to Montreal to become the current incarnation of the Alouettes.[4] However, the CFL refused to let Speros' team keep their legacy as the Stallions, though it allowed him to reclaim the history and records of the previous two incarnations of the Alouettes. According to official CFL records, Speros is reckoned as having canceled his franchise in Baltimore and "reactivated" the dormant 1946-86 Alouettes franchise. After moving to Montreal, Speros' Alouettes franchise continued their success, making it to the CFL Eastern Conference Finals for the third consecutive year. Although the team continued their winning ways, compiling a 12–6 record by the end of the 1996 Season, Speros decided to sell the Montreal franchise to Robert C. Wetenhall in early 1997 to pursue other business and sports ownership opportunities in the United States, and handed over the title of Team President to Larry Smith.
United Football League involvement
In May 2010, Speros rejected an overture to buy the United Football League'sFlorida Tuskers.[5] In June 2010 he was named as the owner of the Virginia Destroyers, an expansion team set to begin play in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2011. Speros named former Washington Commanders quarterback Doug Williams as the team's general manager. In late August 2010, Speros backed out of negotiations due to multiple flaws in the contracts presented to him as well as the league structure.[6] Speros specifically cited the inability for him to acquire an entire franchise instead of investing in a single-entity league. However, Speros said he remained open to purchasing the team if terms changed, and that he continued to support the league's efforts in the region.[6][7] In January 2011, the league contracted the Tuskers and moved all of its staff to Virginia to form the Destroyers' core; in August 2012, the league contracted the Hartford Colonials and assigned that team's owner, Bill Mayer, as the Destroyers' owner after failing to find an owner to replace Speros.
Restaurants
Speros, who grew up in the restaurant business, is the founder and owner of several upscale sports restaurants in the Northern Virginia area. His initial concept, Velocity Five, had locations in Falls Church, Centreville, Sterling, Landsdowne, and in Arlington.
After being nationally nominated in the foodservice industry and winning multiple awards regionally in the Washington D.C. area for Chicken Wings, Speros decided to invest in a concept with the Velocity Five franchise that was more focused on buffalo style chicken wings, changing the name from Velocity Five to Velocity Wings in 2013, while expanding to opening eight locations under the Velocity Wings brand.[8] As of 2024, these restaurants are located in South Riding, Purcellville, Sterling, Lovettsville, Haymarket, Bristow, Manassas, and Fairfax.[9]
After the initial success of Velocity Wings in the Washington, D.C. area, Speros continued to pursue new restaurant ventures in Northern Virginia, opening two new restaurant concepts since the inception of Velocity Wings in 2013. Social House Kitchen and Tap, a beer-centric restaurant with an eclectic food menu, was founded in 2017, and Locals Tacos and Tequila, a taqueria which focuses on craft tequila and margaritas opened its first location in 2020.[10]
In October 2022, after growing 13 restaurants under 3 different brands, Speros' Velocity Restaurant and Hospitality Group formed a partnership with multi-national food corporation, Thompson Hospitality, based in Reston.[11] Currently the three brands are continuing their expansion and growth in the greater Washington, D.C. area.
Other
Speros served as chairman, President and CEO of Chalk, Inc., a publicly traded company, from 2005 through 2008. He served on the Board of Directors from 2000 through 2008. Chalk, an industry leader in mobile learning management systems was sold to Research in Motion (RIM)/Blackberry in January 2009. He also served for twelve years (1998–2010) as member of the Board of Directors of Braintech, Inc., a publicly traded vision guided robotics company.[12]
Prior to his affiliation with Chalk, Speros was president and chief executive officer of Sideware Systems, Inc., a customer relationship management software company which traded publicly in the United States and Canada. Under Speros’ leadership, the company had twelve offices across North America and reached a market capitalization of $1.8 billion. Their customer list included several Fortune 500 companies.[13]
Speros is a founding partner, owner and served as Vice Chairman of National Capital Golf Ventures, LLC, a privately held golf and real estate development company with properties in the Mid Atlantic.
In addition to his other ventures, he served as President of Champions Sports, Inc., a publicly traded restaurant corporation, from 1989 to 1993. Champion's Sports had 37 restaurant locations nationwide before being sold to the Marriott Corporation in 1993.[14]
Speros’ sports background also includes serving as a Partner and Chairman of the Ownership Committee for American Baseball Capital, a group vying to purchase a Major League Baseball team in the Northern Virginia region. Specifically, Arlington, Virginia. The group was a finalist and was recognized for their long dedication to bringing the "great American pastime" back to the Washington Capital region. In 2005 Major League Baseball awarded the Washington Nationals to Washington, D.C.[15]
In August 2012, Speros was named to the board of directors for the Washington, D.C.–based Military Bowl.[16]
Personal life
He and his wife, Ellen, have three children and two grandchildren. Their son, Jimmy Speros, played football for the University of Richmond, winning two CAA Football Championships before winning two Golden Gloves boxing championships in 2016 and 2018, and is currently coaching football at his former high school, Flint Hill School, in Oakton. Their daughter, Alexa, graduated from Ohio University and served in management for the Velocity Restaurant and Hospitality Group in the development and opening of the Tacos and Tequila brand. Their youngest, Justin Speros, graduated from his father's alma mater Clemson University. Justin served as an assistant coach for the Tigers football team, winning two College Football National Championships.[17] After his time as an assistant coach at Clemson University, Justin went on to serve on coaching staffs for the University of South Florida, Western Carolina University, and the Cleveland Browns. Justin is now the Director of Recruiting, as well as the Professional Football Liaison at the University of Virginia.[18]
The Montreal Alouettes are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and last won the Grey Cup in 2023, defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 110th Grey Cup Game in 2023. Their home field is Percival Molson Memorial Stadium for the regular season and as of 2014 also home of their playoff games.
The Baltimore Stallions were a Canadian Football League team based in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, which played the 1994 and 1995 seasons. They were the most successful American team in the CFL's southern expansion into the United States, and by at least one account, the most winning expansion team in North American professional sports history at the time. They had winning records in each season, and in both years advanced to the championship game. In 1995, they became the only American franchise to win the Grey Cup.
The Birmingham Barracudas were a Canadian football team that played the 1995 season in the Canadian Football League. The Barracudas were part of a failed attempt to expand the CFL into the United States.
The Las Vegas Posse were a Canadian Football League (CFL) team, that played at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, in the league's 1994 season as part of the CFL's failed American expansion. Lasting only one season, the Posse were one of the least successful teams in CFL history, both on the field and off.
The San Antonio Texans were a Canadian Football League (CFL) team that played in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1995 CFL season. They had relocated from Sacramento, California, where the team had been called the Sacramento Gold Miners. After relocating, the team still had the same ownership in Fred Anderson and the same staff, including President Tom Bass and Head Coach/General Manager Kay Stephenson. The Gold Miners/Texans franchise played three seasons before folding in 1995. They were the southernmost team in CFL history and the only team in CFL history to have ever officially relocated from another market.
The Shreveport Pirates were a Canadian Football League team, playing at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, in 1994 and 1995. Despite a relatively strong fan base, they were one of the least successful of the CFL's American franchises on and off the field.
Donald J. Matthews, a.k.a. "the Don", was a head coach of several professional football teams, mostly in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He won 231 games in the CFL, the second highest win total by a head coach in the league's history while leading four teams to Grey Cup victories. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in September 2011.
The 1996 CFL season is considered to be the 43rd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 39th Canadian Football League season.
Tracy Ham is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played for the Edmonton Eskimos, the Toronto Argonauts, the Baltimore Stallions, and the Montreal Alouettes. He was known for his abilities as a dual-threat quarterback. He played college football for the Georgia Southern Eagles, where he became the first quarterback to rush for 3,000 yards and pass for 5,000 yards in a career. Ham is an inductee of both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Ham is currently the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Georgia Southern University.
The 83rd Grey Cup a.k.a. The Wind Bowl was the 1995 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Baltimore Stallions and the Calgary Stampeders at Taylor Field in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Stallions won the game by a score of 37–20. It marked the only time that an American-based team won the Grey Cup.
The Canadian Football League (CFL), which features teams based in Canada, has made efforts to gain further audience in the United States, most directly through expansion into the country from the 1993 CFL season through the 1995 CFL season. The CFL plays Canadian football, a form of gridiron football which is somewhat different from the more common American football played in the United States and other parts of the world.
James Thomas Popp is an American sports executive and coach. Popp is Vice President, Player Personnel, for the United States Football League (USFL). In 2021, Popp was Chief of Staff, Advisor to the Head Coach for the Charlotte 49ers football and also a running back coach and assistant head coach for the Alabama State Hornets. He worked extensively in the Canadian Football League, and was most recently the general manager of the Toronto Argonauts. Popp spent over two decades as General Manager of the Montreal Alouettes including several stints as Head Coach. Popp served as General Manager for two years for Baltimore Stallions, and the Director of Player Personnel for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. As a CFL general manager, three separate franchises under Popp have won five Grey Cup championship wins out of 11 appearances.
The Memphis Hound Dogs were a proposed NFL team in the early-1990s. Former Memphis Showboats owner William Dunavant, Paul Tudor Jones, Fred Smith and Elvis Presley Enterprises were the members of the potential ownership group.
Mark Keller Dixon is an American former professional football player who was an offensive guard in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL)) during the late 1990s and early 2000s. He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers, earning consensus All-American honors in 1993. He began his professional career playing in NFL Europe, then earned starting positions with the Baltimore Stallions and Montreal Alouettes of the CFL, and the Miami Dolphins of the NFL.
The Virginia Destroyers were a professional American football team based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. They began play in the United Football League (UFL) in the 2011 season. They played their home games at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
The 1995 Baltimore Stallions season was the second and final season in the history of the Baltimore CFL franchise. The team became the first American-based football team to win the Grey Cup. Despite the Stallions success, attendance dropped. The club only sold 9,000 season tickets. The 1994 and 1995 Stallions radio flagship station was WJFK, 1300AM in Baltimore. Owned by Infinity Broadcasting, Bruce Cunningham of Fox45 TV served as play-by-play announcer, with former NFL Baltimore Colts stars Joe Washington, Bruce Laird, and Tom Matte providing analysis, and Mark Thoner of WLIF-FM as Producer.
The 1996 Montreal Alouettes finished in second place in the East Division with a 12–6 record in the franchise's first full season in the Canadian Football League since 1986. Unlike the lean years from 1981 to 1986, the revived Alouettes were going to be competitive, especially since most of them had won the Grey Cup in the previous season as the Baltimore Stallions. They had some nice talented offensive players from that team, such as Tracy Ham, Mike Pringle, kick returner Chris Wright, slotback Chris Armstrong, and two great defensive players in Irvin Smith, and Elfrid Payton. After a slow start they rebounded to finish strong and after defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, they traveled to Toronto, where they were defeated in the East Final by the eventual Grey Cup champions, the Toronto Argonauts.
Dan Crowley is a former Canadian Football League (CFL) and Italian Football League (IFL) import quarterback from the United States. He played college football for the Towson Tigers, setting several school records. After college, Crowley professionally debuted in 1995 for the CFL USA team, the Baltimore Stallions. Crowley also played for the Montreal Alouettes in 1996. After playing for the IFL's Bergamo Lions from 1998 to 1999, Crowley returned to the CFL and played for the Edmonton Eskimos from 1999 until 2001. Known as a career backup, Crowley received his first major starting opportunity with the expansion Ottawa Renegades in 2002, becoming the team's first starting quarterback.
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