West Georgia College’s intercollegiate football program traces back to the institution’s beginnings as an A&M school in 1910. This first iteration of the football team lasted until 1959. Between 1959 and 1979, numerous talks and propositions of reestablishing the football program circulated within the administration and the student body. These included study committees weighing the advantages and disadvantages of a football program, student ballots, and faculty ballots. The consensus was largely in favor of reestablishing the program and Maurice Townsend, president at the time, approved its return at the NCAA Division III level on May 14, 1980.

The program’s first competitive season in the fall of 1981 was a success. After this season, West Georgia College would go on to compete in the 1982 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Phenix City, Alabama, and take the championship title.