Spotlight

Karl-Heinz Granitza of the Chicago Sting on the cover of a 1984 Sting program

Chicago Sting

July 20, 2013 1 Comment

The Chicago Sting were an accomplished pro soccer club that enjoyed success both outdoors and indoors during a thirteen-year run from 1975 through 1988. The Sting formed as an outdoor club in 1975 in the North American Soccer League. Early seasons saw mediocrity on the pitch and pitiful crowds as the club constantly rotated matches between Comiskey Park, Soldier Field and Wrigley Field. The Sting peaked in the early 1980’s, capturing the NASL’s Soccer Bowl ’81 championship and beginning to play indoor soccer during the winters, where Sting matches were a popular attraction at Chicago Stadium. The NASL folded in 1984 bringing the Sting’s outdoor era to an end, but the team went on to play four more indoor seasons in the Major Indoor Soccer League before disbanding in 1988.

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historic Football

1984 Pittsburgh Maulers media guide from the United States Football League

Pittsburgh Maulers

February 27, 2011 1 Comment

The original Pittsburgh Maulers were a One-Year Wonder in the United States Football League during the spring of 1984. The Maulers were best known for signing 1983 Heisman Trophy-winning running back Mike Rozier of the University of Nebraska before he could enter the 1984 NFL draft. But Rozier was banged up from his senior season of college football and the rest of the roster was awfully thin. The Maulers staggered to a wretched 3-15 record. When a faction of USFL leaders headed by Donald Trump announced that the USFL would abandon the league’s spring football niche to compete head-to-head with the NFL in the fall of 1986, Maulers owner Edward DeBartolo Sr. cut his losses and folded the team after only one season.

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Honoring the Negro Leagues

Cleveland Buckeyes

Baltimore Elite Giants (1938-1951)

February 27, 2026 No Comments

The Baltimore Elite Giants got their start in Nashville, before moving to Columbus, Ohio for one year, then to Washington, D.C. They moved down the road in Baltimore in 1938 and played there until 1950, before spending their final season back in Tennessee.

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Retro Hockey

Winnipeg Jets program

Winnipeg Jets (1972-1996)

March 6, 2025 2 Comments

The original Winnipeg Jets were charter members of the WHA in 1972. They moved to the NHL in 1979, along with three other WHA squads. In 1995, they were sold and moved to Phoenix for the 1996-97 hockey season. The name was revived when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Manitoba in 2011 and assumed the Jets name but not their history.

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baseball History

1998 Atlantic City Surf baseball program from the Atlantic League

Atlantic City Surf

December 31, 2017 2 Comments

The Atlantic City Surf were one of the six original franchises in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Atlantic League was (and remains) the most ambitious league to arise out of the independent baseball boom of the 1990’s. The Surf played at the Sandcastle, a 5,900-seat ballpark built on the grounds of Atlantic City’s municipal airport, Bader Field. The stadium was built with $11.5 million in Casino Reinvestment Development Authority funds and $3 million in taxpayer bonds.

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Soccer Indoor and outdoor

Lehigh Valley Steam logo larger

Lehigh Valley Steam

March 26, 2021 No Comments

This doomed 2nd division men’s club was part of the disastrous Lehigh Valley Multi-Purpose Stadium project, intended to bring minor league baseball and pro soccer to the Easton/Allentown region of Pennsylvania during the late 1990’s. The Steam would be the region’s first outdoor pro soccer team since the Pennsylvania Stoners, who played out of Allentown and Bethlehem, folded in 1984. When the stadium project failed to come to fruition, the Steam embarked on a single, futile season in the USL A-League during the summer of 1999, cobbling together a schedule of “home” matches in various sites around Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Steam officially disbanded in December 1999.

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Arena Football

Cincinnati Jungle Kats Arena Football 2

Cincinnati Jungle Kats

September 11, 2019 No Comments

The fourth time was not the charm for the Arena Football brand in Cincinnati. Celebrity ownership in the form of Cincinnati Reds slugger Ken Griffey Jr. and former All-Pro defensive lineman Sam Adams of the Cincinnati Bengals wasn’t enough to make the Cincinnati Jungle Kats succeed where the Rockers (1992-1993), the Swarm (2003) and the Marshals (2005-2006) failed before them. Like all three of their predecessors, the Jungle Kats played at U.S. Bank Arena (formerly the Riverfront Coliseum).

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Pro Basketball

1970-71 Sporting News American Basketball Association Guide

American Basketball Association (1967-1976)

March 25, 2012 No Comments

The American Basketball Association (ABA) was formed in 1967 as a competitor to the established National Basketball Association (NBA). It started with 11 teams, and within a few years was angling for a merger with the older league. In 1976, the NBA took in four ABA teams, while three other surviving teams disbanded.

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Canadian Football League

Montreal Concordes CFL

Montreal Concordes

January 14, 2018 5 Comments

In the spring of 1982, the Canadian Football League’s venerable Montreal Alouettes franchise collapsed under a mountain of debt. Seeking a clean slate for new ownership, league officials folded the Alouettes on May 13, 1982 and awarded a new Montreal expansion club to Seagram’s liquor baron and Montreal Expos founder Charles Bronfman the next day. The club embarked on a star-crossed four year voyage under the new name “Concordes”, drawing inspiration from the iconic supersonic transatlantic jets of the era.

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