Spotlight

1987 Arena Football League Media Guide

Arena Football League (1987-2019)

March 25, 2012 2 Comments

The original Arena Football League was a patented 50-yard indoor football game system developed by a former NFL employee named Jim Foster. Foster first came up with the idea while watching a Major Indoor Soccer League match at Madison Square Garden in 1981.  It took six years for Foster to fully develop the concept and launch the league in 1987. The league went on to have a modest but very loyal following. It’s spirit lives on in the arena leagues that are playing today.

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historic Football

Chicago Hornets All-America Football Conference

Chicago Hornets (1949)

February 14, 2021 1 Comment

The Chicago Hornets were a one-year wonder in the All-America Football Conference, a league that attempted to rival the National Football League for pro football supremacy in the post-WWII years of 1946-1949. The Hornets arrived on the scene just in time to take part in the AAFC’s final season, before getting contracted 10 months later in the December 1949 merger of the AAFC and the NFL. The Chicago market went to the NFL’s Bears (and Cardinals), while the Hornets vanished into the dustbin of history.

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Honoring the Negro Leagues

Seattle Steelheads barnstorming poster

Seattle Steelheads

April 21, 2025 No Comments

The Seattle Steelheads were members of the West Coast Negro Baseball Association (WCNBA) in that circuit’s only season, 1946. The team was actually the Harlem Globetrotters baseball club and returned to barnstorming when the WCNBA ceased operations.

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Retro Hockey

Salt Lake Golden Eagles International Hockey League

Salt Lake Golden Eagles

May 15, 2018 7 Comments

The Salt Lake Golden Eagles hockey team was a popular mainstay on the Utah pro sports scene for a quarter century. That Eagles endured despite the shocking and untimely deaths of two team owners, the collapse of two hockey leagues of which they were members, and several 11th hour rescues from financial calamity.

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baseball History

1983 Omaha Royals baseball program from the American Association

Omaha Royals / Omaha Golden Spikes

March 23, 2018 1 Comment

Omaha, Nebraska has hosted the top farm club of the Kansas City Royals since the Major League club’s inception in 1969. Initially known as the Omaha Royals, the Class AAA club won four league championships of the American Association, including back-to-back titles in their first two seasons in 1969 and 1970. The Royals survived the closure of the American Association, joining the Pacific Coast League in 1998. From 1999 until 2001, the team was briefly known as the “Golden Spikes” before returning to the Royals nickname. In 2011, the club re-branded as the Omaha Storm Chasers while simultaneously moving into the new $36M Werner Park.

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Soccer Indoor and outdoor

Boston Tigers

January 17, 2021 No Comments

The Boston Tigers were a semi-professional soccer team that played in Chelsea and Lynn, Massachusetts, melting pot cities that bordered the northern edge of Boston. The Tigers competed in the American Soccer League (ASL) against competition from other Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic cities. Future two-time NASL Most Valuable Player Carlos Metidieri suited up for the Tigers in 1967.

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Arena Football

1988 Los Angeles Cobras Media Guide from the Arena Football League

Los Angeles Cobras

July 21, 2013 3 Comments

The Los Angeles Cobras were an early Arena Football League team that lasted for just one season (1988) at the old L.A. Memorial Sports Arena. During their brief life, the Cobras signed 39-year old former Oakland/L.A. Raiders All-Pro wideout Cliff Branch and snagged a cameo appearance in a Charles Bronson action movie.

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Pro Basketball

Oakland Oaks Media Guide 1968

Oakland Oaks (1967-1969)

March 26, 2026 No Comments

The Oakland Oaks were charter members of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and were introduced, along with the rest of the new league, on February 2, 1967. The franchise’s initial investors were league co-founder Dennis Murphy, along with Los Angeles-based insurance executive S. Kenneth Davidson. The latter pulled in entertainer  Pat Boone, an avid basketball fan.

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Canadian Football League

Ottawa Rough Riders Canadian Football League

Ottawa Rough Riders

July 3, 2020 5 Comments

The history of the Ottawa Rough Riders Canadian football team stretches back to 1876 with the formation of an amateur rugby side known as the Ottawa Football Club. The team folded in 1996 after 120 years.

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