The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a football league established in 1944 by Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Wald. He announced its formation at a press conference on September 2, 1944. It hoped to co-exist with the established National Football League, in much the same way Major League Baseball was set up. It didn’t quite work out that way.
The Toronto Rifles were a short-lived professional football team that played at Maple Leafs Stadium and Varsity Stadium from 1965 to 1967. The club originally formed in Montreal in 1964 and played one season there as the Quebec Rifles before moving to Toronto. Unlike teams of the rival Canadian Football League, the Rifles were members of the largely American-based Continental Football League and played by the considerably different American football rules. The financially troubled Rifles folded just two games into their third season in September 1967.
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.
The Macon Whoopee was a minor league hockey team that played in the second iteration of the Central Hockey League. They played from 1996 to 2001 and were the second Macon hockey team to use that nickname, though their predecessors from the Southern Hockey League added an “S.”
Houston’s dreams of landing a Major League Baseball team go back at least as far as the 1950s. The threat of a third major league, the proposed Continental League, yielded Houston a National League expansion franchise that was known as the Houston Colt .45s for its first three seasons.
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.
Arena Football 2 (2001-2004) Born: 2000 – AF2 expansion franchise Ceased Operations: October 2004 Moved: Summer 2005 (Mississippi Headhunters) First Game: April 7, 2001 (L 43-20 vs. Baton Rouge Blaze) Last Game: July 31, 2004 (L 65-62 vs. Memphis Xplorers) Arena Cup Championships: None Columbus Civic Center (7,600) Opened: 1996 Team Colors: Red, Navy
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.
Yes, strange as it sounds, but the small, poverty-stricken city of Shreveport, Louisiana once had its very own Canadian Football League franchise: the Shreveport Pirates. The Pirates’ shambolic leadership made a series of head-scratching personnel moves, including the signings of troubled over-the-hill NFL stars Dexter Manley and Mark Duper, and fired the team’s first head coach before taking a regular season snap. Meanwhile the team staggered to a two-year record of 8-28 in the CFL before going out of business at the end of the 1995 season.
Fun While it Lasted presents the Jersey of the Week, brought to you by Royal Retros. Each week, we feature a historic uniform. Click to learn more about the team that wore this classic gear.
