The Thrashers were Atlanta’s second foray into the National Hockey League and were established 17 years after the city’s former NHL team, the Flames, had departed for Calgary. Thrashers spent 12 seasons in Georgia before moving to Canada, just as their predecessors did.
The New England Colonials entered the Atlantic Coast Football League for the minor league circuit’s final season of 1973. The Colonials shared Schaefer Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts with the New England Patriots and had strong ties to the NFL club. The expansion club won the ACFL title in their debut season of 1973, but the league folded not long afterwards.
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 Cincinnati Stingers hockey team began life in the upstart World Hockey Association in the winter of 1975-76. Owners Bill DeWitt Jr. and Brian Heekin originally sought to land an NHL expansion club for the Queen City, failed, and then accepted the first expansion franchise awarded by the fledgling WHA as a fallback option in May 1973.
Fun fact: despite its misleading name, this five-season entry in the Class AA Texas League during the mid-1970’s was not really a farm club of the Milwaukee Brewers. OK, so that’s not quite 100% true. San Antonio was a Milwaukee farm team for one season during the summer of 1972. To commemorate the new Player Development Contract with Milwaukee, San Antonio dropped its long-time local nickname – the ‘Missions’ – to become the Brewers that year. But Milwaukee pulled out after just one season and the team’s local owners didn’t bother to update the name … for the next four years!
The San Jose Grizzlies were a short-lived indoor soccer entry that competed in the summer-season Continental Indoor Soccer League in 1994 and 1995.
Two decades earlier, Grizzlies owner Milan Mandaric founded the Bay Area’s popular San Jose Earthquakes soccer team in the North American Soccer League. Serbian-American indoor star Preki arrived for the Grizzlies’ second and final season and won the CISL’s MVP award in 1995. It was the future Soccer Hall of Famer’s final season of indoor soccer before embarking on his equally legendary outdoor career with the U.S. Men’s National Team and in Major League Soccer in 1996.
The Macon Knights were a minor league Arena Football franchise based in Middle Georgia during the early 2000’s. Coached by former NFL corner Kevin Porter, the Knights reached the Arena Cup IV championship game of Arena Football 2 at the conclusion of the 2003 season.
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.
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.
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.
