The Carolina Cougars played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1969 to 1974. The team was established as the Houston Mavericks and spent two seasons in Texas before being purchased by North Carolina syndicate. The team was sold and moved to Missouri and became the Spirits of St. Louis in 1974.
This West Virginia minor league football outfit that enjoyed a perfect season in 1965 and also launched the career of one of the NFL most fearsome pass rushers of the 1970’s.
The Kanas City Monarchs are perhaps the best known Negro Leagues baseball team of all time. They played from the inception of the first Negro league in 1920 until finishing up as a barnstorming team in 1965.
The Las Vegas Thunder were a six-year entry in the International Hockey League during that organization’s gold rush era of nationwide expansion in the mid-1990’s. Minor league baseball investors Hank Stickney and his son Ken paid a $2.0 million expansion fee for the Thunder in 1993. The Stickneys also owned the Las Vegas Stars Class AAA baseball team.
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.
Major League Soccer (1996-1999) Born: June 15, 1994 – MLS founding franchise Re-Branded: October 27, 1999 (San Jose Earthquakes) First Game: April 6, 1996 (W 1-0 vs. D.C. United) Last Game: October 6, 1999 (W1-0 vs Kansas City Wizards) MLS Cup Championships: None (during Clash era) Stadium: Spartan Stadium (26,000) Team Colors: Cloudy Jade,
The Richmond Speed were an indoor football team that competed in Arena Football 2, a developmental league for small-to-mid sized cities, from 2000 to 2003. The Speed were one of the league’s top teams in AF2’s early years, appearing in the Arena Cup title game in 2001.
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.
The Baltimore Stallions played two seasons in the CFL starting in 1994. The most successful of the league’s American teams, they went to the Grey Cup following both seasons, winning in 1995. The team experienced grief off the field from the NFL, first with a lawsuit over using the name Colts, then by the relocation of the Cleveland Browns.
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