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

1979 Jacksonville Firebirds Program from the American Football Association

Jacksonville Firebirds

October 16, 2012 16 Comments

The Jacksonville Firebirds were a briefly popular entry in the American Football Association. The league, which played a spring/summer schedule, expanded across the Southeast in the late 1970’s and found a nice niche in Jacksonville, where the Firebirds began play in 1979. The Firebirds drew an astonishing 153,000 fans for 13 games at the Gator Bowl during their debut season, a campaign that capped off with a championship game victory over the Carolina Chargers.

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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

Houston Summit

Houston Summit Soccer

June 24, 2011 1 Comment

Major Indoor Soccer League (1978-1980) Houston Summit Born: September 1978 – MISL founding franchise Moved: May 1, 1980 (Baltimore Blast) First Game: December 26, 1978 (W 10-3 vs. Cleveland Force) Last Game: March 23, 1980 (L 7-4 @ New York Arrows) MISL Championships: None The Summit (15,208) Opened: 1975 Team

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Arena Football

Quarterback Scooter Molander on the cover of a 1994 Las Vegas Sting program from the Arena Football League

Las Vegas Sting

March 18, 2012 No Comments

The purple and gold-clad Sting were Las Vegas’ first of several Arena Football League franchises. The team played at the newly opened MGM Grand Garden Arena in 1994 before moving to the Thomas & Mack Center for their final season in 1995. The franchise moved to Southern California under new ownership and became the Anaheim Piranhas in 1996. The AFL would try again in Las Vegas with the Gladiators (2003-2007) and the Outlaws (2015).

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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

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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