The Dayton Triangles were founding members of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1920. In 1922, the APFA became known as the National Football League (NFL). In 1929 the team was sold and moved to Brooklyn where they became the Dodgers. For ten seasons, though, they represented Dayton in the NFL.
The Springfield Acorns were a short-lived pro football team in Western Massachusetts during the early 1960’s. The Acorns competed in the Atlantic Coast Football League, a minor league loop that featured teams from Maine to Georgia. The Acorns were notable for their quarterbacks. In 1963, rookie signal caller James Traficant took over the starting job at midseason. Another rookie, Dan Henning, replaced Traficant in 1964. Traficant went on to become a notorious U.S. Congressman from Ohio eventually felled by a federal prison sentence in 2002. Henning later served as an NFL head coach with the San Diego Chargers and Atlanta Falcons.
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.
The story of the Seattle Pilots is one of the most fascinating in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB). It began years before the team’s 1969 debut, and is tale filled with hope, excitement, money (and lack thereof), franchise relocations, and political influence.
The Orlando Sundogs were a pro soccer team that endured a single grim campaign in the USISL A-League during the summer of 1997. The A-League was the 2nd Division of men’s pro soccer in the U.S. at the time, one level below Major League Soccer. The Sundogs’ troubles were many, but a big one was their choice of stadium: the 64,000 Citrus Bowl, a former World Cup (1994) and Olympic (1996) stadium. The ‘Dogs averaged an invisible 1,278 fans per match in the gargantuan bowl.
The Massachusetts Marauders played a single season of Arena Football at the Worcester Centrum in the summer of 1994. The Marauders featured local legend Gordie Lockbaum, the former Holy Cross star who finished third in the 1987 Heisman Trophy balloting. Lockbaum saw limited playing time for the Marauders, in what would turn out to be the only regular season professional football action of his career. The Marauders folded after one season amidst a dispute between team owner Joseph O’Hara and Arena Football League Commissioner Jim Drucker.
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.
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.
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.
