Raleigh IceCaps
November 27, 2011 15 Comments
The Raleigh IceCaps were a hockey team that played in North Carolina’s capital as members of the East Coast Hockey League from 1991 to 1998.
Spotlight
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Carolina Chargers
February 1, 2021 2 Comments
The Carolina Chargers were a ramshackle minor league football team that played out of Charlotte, North Carolina for three summers between 1979 and 1981. Quarterbacked by former North Carolina A&T star Ellsworth Turner in all three seasons, the Chargers appeared in two American Football Association title games in 1979 and 1980. After the Chargers folded in 1981, the team was replaced by the Carolina Storm who featured many of the same players and won the last two championships of the AFA in 1982 and 1983.
Honoring the Negro Leagues
Baltimore Elite Giants (1938-1951)
February 27, 2026 No Comments
The Baltimore Elite Giants got their start in Nashville, before moving to Columbus, Ohio for one year, then to Washington, D.C. They moved down the road in Baltimore in 1938 and played there until 1950, before spending their final season back in Tennessee.
Retro Hockey
Winnipeg Jets (1972-1996)
March 6, 2025 2 Comments
The original Winnipeg Jets were charter members of the WHA in 1972. They moved to the NHL in 1979, along with three other WHA squads. In 1995, they were sold and moved to Phoenix for the 1996-97 hockey season. The name was revived when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Manitoba in 2011 and assumed the Jets name but not their history.
baseball History
Atlantic City Surf
December 31, 2017 2 Comments
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.
Soccer Indoor and outdoor
Philadelphia Atoms
November 25, 2020 No Comments
The Philadelphia Atoms won the North American Soccer League championship in the debut season of 1973. In doing so, they became the first American pro soccer club to earn the cover of Sports Illustrated. After that charmed first season, though, the Atoms’ fortunes fizzled out and the club was out of business by the end of 1976.
Arena Football
Oklahoma Wranglers
September 15, 2020 No Comments
The Oklahoma Wranglers were a well-traveled Arena Football League franchise that settled in Oklahoma City in the spring of 2000 following brief runs in Memphis (1995-1996) and Portland, Oregon (1997-1999). The Wranglers played their two seasons at the 28-year old Myriad Convention Center downtown. The team intended to move into the $89 million Ford Center upon its opening in the spring of 2002. But owner Ed Gatlin removed his financial support of the money-losing franchise during the summer of 2001. The AFL dissolved the franchise in November 2001.
American Basketball Association (1967-1976)
March 25, 2012 No Comments
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.
Ottawa Rough Riders
July 3, 2020 5 Comments
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.