Spotlight

1987 Arena Football League Media Guide

Arena Football League (1987-2019)

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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AAFC Rockets v Dons program

Chicago Rockets (1946-1949)

The Chicago Rockets were charter members of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), a league that attempted to rival the National Football League for pro football supremacy in the post-WWII years of 1946-1949. The Rockets were the city’s third pro football team, joining the NFL’s Bears and Cardinals. In 1949, the team was sold and renamed the Hornets. They folded when the NFL absorbed three AAFC, the Hornets not being one of them.

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Honoring the Negro Leagues

Seattle Steelheads barnstorming poster

Seattle Steelheads

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

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

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

1974 Philadelphia Atoms media guide from the North American Soccer League

Philadelphia Atoms

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.

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Arena Football

Dallas Desperados Arena Football League

Dallas Desperados

Arena Football League (2002-2008) Born: 2002 – Arena Football League expansion franchise Folded: August 4, 2009 First Game: April 20, 2002 (W 57-44 @ Carolina Cobras) Last Game: June 27, 2008 (L 77-63 vs. New York Dragons) Arena Bowl Championships: None 2002: American Airlines Center (16,971) Opened: 2001 2003: Reunion Arena (16,441)

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Oakland Oaks Media Guide 1968

Oakland Oaks (1967-1969)

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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San Antonio Texans Canadian Football League

San Antonio Texans

The San Antonio Texans were a One-Year Wonder in the Canadian Football League, playing a single season at the Alamodome in the autumn of 1995. The franchise had a twisty backstory, dating back to the formation of the NFL-backed World League of American Football (WLAF) in 1990.

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