Spotlight

Toronto Rifles Continental Football League

Toronto Rifles

The Toronto Rifles were a short-lived professional football team that played at Maple Leafs Stadium and Varsity Stadium from 1965 to 1967. The club originally formed in Montreal in 1964 and played one season there as the Quebec Rifles before moving to Toronto. Unlike teams of the rival Canadian Football League, the Rifles were members of the largely American-based Continental Football League and played by the considerably different American football rules. The financially troubled Rifles folded just two games into their third season in September 1967.

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Honoring the Negro Leagues

Cleveland Buckeyes

Cleveland Buckeyes (1942-1950)

The Cleveland Buckeyes started as the Cincinnati-Cleveland Buckeyes in 1942, before settling permanently in Northern Ohio in 1943. The club won two league titles as well as a Negro World Series championship.

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Retro Hockey

Ralph Backstrom on the cover of a 1975-76 Denver Spurs program from the World Hockey Association

Denver Spurs

The Denver Spurs started in the Western Hockey League in 1968. When that circuit folded, they joined the Central Hockey League in 1974. The following year, they joined the World Hockey Association, but moved to Ottawa halfway through the season.

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baseball History

1998 Atlantic City Surf baseball program from the Atlantic League

Atlantic City Surf

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.

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Soccer Indoor and outdoor

Boston Tigers

The Boston Tigers were a semi-professional soccer team that played in Chelsea and Lynn, Massachusetts, melting pot cities that bordered the northern edge of Boston. The Tigers competed in the American Soccer League (ASL) against competition from other Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic cities. Future two-time NASL Most Valuable Player Carlos Metidieri suited up for the Tigers in 1967.

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Arena Football

Pittsburgh Gladiators Arena Football League

Pittsburgh Gladiators

The Pittsburgh Gladiators were one of four founding members of the Arena Football League in 1987. The novelty of 50-yard indoor football caught some traction in the Steel City in the summer of ’87. All four of the Glads’ home games in the summer of 1987 drew strong crowds, culminating when Pittsburgh hosted Arena Bowl I at the Civic Arena before 13,232 and an ESPN national TV audience on August 1, 1987.

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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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