Spotlight

1966 Waterbury Orbits program from the Atlantic Coast Football League

Waterbury Orbits

The Waterbury Orbits were a minor league football outfit that played in 1966 and 1967 in the Atlantic Coast Football League during the mid-1960’s. Notable players included the cult legend minor league quarterback Jim “King” Corcoran, who blew through town in 1967, and gargantuan defensive lineman Wayne Coleman (’66) who went on to become the pro wrestling legend Superstar Billy Graham in the late 1970’s. The team moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1968.

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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

1997 Orlando Sundogs soccer pocket schedule from the A-League

Orlando Sundogs

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.

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Arena Football

2002 Fresno Frenzy Media Guide from Arena Football 2

Fresno Frenzy

The Fresno Frenzy were a One-Year Wonder in the small market indoor football league known as Arena Football 2. The Frenzy were an expansion team during AF2’s third season of play in 2002. They joined the 34-franchise league’s West Division, which also included teams in Bakersfield, Hawaii and San Diego. The Frenzy went out of business after one last-place season at Selland Arena. Arena Football 2 returned to Selland Arena two years later in 2004 with a new franchise, the Central Valley Coyotes.

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Owner Fred Anderson and Head Coach Pepper Rodgers on the cover of the 1995 Memphis Mad Dogs Media Guide

Memphis Mad Dogs

The Memphis Mad Dogs were a short-lived chapter in the Canadian Football League’s expansion misadventure into the United States between 1993 and 1995. The Mad Dogs arrived at the Liberty Bowl just in time for the final season of the CFL’s three-year American experiment in the fall of 1995. The ‘Dogs featured an outstanding defense and CFL legend Damon Allen at quarterback but never quite put it all together and finished their only season at 9-9. The team did make a star out of unheralded community college wide receiver Joe Horn, who leapt from the Mad Dogs to a 12-year career in the NFL and four Pro Bowl nods. The team folded after the 1995 season.

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