Amarillo Wranglers

Central Hockey League (1968-1969 & 1970-1971)

Tombstone

Born: 1968
Folded: May 1969 – The Wranglers cease operations
Re-Born: 1970
Folded Again: May 24, 1971¹

First Game: October 13, 1968 (W 6-0 vs. Omaha Knights)
Last Game: March 24, 1971 (L 3-2 @ Tulsa Oilers)

Adams Cup Championships: None

Arena

Amarillo Civic Center
Opened: 1968

Marketing

Team Colors:

Ownership

Owners:

1968-69: Pittsburgh Penguins / Jack McGregor
1970-71: Pittsburgh Penguins

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Background

The Amarillo Wranglers were a short-lived minor league farm club of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. The organizer of the original Wranglers and the club’s absentee President was Penguins founder Jack McGregor, a 34-year old Republican state senator from Pennsylvania. The Wranglers played one losing season in the Central Hockey League in the winter of 1968-69, lost money, and went out of business in May 1969.

Weirdly, after one winter away, the Penguins returned to the Amarillo Civic Center (under different ownership)to give it another shot in 1970. These new Wranglers were even worse than the prior edition, finishing last (by a huge margin) in the 7-team CHL with a record of 14-47-11. Once again, the Pens pulled up stakes after just one year, shuttering their Amarillo operation for good in May 1971 and moving their top prospects to the more sensible zip code of Hershey, Pennsylvania.

In 1975-1976, a third edition of the Amarillo Wranglers competed in the obscure Southwestern Hockey League. These Wranglers were an amateur club and had no connection to the Penguins or any other NHL parent club.