High Ridge Chargers / Lincolnwood Chargers / Chicago Chargers

Cook County Football League (1977-1980)
National Amateur Football League (1981)
Northern States Football League (1982-1985)
Metro Football League (1986)

Background

The Chargers were a strong Chicago-area amateur/semi-pro football squad that played from 1977 through at least 1986. Between 1977 and 1985 the Chargers posted a cumulative record of 96-28, including a perfect 13-0 season in 1985 and a semi-pro “national championship” in 1986.

The team played under several names as it moved around high school stadiums in Chicago and Skokie:

• High Ridge Chargers (1977-1978)
• Lincolnwood Chargers (1979-1984)
• Chicago Chargers (1985-1986)

In 1986, in what appears to have been the Chargers’ final season, the team lost the championship of Metro Football League, yet still advanced to a post-season “national championship” of the American Semi-Professional Football Association. The Chargers travelled to Pennsylvania where they beat the host Scranton Eagles before an estimated crowd of 3,000 fans on November 28th, 1986.²Baum, Dave. “Chargers blitz Eagles for national crown”. The Tribune (Scranton, PA). November 29, 1986 This appears to have been the team’s final game.

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Outsiders II

by Bob Gill with Tod Maher & Steve Brainerd

 

Outsiders II covers the independent minor leagues of professional football from 1951 through 1985. This volume contains histories and yearly statistical summaries for the top minor leagues of the period, plus the World Football League, which has a claim to major league status, and the United States Football League, which was clearly a major league. It also includes yearly summaries for the best of the lesser leagues, which featured a good number of interesting players in their own right.

 

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Downloads

1985 Chicago Chargers Roster

1983 Northern States Football League Media Guide

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