The San Antonio Toros were a powerhouse minor league football squad of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Between 1967 and 1971 the Toros won five consecutive league titles, thanks to a unusually stable core of returning players that came back to the Toros year after year. The Toros disappeared from the scene in 1975 after getting displaced by the San Antonio Wings of the more ambitious World Football League.
The Ventura County Americans were a minor league football outfit that played at high school football stadiums in Oxnard and Camarillo, California for three seasons between 1979 and 1981. The team’s most accomplished player was former University of Washington quarterback Tom Porras, who went on to a long career in the USFL, Canadian Football League and Arena Football League that lasted until 1996. The Americans disbanded following the 1981 season.
American Professional Soccer League (1993-1994) A-League (1995-1996) USISL A-League (1997-1998) National Professional Soccer League (1997-2000) USL A-League (2000-2004) USL First Division (2005-2009) USSF Division 2
The Altoona Rail Kings were a low-level professional baseball team that began play in 1996, amidst the “independent” baseball boom that saw non-Major League affiliated leagues and teams sprout up all across the United States. The team played two summers at Veterans Field in 1996 and 1997 before getting displaced by the impending arrival of a Pittsburgh Pirates Class AAA farm club, the Altoona Curve, set to begin play in 1998. The Rail Kings moved away to Huntington, West Virginia in 1998 and went out of business soon thereafter.
The Baton Rouge Kingfish were an East Coast Hockey League team that played seven seasons at the Riverside Centroplex between 1996 and 2003. The team had compelling intra-state rivalries with the Lafayette-based Louisiana IceGators and the New Orleans Brass. But seven straight seasons of declining attendance led the Kingfish to close their doors in 2003. The team had only slight accomplishment in competition, winning just one playoff series in seven seasons.
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