Amarillo, Texas was a mainstay on the Class AA Texas League circuit from 1959 through 1982. Yellow City went through several Texas League clubs during the era, starting with the original Gold Sox, followed by the Sonics, the Giants and finally the latter-day Gold Sox. Today we’ll take a loot at the Gold Sox re-boot that took the field at Potter County Memorial Stadium from 1976 until 1982.
The Texas Terminators were an Austin-based indoor football team that played for a single season in the Indoor Professional Football League from April to August 1999. The Terminators made their home at the Travis County Exposition Center, a 6,000-seat rodeo barn with no air conditioning. The team was stocked with former University of Texas Longhorns, including record-setting quarterback James Brown and running back Butch Hadnot. After a superb regular season, the Longhorns hosted the IPFL championship game in August 1999 in what would prove to be the team’s final game.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa hosted the Class A Midwest League farm team of the National League’s San Francisco Giants for five summers between 1975 and 1979. Top players to emerge from Cedar Rapids during the Giants era included third basemen Bob Brenly (C-R ’77), outfielder Chili Davis (C-R ’78) and outfielder Rob Deer (C-R ’79). Following the 1979 season, the Cincinnati Reds replaced San Francisco as Cedar Rapids’ parent club and the team became the Cedar Rapids Reds in 1980.
The Alexandria Dukes were a Class A Carolina League minor league baseball team that played in the Washington D.C. suburbs from 1978 through 1983. During the 1979 season, the team was known as the Alexandria Mariners thanks to a short-lived affiliation with the American League’s Seattle Mariners. The Dukes enjoyed their greatest success as a Pittsburgh Pirates farm team from 1981 to 1983, including a Carolina League title in 1982. The team moved away to Woodbridge, Virginia in 1984.
The Idaho Stallions were a perpetually troubled indoor football team that played three seasons in the Indoor Football League from 1999 through 2001. The Stallions played in Nampa at the Idaho Center in 1999 before moving to Boise’s Bank of America Centre for its final two seasons. The team was known as the “Boise Stallions” during their final season in 2001, which saw the team lose its ownership in midseason and cancel several games in order to save money.
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