Category: Atlantic Coast Football League

1968 Hartford Knights Program from the Atlantic Coast Football League

Hartford Knights

October 27, 2012

The Knights replaced the defunct Hartford Charter Oaks minor league football team on the local sports scene after the Oaks folded in early 1968. Like the Oaks before them, the Knights played out of 10,000-seat Dillon Stadium. The Knights quickly established themselves as one of the finest minor league football squads of the 1960’s. The team formed a loose working agreement with the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League and won the  championship of the Atlantic Coast Football League in their 1968 expansion season. The Knights went on to appear in five straight minor league title games.

Read More »
Jersey Jays Continental Football League

Jersey Jays

June 12, 2012

The Jersey Jays were a short-lived minor league football team that played first in Newark and later in Jersey City in 1969 and 1970. The Jays briefly worked as a farm club for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and – maybe/kinda/sorta – signed or worked out E Street Band legend Clarence “Big Man” Clemons.

Read More »
Indianapolis Capitols Continental Football League

Indianapolis Capitols (1968-1970)

November 29, 2011

The Indianapolis Capitols (1968-1970) were a short-lived effort in professional minor league football, a form of entertainment which largely ceased to exist by the mid-1970’s.  The Caps were one of the first pro football franchises to put their team in the hands of a black quarterback. They were also one of the first dabblings in pro sports by future NFL and NHL power broker Edward DeBartolo.

Read More »