Head coach Vaughn Hebron on the cover of a 2001 Trenton Lightning program from the Indoor Professional Football League

Trenton Lightning

February 25, 2023

The Trenton Lightning were an indoor football team that managed to play just six games during April and May of 2001. The team, coached by former Denver Broncos running back Vaughn Hebron, lost all six of its contests before financial scandals caused the team to disband. Later investigations revealed that Lightning founder Philip Subhan, an American Express Financial Advisor, funded the team with money embezzled from his clients. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2004.

Read More »
2000 Portland Prowlers Program from the Indoor Professional Football League

Portland Prowlers

February 23, 2023

The Portland Prowlers were an indoor football team that competed for one season in the Indoor Professional Football League (IPFL) during the summer of 2000. The Prowlers came into the Rose City on the heels of the departing Portland Forest Dragons of the Arena Football League, a higher-profile and bigger budget franchise that left town for Oklahoma City following the 1999 season. While the Forest Dragons played at the city’s sparkling new 18,000-seat Rose Garden arena, the Prowlers set up shop at Portland’s “old” NBA arena, Memorial Coliseum.

Read More »
1972-73 Memphis Tams Program from the American Basketball Association

Memphis Tams

February 22, 2023

The Tams were the middle entry of three Memphis entries in the American Basketball Associations during the early 1970’s, taking the floor at the Mid-South Coliseum from 1972 through 1974. The team’s odd name was an acronym for Tennessee-Arkansas-Mississippi and the club used a tam o’ shanter cap as its logo. Charles O. Finley, the outspoken owner of the Oakland A’s of Major League Baseball and the NHL’s California Golden Seals, owned the club but seemingly took little interest in it. Like the A’s and the Golden Seals, the Tams wore Finley’s preferred colors of green, gold and white.

Read More »
1997-98 Tucson Gila Monsters Program from the West Coast Hockey League

Tucson Gila Monsters

February 18, 2023

The Tucson Gila Monsters were a perpetually troubled minor league hockey outfit that player one full season and part of a second at the Tucson Convention Center in 1997 and 1998. During the Monsters’ debut season, the club finished with the worst record and worst attendance in the West Coast Hockey League filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Gila Monsters returned for a second season in the fall of 1998 but disbanded after only 21 games.

Read More »
2007 Charlotte County Redfish baseball yearbook from the South Coast League

Charlotte County Redfish

February 18, 2023

The Charlotte County Redfish were an independent baseball team from Port Charlotte, Florida that played for one season during the summer of 2007. The Redfish were founding members of the South Coast League, a six-team circuit featuring clubs from Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The team finished in last place (24 wins, 65 losses) during their only season and disbanded along with the rest of the South Coast League in early 2008.

Read More »