The St. Louis Quest were one of four Midwestern members of the United States Professional Volleyball (USPV), a women’s pro volleyball promotion that managed to stage only one season during the winter & spring of 2002. The Quest played their inaugural season home matches at the Washington University Field House. The entire league disbanded in January 2003 on the eve of a planned second season.
This short-lived Arena Football team played just one last place season at the Laredo Entertainment Center during the spring & summer of 2004 before disbanding. The team finished its only season with a 3-13 record. The team’s lone highlight was the play of Defensive Specialist Traco Rachal who earned Arena Football 2’s Defensive Player of the Year Award. The Law were owned and operated by the then-popular local minor league hockey franchise, the Laredo Bucks.
The Denver Invaders were an outstanding minor league hockey club that played one season in the Western Hockey League (WHL) during the winter of 1963-64. The Invaders relocated to Denver from Spokane, Washington the previous spring and served as a farm club of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs. Under head coach Rudy Pilous, the team was terrific on the ice, dominating the WHL with a 44-23-3 regular season record. But lackluster attendance at the Denver Coliseum and disputes between local investors and the Maple Leafs led the franchise to leave Colorado for British Columbia after only a year.
The Pittsburgh Phantoms were a one-and-done professional roller hockey promotion that played at the Civic Arena during the summer of 1994. The club was owned by Pittsburgh Penguins owner Howard Baldwin and had a heavy Pens flavor, featuring former NHLers Bryan Trottier, Warren Young and Alain Lemieux (older brother of Mario) on the roster. Former Penguins star Rick Kehoe coached the team, which performed well and reached the Roller Hockey International playoff quarterfinals. But the team disbanded after one season due to Baldwin’s unhappiness with the league’s management.
The Cedar Rapids River Raiders were a One-Year Wonder that competed in the United States Basketball League (USBL) during the spring of 2003. Despite a promising debut that saw the River Raiders excel on the court and lead the USBL in attendance, the team disbanded a couple of months after its inaugural season ended. 30-year old River Raiders head coach Dave Joerger went on earn head coaching jobs in the National Basketball Association with the Memphis Grizzlies (2013-2016) and Sacramento Kings (2016-2019).
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