United States All-American Football League (aka USNFL)

PHASE ONE ~ Getting Started
American Football began early in the country's existence as a continuation of Mob Rules Football played in Europe. By the early 1800s, communities playing against one another led to universities challenging one another. Harvard had Bloody Monday , Princeton had Ballown while Dartmouth had Old Division Football and Sheffield Rules Football by 1858 followed by Rugby and Association Football (Soccer). The Oneida Football Club was the first organized team formed in 1862 by Gerrit Smith Miller making him the Father of Football in the US and of what became known as The Boston Game .

Oneida disbanded in 1865 to be replaced by Harvard University Football Club who couldn't find anyone to play until accepting a challenge from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Modern football began in 1874, with this game, with men like Walter Camp (the Father of "American" Football), Amos Alonzo Stagg , and Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner evolving the game further in the US while John Thrift Meldrum Burnside evolved the game in Canada. Meanwhile, a wealthy railwayman named Hollis Ward* traveled to Australia in 1850 where he met a man named Tom Wills who created Australian Rules Football in 1859.

Waiting out the US Civil War, Ward returned to the US Pacific Coast in 1871 where he met a railroad worker named Juan Carlos de Alba* from Sinaloa, Mexico . Alba had created an extremely violent game called Fracas * based on an Aztec game called Ulama which became merged into Outlaw Rules Football* or Universal Rules creating the Western Rugby Circuit,* (aka Industrial Football League*) in 1873. They purchased the American Football Union in 1895 creating the Eastern Rugby Circuit* and merging the two circuits together under the AFU identity.

In 1902, they merged with the original National Football League and made its President Dave Berry Head of AFU Operations.* The Ohio League also formed in 1902 and Tom O'Rourke created the World Series of Football which he merged with the AFU at the end of 1903. Four years later in 1907, the league completed the merger of its two circuits to become the United States All-American Football League* in 1907 retaining the AFU identity for its governing body. Players still had regular day jobs provided by team owners until a revenue-sharing/collective bargaining agreement in 1914 paid them a full-time salary to play football.

PHASE TWO ~ The War Years
The Great War (WWI) impacted the league because rationing limited incomes and some of their best players went to war in 1917. After the war, in 1919, with ambitious plans to eventually have at least one team per state with separate leagues in Canada and Mexico. One way they would do this was to absorb teams from other leagues through mergers and acquisitions to gain investment, resources, personnel, and fans from other leagues. New York United* was the first designated "permanent" team but they became better known by their secondary name as the New York Titans*.

Hurt by the Titans' popularity, the New York Pro Football League and Ohio League merged in 1920 founding the American Professional Football Association (the second NFL ). Teams not part of this merger would eventually become part of the AFU as would NFL teams like the New York Brickley Giants . James H. Gildea founded the Anthracite League in 1924 and the Eastern League of Professional Football in 1926, both of which he sold to the USA-AFL becoming President of the Eastern Football Conference. After the first AFL folded in 1926, its founder C.C. Pyle became President of the USA-AFL Western Football Conference.

An intermediate league formed for one season from AFL, PCL, and NFL teams in 1927 called the California Winter League with the NFL Los Angeles Buccaneers being named champions and the Pacific Coast League (aka California Football League) joining the USA-AFL. The USA-AFL then purchased the Ohio Valley League (1929), AFL II (1934), American Legion League (1934-1935 aka CFL II), CFL III (1936-38), AFL III (1936-37), the MFL (1935-37; AFL IV 38; APFA 39), Greater New York League (aka New Jersey Football Circuit) (1934-35), the New England Football League (1936), EPFL (1938) and NWFL (1935-38).

The Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit had formed in 1890 surviving until collapsing into the USA-AFL after the 1940 season. AFL V (aka Midwest Professional Football League) and AFL VI (1940-41), Northwest War Industries League (1942), AFL VII (1944), the Eastern Football League (1944) would also be purchased. Failed efforts by baseballs Southern Association in 1940 & 1944 to create the Southern Professional Football League combined with the failed efforts to create the USFL and TAFL in 1944 that brought in much needed investment.

PHASE THREE ~ WORLD FOOTBALL FEDERATION
The Eastern Football League (1932) became the Interstate Football League in 1933 then survived as independents before joining the American Association (1936-41; NEFL 1942-43; AFL VIII 1946-50). Jerry Corcoran of the Los Angeles Bulldogs joined with Paul J. Schissler in 1940 to create the PCPFL (1940-1948) before ultimately folding into the USA-AFL. The AAFC (1946-49) merger with the NFL in 1949 shed some franchises that joined the USA-AFL under Dallas oilman, sports promoter, and league President J. Curtis Sanford whose claim to fame was that he created the Cotton Bowl in 1937.

Sanford next created the Northeastern, Southeastern, Southwestern, and Northwestern Football Conferences in 1950 reviving the World Series of Football (aka Contest of Champions) for postseason play culminating in the Ultra Bowl. Completing the annexation of the AFL VIII in 1950 established a stronger Tier I (renamed the American Football Federation*) representing the wealthiest and most secure of the development leagues ending their season with the North vs. South Battle Bowl. Tier II is a Spring/Summer league that was called the Summer Football League* ending its season with the East vs West Sun Bowl.

At this time, a man named Samuel B. Fuller purchased the Virginia Negro Football League and the Dixie League that spawned it in 1947. Fuller brought the leagues into the USA-AFL as a second Tier II league called the United States Negro Football League* (USNFL). Then came the creation of Ligue Provinciale Royale Canadienne de Football* (Royal Canadian Provincial Football League-RCPFL) and Liga de Fútbol Americano de Mexico* (American Football League of Mexico-AFLMX) which led to the formation of the World Football Federation* to manage the USA-AFLs expansion internationally.

Sanford then created the North American Bowl* in 1951 to be competed for by six teams from Canada, the US, and Mexico whose first champion would be Imperio Azteca* (Aztec Empire). He then left the WFF to become one of the investors in the failed NFL Dallas Texans of 1952 before returning in 1953 as the founder of the Southern Football League quickly turning it into a USA-AFL development league. World Football Federation talent trickles up through the development system and financial support trickles down but player contracts require performance allowing them to also move up and down the tier system.

PHASE FOUR ~ THE GOLDEN AGE
To gain investment for their plans to expand into states with smaller populations, the USA-AFL developed a strategy using community investment through stocks and bonds. Theirs would be traveling teams that might call a city like Syracuse or Buffalo NY home until such time as enough fans could attend home games and they had adequate stadiums to play in. Acquiring the Wilmington Football League (1929-56) helped to put a team in Delaware while the Pacific Football Conference (1957-58) and North Pacific Football League (1963-66) accelerated team building efforts in the Northwestern states.

The American Football Conference (1959-61), United Football league (1961-64), North American Football League (1965- PFLA in 67), Southern Football League (1962-65), and United American Football League (1967). Another failed attempt to create the USFL in 1967 led to new investment which was much needed when they purchased the Continental Football League (1965-69) two years later. The original USNFL merged with the Continental Football league to become the USCFL* and then merged with the Summer Football League in 1972 retaining the USCFL identity.

Tier III development leagues became rechristened as the Universal Football League in 1973 after another failed effort to create a new league brought new investment into the USA-AFL. Following the UFL regular season, each league produced an all-star team beginning a six-game series where the two best teams meet in the All-American Bowl.* The USNFL identity would be revived as the United States National Football League* for the USA-AFL's secondary identity in 1974 following the collapse of the World Football League (1973-74) which was then absorbed by the USA-AFL.

The Texas Football League (1966-68; Trans-American Football League 1970-71; Southwestern Football League 1972-73), Atlantic Coast Football League (1962-73), Seaboard Football League (1971-74), Midwest Football league (1962-78), Northwest International Football League (1971-79), California Football league (1974-82) and American Football Association (1977-83) helped pave the way to establish itself as the USFL (1983-86). Another failed startup venture called the International Football League failed because of the USFL's success even before it got started and, instead, invested into the WFF.

PHASE FIVE ~ THE PRESENT DAY
USFL founder David Dixon sold out his interest in 1984 when New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump took over causing the USFL collapse in 1986. The USA-AFL shifted to a February thru August schedule playing 22 regular season games with no preseason the following year and league management became America's Football Teams, Inc. . Failed investors in the NAFL in 1987 and Independent Football League in 1991 joined the USA-AFL as would owners of the World League of American Football when it was folded in 1992 by it's NFL benefactors.

Canadian Football League expansion into the US finally occurred in 1993 lasting until 1995 and its failed US franchises were bought out by the USA-AFL. The NFL then resurrected some of its WLAF teams in Europe as NFL Europa in 1995 creating issues for the WFF's investments there. Dixons Fan Ownership Football League in 1996 and Ted Turners efforts to create a new league in 1998 provided the investment to complete the USA-AFL's plans to have one team in each state. They would possess two additional teams because they promised not to take away the team in Washington DC and needed one more for 52.

The XFL (2001), RFL (2003), UNFL (2008), AAFL (2010), AFL (2010), and the United Football League (2009-2012) established a turbulent run that ultimately ended with owners joining or selling their teams to the USA-AFL. Lastly, the Alliance of American Football in 2019 which they absorbed resulting in the USA-AFL often dropping the USA part of its identity becoming known more often as the AFL (American Football League) or AAFL based on former leagues it had absorbed. They also adopted the X-League Football identity following a pattern established by other WFF leagues and associations.

The USA-AFL then created a women's league in 1974 called the American Women's Football League* as a smaller, semi-pro league played mostly on high school football fields. Twelve of these teams became the Women's National Football League (WNFL)* playing in smaller indoor arenas. They also created the Nine-Man Football League* (NMFL aka Niners*; later All-American Arena Football League*) based on a game they had been trying to make work for decades. This league would also play in indoor arenas and grew stronger by absorbing other failed indoor football leagues.  



OUTLAW RULES

There are no preseason games for the USA-AFL and the league begins play in the second week of February establishing a 22-game regular season. A three-week postseason called the Contest of Champions/World Series of Football follows in July culminating in the Ultra Bowl during the second week of August. To the victor goes the Rockefeller Cup* donated in 1907 by John D. Rockefeller and which had been crafted from solid gold by the finest Bavarian craftsmen in the 17th century. It stands on an enormous base created by Tiffany & Co in 1950 from polished silver plates listing the champions from each season.

The standard USA-AFL playing field is 100 yards long, 62 yards wide, and 15-yard endzones on each end for scoring. There are no "chain crews" in the USA-AFL as the First Down markers are each of the ten-yard lines marked on the field. The Field Goal post is set at the back of the endzone and, to either side of the poles, there are two 30 ft wide rebound nets that keep the ball in play if a 3pt FG or 1pt PAT attempt is missed. Likewise, kickoffs that hit the nets are considered live balls and, if they go through the goal posts, count as a 1pt Rouge so that all kickers aim for it when kicking the ball after a touchdown completion.

A Rouge counts as 1pt. If a player is tackled in the endzone attempting a return, is intercepted in the endzone, fumbled through the endzone, or as a penalty point is awarded to a team for an intentional attempt to injure another player, fighting, or sideline interference. A Double Rouge (aka DR) is a Safety or a Conversion after a touchdown running the ball. Safetys caused by the defense results in the offense keeping the ball on their own 20yd line unless they cause the Safety when they must punt the ball to the opposing team from their own 20yd line. The Play clock is 35 seconds from play to play.

An offensive TD counts 6pts, they can kick a 1pt PAT conversion kick from the 20-yd line or pass/run 2pt try from the 2yd line. A defensive TD counts 5pts and there is no kick for a PAT. The offense must try a PAT for 2pts following from the 10-yard line after a defensive TD. Within an opposing team's 10-yard line, a team must score a touchdown or turn the ball over. Players only need one foot in bounds for a catch to be legal and players are considered "down" only when they are touched by an opposing player if any part of their body is touching the ground other than their feet or hands.

Players must retain possession of the ball on all TD plays as losing control after crossing into the endzone is a fumble. Fumbles can be advanced while drop kicks and laterals are allowed but are "live" meaning they are the same as a fumble. All plays resulting in scoring or first downs are automatically reviewed but a team can call for a review risking a lost timeout if they lose the challenge. Teams are awarded two timeouts per quarter that pass to the next quarter and even from one half to the next if unused because they can be used for challenge calls. Any bad call can be challenged.

The USA-AFL does not call penalties that do not directly affect gameplay except where pass receivers may be involved. Unnecessary roughness calls are more common. A "red flag" is thrown when a player or coach is ejected for a quarter, half, or the rest of the game or for matters like challenging a call. Coaches or players throwing tantrums or getting in a referee's face screaming can result in a red flag "intimidation" penalty of 1pt. Red flag penalties can also be assessed against unruly fans and the groups that came with them resulting in an ejection from the stadium.

Overtime restrictions include no First Downs past midfield and ends when a team scores a touchdown. The home team always gets the ball first unless the game is on a neutral site at which time a coin toss decides who gets the ball first. All points count and if there is no touchdown, whoever has the most points wins. If the game remains tied, the game enters Sudden Death, and the first to score wins as there are no ties in the USA-AFL. The "Two-Minute Warning" at the end of each half drops each team to 3 downs and 11 players with the possibility of going "man down" to 10 players for one play if a red flag is thrown.

Teams allow commercial advertising on select areas of the uniforms, such as along the side of the leg, increasing the players' income. Such advertising must be approved and conform to certain rules as vulgarity is not allowed. On the sidelines, they may wear jackets and other items with such advertising but obviously not for opposing teams in the league. Teams operate under a profit-sharing platform and salary caps sometimes allowing other leagues to raid them of talent. Their "Minor" league farm system allows anyone to join who wishes to play pro football regardless of college experience.

USA-AFL schedules an equal number of night games to day games. They do not play against High School and College football schedules but while most of their games are on Sundays, they will play some games on other weekdays or Fridays and Saturdays when High School and College are not in play. Their season begins in Summer and ends in Winter playing three seasons out of the year. Teams are allowed two "alternate" uniform/helmet designs and one "throwback" uniform/helmet each year but otherwise, they wear a standard uniform approved by the league.

Although rare, the USA-AFL has allowed female kickers in the game and at least one female Quarterback. Tracking technology in footballs makes it illegal for players to intentionally throw them into a crowd resulting in a 10-yard penalty and a hefty fine. Television timeouts were ended as technology improved allowing commercials while still airing the game picture in picture during downtime. Cheerleaders and mascots gain more attention during downtime for this reason. When one team is blowing out another, the team with a commanding lead must substitute their backup players to give them playing time.

Birmingham Grizzlies

Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company ( SSSIC ) was founded in 1882 by James W. Sloss , one of the founding fathers of Birmingham, Alabama. Sloss made his fortune with the backing of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) and Alabama Great Southern Railroad before selling majority ownership to the Virginia Syndicate when the price of pig iron collapsed in 1887. Joseph Bryan then took over as President founding an American football team called the Birmingham Athletic Club (Birmingham Iron Workers*) whose mascot was a pig named Bessie* (Bessemer) in 1892.

Bryan's death in 1908 turned operations over to John C. Maben who bought a visiting team of black players called the Muncie Grizzlies to play in the USA-AFL. Forced out in 1918 by James W. McQueen , Maben took the Iron Workers to rival Kirkman O'Neal , of Southern Steel Works, who arranged for them to play at Legion Field as the Steelworkers*. Drawing players from the University of Alabama and Auburn University alumni, O'Neal next bought the failing Grizzlies and merged the two teams retaining the Grizzlies identity but recreating the Steelworkers as a development team.

Next, O'Neal bought what remained of the Newark Bears of the 1926 AFL after they were raided by the Staten Island Stapletons to gain support in a much larger market for pro football. He even called the team the Newark Bears when playing northeastern teams until the USA-AFL put a stop to it in 1930. Sometimes they would swap the teams' identities until they were made aware of the BCRFU in Vancouver B.C. selling steel to shipbuilders there. In 1941 they bought the Vancouver Grizzlies' from owners Italo ‘Tiny’ Rader and journalist Jim Coleman of the Western Interprovincial Football Union .

U.S. Pipe bought Sloss in 1952 and in 1965 divested the Grizzlies' to an ownership group fronted by R. L. Zeigler Co., Inc. which was part-owned by Paul "Bear" Bryant . The Alabama Hawks merged with the Birmingham Steelworkers in 1972 and their identity was passed on to a women's team that began developing for the Women's National Football League (WNFL)* that began play in 1974. Vancouver businessman Nelson Skalbania then secretly bought majority ownership of the Grizzlies to further his ambitions of expanding the Canadian Football League into the United States.

Skalbania would also back fellow Canadian William "Bill" Putman putting a team in the new World Football League and the Birmingham Americans in 1974. They were owned by a group of Atlanta businessmen calling themselves Alabama Football, Inc. that consisted of Lon L. Day , Cecil Day , and Jay Donnely of Day’s Inn Corporation , Harry D. Ruffin, William Parker, James B. Price, Max Price, Neal Andrews and developer Erv Plesko . Fronting the group was team President Carol Stallworth (aka "the Blonde"), wife of wealthy Ryder Truck exec Jim Stallworth both of whom were also ownership investors.

The Americans won the WFL championship but then financially collapsed and their assets were sold at auction. The Grizzlies' bought the championship trophy (discovered 30 years later in a Legion Field supply room) and also assumed the Alabama Football, Inc. name for their ownership group. Some of the owners formed a new WFL team the following season called the Birmingham Vulcans behind Ferd Weil , A.E. "Pee Wee" Burgess , Crawford Toy Johnson III , Robert Hugh Daniel , Thomas E. Rast , Edwin Ashton, Howard Buchanan, William Kelce, Fred H. Hallmark , Fred Sington , James Lee, and George Simmons.

The Vulcans were declared the WFL champions in the shortened 1975 WFL season after the league collapsed and the owners, some investing in both teams, then joined with financial investor Frank Falkenburg bringing their assets to the Grizzlies' organization. They would be awarded the Memphis Grizzlies' identity from John F. Bassett but the team itself was awarded to the USA-AFL Memphis Maulers*. Alabama Football Inc., then purchased the AFA Alabama Vulcans in 1980, AFA Alabama Magic in 1982 and Marvin L. Warners USFL Birmingham Stallions in 1986.

They relinquished the Stallions name to Kentucky as was the standard practice where franchise identities are concerned. They next absorbed the Birmingham Fire from the World League of American Football in 1992 merging them with the Birmingham Steelworkers. Alabama Football Inc., became Alabama Sports Inc.,* which purchased the Birmingham Barracudas from Arthur L. Williams after the CFL's failed effort to expand into the United States in 1993. ASI recycled the Barracuda's identity for their baseball team after Williams bought 42% controlling interest in the Grizzlies and merged the Barracudas with the Steelworkers.

O'Neal Industries (former Southern Steel Works) had been majority owners of the Grizzlies until Williams bought enough stock to become the second largest investor in the team. Selling Williams just enough stock to become the single largest stockholder, O'Neal Industries retained full ownership of the Steelworkers buying the RFL's Mobile Admirals , who won that leagues championship game, to merge with the Steelworkers in 1999. The XFL's Birmingham Thunderbolts were next having survived for one season before that league folded in 2000.

While purchased by Alabama Sports Inc., the Thunderbolts' identity would be transferred to the USA-AFL Washington Sports Inc., which owned the Seattle Thunderbolts (allegedly for twenty kegs of beer). When the UNGL failed to play in 2010, the Alabama Blackbirds identity was purchased by the ASI for its women's soccer team. Lastly, they purchased the Birmingham Iron from the Alliance of American Football in 2019 using them to revamp the struggling Steelworkers franchise giving their colors, logo, and shortened identity to the Birmingham Steelworkers who became the new Birmingham Iron.
Team Colors: Brown Jersey, Burned Orange Helmet, White Pants, and Orange Sidestriping
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Brown Helmet, Burned Orange Pants, and Orange Sidestriping




Mascot: 1) Beauregard Bear is based on the story of the Teddy Bear honoring former President, Theodore Roosevelt and an Alabama Black Bear .

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Mascot: 2) Grizzly Jim ("The Griz") was created to honor a fan.

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Cheerleading Squad: B'ham Honey Bears

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Team Nicknames: Birmingham Bruins

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Booster Club: Alabama Football Association, Inc. (The Bears Den, aka Southern Fried Football)

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Sister City: Birmingham, England: Birmingham Beasts (former London Ravens ).



USA-AFL Divisional Championships: 1947, 1959, 1961, 1969, 1974, 1981, 1983, 1989, 1994, 1995, 2009, 2015
USA-AFL Conference Championships: 1949, 1950, 1969, 1974, 1983, 2015
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships: 1969, 1983, 2015

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World Football League ( World Bowl ): 1974 Birmingham Americans ; 1975 Birmingham Vulcans



Legacy Teams

Muncie 1911
Muncie Grizzlies 1912, 1913
Newark Bears 1926 AFL
Vancouver Grizzlies' 1941
Alabama Hawks 1969 CoFL
Birmingham Americans 1974 WFL
Birmingham Vulcans 1975 WFL
Memphis Grizzlies 1975 (name only) WFL
Alabama Vulcans 1979 American Football Association
Alabama Magic 1982 American Football Association
Birmingham Stallions 1983-1985 USFL
Birmingham Fire 1991-92 World League of American Football
Birmingham Barracudas 1995 Canadian Football Leagues
Mobile Admirals 1999 Regional Football League
Birmingham Thunderbolts 2001 XFL
Birmingham Iron 2018-2019 Alliance of American Football  
Birmingham Iron (aka Steelworkers)


In 1920, the Birmingham Grizzlies revived the Birmingham Steelworkers as a secondary team in the Southeastern Football League* which served as a development league for the USA-AFL. The primary difference between the leagues is that the SEFL was a sandlot league generally using young adults who didn't graduate high school and barely had more than the football to play with in relation to gear. They would develop a youth league and gradually evolve into a true semi-pro league in the 1930s.

In 1969, the Grizzlies bought the Continental Football League Alabama Hawks merging much of the team with the Steelworkers and later using the Hawk's identity for their women's team. When the SEFL became a subsidiary league of the Universal Football League, they immediately rose in prominence but, after years of failing to make the playoffs, bought the Birmingham Iron when the Alliance of American Football failed in 2019. They adopted the Iron identity, colors, and logo leading to a 2020 championship.

The Birmingham Iron operates under what's called the Alabama Football Development System* (under the ASI) where they oversee the Tier system for Alabama teams. The AFDS is designed to offer opportunities to players who don't get college opportunities or fail to progress beyond that level. The best players find their way to the Birmingham Iron and then to the Grizzlies if they are fortunate.

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Team Colors: Black Jersey, Silver Helmet, and White Pants
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Silver Helmet, and Black Pants

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Mascot: Their mascot through all the years remained "Bessie" who would be replaced each year with another piglet descended from a single bloodline. At the end of each season, the pig is retired to live out a full life producing litters of piglets that are then sold, or given, to fans. While Bessie is almost always a female pig, the team's human mascot is a metal-clad pig called Mr. Pig wielding a maul. Mr. Pig is actually generates a good source of revenue for the team in merchandising.

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Championships

Mobile Admirals 1999 Regional Football League Championship

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Legacy Teams

Birmingham Fire 1991-92 World League of American Football
Birmingham Barracudas 1995 Canadian Football League
Mobile Admirals 1999 Regional Football League
Alabama Vulcans (1979 American Football Association )

Legacy Teams

Indianapolis Indians 1933 An Independent team that competed against the NFL purchased after they folded mid-season becoming the Alabama Indians* until merging with the Vulcans.
The Alabama UFL teams call themselves the Alabama Football League* and at the end of their regular season, the top four teams play against one another and then play a championship game determining the state champion. The Alabama All-Stars then play for the Birmingham Vulcans Tier II

Birmingham Vulcans (1961-1962 Dixie Professional Football League)
Huntsville Rockets (1963 - 64 Dixie Professional Football League)
Gadsden Raiders (1961-62 DPFL, 1963-64 Alabama Raiders SPFL)
Montgomery Bobcats* (1961 DPFL Montgomery Confederates )
Delta Blues* (Florence; Quad Cities; 1962 Anniston Victors DPFL; 1982 Alabama Magic AFA)
Selma Falcons (1961 Dixie Professional Football League)
Auburn Eagles* (1963-64 Alabama Hawks CoFL; Birmingham Freedom NAFL )
Tuscaloosa Magic (1982 Alabama Magic; American Football Association
Mobile Destroyers* (1964 Mobile Buccaneers SPFL)
Dothan Cowboys (1964 SPFL)
Birmingham Kings

Legacy Teams

Dothan Outlawz (2014-15 X-League Indoor Football ; 2017 APF )
Alabama Hammers (Decatur 2011 SIFL ; 2012-15 PIFL )
Montgomery Bears (2005-2006 Maulers NIFL ; 2007 Bears AIFA )
Anniston Steeldogs (2000-2008 Alabama Steeldogs Arena Football League )
Mobile Vipers (1988-97 ESFL); Mobile Seagulls (2000 IPFL ; 2001 NIFL ); (2002 Mobile Wizards AR2; Mobile Bay Tarpons (2011 SIFL )
Tennessee Valley Vipers (Huntsville 2000-04 AF2 ; 2005 UIF ; 2006-09 AF2; 2010 Alabama Vipers AFL )    





Alabama Sports Inc.,

Birmingham Grizzlies (USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
Birmingham Steelworkers/Iron (AFF)
Huntsville Hawks (WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
Birmingham Kings (NMFL; Arena Football)

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Birmingham Barracudas (USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

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Alabama Yellowhammers (USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; Huntsville)
Birmingham Blackbirds (USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

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Birmingham Blaze (USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

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Birmingham Skyhawks (USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
Birmingham Skyhawks (USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

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Birmingham Barons (USA-AHL Former Cleveland Barons; Pro Hockey)

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Mobile Bay Bombshells (USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

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Mobile Bay Bombshells (USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

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USA-ACA (United States All-American Camellia Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf and Olympic-style competitions)

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Alabama Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

Mississippi Gamblers

The San Francisco Athletic Club primarily formed as a boxing club but members also played football being one of the original progenitors for the USA-AFL in 1890. Calling themselves the San Francisco Saloons,* they created a rival based on Sir Francis Drake and the two merged in 1905 retaining the San Francisco Drakes* identity. In 1915, they became the San Francisco Gold Rush* before going Independent and becoming the San Francisco Tigers of the Pacific Coast League in 1926. They would rejoin the USA-AFLs Gold Coast Division* as the San Francisco Gamblers* and go on a winning streak through the 1930s.

During the 1940s, the USA-AFL would have five teams in California beginning with the Gamblers, L.A. Gladiators, L.A. Lions (Long Beach),* Oakland Emperors,* and San Diego Dragons*. The PCPFL and the 1944 AFL emerged to challenge them forcing the Gamblers, Dragons and AFL San Francisco Bay Packers to merge then move on. They chose Houston, Texas seeing it as a wide-open market, and sold majority ownership in the rechristened Houston Gamblers* to oilman Glenn McCarthy who further established an AFF team called the Texas Tycoons* as uniquely his alone.

McCarthy's fortunes came and went as a wildcatter and in 1955 he was forced to sell the Gamblers to ex-Mayor Roy Hofheinz known better as an owner of the Colt 45's/Houston Astros MLB franchise and as the man responsible for the Houston Astrodome . Gulf Oil became a major investor in the team by 1960 as would various gambling interests in Mississippi which had always been a haven for gambling even before the arrival of Europeans. Natives had many forms of gambling including one game in particular called ishtaboli (stickball) where they might gamble away all their possessions, their freedom, or even their lives.

The Heidelberg Oil Boom that began in 1944 established Mississippi as an oil state but this was fading by 1970 just as religious groups had all but killed legalized gambling in the state except along the Gulf Coast. This had allowed minority ownership of the team to be purchased in 1969 by a frontman for singing sensation Elvis Presley who had a lifetime love for football . Elvis also purchased sole ownership of the Tycoons relocating them to Tennessee as the Memphis Hound Dogs in 1968 followed soon after by the Gamblers who fell under the control of Mississippi Sports Inc.,.

The Gamblers would be purchased by a consortium of several wealthy country, blues, and jazz singers invited to join Presley with him as the largest single investor. Mississippi is where Elvis was born and while based in Memphis, the Gamblers played in Jackson, Mississippi. The USA-AFL would invest in this move because they intended to place a team in Mississippi and the leagues' revenue-sharing strategy made this possible. Presley sold off his ownership in his teams after his fortunes took a tumble, and, after his death in 1977, singer Kenny Rogers became the majority investor.

With the dissolution of the USFL in 1986, the Memphis Showboats were bought by the Gamblers and merged with it while their name would be provided to their women's franchise. By 2000, Mississippi had restored gambling along the Mississippi River and to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians who have since invested heavily into the Mississippi Gamblers. Because the Mississippi Gamblers are investor-owned, leadership is an elected process where the CEO is elected for five years and the General Manager is chosen and answers directly to them.



Team Colors: Black Jersey, Gold Helmet, White Pants and Red Sidestriping
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Black Helmet, Gold Pants and Red Sidestriping



Mascot:

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Cheerleading Squad: Rowdy Girls

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Team Nicknames:

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Booster Club: Aces & Eights

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Sister City: Perth, Australia



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships:

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Other Championships

Memphis Southmen 1974 Central Division Champions WFL



Legacy Teams

San Francisco Tigers ( PCL 1926)
Oakland Giants (PCFL 1943)
San Francisco Bay Packers (PCFL 1943)
Richmond Boilermakers (PCFL 1943)
San Francisco Clippers (1944 AFL VII; 1945-47 PCPFL)
Oakland Hornets (1944 AFL VII)
Houston Gamblers (USFL 1983-1985)
Memphis Southmen/Grizzlies ( WFL 1974-75)
Mississippi Stars (AFA 1979)
Memphis Showboats ( USFL 1984-86)
Mississippi Pride RFL 1999
Gulf Coast Stingrays (2000-2001)


Columbus Warriors (Began as Tuscaloosa Warriors in Alabama)

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Championships

   

   

 


Legacy Teams

Mississippi Firedogs (1999-2002)
Mississippi Mudcats ( American Indoor Football 2007-2009)
Tupelo Fireants (2001-2005)


   



Mississippi Sports Inc.,

(USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
(AFF)
(WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
(NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

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(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; Huntsville)
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

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(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

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(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

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(USA-AHL Former Cleveland Barons; Pro Hockey)

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(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

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(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

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USA-AMA (United States All-American Camellia Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf and Olympic-style competitions)

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Mississippi Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

Arkansas Gators

Coaldale, Pennsylvania formed from smaller mining towns that became consolidated in 1871 when a post office firmly established the name. would soon after be bought out by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company . James H. Gildea was a newspaper publisher born of Irish heritage and from a family of relatively famous 19th-century footballers both in the US and Europe. Thus, it was only natural for him to have an interest in football merging two smaller local teams (the Old Street Stars and the Coaldale Rosebuds) Coaldale Big Green in 1912.

The Louisiana & Arkansas Railroad was founded in 1898 by businessmen William Buchanan , William C. Edenborn and Henry C. Couch . Couch was the founder of several power and light companies in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana investing heavily in hydroelectric dams. Forming a partnership with Sydney Z. Mitchell of Alabama Power Development Company (precursor of Alabama Power and The Electric Bond and Share Company ) and Thomas H. Barton . Together they would found Arkansas Sports Inc., and then they began searching for ways to make their football team successful.

The Big Green would become one of the dominant teams in the state of Pennsylvania winning the Curran Cup in 1921, 1922, and 1923. Scheduling games and preventing other teams from raiding your players during the season lead Gildea to call a meeting for the purpose of forming a league meant to address these problems. The Anthracite League was officially launched in 1924 but would last only one season because the teams broke almost every rule from the start. So frustrated by this, Gildea removed the Big Green from the league and it folded at the end of its first year after naming the Pottsville Maroons as champion.

Gildea would try again in 1926 with the Eastern League of Professional Football meeting with many of the same issues playing one complete season and folding midway through the second. The Coaldale Big Green survived until 1933 when the team was sold to Arkansas Sports Inc., who merged them with the Clifton Heights Orange & Black creating a traveling team called the Georgia Gators* because they did not possess a stadium. Playing in Atlanta and Tampa Bay, the Gators routinely changed the name of their team based on the city they played the most games in until the Atlanta Saber-Cats forced the Gators to stay in Florida.

Thomas H. Barton gained majority ownership of the team from Ebasco by 1950 and Lion Oil Refining Company was proving extremely successful. The Gators finally relocated to Arkansas backed by the USA-AFL's with a combination of community investors and league revenue sharing making the move possible. Barton's death in 1960 resulted in a search for new owners that ultimately resulted in J.B. Hunt gaining majority ownership in 1968 facing the upstart Arkansas Diamonds of the Continental Football League .

The rivalry would last until 1970 when the Gators purchased the Diamonds from the CoFL which then folded itself and was purchased by the USA-AFL five months later. The 1960s and 70s saw a number of good ol' boys movies that heavily impacted the culture across America and the Arkansas Gators capitalized on by investing in a series of low-budget movies that were nonetheless profitable. In the 1980s, several executives for Walmart Inc., invested in the team vastly increasing its net worth and players for the Gators are given executive positions in various enterprises with longterm employment contracts.




Team Colors: Green Jersey, Green Helmet, White Pants, and Green & Yellow Sidestriping
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Black Helmet, Yellow Pants, and Green & White Sidestriping



Mascot:

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Cheerleading Squad:

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Team Nicknames: The Big Green (Retained from the Coaldale team)

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Booster Club:

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Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships:

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Other Championships





Legacy Teams

Coaldale Big Green (1912-23 Independent; 1924 Anthracite League ; 1925 Ind; 1926 Eastern League of Professional Football ; 1927-33 Ind.)
Clifton Heights Orange & Black (1921-25 Ind; 1926 Eastern League of Professional Football ; 1927-32 Ind.)
Georgia Gators (1934-64 Atlanta/Tampa Bay Gators)
Arkansas Diamonds 1966-67 Independent; 1968-69 Continental Football League



Arkansas Diamonds 1966-67 Independent; 1968-69 Continental Football League

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Championships




Arkansas Diamonds (Arkansas Twisters 2000-2010 AF2 ; Arkansas Diamonds 2010 IFL ; Allen Wranglers 2011-12 IFL; Texas Revolution 2013-14 IFL, 2014 -19 CIF )

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Championships

2017 Champions Indoor Football ( Champions Bowl III )

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Legacy Teams









Arkansas Sports Inc.,

(USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
(AFF)
(WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
(NMFL; Arena Football)

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Ozark Snakes (USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

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(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; Huntsville)
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

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(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

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(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

---

(USA-AHL Former Cleveland Barons; Pro Hockey)

---

(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

---

(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

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USA-AABA (United States All-American Apple Blossom Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf and Olympic-style competitions)

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Arkansas Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

Memphis Maulers

Created in 1896 as the Shelby Tube Works Football Team , they became the Shelby Athletic Association in 1900 winning two consecutive state championships. Teams like the Shelby Tigers and Shelby Thunderbolts competed against the Shelby A.A. who became the Shelby Athletic Club and joined the Ohio League for the 1902 season. The Shelby A.C. then became the Shelby Blues in 1905, due to their blue uniforms, and tied with the Shelby Tigers for the 1910 Ohio League championship. Merging in 1911, they won the championship outright while players that did not make the cut formed a new Shelby Tigers team.

This team was sponsored by Ransom E. Olds who created the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in 1897 and then had a falling out with his partner Samuel L. Smith in 1904 leading to the formation of REO Motor Car Company . When the USA-AFL formed in 1907, Olds began buying up teams in Ohio and Michigan to establish better leadership and players before joining in 1911. The Shelby Tigers now played in Shelby County, Tennessee so there was no immediate need to change the name when they became the USA-AFL champions in 1915 and again in 1919 after buying the Aurora Greyhounds from its Illinois owners.

In 1920, REO began developing a new concept car called the Pharoah* with an auto manufacturer in Memphis known as Southern Automobile Mfg. Co., . It featured a Doberman Pinscher hood ornament but then REO stopped producing cars in 1921 but retained its connections to ancient Egypt via Native American mound builders . The Greyhounds had been associated with the Egyptian God Anubis and then they purchased a team called the Fort Wayne Pyramids pairing it with the Fort Wayne Tanks in 1924 complete with cartoon images keeping Anubis behind the wheel driving a tank.

But the Greyhounds weren't done as in 1925 they purchased the Jonesboro Flyers , a team that began in 1905 as the Congerville Thirds who got their interesting name from a particular type of touring car produced by their owners the E.R. Thomas Motor Company and whose name represented speed. They became the Flyers by 1915 merging with the Congerville Eagles and Congerville Athletic Club in 1916 under owner Cooney Checkaye . Their neighborhood was absorbed into the larger city of Muncie in 1919 as part of the Greater Muncie Movement and became founding members of the NFL in 1920.

Playing only two snakebit seasons in the NFL, they went Independent again in 1922 as the Congerville Flyers before moving to Jonesboro. Then came their merger with the Shelby Blues in 1928 bringing them full circle becoming the Memphis Blues* representing the city's Blues music heritage and adding the Cincinnati Blues in 1932 completing their rebirth. Another team called the New Bry’s Hurricanes began play in 1927 that was named after New Bry's Department Store (aka Bry-Block Mercantile Co.,) whose President, Edward M. Solomon , sponsored the team owned by sports writer Early Maxwell .

Selling the team to Clarence Saunders in 1928, the team was renamed the Sole Owner Tigers because Saunders founded Piggly Wiggly supermarkets before losing it, along with the commercial rights to his name, in a stock market gamble that failed. He would rebuild his fortunes with Keedoozle , Foodelectric , Sole Owner Gro's., the Pink Palace Museum and as the first to use political advertising in newspapers. His Tigers beat the NFL Champion Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears in 1929 earning an invitation to join the NFL which he declined then lost everything in the 1929 Stock Market Crash.

Saunders's claim to beating the undefeated Packers helped sell the team to a man named Seymour A. Goodman who officially named the team as the Memphis Tigers and it remained one, if not the, most successful Independent team in the nation. Goodman used his influence to create the 1934 version of the AFL which folded after one season and the Tigers returned for one partial season in 1935 bankrolled by Wilson Murrah. The lasting legacy of this team is that after years of calling themselves the Tigers off and on, the University of Memphis adopting the name as an homage to this pro team.

Ransom formed a new ownership group (fic) that included himself, Saunders, and Goodman with Saunders completing a 70,000-seat stadium called Sole Owner Stadium* as their home field. In 1939, they purchased the Nashville Rebels which folded after two struggling seasons in the AFL IV/APFA . However, the USA-AFL already had a team with the name Tigers in Baltimore and a game between the two resulted in Memphis retaining the Greyhound's identity. The Memphis Tigers became their AFF franchise under Rebels owner James W. Cocke who retained ownership of the Tier II Nashville Rebels.

Team ownership included partnerships such as John Schorr of Tennessee Brewing Co ., who bought a minority interest in the team (fic) to promote Goldcrest 51 beer sales. It is he who renamed the team as the Memphis Maulers after the word mauler defining a long-handled hammer for beating, battering, mangling, ripping or savagely tearing such as a big cat or dog might do. REO then became Nuclear Corporation of America Inc., a nuclear industry services company, which became Nucor in 1972 and began entering the metal recycling business.

F. Kenneth Iverson then took over relocating company headquarters to Charlotte, N.C. but left the Maulers behind in Memphis. They retained ownership of the team in partnership with White Motor Company which, ironically enough, had earlier purchased REO's surviving truck line in 1957. Pit Bulls were decided upon to represent the new team and they gained the nickname Junkyard Dawgs because their owners were involved in the scrap industry. The new owners liked the idea of a pitbull for it's ferocity, it's strength and it's ability to bring down others much bigger or more powerful than itself.

They would win the 1965 Ultra Bowl championship game and became minority owned by Volvo in 1981 after they bought out the White Car Company. They purchased the Memphis Grozzlies in 1975 from their owner John F. Bassett after he failed to gain entry into the NFL when the WFL folded. The Memphis Showboats (1984-85) of the USFL (1983-85) would be transferred to the USA-AFL Mississippi Gamblers* and efforts to bring an NFL team to Memphis resulted in an expansion CFL called the Memphis Mad Dogs in 1995.

Frederick W. Smith , founder of FedEx , owned the Mad Dogs and assumed a controlling interest in the Maulers when the teams became one. A few years later in 2001, the failed XFL introduced the Memphis Maniax and the Maulers inherited what was left of this team after the USA-AFL purchased that league. Winning the 2002 Ultra Bowl championship the team would fall on difficult times until the Alliance of American Football introduced the Memphis Express in 2019 which was owned by one person (similar to the 2001 XFL) and ironically linked to Fred Smiths FedEx.






Team Colors: White Jersey, Black Helmet, Silver Pants, and Blue & Orange Sidestriping
Alt Colors: Black Jersey, Black Helmet, White Pants, and Blue & Orange Sidestriping



Mascot: Anubis, a Doberman pinscher descended from the teams' first mascot

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Cheerleading Squad:

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Team Nicknames: Junkyard Dawgs

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Booster Club:

---

Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships: 1965, 2002

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Other Championships

Shelby Athletic Association 1900, 1901 Ohio State Champions
Ohio League Champions shared between the Shelby Blues / Shelby Tigers 1910; Shelby Blues 1911




Legacy Teams

Shelby Tigers
Shelby Thunderbolts
The Shelby Second Team
The Fairgrounds Team
Muncie Congerville A.C. 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915
Muncie Magic City A.A. 1910
Muncie Avondale Tigers 1911, 1912, 1913
Muncie / Congerville / Jonesboro Flyers (1905-1927)
Fort Wayne Pyramids 1919 - 1929
Muncie Industry A.C. 1914
Muncie Avondale A.A. 1916
Muncie Greys 1917
Muncie Avondale A.A. 1918
Muncie Avondale A.C. 1919
Muncie Heekin Park A.C. 1919
Shelby Blues (1900 - 1928, Team Colors / Blue & White)
Memphis Tigers (New Bry’s Hurricanes 1927, Tigers 1928 - 1935 AFL 1934
Knoxville Bears (1967 UAFL)
Chattanooga Redskins (1967 UAFL)
Memphis Mad Dogs 1995 CFL
Memphis Maniax 2001 XFL



Memphis Tigers ( New Bry’s Hurricanes Ind 1927; Sole Owner Tigers Ind 1928-29; Memphis Tigers Ind. 1930-33; AFL IV 1934-36)

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Championships


Nashville Rebels 1938







Arkansas Diamonds (Arkansas Twisters 2000-2010 AF2 ; Arkansas Diamonds 2010 IFL ; Allen Wranglers 2011-12 IFL; Texas Revolution 2013-14 IFL, 2014 -19 CIF )

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Championships

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Legacy Teams
   


Tennessee Sports Inc.,

Memphis Tigers (USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
(AFF)
Memphis Belles (WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
Memphis Pharaohs (NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

---

(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; )
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

---

(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

---

(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

---

(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

---

(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

---

(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

---

USA-AABA (United States All-American Iris Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf and Olympic-style competitions)

---

Tennessee Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

Shreveport Pirates

Forming in 1892 as the New Orleans Athletic Association and which became nicknamed the Swamp Foxes,* after Francis Marion . Becoming part of the Gulf States Football Association,* they joined teams including the Lafayette Pirates*, Baton Rouge Razorbacks*, Bossier City Gators*, Metairie Cajuns* and the Shreveport Raiders* which became merged as an Independent in 1913 under owner Peter Youree . His death in 1914 turned ownership of the Shreveport Raiders to his partner, barbed wire steel magnate and American Steel and Wire Company owner William Edenborn

Selling this company to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for $100 million dollars, Edenborn also co-owned the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway and the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company to name but a few of many investments. George Watson Parratt's rebuilt a powerful team called the Akron Indians on 1913 which he abandoned in 1916 to the Burkhardt Brewing Company forming the Akron Burkhardts which then became the Akron Pro's . Undaunted, Parratt created the Clevelend Indians in 1916 as part of the Ohio League that was sold in 1920 to the NFL's James M. O'Donnell and Stan Cofall who renamed them the Cleveland Tigers .

Purchasing and relocating the Cleveland Tigers to New Orleans in 1922, they rebranded themselves as the New Orleans Privateers* for the 1923 season after famed Louisiana privateer Jean Lafitte . Edenborn also invested in C.C. Pyle 1926 American Football League and his wife Sarah Drain Edenborn his investments when he died during the leagues first and only year playing in 1926. Sarah purchased the NFL's Los Angeles Buccaneers who became champion of the California Winter League in 1927 before merging with the Privateers in New Orleans.

Sarah sold a controlling interest in the team to Henry Heinzelman Timken of the The Louisiana Land And Exploration Company which he maintained until his death in 1940. The Timken Roller Bearing Company (renamed the Timken Company ) bought majority ownership in 1942 so that between them and LL&E they owned 100% of the team. Relocating to Lafayette, the Privateers finally won the USA-AFL World Series of Football championship in 1948 inviting businessman Louis J. Roussel, Jr and reclusive black developer Joe Bartholomew to create a development team called the New Orleans Voodoo Kings.*

When businessman David Dixon proposed a new league called the USFL in 1965, the Voodoo Kings sought to jump to the rival league only to learn it would not take the field and that Dixon was leveraging the NFL to put a team in Louisiana. That team would be the expansion New Orleans Saints and the intrigues caused by the Voodoo Kings forced the Privateers to relocate to Baton Rouge. In 1975, the USA-AFL purchased the assets of the defunct Shreveport Steamer from the WFL merging them with the Privateers while buying the Shreveport Steamers and Orlando/Shreveport Americans of the AFA for AFF development.

When David Dixon created the second USFL that actually took the field from 1983-85, the Boston Breakers relocated to New Orleans in 1984 and the Privateers moved to Australia for a season as the Gold Coast Privateers, Returning in 1985 when the Breakers relocated to Portland, their next challenge came from the Canadian Football League in 1994 when the Ottawa Rough Riders owner Bernard Glieberman sold his team to Bruce Firestone but gained an expansion team called the Shreveport Pirates . William Goldring of the Sazerac Company bought controlling ownership of the Privateers and Pirates but kept them in Shreveport as the Pirates.




Team Colors: Purple Jersey, Orange Helmet, Silver Pants, and Purple & Orange Sidestriping
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Orange Helmet, Purple Pants, and Purple & Orange Sidestriping



Mascot:

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Cheerleading Squad:

---

Team Nicknames:

---

Booster Club:

---

Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships: 1948

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Other Championships

California Winter League in 1927
AFA Champions: 1978






Legacy Teams

Lafayette Pirates*
Baton Rouge Razorbacks
Bossier City Gators
Metairie Cajuns*
Shreveport Raiders*
Cleveland Tigers (1919-20 NFL; Cleveland Indians 1916-19, 20-22 NFL)
New Orleans Privateers* (1923-84, 1986-93; Gold Coast Privateers 1985)
Shreveport Steamer (1974-75 WFL )
Shreveport Steamer (1977-81 AFA )
Orlando/Shreveport Americans (1982-83 AFA )
Shreveport Pirates (1994-95 Canadian Football League )





New Orleans Voodoo Kings*

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Championships












New Orleans Raiders*
Lafayette Privateers*
Baton Rouge Razorbacks
Bossier City Tigers*
Metairie Cajuns*
Shreveport Steamer*
New Orleans Jazz F.C. (2011 Stars Football League)
New Orleans Thunder (1999 RFL )
Shreveport Knights (1999 RFL)





New Orleans Voodoo (AFL 2003-2015)

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Championships

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Legacy Teams

New Orleans Night (AFL 1991-92)
Louisiana Bayou Beast (Professional Indoor Football League (1998); Indoor Professional Football League (1999); National Indoor Football League (2001)
Shreveport-Bossier Bombers (2000 IPFL )
Baton Rouge Blaze (2001 AF2)
Louisiana Roughnecks (2001 AF2)
Lake Charles Land Sharks (2001-04 NIFl )
Beaumont Drillers (Indoor Professional Football League (2000); National Indoor Football League (2001–2007); American Professional Football League (2008)
Houma Bayou Bucks (2002-04 NIFL)
Bossier–Shreveport Battle Wings (2001-09 AF2 )
Louisiana Swashbucklers (National Indoor Football League (2005);Intense Football League (2006–2008); Southern Indoor Football League (2009–2011); Professional Indoor Football League (2012–2013)
Hammond Heroes (2006 NIFL)
Twin City Gators (2006 NIFL)
Lafayette Wildcatters (2009 Acadian Mudbugs; 2010-12 Wildcatters SIFL )
Houma Conquerors (2009 SIFL)



   



Louisiana Sports Inc.,

Shreveport Pirates (USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
New Orleans Voodoo Kings (AFF)
Louisiana Voodoo Queens (WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
New Orleans Voodoo (NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

---

(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; )
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

---

(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

---

(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

---

(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

---

(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

---

(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

---

Women's Major League Volleyball

---

USA-AABA (United States All-American Iris Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf and Olympic-style competitions)

---

Louisiana Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

Louisville Stallions

Louisville's team begins with the Louisville Breckenridge Club (Brecks) in 1899 named for former US Vice President John C. Breckinridge and Secretary of War for the Confederacy . Ostensibly designed to promote health and well-being activities, this led to a youth football team called the Floyds and Brecks who remained together and had become a professional team by 1919 owned and sponsored by Aaron Hertzman. Claiming the mythical Falls City Championship and helping to found the Fall Cities Football Federation, Hertzman brought his team into the APFA (future NFL) in 1920.

BF Avery and Sons was a company that manufactured iron and steel plows for agriculture that had done well for themselves after moving from Clarksville VA to Louisville. An associate named Ben Schrader had founded a brewery called Falls City Brewing Company where he united local grocers and tavern owners against Central Consumers Company to break their growing monopoly in the region. Founding a team called the Louisville Blue Jays,* (aka Kentucky Blues*) Schrader eventually sought sponsorship from the Averys who took over ownership of the team having been supporters of the Brecks.

Poor management by Hertzman led the Brecks to suspend operations in the NFL for the 1924 season and Hertzman became the NFL's Sergeant of Arms. Returning in 1926 as the Louisville Colonels for one final NFL season as a traveling team out of Chicago. The USA-AFL purchased the team in 1927 and merged it with the Blue Jays forming the Louisville Kentuckians* who soon found themselves competing with stiff competition when a company called American Rolling Mill Company (Armco) formed not one, but two, teams with the Ashland Armco Yellowjackets in Kentucky playing in the Tri-States Football League .

The Middletown Armco Blues in Ohio played as Independents with ARMCO's teams gaining tremendous fan support but the Great Depression brought both teams to an end in 1930. Purchased by the USA-AFL, the teams became part of the Kentuckians with ARMCO being given stock options where they became majority owners by 1935. This was an ideal arrangement because ARMCO was already providing good-paying jobs to their players which was a standard USA-AFL practice. ARMCO then purchased the Louisville Bantams in 1931 and the Louisville Bourbons (1931-1935) both of the 1934 AFL .

They also picked up a team called the Louisville Tanks became available in 1940 having replaced the Louisville Bourbons in 1934 winning four consecutive championships in the MFL/AFL IV . American Standard Companies owned became the majority owner of the Tanks and they also purchased the MFL/AFL Dayton Bombers convincing John "Shipwreck" Kelly to join with them in the venture. The new Louisville Tanks became a powerhouse during WWII, retaining the "Kentuckians" name for their development team to honor the frontier and military heritage of the state. The Tanks next purchased the Louisville Raiders of the United Football League in 1962 trying to restore their competitive edge.

By the late '70s, the Tanks had not seen a winning season in years and purchased the Kentucky Trackers from the AFA in 1980 using it to rebuild the Kentuckians (who kept the Trackers identity as a nickname). Ohio would prove important to the development of the Kentucky team and Cincinnati especially so. A failed effort to put an NFL team in that city called the Cincinnati Romans brought new support for the Tanks. That process would continue when the USA-AFL purchased the Birmingham Stallions from the USFL in 1986 but the Grizzlies did not want to change their name and the Tanks were ready for a change.

For a state known as the horse racing capital of America, they had always used horses as part of their identity since the days of the Brecks and Colonels. The Louisville Stallions (aka Kentucky Stallions) identity proved a good move because it played into state pride and built more support for the team in good times... and bad. In 2008, ownership of the team fell to Ingersoll-Rand who purchased Trane , the successor of American Standards Company. Their primary colors reflect the red, white/silver, and blue of the US flag with blue as a dominant color with a bit of gold to represent bourbon.





Team Colors: Blue Jersey, Red Helmet, Silver Pants, and Silver & Gold Sidestriping
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Silver Helmet, Blue Pants, and Silver & Gold Sidestriping



Mascot:

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Cheerleading Squad: Kentucky Belles

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Team Nicknames: Kentucky Blues

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Booster Club:

---

Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships:

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Other Championships








Legacy Teams

Louisville Brecks (1899-1919 Ind., 1920-1924 NFL)
Dayton Oakwoods (1908-1919)
Cleveland Broadway A.C. 1910
Cleveland Hinkle A.C. 1910
Cleveland Wayne A.C. All-Stars 1910, 1911
Cleveland Erin Braus 1911
Cleveland Genesee A.C. 1911
Cleveland Neagle Indians 1911
Cleveland Tuxedo A.C. 1911
Cincinnati Cliftons 1911
Cincinnati Christ Church Reds 1911 - 1917
Cincinnati Northside A.C. 1912
Cincinnati Oakwoods 1912
Cincinnati Y.M.I. 1912
Cincinnati Crimson A.C. 1913
Cleveland Tomahawks 1913
Cincinnati Price Hill 1914
Cincinnati Shamrock-Crimson 1914
Dayton Triangles (1917-1930 Dayton St. Marys Cadets , 1913-1915, Dayton Cadets 1916)
Louisville Bonnycastle Club Wildcats (1919-1931)
Dayton Coors (1922-1929)
Cincinnati Potters 1926
Cincinnati Friars (1926)
Louisville Colonels (1926 NFL)
Ashland Armco Yellowjackets (1926-1929)
Middletown Armco Blues (1926-1930)
Cincinnati National Guards (1927-1929)
Louisville Bourbons (1931-34 Independent, 1935 MFL)
Cleveland Bulldogs 1932
Cincinnati Blues (1932)
Louisville Tanks ( Midwest Football League (1935-1937); American Football League (1938); APFA (1939)
Louisville Raiders (1960-1962 UFL)







Louisville Tanks (Original name was the Louisville Kentuckians before 1980 when the parent team became the Stallions). The Kentuckians then purchased the Kentucky Trackers from which they gained their nickname as the Trackers. Lastly, they became the new Nine-Man identity when the AFF team became the Tanks. It was owned by AK Steel Holding until 2020 when it was purchased by Cleveland Cliffs .

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Championships



















Louisville Kentuckians created in 1981 when the AFF team chose to be renamed after the Louisville Tanks who became the Louisville Stallions. The team is owned by Ashland Oil Co., (Separate company from ARMCO) and their team logo would include a bottle of bourbon and a wolfskin-wearing frontiersman on the tank although few may have noticed.

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Championships

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Legacy Teams

Louisville Bulls 1988-2011
Owensboro Rage 2011-2013
Northern Kentucky River Monsters 2010-2014
Northern Kentucky Nightmare 2016
Louisville Fire 2001-2008
Louisville Xtreme 2012-2014
Kentucky Drillers 2010-2013
Kentucky Horsemen 2002-2009
Bluegrass Warhorses 2013-2014






   


Kentucky Sports Inc.,

Louisville/Kentucky Stallions (USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
Louisville Tanks(AFF)
(WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
Louisville Kentuckians (NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

---

(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; )
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

---

(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

---

(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

---

(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

---

(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

---

(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

---

Women's Major League Volleyball

---

USA-AABA (United States All-American Goldenrod Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf, and Olympic-style competitions)

---

Kentucky Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

Texas Undertakers

Joseph S. Cullinan was a successful businessman from New Castle, Pennsylvania manufacturing steel storage tanks as the owner of a company called Petroleum Iron Works. The Mayor of Corsicana, Texas had become an acquaintance of Cullinan and consulted him about building oil production facilities for the oil boom taking place there at this time in 1894. This led to the founding of the J. S. Cullinan Company , an enterprise that would later be absorbed into the Magnolia Petroleum Company before merging with Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., into what became Mobil and then ExxonMobil . Moving to Beaumont, Texas to exploit the Spindletop Oilfield , Cullinan founded Texas Fuel Company (aka Texaco ) in 1902.

On a return visit to Pennsylvania in 1903, Cullinan purchased and merged the Oil City Athletic Club and its rival the Franklin Athletic Club seeking to build a powerhouse. Both had been involved in a bidding war for players forcing Oil City to fold while Franklin AC won the 1903 World Series of Football in 1902 which greatly interested Cullinan. Employing staff from both teams, he put together a team called the Oil City Monarchs* before relocating to Beaumont retaining the new team's identity. John W. (Bet A Million) Gates was the president of Republic Steel and the Texas Company having made his fortune in barbed wire as one of the founders of the American Steel and Wire Company along with William Edenborn .

William Ross Ewing,* a third cousin of Vacuum Oil founder Matthew Ewing ), received backing from Hiram B. Everest to purchase the Jeanette Athletic Club Indians in 1906 and moved the team to become the Houston Indians. The two teams played one another as traveling teams until Gates's death in 1911 and new investor Samuel W. Allen of the Allen Ranch became involved. Allen would change the name of the team to the Houston Stallions to reflect his love for horses and the use of horsepower to define the growing number of automobiles being seen across Texas. Players for both teams were provided with opportunities in the rich oil fields where some became wealthy in their own right.

Ewing then purchased the Youngstown Patricians after the 1919 season having fallen in love with the team's motto "With Malice to None and a Square Deal to all" and then joining the USA-AFL soon after. They would merge their teams and then build from within enjoying moderate success before they won the championship in 1934. The team's ownership groups never really accepted the merger as half wanted to relocate to Fort Worth while the others wanted to stay in Houston. A meeting of league owners decided to split the team again keeping the Houston Stallions where they were and moving the other leaders north to become the Texas Marshalls.*

The Stallions received new support from the Houston and Texas Central Railway which was purchased by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad their championship season. They also received new investment from the Galveston Railroad and James Abercrombie of Cameron Iron Works replacing the investors they lost. They then purchased the Rhode Island Patriots in 1940 adding the R.I.P. to their uniforms earning the nickname of The Undertakers. Ewing died in 1942 but his investment secured a leadership role in the team and established a dynasty for the Ewing family. Cullinan's death in 1937 left his son Craig Francis Cullinan as the majority stockholder until he sold his stock to Charles Ewing.*

Jennifer Cullinan Ewing* then took over the team in 1950 shortly before her husband Charles's death having merged the family bloodlines of the teams strongest supporters. In 1952, she entered a bidding war with the Marshalls for two teams that had recently folded in the NFL winning them both gaining the Dallas Texans and the New York Bulldogs . She would win the war for the Dallas Texans but the Marshalls won the Bulldogs before relocating to Colorado Springs. The Houston Stallions were then purchased by Hugh R. Cullen because Ewing overextended herself but passed away in 1957 before gaining a championship.

Clint Murchison Sr., then bought the team in 1956 (fic) adding them to a conglomerate that began with Southern Union Gas Company and grew to include New York Central Railroad , Daisy Manufacturing Company , Lionel Trains , Henry Holt Publishing , Field & Stream , Heddon Rod & Reel , Alleghany Corporation , Delhi-Taylor Corporation and major investments in the cattle industry. The Ewings retained their positions as General Managers having become wealthier with their investments in oil and cattle while devoting themselves to the Undertakers' success. When Murchison died in 1969, his son Clint Murchison jr., sold the team because he owned the NFL's Dallas Cowboys .

The Undertakers then were purchased by Howard E. Butt sr., in 1971 which is when William H. Ewing jr.,* renamed the team as the Undertakers giving fans what they wanted with a loud booming announcer saying "Rest In Peace" to send chills down the spines of fans. Ewing then negotiated a deal with Sam Wyly to buy the now defunct Texas Football League as a farm league (fic). They would revive it as The Texas League* developing "blue-collar" talent who didn't get the chance to attend college. They then placed the league under the control of his Bonanza Steakhouse management team. The TL became owned by Metromedia Restaurant Group in 1989 breathing new life into it selling the teams to individual owners.

As for the Undertakers, they fought off a challenge by the WFL that forced them to relocate to San Antonio buying the Houston Texans identity and some of their players contracts as they also relocated to become the Shreveport Steamer. Then the Florida Blazers relocated to become the San Antonio Wings folding at the end of the season to then be purchased by the Undertakers who promptly adopted a ravens motif based on the Wings identity. Next were the AFA Charros/Bulls who would be sold to Arizona followed by a USFL team called the San Antonio Gunslingers in 1984 who moved north when the league folded to be merged into the new Colorado Gunslingers USA-AFL team.






Team Colors: Orange Jersey, Black Helmet, White Pants, and White & Gray Sidestriping
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Black Helmet, Orange Pants, and White & Gray Sidestriping



Mascots: The San Antonio Undertakers employ a variety of objects associated with a costumed character called Gaunt (aka the Undertaker). Using the catchphrase "Dead Shall Rise", Gaunt arrives in various ways such as driving a classic horse-drawn hearse, in a coffin or rising up from a hangman's scaffolding platform.

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Cheerleading Squad: The Grave Diggers (a play on the term gold digger)

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Team Nicknames: The name Undertakers derives from the Rhode Island Patriots whose anagram R.I.P. became Rest in Peace from which the nickname of "Reapers" emerged. The Reapers remain their primary nickname and their reputation for violence has made it justly earned as have the fines that players and the team has to pay as a result.

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Booster Club: The Pearl Brewing Company owned a small portion of the San Antonio Undertakers which they used to gain control over stadium concessions including beer and candies from their Judson Candies company.

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Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships:

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Other Championships
San Antonio Charros ( AFA 1977)
San Antonio Toros (1967, 68, 70, 71 TFL; 1969 CoFL)



Legacy Teams

Oil City Athletic Club (1893-1903)
Franklin Athletic Club (1890-1903)
Jeanette Athletic Club Indians (1894-1906)
Houston Stallions*
Youngstown Patricians (1911-1919)
Houston Texans ( WFL 1974)
San Antonio Wings ( WFL 1975)

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San Antonio Texans began as a team called the San Antonio Riders in the WLAF from 1992-93 owned by Larry Benson who was brother to New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson but ran out of money after two seasons. Another team in the WLAF called the Sacramento Surge used that leagues suspension to join the CFL's expansion into the US as the Sacramento Gold Miners but the city didn't have a sufficient stadium causing them to lose money. So they moved to Texas to become the Sam Antonio Texans in 1993. Fred Anderson owner of Pacific Coast Building Products, inc. created this team that won the WLAF World Bowl in 1992 but would win no additional championships. He joined the USA-AFL in 1995 after the CFL ended its US experimental expansion and became an AFF franchise.

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Championships

World Bowl II

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Texas League

The Texas League began play in 1931 and survived until the onset of World War II when it ceased operations. It would be revived in 1946 as a semi-pro development league for the USA-AFL and, in particular, the San Antonio Undertakers. The original Texas League included teams from outside the state which the USA-AFL would later fold into the Southwestern Football League. In the 1960's, the Undertakers purchased several teams from the Continental Football League as they became available to recreate the Texas League as their own separate development league without approval from the USA-AFL. These teams included the Dallas Rockets , Fort Worth Braves , San Antonio Toros , Texarkana Titans and West Texas Rufneks . When the new Texas Football League began play in 1966, the USA-AFL left the Undertakers to defend their own fledgling semi-pro league which cost the team a lot of its profits until the TFL folded in 1971. The USA-AFL then purchased both semi-pro leagues and merged them into the current development league which plays its games in the Spring and Summer.

Dallas Rockets (1969)
Fort Worth Texans/Braves
San Antonio Toros (1969)
Texarkana Titans
Odessa-Midland Comets/West Texas Rufneks

Sherman-Denison Jets
Pasadena Pistols
Burkburnett Kings
Wichita Falls Kings
Beaumont Golden Vikings
El Paso Jets

AFA
San Antonio Charros/Bulls
Fort Worth Wranglers
Houston Hotshots
Houston Armadillos
Austin Texans
Dallas Wranglers

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Championships

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Legacy Teams

---

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Texas Sports Inc.,

Texas Undertakers (San Antonio)(USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
San Antonio Texans (AFF)
Texas Widowmakers (WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
Corpus Christi Sharks (NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

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(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; )
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

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(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

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(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

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(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

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(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

---

(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

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Women's Major League Volleyball

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USA-AABA (United States All-American Goldenrod Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf, and Olympic-style competitions)

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Texas Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

South Carolina Destroyers

Samuel Spencer was a brilliant railway executive who rose through the ranks of the Long Island Rail Road and the B&O before going to work for Drexel, Morgan, and Company . Better known as the Father of the Southern Railway by 1894, he was succeeded by Charles F. Mayer at the B&O and the two men became partners in a sports venture. Buying up several football teams in 1899, they merged them into the Hazlewood Tigers trying to create a powerhouse football team. Joining them in the venture was Richard B. Mellon , President of the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (later called Alcoa ) who soon found himself alone in the venture as Mayer died in 1904 and Spencer passed in 1906 as a result of a horrific train crash.

Mellon developed a hands-off approach to the Tigers as other men were better suited to managing the venture and it fell to. Before his death, Spencer had placed men in charge from the old South Carolina Railroad and it fell to wealthy South Carolina businessman Edward Dilworth Latta who purchased Spencer's interest in the team. Relocating the team to Charleston South Carolina, Dilworth bought his way into the USA-AFL playing at the original College Park Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina. His death in 1925 left the team to his construction company which sold it to R. Goodwyn Rhett who then purchased the Rock Island Independents from Dale Johnson the following year (fic).

Because he knew nothing about operating a football team and needed help because help, he simply purchased a team to merge with the Tigers that had this experience. The Rock Island Independents were founded in 1907 by a man named Demetrius Clements and they got their name because they had no sponsorship, no affiliations, or ties to anyone... they were 100% independent. Not only that but the team was a winner and then changed hands to Joseph Smith as General Manager as the team did not have an owner per se at this point. In 1915, Walter Flanigan became General Manager and effectively the first true owner of the team.

Flanigan would become one of the founding members of the NFL bringing the Independents into this pro league and helping to establish the league's rules. Flanigan had a winning record in each of the years the Independents played in the NFL before he turned the team over to Dale Johnson in 1923 to pursue his business investments which was where he was making his real money. Then, in 1926, Johnson made the mistake of jumping to the new American Football League which folded and when the NFL refused to let the Independents rejoin the NFL, Johnson sold the team. General manager Vince McCarthy put a new traveling version of the team together in 1927 but it too folded and was sold to Rhett as well.

Keeping the name Charleston Independents, Rhett convinced Flanigan to return as a partner and General Manager of the team (fic) in 1927. Flanigan was now an oil executive and began playing at the new Johnson-Hagood Stadium which he helped to fund and then to rebuild in 1948 retaining the name of Confederate Brigadier General, and 80th Governor of South Carolina, Johnson Hagood . He also became sole owner when Richard Mellon died in 1933 and when Rhett died in 1939. He became Vice President of the National Mortgage Company and helped with arrangements to build Williiams-Brice Stadium using his connections with the Works Progress Administration to gain funding.

The 1950s found the Independents floundering and Flanigan sold the team to a businessman named Roger Milliken who took them to the USA-AFL Ultra Bowl in 1959 winning the championship. The 60s saw the team remain consistently successful and buying teams like the Joliet Chargers in 1967 and Pottstown Firebirds in 1971 to merge with the Independents. When the Independents merged with the Tigers they retained their Independents colors but kept the Tigers as a mascot until losing a game against the Baltimore Tigers where a bet would determine who walked out of the stadium as the only team with a tiger mascot... the Independents lost.

At first, the Independents would adopt wolves as their new mascot but decided they wanted to identify with Charlestons' naval history and changed their mascot to an orca in 1981 because they were known as wolves of the sea. They also changed their colors from white black and green to white black and gold but refused to change the team name. When Roger Milliken died in 2010, he left the team to the city which took over, and in 2012, the USA-AFL gave them half of the Virginia Destroyers which included the team identity. The General Manager discussed with city leaders changing the team identity and they agreed thus giving birth to the South Carolina Destroyers.


Team Colors: White Jersey, Black White & Gold Helmet, Black Pants, and Gold & White Sidestriping
Alt Colors: Black Jersey, Black White & Gold Helmet, Gold Pants, and Black & White Sidestriping



Mascots:

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Cheerleading Squad:

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Team Nicknames: The Sea Wolves

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Booster Club:

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Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships: 1959

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Other Championships

Pottstown Firebirds ACFL Champions: 1969 & 1970
Joliet Explorers PFLA 1965 Joliet Chargers PFLA 1967



Legacy Teams

Joliet Chargers (1967; 1964 UFL Joliet Explorers; 1965-66 PFLA Joliet Explorers
Harrisburg Capitols (1963-69 ACFL)
Reading Keystones (1968-69 Mason-Dixon Football Conference)
Long Island Bulls (1969-70; 1965-66 Scranton Miners ; Westchester 1967-68)
Pottstown Firebirds (1968-70 ACFL)


Carolina Cobras (2000-2004 Arena Footbball League )

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Championships





Greenville Force (2009 AIFA ; 2010 SIFL )

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Championships

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Legacy Teams

Carolina Havoc (2017-2019 AAL )
Charleston Sandsharks (2006 NIFL )
Myrtle Beach Freedom (2016 AIF )

 







South Carolina Sports Inc.,

South Carolina Destroyers (USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
(AFF)
(WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
(NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

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Columbia Stingers (USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; )
Columbia Stingers (USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

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(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

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(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

---

(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

---

(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

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(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

---

Women's Major League Volleyball

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USA-AABA (United States All-American Goldenrod Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf, and Olympic-style competitions)

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South Carolina Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

Virginia Swashbucklers

Theater impresario Jake Wells was a natural-born showman who had an early career in baseball in the 19th century and sought new investments that led him into theater. Unable to get sports completely out of his system, Wells become interested in football during his travels building his wealth and gaining the financial backing of businesswoman Maggie L. Walker (fic). Although prospering financially, his failed personal life was getting the better of him and he fell into a bout of severe depression ending in his suicide in 1927. Meanwhile, another team was formed called the Grover C. Payne Dreadnoughts (aka the Independents) named for its founder Grover C. "Rip" Payne.

The Dreadnoughts had become a regional powerhouse who even played a few exhibition games against Wells Richmond Raiders* and when Walker became the sole owner, she purchased the Dreadnoughts to merge with her team. They retained the Dreadnought's name and management before Walker's own untimely death in 1934 left them looking for new ownership. Charles Guth killed and was acquitted of killing his chauffer in 1913 allowing him to continue with his career becoming President of a company called Mavis Candies. This was eventually bought out by Loft Inc., which was the top candy company in the world during the 1920s over which he became VP and then President of the company.

In 1931, he bought the trademark of the twice-bankrupted Pepsi Cola Company making him President of both companies. This was illegal because he had a loyalty contract with Loft where he couldn't work for another company and his purchase of Pepsi was apparently made using their money. It was during this time that Guft purchased the Dreadnoughts as he would make Pepsi into a success and saw an opportunity to promote it through a sports team. Loft sued winning ownership of Pepsi in 1939 and he went to work for a company called Noxie which was itself a trademark violation of violated the trademark of Moxie Cola .

Guft had also made the Dreadnoughts successful but lost half a million dollars in the Loft lawsuit forcing him to sell the team to investor Albert M. Greenfield after approaching him in search of employment failed to produce results. During all of this, the South Atlantic Football League (aka Dixie League) formed in 1936 created new competition in the state from the likes of the Norfolk Clancys, Richmond Arrows, Portsmouth Cubs, and the Alexandria Celtics. The new league also included the neighboring Washington Pros/Presidents (aka Patriots) and Baltimore Orioles/Blue Jays (aka Blue Birds) with Washington winning the league's first two championships.

Salary disputes split the Richmond Arrows team in 1937 with players forming a new team called the Richmond Rebels that was not permitted to join the league leading them to form a new one. Called the Virginia-Carolina Football League , the V-CFL teams comprised the Norfolk Tars, South Norfolk Aces, Portsmouth Sewanee, Roanoke Rassler-Dazzlers, and Durham North Carolina Bobcats with the Rebels winning the only championship before the league folded. The Blue Jays folded then Clancy's owner A. E. Stutz died that same year and new owner Harry Howren took the renamed the Norfolk Shamrocks to the championship in 1938.

The Celtics then folded being replaced by the Newport News Builders with the Roanoke Travelers joining in 1940 and in 1941 the Charlotte Clippers replaced the Presidents making it an all-Virginia league. The league shut down because of World War II but Howren, however, refused to accept this and tried to put a league called the Virginia Football League on the field with Norfolk, Portsmouth, and the renamed Richmond Rockets which folded after a few games. When they returned from the war, the Dixie League began play again with the new Greensboro Patriots replacing Roanoke while the Arrows became the new Richmond Rebels and the Cubs became renamed as the Portsmouth Pirates.

The league collapsed the next year with five of the teams going independent but the Richmond Rebels joined the former American Association (AFL VIII) where they won the final AA championships in 1949 and 1950. As each team in the Dixie League failed, they would be purchased by the Dreadnoughts until Samuel B. Fuller bought the remaining teams as an investor in the Dreadnoughts. Renaming them the Virginia Swashbucklers after the Portsmouth Pirates, Fuller had also purchased Virginia Negro Football League that lasted one season in 1946 featuring the Richmond Rams, Norfolk Brown Bombers, Newport News Lighthearts, and Portsmouth Swans who then created the United States Negroe Football League.*

Seaboard Air Line Railroad and Universal Leaf Tobacco Company Inc., then became investors (fic) in the Swashbucklers buying it from Fuller and Greenfield by 1955. Universal Leaf bought out Seaboard in 1962 with Seaboard ultimately becoming owners of the Florida team. With the coming of the '60s, new leagues would emerge against them with teams like the third Richmond Rebels of the Continental Football League (1964-66) and the Virginia Sailors (1966-68) of the ACFL . Another team from this era began were the United American Football League champion Richmond Mustangs in 1967 who became the Richmond Roadrunners/Saints in the ACFL from 1968-70.

Then there were the Norfolk Neptunes of the Continental Football League (1966-69; ACFL 70-71) one year after their merger with the Pottstown Firebirds (ACFL 1968-70) trying to remain viable. The Swashbucklers would continue development without additional mergers or acquisitions including passing on the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League in 2013 who instead were purchased by South Carolina.



Team Colors: Navy Blue Jersey, Yellow & Navy Blue Helmet, White Pants, Navy Blue & Yellow Sidestriping
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Yellow & Navy Blue Helmet, Navy Blue Pants, Navy Blue & Yellow Sidestriping



Mascot:

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Cheerleading Squad:

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Team Nicknames:

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Booster Club:

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Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships:

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Other Championships


VCFL 1937 Richmond Rebels (2)
AFL VIII 1949 Richmond Rebels
AFL VIII 1950 Richmond Rebels
ACFL 1966 Virginia Sailors
ACFL 1967 Virginia Sailors
UAFL 1967 Richmond Mustangs
ACFL 1969: Pottstown Firebirds 20, Hartford Knights 0
ACFL 1970: Pottstown Firebirds 31, Hartford Knights 0
ACFL 1971: Norfolk Neptunes 24, Hartford Knights 13




Legacy Teams


Alexandria St. Mary's Celtics 1933
Alexandria Praters 1933
Winston-Salem Twins 1933
Ballston Skulls 1933 to 1939 (Virginia)
Petersburg Lions 1938
Richmond Howitzers 1933
Washington Pro's/Presidents 1936-1940
Norfolk Clancys/Shamrocks 1931-41
Portsmouth Cubs/Pirates 1936-41
Richmond Arrows/Rebels 1936-41
Alexandria Celtics 1936-38
Baltimore Orioles/Blue Jays 1936-37
Portsmouth Sewanee A.C. 1933-38
Richmond Rebels VCFL 1937
South Norfolk Aces 1937-39
Norfolk Tars 1937-39
South Norfolk Aces 1937 VCFL
Roanoke Rassler-Dazzlers (1937 VCFL; Roanoke Red Raiders 1938 Independent)
Roanoke Rassle-Dazzlers 1937 and Durham Bobcats 1937
Hampton Esslinger All-Stars 1938
Newport News Cardinals 1938
Newport News Builders 1939-41
Staunton Colonels/Valley Colonels 1940
Roanoke Travelers 1940-41
Charlotte Clippers 1941 & 1946
Greensboro Patriots 1946
Berkley Bulldogs 1946
Richmond Rams 1946
Norfolk Brown Bombers 1946
Newport News Lighthearts 1946
Portsmouth Swans 1946
funwhileitlasted.net/2019/12/15/1964-196...ond-rebels-football/
funwhileitlasted.net/2021/09/26/1966-1968-virginia-sailors/
funwhileitlasted.net/2021/02/09/1969-1971-roanoke-buckskins/

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Team Colors: Black Jersey, Silver Helmet, and White Pants
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Silver Helmet, and Black Pants

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Mascot:

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Championships

---

Legacy Teams

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Legacy Teams






Legacy Teams

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Speed 2000-03
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Bandits 2005-06 American Bowl I (Erie) 56–30
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Raiders 2010-15
www.wikiwand.com/en/Richmond_Revolution 2010-11
funwhileitlasted.net/2015/02/28/2000-2002-roanoke-steam/
funwhileitlasted.net/2013/08/06/2000-2003-norfolk-nighthawks/



 







Virginia Sports Inc.,

Virginia Swashbucklers (USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
(AFF)
(WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
(NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

---

(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; Huntsville)
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

---

(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

---

(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

---

(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

---

(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

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(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

---

USA-ACA (United States All-American Flowering Dogwood Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf and Olympic-style competitions)

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Virginia Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

Atlanta Sabre-Cats

Efforts to establish pro football in Georgia had resulted in the Atlanta Crackers ( cracker meaning someone poor who works with coal) and 1933 Atlanta Bears . But 1934 would prove instrumental in the development of an Ohio team called the Cincinnati Models , an independent team that joined the Midwest Football League in 1935. They became MFL champions in 1935 and possessed the best record in 1936 and 1937 losing the championship that year to the Louisville Tanks . The Cincinnati Treslers were founded by the Tresler Oil Company in 1936 and played one season with the MFL before going Independent as the Cincinnati Tresler Oils (aka Treslers) lasting one season before going independent.

The Cincinnati Models began as the Cincinnati Model Shoes (aka Models) before changing their name to the Cincinnati Blades for their final season in the MFL in 1938 and folded before the seasons conclusion at which time the Treslers purchased them going independent and relocating to Atlanta at the invitation of Asa G. Candler jr of the Coca-Cola Company who agreed to sponsor the team in return for relocating (fic). Queen City Athletics Inc., put together a team called the Cincinnati Bengals of the 1936 AFL , 1939 APFA and 1940 AFL . The Bengals were put together by Hal Pennington who also founded the Models and served as the Head Coach moving back and forth between the two teams.

When the Bengals folded after the 1941 season, the Treslers purchased them and then Candler became majority owner having funded the purchase. They became merged with the Blades and the team was renamed the Sabre-Cats. They would join the USA-AFL's Southeastern Development League in 1942 to further develop the franchise after America became involved in World War II to gain a regular schedule of games and support from the USA-AFL. The Saber-Cats would go on to develop a strong rivalry with the North Carolina Gunners who were owned by the Pepsi-Cola Company creating a battle between the two cola companies on the playing field (fic).

Hal Pennington would serve as General Manager (fic) of the team until 1968 when Joe Rosentover bought the team. Rosentover had been President of the American Association from its founding in 1936 to 1950 when it ceased operations and then President of the Atlantic Coast Football league from it's founding in 1963 until leaving in 1967. His partner in the venture was Charles Walton Leachman, Jr. who in 1964 owned the ACFL Atlanta Spartans (aka Atlanta Rebels and who headed an effort to bring an AFL team to Atlanta only to be beaten out by the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons in 1966. Atlanta Football Inc., owned the Spartans who began as the Atlanta Rebels from 1960-63 before joining the ACFL.

Atlanta Sports Inc., then took the Spartans to the USA-AFL merging them with the Saber-Cats as a new minority owner in that team until Rosentover died in 1973 when the failed effort to put a team in the World Football League leading them to put a team in Birmingham instead. Owners Alabama Football, Inc. that consisted of Lon L. Day , Cecil Day , and Jay Donnely of Day’s Inn Corporation , Harry D. Ruffin, William Parker, James B. Price, Max Price, Neal Andrews and developer Erv Plesko then took over Atlanta Sports Inc., (fic) renaming it Georgia Sports Inc., to buy the Saber-Cats. Atlanta businessman J. Mack Robinson then purchased majority ownership in 1975 (fic) with his ownership being awarded to the city of Atlanta upon his death in 2014.




Team Colors: Black & Gold Jersey, White & Gold Helmet, White Pants, Black & Gold Sidestriping
Alt Colors: White & Gold Jersey, Black & Gold Helmet, Black Pants, White & Gold Sidestriping



Mascot:

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Cheerleading Squad: The Sabrettes

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Team Nicknames: The Bengals

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Booster Club:

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Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships:

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Other Championships

MFL Cincinnati Models 1934




Legacy Teams

Atlanta Crackers (1933- 1937
1933 Atlanta Bears
Cincinnati Models (1935-37), Cincinnati Blades (1938-39)
Cincinnati Tresler Oils (1936 MFL; 1937-40 Ind aka Treslers)
Cincinnati Bengals (1936-41 1936 AFL , 1939 APFA and 1940 AFL )
Savannah Indians (1967 UAFL)
Georgia Raiders (1967 UAFL)

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Atlanta Spartans


Team Colors: Black Jersey, Red Helmet, and White Pants
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Red Helmet, and Black Pants

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Mascot:

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Championships

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Legacy Teams

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Legacy Teams

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Georgia Wardogs (2001-04 AF2 )

Legacy Teams


Georgia Firebirds (2016 AIF ; 2017 NAL )
Georgia Force (2002-12 AFL )
South Georgia Wildcats (2002-09 AF2 )
Macon Knights (2000-2006 AF2)
Augusta Stallions (1999-02 AF2)
Atlanta Vultures (2015-16 AIF )
Georgia Fire (2014 PIFL )
Atlanta Sharks (2013-2015 AIF)
Atlanta Thoroughbreds (2007 NIFL )


 



Georgia Sports Inc.,

(USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
(AFF)
(WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
(NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

---

(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; Huntsville)
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

---

(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

---

(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

---

(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

---

(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

---

(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

---

USA-ACA (United States All-American Cherokee Rose Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf and Olympic-style competitions)

---

Georgia Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

N.C. Gunners

The 1892 Chicago Athletic Club would found a team sponsored by Richard W. Sears who had founded Sears, Roebuck and Company the year before with his partner Alvah Curtis Roebuck . in 1895, Sears was short on cash because of the Panic of 1893 so he sold half his company to investors Aaron Nusbaum and Julius Rosenwald then retired due to failing health. Nusbaum sold out to Sears and Rosenbaum in 1901 after personal disagreements with the Chicago Sears* proving a winning diversion for their founder. The team became known as the Chicago North Shore AC by 1911 forfeiting a game against the new Joilet Steelworkers when several of their players went to work for the Joliet Iron and Steel Works .

Stealing the best players and coaching staff from the Chicago AC, the Joliet Steelworkers would purchase the rest of the Chicago team in 1914 when John Sears died. John D. Hertz was attending Aurora Downs to watch a horse racing event when he caught the Steelworkers playing against the Aurora Greyhounds . Hertz owned the Ambassador Auto Company , Yellow Cab Mfg Company and The Omnibus Corporation which he saw the football team as a marketing gimmick for his investments (fic). Former players for the Sears team then purchased the Rock Island Tigers in 1918 and then Hertz acquired this team to merge with his to rechristen them as the Chicago Steelworkers* after the 1919 season.

Francis Oscar Hawley jr., and his wife, Elizabeth McKinnon Hawley inherited their wealth from their fathers Francis Oscar Hawley sr., and H.T. McKinnon from which Hawley created the Charlotte Athletic Association.* In 1896, he created a football team to represent it that became known as the Ironclads * by 1900 and had earned a reputation for dirty play. In 1905, Hawley made the acquaintance of an architect named Leonard L. Hunter who he learned of from his former partner James M. McMichael and was commissioned to build a stadium for the Ironclads with the financial backing of James Buchanan Duke of American Tobacco Company .

Buchanan Field* became home to the Ironclads for the next two decades during which Hunter became General Manager (fic) and American Tobacco gained ownership. Both Hunter and Duke died in 1925 leaving Hawley as General Manager and minority owner of a team not meeting American Tobacco Company's marketing needs. In response, ATC purchased other teams like the Charlotte Bantams in 1933 and created the American Tobacco League* that lasted until 1938. They folded the league into one team but then purchased the Chicago Gunners and the Chicago Steelworkers founding the North Carolina Gunners.

Joining the USA-AFL, the NC Gunners adopted a Civil War marketing strategy where their offense wore blue and their defense wore grey. But, the team would take time to develop and while this was happening, their eyes looked towards the west and a team called the St Louis Gunners . Beginning as the Battery A. Gunners in 1931, they were a National Guard team that became a powerhouse that claimed the 1932 Independent Championship. The St Louis Gunners then joined the Midwest Football League for the 1937-39 seasons.

The St Louis Gunners went Independent for 1940 before accepting a buyout offer from American Tobacco to purchase them. Their request to join the USA-AFL was granted under the condition the bloated franchise be broken into four teams with the NC Gunners being allowed to keep the best teams. These would result in the Manchester Revolution, the Connecticut Bantams, and Rhode Island Reds with the Bantams merging with the Reds the following year. Even with this, the Gunners won the 1941 championship then they purchased the Durham Bobcats of the Virginia-Carolina Football League in 1937.

The team would be purchased by Walter Staunton Mack Jr. on behalf of Pepsi-Cola Company in 1945 at the end of WWII who kept the Civil War theme but changed the teams colors to red, white and blue like the company colors and both flags during the war. Under Pepsi-Cola Company, the team would gradually pass from one sub-division to another as the company became a conglomerate choosing to build from within rather than buying any additional teams to add to the franchise. In 1991, they purchased the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks for their women's team but otherwise they have had mediocre success generally having a winning percentage of about .500 or half their games.






Team Colors: Red Jersey, Blue Helmet, White Pants, Red Sidestriping
Alt Colors: White Jersey, Blue Helmet, Red Pants, Blue & White Sidestriping



Mascot:

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Cheerleading Squad:

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Team Nicknames:

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Booster Club:

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Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships: 1941

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Other Championships

1931 Battery A. Gunners (1931 Independent Championship)
1946 Charlotte Clippers (Dixie Football league)





Legacy Teams



Joliet Steel Workers ( 1911 - 1917 )
Carolina Ironclads*
Winston-Salem Camels   1933
Wilmington Pirates 1933
Charlotte Bantams 1933, Charlotte Purols 1934 (AFL)
Chicago Gunners ( 1936 - 1938 )
Durham Bobcats (1937 Virginia-Carolina Football League )
St. Louis Gunners (1931-33, 35, 36, 40 Independent; 1934 NFL; 1937-39 MWFL )

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Carolina Bobcats


Team Colors: White Jersey, Gold Helmet, and White Pants
Alt Colors: Black Jersey, Gold Helmet, and Black Pants

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Mascot:

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Championships

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Legacy Teams

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Legacy Teams


 





North Carolina Sports Inc.,

North Carolina Gunners (USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
Carolina Bobcats (AFF)
North Carolina Skyhawks (WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
(NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

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(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; Huntsville)
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

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(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

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(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

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(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

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(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

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(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

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USA-ACA (United States All-American Dogwood Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf and Olympic-style competitions)

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North Carolina Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

Orlando Sharks

The Akron East Ends were another of the teams that had their beginnings in 1894 and became part of the Ohio League winning their championship in 1902. Losing the Ohio League championship games in 1903 and 1904, the East Ends would rebuild as the Akron Athletic Club and became the Akron Indians in 1908. This team went undefeated in 1908 and 1909 winning the Ohio League championships in both years as well as in 1913 and 1914. The owner of the team was a man named Peggy Parratt and the secret to his success was his ability to recruit and raid other teams having done so to the 1912 Ohio League champion Elyria Athletics to build his championship teams the following years.

When you live by the sword, you die by the sword and in 1915 Parratt's team was likewise raided by the Massillon Tigers and Canton Pros (aka Bulldogs) leaving Parratt's team decimated. Rather than rebuilding, Parratt abandoned his team which was taken over by the Burkhardt Brewing Company and renamed the Akron Burkhardts until 1918 when they reassumed their Indians identity. Stephen H. "Suey" Welch was a boxing manager who bought the Indians in 1919 where, after another financially losing season (the team had lost money every year under Parratt), he sold the team to Art Ranney and Frank Nied who renamed them the Pros and then joined the APFL (later NFL) that same year.

The 1920 season saw the Akron Pros win the first NFL championship and be awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup which Ranney kept thinking the league would have a new trophy every season. The team fell into decline after this and, in 1926, Ranney sold the team to Florida Brewing Company's wealthy heirs (of cigar entrepreneur Vicente Martinez-Ybors ) who had attracted the attention of legendary football player Jim Thorpe (fic). Bringing a traveling team to Tampa called the Tampa Cardinals that was made up of former Rock Island Independents players, Thorpe began barnstorming across the state changing the teams name several times.

The Independents formed in 1907 and joined the NFL in 1920 before moving to the rival American Football League in 1926 which then folded taking the Independents with it. While the Independents became part of what would become the USA-AFL South Carolina Destroyers, some of its players joined Thorpe with the Cardinals and merged with a local team called the Winter Haven Villas . Another traveling team out of New Jersey called the Millville Big Blue replaced them in Winter Haven as Thorpe's team moved north to become the St Petersburg Cardinals. The Florida Brewing Company bought the Cardinals and the Winter Haven Villas merging them with the former Pros to create the Florida Rough Riders .*

This team would be financially stable and stood on its own until winning the 1957 Ultra Bowl when they entered another period of collapse coming in last in their division ten of the next thirteen seasons. The Continental Football League had recently collapsed and a team called the Orlando Panthers entered negotiations where the two teams merged with the Panthers being given minority ownership of the new team. The Panthers actually began play in New Jersey as the Franklin Miners in a semi-pro circuit called the Eastern Football Conference from 1958-61 before relocating to become the Paterson Miners and a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Football League .

Winning the 1962 ACFL championship, the team then relocated to become the Newark Bears (named after the old 1930s) American Association football team where they won the 1963 ACFL championship. In 1965, the Bears joined with other teams to create the Continental Football league where team owner Sol Rosen sold his franchise to Tom Granatell who relocated the team to Orlando. There was already a team called the Orlando Panthers who had originally been the Panthers but their owner died in the SPFL's final season and the Bears became the new Orlando Panthers in 1966 winning the CoFL championship in '67 and '69.

The Continental League folded in 1969 leading the Panthers and Rough Riders to merge in Orlando as the Florida Panthers* in 1970. The NFL All-Star Game came to Jacksonville in 1968 and 1969 attracting the new World Football League who placed a team there in 1974 called the Jacksonville Sharks . When that team folded mid-season during its first year, the Panthers bought the team but did not immediately change their name choosing to remain the Panthers until 1982. The name change occurred because the remaining principal owner of the team relinquished control to the city but kept the Panthers name for his AFF team and the city held a vote where fans chose the name Orlando Tigersharks (fic).





Team Colors: White Jersey, Grey & Black Helmet, Grey Pants, Black & White Sidestriping
Alt Colors: Black Jersey, Grey Helmet, White Pants, Black & White Sidestriping



Mascot:

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Cheerleading Squad:

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Team Nicknames:

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Booster Club:

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Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships: 1957

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Other Championships

Ohio League: Akron East Ends 1902; Akron Indians 1908, 1909, 1913, 1914
NFL: Akron Pros 1920
ACFL: Paterson Miners 1962; Newark Bears 1963
CoFL: Orland Panthers 1967 and 69




Legacy Teams

Akron Pros (NFL 1920-25; Ind 1894-1904 Akron East Ends; Ind 1904-07 Akron Athletic Club; Ind 1908-16, 1918-19, 1926 Akron Indians; Ind 1916-17 Akron Burkhardts)
Winter Haven Villas (Ind 1926)
Tampa Cardinals (Ind 1926)
Orlando Panthers 1 ( 1965: Southern Professional Football League Orlando Broncos 1962-64; Daytona Beach Thunderbirds 1962-64)
Orlando Panthers (CoFL 1966-69; ACFL 1970; AFC 1958-61 Franklin Miners; ACFL 1962 Paterson Miners; CFL 1964-65 Newark Bears )
Jacksonville Sharks   (WFL 1974)

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Florida Panthers



Team Colors: White Jersey, Gold Helmet, Black Pants, Red & White Sidestriping
Alt Colors: Black Jersey, Gold Helmet, White Pants, Red & White Sidestriping

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Mascot:

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Championships

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Legacy Teams

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Legacy Teams










Florida Sports Inc.,

Orlando Tigersharks (USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
Florida Panthers (AFF)
(WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
(NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

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(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; Huntsville)
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

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(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

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(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

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(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

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(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

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(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

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USA-ACA (United States All-American Orange Blossom Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf and Olympic-style competitions)

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Florida Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

Huracanes del Caribe
(Caribbean Hurricanes)

Harvey Hester and his partner Doug Wycoff put together an investment package to purchase the 8th team in what was to become the AAFC . They were given this opportunity because a plan for a team in Baltimore fell through giving them a chance but they were not as wealthy as the other owners. Nor were they given the same amount of time as the league was close to opening day. With so little time, they put together a team from what they could find which resulted in a losing team and the owners falling deep into debt. The AAFC then seized his team and turned it over to an ownership group in Baltimore resulting in the creation of the original Baltimore Colts .

Washington DC lawyer Robert D. Rodenburg was the principal owner of the team but his ownership group dropped the losing team after one season. Baltimore mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. formed a citizen's syndicate headed up by Abraham "Shorty" Watner , head Coach Cecil Isbell and eventually Zanvyl Krieger who headed the stock ownership group. There remained a conflict of interest regarding ownership of the Seahawks as Wycoff sold his part of the team to investor James F.X. O’Brien and his partner, Frank Harney . Both men were involved in the fishing industry and both represented prospective ownership groups vying for the Seahawks as long as they didn't have to take on the teams debts.

Calling the team the Miami Marlins,* they gained entry into the USA-AFL playing in their Southeastern Conference. The Colts lasted for three seasons before an agreement was arranged to merge three of the AAFC teams with the NFL with the Colts being one of these teams. The team lasted for one final disastrous season in the NFL before Watner sold the team back to the league with Krieger immediately filing lawsuits representing the stockholders of the Colts who had not agreed to the deal. Resolving the lawsuit resulting in the second incarnation of the Baltimore Colts in 1953 and ending all connections to the original Seahawks franchise.

The Marlins became partially owned by the Serrallés family who owned Destilería Serrallés in Puerto Rico where the team played the occasional game. When O'Brien died in the early 70s, they became the controlling ownership group overseeing the purchase of the Chicago Winds from the World Football League and becoming the Florida Hurricanes.* With approval from shareholders, they would turn the team into a traveling team by 1980 because the Orlando Sharks* had won over much of the USA-AFL's South Florida support base. Then, in 2010, they officially became the Caribbean Hurricanes ostensibly representing Puerto Rico but continuing to play most games on the road.





Team Colors: White Jersey, Aqua Blue & White Helmet, Aqua Blue Pants, and Orange & White Sidestriping
Alt Colors: Aqua Blue & White Jersey, Aqua Blue & White Helmet, White Pants, and Orange & White Sidestriping



Mascots:

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Cheerleading Squad:

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Team Nicknames:

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Booster Club:

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Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships:

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Other Championships






Legacy Teams

Miami Seahawks 1946 All-American Football Conference
Chicago Winds 1974 World Football league




San Juan Don's (based on their popular brand of distilled rum)

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Championships

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Championships

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Legacy Teams



 



Puerto Rico Sports Inc.,

Caribbean Hurricanes (aka Puerto Rico Hurricanes USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
San Juan Dons (AFF)
(WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
(NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

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(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; )
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

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(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

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(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

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(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

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(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

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(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

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Women's Major League Volleyball

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USA-AABA (United States All-American Goldenrod Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf, and Olympic-style competitions)

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Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)

New York Skyscrapers


Beginning as the Knickerbocker Athletic Club in 1897, they participated in the 1902 and 1903 World Series of Football in losing efforts but they merged with several other teams like the New York Philadelphians and Kanaweola Athletic Club . The Philadelphians got their name from being part of the first NFL teams the Philadelphia Athletics and Philadelphia Phillies to which they belonged before that league folded. The New York Knicks continued play until 1907 when they became a founding member of the USA-AFL and ownership of the team transferred to the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company and they adopted the image of a Spartan bowman to promote the renamed New York Spartans* (fic).

The Spartans proved to be a tough and resilient team winning the 1912 USA-AFL championship and made it to the championship game on six additional occasions where they were defeated. They would purchase the assets of the troubled New York Brickley Giants franchise in 1923 more for the promotions skill of its owner Billy Gibson than anything. Big Bill Edwards would become the teams head coach until 1926 when he left for one season to become President of the new AFL . With the collapse of the AFL, Big Bill Edwards became President of the USA-AFL overseeing the merger of the leagues (fic) and new rules because injuries were still a big issue for the league.

Charles "Cash & Carry" Pyle owned star NFL player Red Granges contract as a player for the Chicago Bears and was demanding a higher salary and one-third ownership of the team. When that was rejected, he demanded a team of his own in New York where the New York Giants held control over the local market having been founded in the NFL in 1925. Offered Brooklyn, Pyle had already rented Yankee Stadium and decided to create a league of his own called the American Football league and founding the New York Yankees . His league lasted for one season and when it folded, he was given the remnants of the Brooklyn Horsemen where he joined the NFL for three seasons as a traveling team.

The New York Yankees then joined the USA-AFL where they merged with the Spartans and in 1936, a third American Football League formed with a new New York Yankees franchise owned by James Bush , president of the Madison Square Garden Association. Pyle arranged a merger of the two Yankees' teams the following year and when Pyle died in 1939, ownership was transferred to Bush who moved to a new incarnation of the AFL in 1940 owned by Willard K. Rice . This team was sold to Douglas G. Hertz whose ownership was revoked and the team then sold to William D. Cox who changed the teams' name to the New York Americans for 1941.

The team then joined the American Association for the 1941 season reverting back to its New York Yankees identity but was sold back to the USA-AFL after only six games in the AA. The AA returned after WWII and became the fourth AFL surviving until 1950 when it was killed off by the emergence of the All-American Football Conference . Dan Topping owned the NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers which jumped to the AAFC as yet another New York Yankees' franchise. When that league folded in 1949, three teams survived to join the NFL but Topping's team was not one of them as its player contracts were divided between the NFL's NY Giants and NY Bulldogs who became the New York Yanks .

Ownership of the team identity and heritage were sold to Cox who merged it with his Yankees. Just two years later, he also bought the Yanks team identity when they folded and their player contracts were turned over to found a new team called the Dallas Texans . It would be decided by the USA-AFL that the New York Yankees would build from within being in the league's strongest market and in 1973, the team would change its identity to the New York Skyscrapers with the completion of the World Trade Center . They would retain their Yankees colors until a decade later when they adopted their grey and black with a battle-scarred American Eagle logo.




Team Colors: White Jersey, Black White & Grey Helmet, Black Pants, and Gray & White Sidestriping
Alt Colors: Black Jersey, Black White & Grey Helmet, White Pants, and Black & Grey Sidestriping



Mascots:

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Cheerleading Squad: The Rockettes

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Team Nicknames: The Yankees

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Booster Club:

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Sister City:



USA-AFL Divisional Championships:
USA-AFL Conference Championships:
USA-AFL Ultra Bowl Championships:

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Other Championships

Warslow Indians (1900,1901 NY Independent Champions)



Legacy Teams

1889 - New York (NY) Manhatten AC
1889 - New York (NY) Athletics
1890 - Syracuse (NY) AA
1892 - New York City (NY) AC
1895 - Staten Island (NY) AC
1898 - Ogdenburg (NY) AC
1899 - Watertown (NY) AC
1902 - Corinth (NY) AC
1903 - Jamestown (NY)
Knickerbocker Athletic Club 1897 - 1903
New York Philadelphians (1902 Ind)
Kanaweola Athletic Club (1902 Ind)
Brickleys New York Giants 1919 -1923 team Colors Black, Orange, Gold, Cream
New York Yankees 1926 - 1928 Team Colors Red, White, Blue
New York Yankees 1936 (may have continued and become the 1940 Yankees)
New York Yankees 1940 - 1941
New York Tigers APFA 1936 New York Buffaloes became Tigers in 1937
New York Brown Bombers 1935, 1936, 1937 Harlem
New Rochelle Bulldogs 1936 American Football Association
New York Yankees 1936 - 1937 AFL
Mount Vernon Cardinals 1936-37
Brooklyn Dodgers 1930 - 1943 NFL, Brooklyn Tigers 1944 NFL, 1946 - 1948 Brooklyn Dodgers AAFC
Warslow Indians (1894-1939 Independent)
Brooklyn Dodgers 1966 Continental Football League
Brooklyn Eagles 1937 - 1939, 1946, 1949




New York Yanks

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Championships




Hudson Valley Fort (2015 FXFL )




New York Dragons (1995-2000 Iowa Barnstormers ; 2001-2008 New York Dragons AFL )

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Championships

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Legacy Teams


New York Knights (1998 AFL)
Rochester Raiders (2006-2014)
Albany Empire (2018-19)
Albany Firebirds (2002-2009 AF2)
Rochester Brigade (2000-2003 AF2)



 



New York Sports Inc.,

New York Skyscrapers (USA-AFL; aka USNFL; Pro Football)
(AFF)
New York Nemesis (WNFL; Women's Pro Football)
(NMFL; Arena Football)

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(USA-ABL; Pro Baseball)

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(USA-ASL; Pro Soccer; )
(USA-AWSL; Women's Pro Soccer)

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(USA-ARL; Pro Rugby)

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(USA-ABA; Pro Basketball)
(USA-AWBA; Women's Pro Basketball)

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(USA-AHL Pro Hockey)

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(USA-AWVA; Women's Pro Volleyball)

---

(USA-AWRL; Women's Rugby)

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Women's Major League Volleyball

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USA-AABA (United States All-American Goldenrod Association) An Association promoting women's tennis, golf, and Olympic-style competitions)

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Legends (USA-ARA; Auto Racing)