Logo of the first professional football team located in Mexico – the Monterey Golden Aztecs, who played in the Continental Football League in its’ final season in 1969. The club, owned by San Antonio car dealer Red McCombs, ran into financial trouble and folded halfway through the season. McCombs went on to bigger and better things, as he owned two NBA teams at different junctures – Denver and San Antonio, and also the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.
Logo of the San Antonio Toros, a minor league football team that played one season, 1969, in the old defunct Continental Football League. They played in the Texas Division for their lone season in the league, and finished with a 7-4 record. They made it all the way to the league championship game, but lost to the Indianapolis Capitols.
This is a logo of the Texas A&M Aggies, used from 1964 until 1977. The school is currently home to the most recent Heisman Trophy winner, Johnny Manziel, AKA “Johnny Football”. Although the school now plays in the Southeastern Conference, they were members of the old Southwest Conference during the era this logo was used. The Aggies had another Heisman winner in 1957 – running back John David Crow. Other A&M star players of the past include Jack Pardee, Yale Lary, Lester Hayes, Shane Lechler and Richmond Webb.
Logo of a college football team that was once a powerhouse in the old Southwest Conference, the Southern Methodist University Mustangs. The team’s heyday came in the early 1980s when they featured the “Pony Express” backfield that included future NFL players Eric Dickerson and Craig James. They were NCAA co-champions in 1981. However, numerous NCAA violations led to the program being hit with the “death penalty”, which forced the school to completely terminate its’ athletic program. SMU has since rebuilt the team, and now they are members of the Football Subdivision (FBS), playing in the American Athletic Conference. Other famous players from the school’s history include Heisman Trophy winner Doak Walker, Kyle Rote, Raymond Berry, Forrest Gregg and Don Meredith.
An early logo of the National Football League’s Philadelphia Eagles, used from 1948 until 1968. The club won 3 NFL titles during the era of this logo, in 1948 and ’49 behind Hall of Famer Steve Van Buren, and in 1960. The ’48 and ’49 teams are the only ones in league history to win back-to-win titles by shutouts, defeating the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 in a blizzard, then downing the Los Angeles Rams 14-0 the next season. Besides Van Buren, other Hall of Famers who played for the Eagles in this era are Bob Brown, Chuck Bednarik, Norm Van Brocklin, Sonny Jurgensen, Pete Pihos and Tommy McDonald.
Logo of a former minor league baseball team that played, of all places, in Havana, Cuba – the Havana Sugar Kings. They played in the AAA International League from 1954 until 1960, when Fidel Castro and his Communist government took over the country, forcing the franchise to move to Jersey City. The Sugar Kings’ roster included several Cuban players who would go on to play in the major leagues, including Elio Chacon, Luis Arroyo, Tony Gonzalez, Cookie Rojas, Leo Cardenas and Mike Cuellar.
Logo of the long forgotten Boston Yanks, a football team that played in the National Football League from 1944 until 1948. The team played its’ home games at Fenway Park, and for one season – 1945 – merged with the Brooklyn Tigers, due to a shortage of players during World War II, and were known only as the “Yanks”, playing home dates in both Boston and New York. The team moved to New York permanently in 1949 and became known as the Bulldogs. The team had one Hall of Famer on its’ roster – quarterback Ace Parker.
Logo of the Cleveland Browns, a pro football team, used from 1948 until 1958. The team played in the old All America Football Conference from 1946 until 1950, then joined the NFL. The “Brownie” logo is appropriately wearing a championship crown – appropriate since the Browns, under coach Paul Brown, won every AAFC title in the league’s four year existence, then won 3 NFL championships in their first 5 years in that league. Notable Browns’ players from the era of this logo are Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli, Marion Motley, Mac Speedie, Lou Groza, Bill Willis and Jim Brown.
Brand new logo of the National Football League’s Jacksonville Jaguars, which was incorporated into the team’s new multi-colored helmets this season. The Jags joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1995 and made the playoffs in only their second season in ’96. Their first coach was current New York Giant head man Tom Coughlin.
Not a team logo, but the official logo of the old American Football League, which existed for 10 seasons between 1960 and 1969, before merging with the established National Football League. The newly merged league began play in 1970 with the original NFL teams (minus Pittsburgh, Cleveland and the Baltimore Colts) making up the National Conference, and the AFL clubs, plus the 3 NFL teams that agreed to the move, forming the American Conference. The merger helped grow the league into the monster it is today – the most popular spectator sport in the country.