rayonsports.com

This logo looks very familiar to Buffalo football fans, but it’s actually the logo of a college football program, the Howard University Bison. The school plays in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and won small school national championships in 1920, 1925 and 1926. The small historically black college, located in Washington, DC, has actually been open to both genders and all races since its’ founding shortly after the Civil War ended. The school has sent 20+ players on to the NFL, including Marques Douglas and Antoine Bethea.

Logo of the Kansas State Wildcats, who are a member of the Big 12 Conference. This logo was used by the school from 1975 until 1985, when the conference they played in was the Big Eight, and featured “Willie The Wildcat”, a character designed by art department students in the 1950s. K-State’s football program is a candidate for the national championship this season, but overall has a losing record for its’ history. A list of the top football players from the school’s history includes Steve Grogan, Lynn Dickey, Terence Newman, Martin Gramatica and current NFL players Josh Freeman, Jordy Nelson and Darren Sproles.

Logo of a college football program that plays in the Big Ten conference, the Wisconsin Badgers. This logo was in use from 1967 until 1990, and features school mascot Buckingham U. Badger, AKA Bucky Badger. The Badgers play their home games at Camp Randall Stadium, the fourth oldest stadium in college football. The program has produced a pair of Heisman Trophy winners – Alan Ameche in 1954 and Ron Dayne in 1999. Perhaps the best known alumnus of the Wisconsin football program is Pro Football Hall of Fame end Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch.

Logo of a college football program that has been a powerhouse for a long time, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. This logo is from the 1950s and ’60s, an era that saw the beginning of the long-time coaching career of the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant, who won 6 national championships. Also during this era, some famous future NFL players suited up for the Tide, including Hall of Fame quarterbacks Bart Starr and Joe Namath, and long-time Dallas Cowboy linebacker Lee Roy Jordan.

Logo of another top college football program, the Arkansas Razorbacks. This logo was used from 1955 until 1963, a time frame that saw the beginning of the Frank Broyles coaching era, which lasted 19 years and was one of the most successful in school history. The Razorbacks played in the old, now defunct Southwest Conference at the time, winning conference titles and a national championship in ’64. Two well known players who starred as Razorbacks during the era of this logo are Lance Alworth and future coach Barry Switzer.

After recently featuring the logo of the Army football team, it’s only fitting to also highlight the logo of the Naval Academy. This particular logo was used by the school’s football team from 1959 until 1971, an era that featured the Midshipmen’s most famous player, quarterback Roger Staubach. The school produced 2 Heisman Trophy winners in this era also – Staubach in 1963 and Joe Bellino in 1960. Navy’s biggest rival, of course, is Army, but they also play annual rivalry matches against the Air Force Academy and Notre Dame.

Logo of the West Point Academy football team, used from 1962 until 1993. The team is better known as the Army Black Knights, and is an independent college program that competes on a major college level. Their main rivalry games each year are against the Air Force Academy and, in one of the most storied rivalries of all time, against the Naval Academy. Over the years, the team has had a lot of famous coaches, including Paul Dietzel, Lou Saban and Bobby Ross as head coaches, and Vince Lombardi and Bill Parcells as assistants.

This is the logo of NFL Films, a team that hasn’t won any championships but certainly revolutionized the game of pro football over the years. Ed Sabol founded the company as Blair Motion Pictures in 1962, convincing the NFL to allow him to produce a highlight film of the ’62 championship game between Green Bay and the New York Giants. Pete Rozelle, NFL commisioner at the time, saw the potential of Sabol’s work and convinced the league’s owners to finance the company, which was renamed NFL Films. The small film company, whose headquarters are located in Mount Laurel, NJ, has played an integral part in promoting the game over the years. Sabol was inducted into the game’s Hall of Fame in 2011 as a major contributor.

Logo, used from 1974 until 1993,  of a college football program that today is a major powerhouse, the Oregon Ducks. Yes, the duck used in the logo is Disney favorite Donald Duck, who became the school’s mascot in a handshake deal between Walt Disney and Oregon athletic director Leo Harris in the 1940s. The school boasts 5 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame – Norm Van Brocklin, Dave Wilcox, Gary Zimmerman, Dan Fouts and Mel Renfro.

Logo of a football team from the Canadian Football League, the Montreal Alouettes, used from 1964 until 1969. Although the current club is one of the most successful in CFL history, the Als had little success during the era of this logo, registering nothing but losing seasons throughout the decade of the 1960s. During this era, team owner Ted Workman traded star QB Sam Etcheverry without consulting general manager Perry Moss, who had signed Etcheverry to new contract with a “no-trade” clause a day earlier. “Alouette” translates in English to “Skylark”, which explains the little bird in the logo.