Logo of a historically black college football team that plays in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, the Texas Southern University Tigers. The program, which began play in 1947, has won 4 conference titles and a pair of Black College national championships. TSU alumni who have gone on to play pro football include Julius Adams, Ken Burrough, Brent Maxie, Ernie Holmes, W.K. Hicks and Pro Football Hall of Famers Michael Strahan and Winston Hill.
Menacing-looking logo of a Football Subdivision college team that plays in the Southland Conference, the Northwestern Louisiana State Demons. Their program began play in 1907 and they have won 12 conference titles over the years. Despite their small college status, there have been many former Demons who have made a big impact in pro football, including Joe Delaney, John Stephens, Terrence McGee, Bobby Hebert, Monte Ledbetter, Mark Duper, Gary Reasons, Jackie Smith, Charlie Tolar, Marcus Spears, Odessa Turner and Al Edwards. Ed Orgeron, national championship-winning coach at LSU, is also an alumnus of the school.
Logo of a Division II college football team that plays in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, the Hillsdale College Chargers. They play their home games at Frank “Muddy” Waters Stadium, named after the man who coached the team from 1954 until 1973. Despite their small school status, the Chargers have sent a number of players on to pro careers, including Chester Marcol, Andre Holmes, Jared Veldheer and Howard Mudd.
An alternate logo, used from their inaugural season of 1967 through 1984, of the National Football League’s New Orleans Saints. The franchise failed to complete a winning season in any of those years, with a pair of 8-8 records being the best they could do. Despite all the losing, the Saints of the early years included some Hall of Famers, (although they all earned the honor playing for other teams) like Jim Taylor, Doug Atkins, Ken Stabler and coach Hank Stram. Other notable early Saints’ players are Danny Abramowicz, Archie Manning, Tom Dempsey, Bill Kilmer, Dave Whitsell, John Gilliam, Joe Scarpati, Elijah Pitts, Joe Federspiel and Chuck Muncie.
This is a logo used in 2014 commemorating the anniversary of the 75th game of NFL football being played in the city of Detroit on Thanksgiving. The Lions franchise began the tradition in 1934 and the league has allowed them to continue the tradition with a game scheduled on the holiday every year. The Lions have unfortunately fielded a lot of bad teams to play in the game, but in 1962 they routed the Green Bay Packers 26-14, harassing Bart Starr all day to hand the Packers their only loss of the season as they went on to win their second straight NFL title.
This is a logo from a long ago past of a college football team that disbanded it’s gridiron program in 1951, the St. Bonaventure Brown Indians. The school has since rebranded it’s sports teams as the “Bonnies”, bowing to political pressure. As for the football program, they competed from 1895 until ’51, and resurrected a club football team for 3 seasons in the late 1960s. Despite it’s humble gridiron history, the school produced a couple of notable pro football players – Hall of Famer Jack Butler and former quarterback and coach Ted Marchibroda.
Logo of a college football team that plays in the Big 10 Conference, the Indiana Hoosiers. The school has a reputation for being more of a basketball school, but it’s football program, which began play in 1887, is also formidable despite a losing history. They’ve won 2 conference titles and appeared in 13 bowl games. Former Hoosiers who have gone on to play pro football include Hall of Famer Pete Pihos, Tevin Coleman, Rodger Saffold, Cody Lattimer, Jordan Howard, Nate Sudfeld, Trent Green, Antwaan Randle-El, Pete Stoyanovich, Tom Nowatzke, Marv Woodson, Earl Faison, Dave Whitsell, Bob Skoronski, Nick Sebek and Frankie Filchock.
This is a “script” logo, used from 1956 until 1969, of the National Football League’s Green Bay Packers. It was used in the team’s glory years under Vince Lombardi, and the legendary coach often donned a cap with this logo on it. Green Bay, under Lombardi, boasted a roster with many future Hall of Famers, but the pre-Lombardi club, from 1956 until 1958, included players who would go on to play for other organizations, like Billy Howton, Tobin Rote, Tom Bettis, John Sandusky, Babe Parilli and Marv Matuszak.
Last week we featured an old logo of an Atlantic Coast Conference college football team, the Syracuse Orangemen. This week, we feature a newer logo of the same school. The Orange began their gridiron program in 1889 and play their home games in the Carrier Dome. We listed all of the school’s alumni who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame last time, but there are many more who have enjoyed time in the pros, including Dwight Freeney, Donovan McNabb, Chandler Jones, Rob Moore, Daryl Johnston, Joe Morris, Gary Anderson, Jim Nance, Walt Sweeney, Al Bemiller and Dave Lapham.
This is an old, outdated logo of a college football team that plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Syracuse Orangemen. Known as the “Saltine Warrior”, the Native American character was used beginning in 1968, but was jettisoned in 1979 when a group of Native students protested the cartoon-like depicture of their culture. The Orangemen won the national championship in 1959 and boasts one Heisman Trophy winner, the late Ernie Davis. The school has a long list of alumni who have gone on to pro careers, including 8 Hall of Famers – Jim Brown, Al Davis, John Mackey, Jim Ringo, Larry Csonka, Art Monk, Marvin Harrison and Floyd Little.