Logo of a college football team that plays in the Mid-America Conference, the Ohio University Bobcats. The school’s program started in 1894 and claimed a small college national championship in 1960. Notable Bobcat alumni who have had careers in pro football include Vince Costello, Dave Zastudil, Chet Adams, Landon Cohen and current players Mike Mitchell and T.J. Carrie.
Not exactly a “classic”, this is the logo of a football team that hasn’t yet played a game, the Orlando Apollos of the new Alliance of American Football, a spring developmental league that begins play in 2019. They will be coached by Steve Spurrier, a legendary college coach in Florida. Some of the players secured so far to begin play in February are quarterbacks Garrett Gilbert and Stephen Morris, backs Ryan Green and Storm Johnson, and defenders Will Hill and Reggie Northrup.
Logo of a defunct college football program, the Bradley University Braves, which began in 1897 but was dropped as a sport in 1970. A few Braves’ alumni had careers in pro football, including Harry Jacobs, Dick Jameison, Ray Ramsey, Marcus Pollard (who played basketball at the school but went on to an NFL career) and Billy Stone, who was the school’s last head coach before the program was disbanded.
Logo of a college football team that plays in the Mid-American Conference, the Northern Illinois University Huskies. The program came into existence in 1899 and has played as an independent and in various conferences over the years, winning 12 conference titles and a Division II national championship in 1963. Husky alumni who have gone on to play in the NFL include Doug Free, Randy Clark, Ryan Diem, Todd Peat, Hollis Thomas, Michael Turner and Kenny Golladay.
This is a secondary logo of a college football team that plays in the Southern Conference, the Furman University Paladins. Founded in 1889 and located in Greenville, South Carolina, the program has won 14 conference titles and has many alumni who have gone on to play professional football, including Jerome Felton, David Whitehurst, Sam Wyche, Stanford Jennings and Orlando Ruff.
A logo for the annual Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day game. The team began hosting the annual game in 1966, adding an additional contest for the day to complement the one played in Detroit. NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, for the 1975 and 1977 seasons, tried an experiment and had the game scheduled for St. Louis, but low television ratings and the popularity of the Cowboys as “America’s Team” convinced Rozelle to return the game, permanently, to Dallas.
Logo of the Tennessee State Tigers, a historically black college football team that plays in the Ohio Valley Conference. The program has been in existence since 1912, has won a total of 11 Black College national championships and boast an impressive 8-1-1 bowl record over the years. The list of Tiger Alumni who have gone on to play pro football is long, and includes Claude Humphrey, Richard Dent, Joe Gilliam, Mike Hegman, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Joe “Turkey” Jones, Larry Kinnebrew, Jim Marsalis, Dominique Rogers-Cromartie and Anthony Pleasant.
This is a logo of the New York Jets football team that plays in the National Football League. It was used from 1978 until 1997. The franchise originated in the American Football League in 1960 as the New York Titans, and was renamed the Jets after being purchased by Sonny Werblin in 1963. The name was chosen because the Jets would play their home games at Shea Stadium, near LaGuardia Airport. Werblin also hired a formerly successful NFL coach, Weeb Ewbank, to coach the team, and he held that post for 11 seasons, winning the Super Bowl in 1969. Players in the Hall of Fame who played the majority of their careers with the Jets are few, including Joe Namath, Don Maynard and Curtis Martin.
Used from 1997 until 2001, this is an alternate logo for the San Diego Chargers NFL football team. Recent Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Beathard served as the team’s general manager during this era, but they didn’t have much on-field success. It wasn’t due to Beathard not stocking the team with talent, however, as the Chargers’ roster at the time included star players like Stan Humphries, Junior Seau, Rodney Harrison, Eric Metcalf, Drew Brees, Doug Flutie, Ladaimian Tomlinson and Marcellus Wiley.
This is an early logo of the Denver Broncos football team, used in their days in the old American Football League in the 1960s. Although they are an iconic franchise now, the Broncos were a study in futility in their AFL years. Despite winning the first-ever AFL game over the Patriots in 1960 and being the first AFL team to beat an NFL club (beating the Lions in a 1967 preseason game), Denver’s franchise had a losing record in all 10 seasons of their AFL existence. Some players from their early years included Frank Tripucka, Gene Mingo, Lionel Taylor, Ike Lassiter, Wahoo McDaniel and Austin “Goose” Gonsoulin.