Logo of a small college football team, the North Carolina Central University Eagles, who play in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. They were the Historically Black Colleges national champions in 2005 and 2006, and Eagle alumni who have gone on to play professional football include John Baker, Louis Breeden, Doug Wilkerson, William Frizzell, Chuck Hinton, Ernie Warlick, Robert Massey and Charles Romes.
Logo of a small college football team that plays in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the Bowie State Bulldogs. They are a Division II team so their contribution to pro football is minimal, with the most notable alumni being Isaac Redman and current player Khari Lee.
Used from 1953 until 1955, this is a logo of a college football team from the Pacific 12 Conference, the Washington State Cougars. The school’s football program has existed since 1893, while they began play in the Pac 12 in 1962 (it was the Pacific Eight Conference at that time). The Cougars’ list of alumni who played pro football includes Hall of Famers Mel Hein and Turk Edwards, as well as Keith Lincoln, Gail Cogdill, James Hasty, Joe Danelo, Rian Lindell, Drew Bledsoe, Mark Rypien, LaVern Torgeson, Harland Svare and the unforgettable Ryan Leaf.
Logo of a small college football team, the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers, whose alumni list of former players includes NFL referee Jerome Boger, former NFL players Kalvin Pearson and Isaac Keys, John David Washington (actor Denzel Washington’s son) and former major league baseball star Donn Clendenon, who was the 1969 World Series MVP. While at Morehouse, Clendenon’s graduate “Big Brother” mentor was Martin Luther King Jr.
Logo of the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders, a college football team that plays in the Eastern Division of Conference USA. The program has been in existence since 1911 and has sent numerous players on to careers in pro football, including Erik Walden, Kelly Holcomb, Dwight Stone, Ray Oldham, Mike Caldwell and Don Griffin. Current Tennessee Titan safety Kevin Byard is also a Blue Raider alumnus.
Logo of a football team that played in the now-defunct XFL, the Las Vegas Outlaws. The team had a ferocious defense that was nicknamed “The Dealers of Doom”. The league lasted only a single season, in 2001, and some notable Outlaw players included future NFLers Mike Furrey, Kelly Herndon and Rod Smart, who became famous for wearing the name “He Hate Me” on the back of his jersey.
Used from 1995 until 2004, this is the logo of a former football team that played in the World League of American Football, the Scottish Claymores. The Claymores won their only “World Bowl”, signifying the WLAF championship, in 1996. Over the years, their roster included Joe Andruzzi, Jim Ballard, Siran Stacy, Yo Murphy, Dante Hall and Barry Stokes.
Logo of the New York Jets, used from 1964 until 1966, during their American Football League days. It was the beginning of the Broadway Joe Namath era, when the Jets were building toward the Super Bowl upset win they would accomplish in 1969. Weeb Ewbank, who had coached the NFL’s Baltimore Colts, began his second season at the Jets’ helm in ’64,and that season was also the team’s first in their shiny new home, Shea Stadium.
Logo of an old defunct football team that played one season (1974) in the old World Football League, the Houston Texans. They are in no way related to the current NFL franchise in Houston that is also named the Texans. Despite their one year existence, the team boasted a roster of well-known pro football veterans, including Don Maynard, Warren McVea, Sid Blanks, Jim Nance, Jim Kanicki, Joe Robb and Garland Boyette.
This simple logo from the 1930s belonged to the Chicago Cardinals, who shared residence in the Windy City with the Bears until 1959, when they moved to St. Louis. The Cards won a pair of NFL titles while in Chicago, but had only 2 winning seasons in the ’30s. Nineteen members from the Cardinal franchise are enshrined in pro football’s Hall of Fame, including Ernie Nevers, Jim Thorpe, Charley Trippi, John Driscoll, Walt Kiesling and Guy Chamberlin from the early Chicago days.