Used from 1972 until 1999, this is the logo of a college football team that plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the North Carolina State Wolfpack. The program was founded in 1892 and is one of the oldest in the country. Former NC State players who went on to pro football fame include Alex Webster, Jim Ritcher, Mario Williams, Haywood Jeffires, Roman Gabriel, Torry Holt and Philip Rivers.
Logo of a pro football team that played in the old Continental Football League for one season (1967), the Akron Vulcans. The league itself was formed to compete with the National Football League, and existed from 1965 until 1969. The Vulcans played only 4 games in that ’67 season before folding because of financial hardships. Their owner, Frank Hurn, had bought the team using borrowed Chicago mafia money and never was able to show any profit. The team’s three coaches for their short existence were all former NFL legends – Doak Walker, Lou Rymkus and Tobin Rote. The logo is somewhat similar to that of today’s Tennessee Titans of the NFL.
Logo of a football team that played in the now-defunct World League of American Football and the NFL Europe leagues, the Frankfurt Galaxy. They were the only franchise to remain intact in the same city for the 2 leagues’ existence. The Galaxy were a very successful entity, having appeared in the World Bowl championship 8 times, winning 4 titles. The team’s first 2 head coaches were Jack Elway, father of Hall of Fame QB John Elway, and Ernie Stautner, another NFL Hall of Fame legend.
Logo of a now defunct college football team, the Wichita State Shockers, used from 1972 until the program was shut down in 1986. The team encountered a lot of bad luck over the years, losing all 3 bowl games they played in, and losing 31 team members in a plane crash in 1970. Former Shockers who had success in pro football include Ted Dean, Earl Edwards, Miller Farr, Jumpy Geathers and Bill Parcells.
This is an alternate logo of the Boston Patriots from their old American Football League days in the early 1960s. They eventually “regionalized” into the New England Patriots when they moved into a new stadium in Foxborough in 1971. The team has had amazing success in recent years but never won a championship in the AFL years, although some of the franchise’s most iconic players played during this era. They include Babe Parilli, Gino Cappelletti, Bob Dee, Jim Lee Hunt, Nick Buoniconti, Jim Nance and Houston Antwine.
Logo of a college football team that plays in the Big Sky Conference, the Weber State Wildcats. The school first fielded a team in 1962, and they joined the conference the following year and have been members ever since. Wildcat alumni who have gone on to play professional football in the NFL include Mike Humiston, Jamie Martin, Tom Neville, Bob Pollard, Alfred Pupunu and Roger Ruzek.
Logo of a team from the Indoor Football League, the Green Bay Blizzard. This logo was used from the team’s inaugural season in the IFL, 2010, until 2014. They were members of the old AF2 ( a now defunct minor league of the Arena League) prior to that since 2003. Former Green Bay Packer linebacker Brian Noble was the team’s head coach in 2004, and in 2006 led an investment group that secured ownership of the team.
Logo of a football team that plays in the National Football League, the current Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. This logo was used from the team’s days in the old American Football League, in 1968, until the early 1990s. That era included a total of four Super Bowl appearances, all losses. All time Bronco players who starred for the team in that era include Floyd Little, Tom Jackson, Randy Gradishar, Lyle Alzado, Rich “Tombstone” Jackson, Al Denson, Haven Moses, Karl Mecklenberg and the early years of John Elway.
Logo of an old professional football team, the Tonawanda Kardex, who are credited with a single season existence in the National Football League, even though they played only one game in that season, 1921. The league was known as the American Professional Football Association that year, but eventually that league morphed into the NFL. Not much is known about this team, but they lost their only completed contest, 45-0, to the Rochester Jeffersons. The club also had a game earlier that year against the Syracuse Pros, a non-APFA team, but that game was cut short after 17 minutes of play due to inclement weather.
Logo of the Los Angeles Rams football team, used from 1946, when the franchise moved west from Cleveland, until 1950. The L.A. team was a star-studded unit that included many Hall of Famers during their initial term in the California city before relocating to St. Louis in 1994. The Rams are the only NFL franchise to win championships in three different cities – Cleveland, Los Angeles and St. Louis.