Not a team logo, but an NFL promotional logo for their annual “Thanksgiving Classic” football games. The league has played a game on the holiday in Detroit since 1934, and added a second game in 1966, to be played each year in Dallas. Recently, a third, evening, game was added, originally only airing on the NFL Network, but now televised on NBC.
Logo used on the helmets of one of the original eight teams in the American Football League, the Boston Patriots. The logo was used in the inaugural 1960 season, then replaced with the “Pat Patriot” logo, a minuteman hiking a football, for the rest of the ten year AFL history, on into the team’s NFL days. The team finished last in the AFL’s Eastern Division that first year, under coach Lou Saban, who would go on to have great success in later years at Buffalo. Although they had a losing year, the Patriots had some players on their roster that first year who would be mainstays in their AFL years – Gino Cappelletti, Jim Lee Hunt and Bob Dee – all of whom have had their uniform numbers retired by the franchise.
Logo of the Texas Christian University football program, a member of the Big 12 conference since 2012. The Horned Frogs played in the Mountain West Conference before that, beginning in 1995. The school won 2 national championships in the 1930s, and boasts one Heisman Trophy winner – Davey O’Brien in 1938. TCU has sent many players on to the NFL over the years, the most famous of which are Hall of Famers Sammy Baugh and Bob Lilly, and future Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson, who was NFL MVP in 2006.
Logo of another Continental Football League team, the Charleston Rockets. The Rockets played in the league in all four years of its’ existence, three in Charleston before moving to Dallas for the CFL’s final season of 1969. The Rockets defeated the Toronto Rifles to win the league’s first championship in ’65, completing a perfect 14-0 season. The club’s most famous alumnus is defensive end Coy Bacon, who would go on to play 14 seasons with 4 different teams in the NFL, making four Pro Bowls.
Logo of a college football team from the Big Ten Conference, the Iowa Hawkeyes. This logo was used from 1962 until 1970. With all the movement of major college programs from conference to conference in recent years, it’s interesting to note that the Hawkeyes have remained in the Big Ten since 1900. Iowa has had one Heisman Trophy winner in its’ history, Nile Kinnick in 1939, and won the national championship in 1958. The program boasts three Pro Football Hall of Famers in Emlen Tunnell, Paul Krause and Andre Tippett. Other former Hawkeyes who played in the NFL are Alex Karras, Ronnie Harmon, John Niland and Chuck Long.
Logo of the Jersey Jays football team, which played one season in the Continental Football League, in 1969, the league’s final year. The Jays, unlike other teams in the league, served as a “farm team” for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. Legend has it that the late Clarence Clemons, saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, played briefly for the Jays. In his autobiography, “The Big Man” claimed to have been scouted by the Browns.
Logo of a pro football team from the old Continental Football League, the Chicago Owls. The Owls played in the league in its’ final two season of existence in 1968 and ’69. They played their home games at Soldier Field, occupying the lakefront stadium a couple of years prior to when the NFL’s Bears moved there.
Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s web page, this is a logo used by the Buffalo Bills’ football team when they originally joined the American Football League as a charter member in 1960. “Buffalo Bill” was seen mostly on the covers of home game programs, usually tormenting the mascot of whatever team they happened to be playing that week.
Logo of a top college football program that plays in the Southeast Conference, the Tennessee Volunteers. This logo was used from 1983 until 1998, which included the era of the school’s most famous football alumnus, Peyton Manning. The Vols have won six national championships in their long, storied history, with the latest coming in 1998, the year after Manning graduated. Other former top NFL players who attended Tennessee include Doug Atkins, Reggie White, Willie Gault, Jamal Lewis, Jason Witten and Jack “Hacksaw” Reynolds.
Logo of a college football program, the Purdue Boilermakers, used from 1971 until 1995. As longtime members of the Big Ten Conference, Purdue has had a total of five undefeated seasons and won eight conference titles. The school has produced a number of pro football quarterbacks, including Hall of Famers Len Dawson and Bob Griese, along with Mike Phipps, Gary Danielson and Drew Brees. Other former Boilermakers enshrined in Canton are coach Hank Stram and Rod Woodson.