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.
Logo of a longtime college football powerhouse, the Pitt Panthers. Representing the University of Pittsburgh, this logo was used from 1966 until 1972. That particular era was not a good one for Pitt, but overall the program has been a major success, winning a total of nine national championships. The Panthers have produced eight Pro Football Hall of Famers, including Mike Ditka, Joe Schmidt, Tony Dorsett, Rickey Jackson, Russ Grimm and Dan Marino. Pitt played in the Big East Conference from 1991 until 2013, but now they are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Logo of another pro football team from the old Continental Football League, the Philadelphia Bulldogs. They played in the league in its’ first two seasons in 1965 and ’66, playing in the league title game both seasons, and winning it all in ’66, before folding shortly afterwards.
Logo of the first professional football team located in Mexico – the Monterey Golden Aztecs, who played in the Continental Football League in its’ final season in 1969. The club, owned by San Antonio car dealer Red McCombs, ran into financial trouble and folded halfway through the season. McCombs went on to bigger and better things, as he owned two NBA teams at different junctures – Denver and San Antonio, and also the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.