rayonsports.com

Logo of the National Football League’s Detroit Lions, used by the franchise from 1961 until 1969. It’s a good logo to feature at this time, since it represents the era in which Alex Karras, who recently passed away, was a star defensive lineman for the team. The Lions had some decent teams in the 1960s but usually played second fiddle to the powerhouse Green Bay Packer teams of the era. Some of the club’s top players during this time, besides Karras, were Milt Plum, Joe Schmidt, Dick “Night Train” Lane, Yale Lary, John Gordy, Roger Brown, Wayne Walker, Dick LeBeau and Pat Studstill.

Logo of one of the oldest franchises in major league baseball, the Boston Red Sox. The team was founded in 1901, and has played in their current stadium, Fenway Park, since 1912. This particular logo was used from 1979 until 2008. That era includes one of the lowest moments in franchise history – the ground ball passing through the legs of Bill Buckner and eventual World Series loss to the Mets in 1986, and arguably a couple of the best moments – their World Series wins in 2004 and 2007.

Logo of a football team from the Canadian Football League, the Ottawa Rough Riders, used from 1950 until 1960. The club was founded in 1876, and is one of the oldest pro sports franchises in North America. The 3 banners used in the logo stand for “Ottawa Football Club”, and during the era when this logo was used, the club made history a couple of times by playing games internationally. In 1950 and ’51, they hosted the NFL’s New York Giants in exhibition games, and in 1958, the Riders and Hamilton Tiger Cats met at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field, the first time a regular season CFL game was played on American soil.

Logo of the Brooklyn Tigers, a football franchise that played one season in the National Football League, 1944. The team played as the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1930 until 1943, changed their name to the Tigers for the ’44 season, then merged with the Boston Yanks in 1945. The fact that they were winless, with an 0-10 record, in their lone season as the Tigers probably explains why the franchise didn’t survive. They had 3 different coaches during that season, and their best player was undoubtedly Hall of Famer Bruiser Kinard.

Logo of a Canadian Football League team, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, used from 1963 until 1994. The franchise was born in 1930 and over the years has won a total of 10 Grey Cup CFL championships. Four of those came in the late 1950s and early ’60s when their head coach was Bud Grant, who would go on to coach the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings. Their roster over the years includes 39 players, coaches, or “builders” who have been inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame.

Logo of the Chicago Blitz football team, a club that played in the United States Football League in 1983 and ’84. The team was quarterbacked by former Chicago Bears’ QB Vince Evans, and its roster included some pretty good players, including Trumaine Johnson, Larry Canada, Frank Minnifield, Greg Landry and Joe Ehrmann. The Blitz’s biggest claim to fame was that its coaches for the only 2 years of existence were the legendary George Allen and Marv Levy.

Logo of a baseball team that played in both the Negro American and National Leagues, the Baltimore Black Sox. The club actually spent most of its’ existence as an independent team and also was one of the original franchises in the Eastern Colored League. In 2007, the Baltimore Orioles wore Black Sox throwback uniforms to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the team’s 1932 season.

Logo of another old, defunct team from the early years of the National Football League, the Dayton Triangles. The team, named for their home field of Triangle Park in Dayton, Ohio, played in the NFL from 1922 until 1929, and were mostly a doormat in the league, recording only one winning season in their 8 years of NFL existence, while racking up 3 winless seasons.

Logo of an old defunct professional football team that played in the early days of the National Football League, the Providence Steam Roller. After an early life as an independent “barnstorming” team, they were members of the NFL from 1925 until 1931, winning the league championship in 1928. They established a number of “firsts” as a pro football team – they were the only team in history to play their home games in a bicycle racing venue (called the Cycledrome), once played a series of 4 games in a 6 day stretch, and hosted the first night game in NFL history, hosting the Chicago Cardinals under hastily installed floodlights in 1929.

Logo of the Buffalo Bills professional football team, from its’ days in the old American Football League. The team played in the AFL for all 10 years of its’ existence, and won league titles in 1964 and ’65. The red “standing buffalo” logo was changed to the current “charging buffalo” logo in 1973 when the team, absorbed into the NFL when the two leagues merged, moved into its’ new digs – Rich Stadium. The logo was revived on the club’s “throwback” uniforms for the AFL’s 50th Anniversary season a couple of years ago.