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Logo of the Niagara Falls Flyers, a “Tier 1”  junior “A” Ontario Hockey League team that played from 1976 until 1982. The club was moved to Niagara Falls  from St. Catharines, Ontario in ’76, and it was the second incarnation of the team, under the same owner as its’ predecessor, which played from 1960 until 1972. Two future Hall of Famers played in the Falls, Bernie Parent with the initial Flyer team, from 1963 to 1965, and Mike Gartner from 1976 until 1979. The Flyers were sold and moved to North Bay, Ontario after the ’82 season.

This is a logo honoring the Detroit Lions’ traditional National Football League game played annually in the city on Thanksgiving Day. The Lions have hosted the annual game since 1934. The game was originally set up as a marketing ploy to drum up attendance when the Lions first moved to Detroit from Portsmouth, Ohio, but was so popular that it continues as an annual tradition today. The Lions played the first 5 games in the series against the Chicago Bears, and from 1951 until 1963 the opponent was always the Green Bay Packers. The city has also hosted an annual Thanksgiving Day Parade, since 1920 when Gimbel’s began the tradition, although it has been overshadowed nationally by the Macy’s Parade in New York City.

Logo of the National Basketball Association’s old Vancouver Grizzlies, who entered the league as an expansion team in 1995. The Grizzlies joined the league along with another Canadian city, Toronto, that year, and played in Vancouver until 2001. They were a losing operation in their entire tenure there, and in 1999, the team’s top draft pick, Steve Francis, refused to play there and forced a trade to Houston. Francis’ move, along with the lockout by NBA owners, were turning points for the franchise in Vancouver, as fan interest waned. After threatening to move the club to St. Louis, the team eventually was sold and moved to Memphis, its’ current location.

Logo of major league baseball’s San Diego Padres, used from 1969, their first year of existence as a National League expansion team, until 1984. The “Padres” team name was a tribute to the minor league team in that city that had existed since 1937. The team didn’t do much winning when this logo was in existence, but did have 2 big power hitters in their early years – Nate Colbert, who once hit 5 home runs in a doubleheader, and Dave Winfield, who was the face of the franchise in the 1970s. The Padres were owned in the ’70s by McDonald’s restaurant founder Ray Kroc, and dipped into the free agent market to sign players like Gaylord Perry, Gene Tenace, Willie McCovey and Rollie Fingers, but it didn’t help them win. The club finally won a pennant in 1984, the year Kroc died.

This is the old “Pepsi bottlecap” logo of the American Hockey League franchise, the Buffalo Bisons, used from 1940 until the franchise disbanded in 1970, giving way to the city’s NHL franchise, the Sabres. The logo design resulted from the team being purchased by a local Pepsi Cola franchise in 1956. The club was a solid AHL franchise for its’ entire existence, winning the Calder Cup championship 5 times, including their final year in 1970. Fred Shero, who would go on to be a successful coach at the NHL level with the Philadelphia Flyers, coached the Bisons in that final season.

Logo of the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers, used from their first season of existence, in the old All America Football Conference in 1946, until 1967.  The team name was derived from the name given to the prospectors of the great Gold Rush of 1849. The franchise has won 5 Super Bowls, but didn’t win any titles during the years this logo was used. When they joined the AAFC in ’46, they became the first professional sports franchise based in San Francisco, and joined the NFL when the leagues merged in 1950. The Niners of the 1950s were an exciting offensive unit, and they fielded what became known as the “Million Dollar Backfield” with 4 Hall of Famers – QB Y.A. Tittle and running backs John Henry Johnson, Joe Perry and Hugh McElhenny. Later, they boasted the “All Alphabet” backfield, with “Y.A.” still at QB, and J.D. Smith, C.R. Roberts and R.C. Owens joining him as backfield mates. Tittle and Owens made NFL history by hooking up on the “Alley Oop” pass many times, a play that’s pretty much an ancestor of today’s end zone “fade” pattern where the quarterback throws up a high pass hoping his receiver outjumps the defender and catches it.

Logo of the American Basketball Association’s Denver Rockets, one of the league’s charter members in 1967. The team played as the Rockets until 1974. When it appeared that the ABA would merge with the NBA, the team held a contest to rename the franchise, since the NBA already had the Houston Rockets. The winning name was the “Nuggets”, and the franchise survives to this day. The team was relatively successful in its’ ABA years but struggled in postseason play. They had some of the new league’s biggest names on their roster in those early years, including Spencer Haywood, Byron Beck, Ralph Simpson, Larry Jones, David Thompson, Marvin Webster and Dan Issel.

There are a lot of unique team names and logos among baseball’s lower minor league levels, and the Brevard County Manatees of the  Florida State League, featured in this logo,  are one of them. The Manatees are the Single A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. The franchise came into existence in 1994 and were tied to the Florida Marlins at that time. Some of the club’s alumni are Josh Beckett, World Series hero Edgar Renteria, Grady Sizemore, Ryan Braun, Randy Winn and Kevin Millar. When they were a Marlins’ minor league club, the Manatees’ mascot’s  name was “Hugh”. Yes, sound it out. It’s pretty clever.

Here is an “alternate” logo of a long-time minor league hockey franchise, the Hershey Bears, who play in the American Hockey League. The Bears, currently affiliated with the NHL Washington Capitals, are the oldest franchise in the AHL, having existed since 1938. They have won 11 Calder Cup championships, signifying the AHL title, in their existence, including last season (2009-10). This logo is reminiscent of the team’s original logo, when they were actually known as the “Hershey B’ars”, after the candy bar, and it also incorporates the team’s color scheme of chocolate and white. Notable players in the franchise’s long history include Frank Mathers, Willie Marshall, Arnie Kullman, Mike Nykoluk, Tim Tookey and Don Cherry.

This is the original logo of the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks, used from their inaugural season as an expansion team in 1976 until 2001. The Seahawks have the distinction of being born as a National Conference team playing in the NFC West division, then being switched to the American Conference’s AFC West division after one year, only to be moved back to the NFC West division when the league realigned in 2002. Some notable players from the team’s history include Curt Warner (the running back), Steve Largent, Ricky Watters, Shaun Alexander, Cortez Kennedy, the infamous Brian Bosworth and quarterbacks Jim Zorn, Dave Krieg and Warren Moon.