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Logo of the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals, used from 1995 until 2001. The Caps, founded as an expansion team in 1974, changed both their logo and team colors in ’95, and had a decent team in this era, under coach Jim Shoenfeld, and later Ron Wilson. Their roster included players like Peter Bondra, Dale Hunter, Joe Juneau, Steve Konowalchuck, Phil Housley, Calle Johansson, Adam Oates, Sergei Gonchar and goalie Olaf Kolzig. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998, but were swept by Detroit. Also in the ’98 season, Hunter, Housley and Oates all reached the 1,000 point mark in their careers, the only time in NHL history 3 players on the same team accomplished that feat.

Logo of the Orlando Renegades, a team that played in the United States Football League. The team played its’ first 2 years in Washington before relocating to Florida in 1985. In Orlando, the Renegades played their home games in the Citrus Bowl, and their head coach was Lee Corso, currently a colorful college football analyst for ESPN known for wearing teams’ mascot heads when he predicts which team will win a game. His staff included 2 coaches who would go on to have success in the NFL – Steve Mariucci and Bruce DeHaven. Corso built a pretty good offensive team led by mobile QB Reggie Collier and RB Curtis Bledsoe, but the franchise folded after the ’85 season along with the rest of the league.

Logo of the National Basketball Association’s Detroit Pistons, used from their first season in Detroit in 1957 until 1971. They moved to the Motor City from Fort Wayne, Indiana in ’57, and were mostly a losing operation during the era when this logo was used, although they had some of the sport’s greatest players on their roster, including Dave Bing, current mayor of Detroit, Bob Lanier, Dave DeBusschere, Jimmy Walker and Walt Bellamy. The franchise has won 3 NBA titles, two in the “Bad Boy” era in 1989 and ’90, and most recently in 2004.

When major league baseball’s Houston Colt .45s moved into the first domed stadium ever built, the Astrodome, in 1965, owner Judge Roy Hofheinz renamed the team the Astros, and this was their inaugural logo, used from ’65 until 1974. The club had entered the National League as an expansion team in 1962, and, typical of expansion clubs, did a lot of losing. The new stadium and name breathed some life into the team, and attendance soared, although mostly because of curiosity for the new building. Shortly after play started in the dome, groundskeepers realized that grass wouldn’t grow indoors, and that resulted in the first artificial turf, AstroTurf, being installed. The team was full of young talent including Joe Morgan, Sonny Jackson, Jesus Alou and Jim Wynn, known as “The Toy Cannon” for his diminutive stature and impressive home run power. Also, the club had outstanding young pitching prospects, including Larry Dierker, Don Wilson – who had 2 career no-hitters – J.R. Richard and Mike Cuellar. Veterans Rusty Staub and Eddie Mathews were also Astros in the early years, and Mathews hit his 500th career home run while playing there.

Logo of the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association, one of the league’s original franchises. They existed from 1972 until 1975, and in their second season advanced to the WHA playoffs final round, but lost the battle for the Avco Cup to Gordie Howe’s Houston Aeros. In an earlier playoff round that same year, the Cougars were forced to play 2 home games at a skating rink in a local shopping center, due to their home arena being booked for a production of Peter Pan, starring gymnast Cathy Rigby. When the team’s owners encountered financial difficulties prior to the Cougars’ third and final season, the club was sold to Cougar players Ralph Backstrom, Dave Dryden and player-coach Pat Stapleton, but they wound up folding after the ’75 season.

In 1993 the Canadian Football League decided to add 2 teams from U.S. cities, San Antonio and Sacramento, but the San Antonio team, the Texans, folded before ever playing a game. This is their logo. In 1995, the Sacramento team moved to San Antonio and the Texans were reborn, but played only the one year in the Alamodome before folding. In their lone season in San Antonio, the team reached the CFL “South” Divison final, losing to eventual the Grey Cup winning Baltimore Stallions. The team’s coach was former Buffalo Bills’ quarterback and coach Kay Stephenson, and they had the league’s second highest scoring offense. Their backup QBs were Joe Ferguson, former Bills’ signal caller, and Jimmy Kemp, son of another Bills’ QB of the past, Jack Kemp.

Logo of an old National Basketball Association franchise, the Rochester Royals, who played in the league from 1945 until 1957, when they were relocated to Cincinnati. In the team’s early pre-NBA years, Otto Graham played for them, before moving on to his true calling as an NFL quarterback. Some of the notable players from the Rochester years, besides Graham, include Red Holzman, Maurice Stokes, Jack Twyman, Alex Hannum, Al Cervi and Chuck Connors, who went on to television fame as “The Rifleman”. The Royals won the NBA championship in 1951, the only title in franchise history for the team that still exists today, as the Sacramento Kings.

Logo of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team used between 1954 and 1960, and revived on the uniform sleeves of the team today.  They were officially the “Redlegs” in that era, and in ’54, Nino Escalera became the first black player to play for the franchise. Other notable players during this era, which was mostly a losing period for the team, include Ted Kluszewski, Joe Nuxhall, Jim Maloney, Vada Pinson, Gus Bell, Billy Martin and Frank Robinson. Despite being a losing club, the team was headed for better days. They made it to the World Series in 1961, and in 1960 signed 2 future players to amateur contracts who would have a great impact on the franchise – Pete Rose and Tony Perez.

Logo of the World Hockey Association Cleveland Crusaders, who played in the league from 1972 until 1976. The team’s most notable player was goaltender Gerry Cheevers, signed away from the NHL’s Boston Bruins. Their fate was sealed when the NHL California Golden Seals relocated to Cleveland and became the Barons. Unable to compete with the NHL, the franchise moved to Minneapolis and became the Minnesota Fighting Saints. The Crusaders’ top scorer in their four year history was Gary Jarrett, and another of their memorable players was Paul Shmyr, who had an appropriate last name considering that he racked up 538 penalty minutes in the team’s four years.

In the World Football League’s inaugural season in 1974, the league decided to go international and put a franchise in Canada – the Toronto Northmen, whose logo is on the left. However, Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau ruled that no American-based football team would be allowed to play in Canada in competition with the Canadian Football League under the country’s Canadian Football Act. So, after being legislated out of existence in Canada, the franchise moved to Memphis and became the Southmen, and adopted the logo on the right. Fans never warmed to the team’s nickname, and they were usually referred to as the “Grizzlies”. The team was owned by Canadian businessman John Bassett, and he made a huge splash by signing away 3 stars from the NFL’s top team at that time, the Miami Dolphins. Those players were receiver Paul Warfield and backs Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick, with the moves pretty much gutting Miami’s offense. The team had a 7-4 record with the 3 new stars in 1975 but the league folded before the season ended.  The team was pretty successful on the field in the league’s short existence with a 24-7 won-lost record, and among their home crowds was one famous fan – Elvis Presley, who was widely known to be a huge  football fan.