Logo of the Canadian Football League Ottawa Rough Riders, used from 1960 until 1965. The Rough Riders, not to be confused with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, another CFL team, were a dominant force in the league in the ’60s and ’70s, winning a total of 5 Grey Cup titles in that era, and 9 overall. The Riders ran into financial problems in the 1990s and ceased operations in 1996. Five years later, a new CFL team, the Renegades, set up shop in Ottawa.
Logo of the American Basketball Association’s Baltimore Claws, who came into existence in the 1975-76 season, but only managed to play 3 exhibition games before folding. The franchise had originally been the New Orleans Buccaneers, moved to Memphis where they played under 3 different team names – the Pros, the Tams and the Sounds, before going bankrupt and making the ill-fated move to Baltimore, where they never made it to the regular season.
One of the more unusual logos of a minor league baseball team is that of the Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League. Formerly known as the Las Vegas Stars, the franchise was renamed in 2001 after the Area 51 military base located north of Vegas that is rumored to house alien corpses and technology. At the time of the name change, the 51s were a AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and began wearing Dodger blue caps with their grey alien head logo on them. The caps were heavily criticized by other PCL teams and fans, but has been one of the highest selling caps in the minor leagues. Today, they are affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Logo of the World Hockey Association’s Minnesota Fighting Saints, in their reincarnated version in the league. The story goes like this – the original Fighting Saints, using this exact logo but in gold and blue colors, were a charter member of the league, competing from 1972 until February of 1976 when they ceased operations because of financial struggles before the season ended. Then the following season, the Cleveland Crusaders WHA franchise moved to Minnesota, became the Fighting Saints again, and used the logo above with the red and gold color scheme. Unfortunately, they also folded before even completing the 1977 season. A couple of notable former Fighting Saints are Dave Keon and Paul Holmgren. Also, in the 1974 WHA playoffs, the Saints employed a guy named Goldie Goldthorpe, who had no points and 25 penalty minutes in 3 games. The 1977 movie Slap Shot, starring Paul Newman, featured a wild player named Ogie Oglethorpe, based on Goldthorpe.
Logo of the Houston Gamblers of the now defunct United States Football League. Although they were coached by the conservative Jack Pardee, the Gamblers were one of the league’s most exciting teams, as offensive coordinator Mouse Davis installed his “run and shoot” offense, orchestrated by future Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. The offense threw the ball all over the field, racking up yardage and lighting up the scoreboard, using 4 wide receiver sets and small, quick receivers, the most notable of them being Ricky Sanders, Richard Johnson and Gerald McNeil.
Logo of the American Basketball Association’s Dallas Chaparrals, one of the league’s charter members. The Chaparrals existed from 1967 until 1973, and eventually were moved to San Antonio and became one of the league’s, and eventually the NBA’s, most successful franchises as the Spurs. Some notable players from the early years of the team include Ron Boone, Glen Combs, Wayne Hightower and former NBA great Cliff Hagan, who also coached the team.
Logo of the Milwaukee Brewers franchise, used from the team’s inaugural season in 1970 until 1977. The team entered the American League as an expansion franchise, the Seattle Pilots, in 1969 but spent only one year in Seattle before going bankrupt and being moved to Milwaukee. The team didn’t have a winning season during the years when this logo was used, but did start to acquire players who would help them win in later years, like Robin Yount, Don Money, Cecil Cooper and Stormin’ Gorman Thomas. The Brewers also brought Hank Aaron back to Milwaukee at the tail end of his career. The Brewers were moved into the National League in 1998.
Logo of hockey’s Quebec Nordiques, who played in the World Hockey Association and were absorbed into the NHL when the 2 leagues merged. A proud franchise, the Nordiques were a competitive team, and their roster over the years included standouts like Michel Goulet, the Statsny brothers – Peter, Marion and Anton, J.C. Tremblay, Rejean Houle, Marc Tardif, Real Cloutier, Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin and Owen Nolan. The franchise was relocated to Denver in 1995 and became the Colorado Avalanche.
The original logo of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL, used from 1976, when they entered the league as an expansion team, until 1996. Expansion teams generally start out slowly and endure losing seasons for their first few years, but the Bucs set a new standard for futility as they lost the first 26 games of their existence. That futility led to this classic line from their head coach, John McKay, when asked at a press conference about the execution of his offense: “I’m in favor of it.”
Logo of the old Buffalo Braves NBA franchise, which began play as an expansion team in 1970 and played in Buffalo until 1978. Then team owner John Y. Brown swapped the Braves franchise for the Boston Celtics, who were owned by California native Irv Levin. Levin proceeded to move the team to San Diego, where they became the Clippers. The team had some success in Buffalo, led by coach Jack Ramsey and star players like Bob McAdoo, Ernie DiGregorio, Randy Smith, Adrian Dantley and Billy Knight.