Retro Pro Football

Charter members of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1920, the Akron Pros were also that circuits first champions. Two years later the APFA became the National Football League. The Pros changed their name to the Indians in 1926 and folded at the...

The city's almost NFL team in 1995. Abandoned by the Colts in the middle of the night in 1984, Baltimore tried for years to either lure an existing team to town or get an expansion team. In 1993, the city came close to the...

Boston's third pro football team, after the Braves/Redskins (1933-1936) and Yanks (1944-1948), were founded in 1959 as charter members of the new AFL. In 1970, the team changed it's geographical name to Bay State, before switching to New England a few months later, the...

Seven years after the departure of the city's team for Washington, Boston got a new pro football team in 1944. For four years the Yanks called the city home and formed quite a rivalry with Philadelphia.

The Boston Yanks were established in1944 and brought pro football back to the city for the first time since the city's previous team left for Washington, D.C. in 1937. In 1945, the team temporarily merged with the Brooklyn Tigers (formerly the Dayton Triangles) for...

The Brooklyn Dodgers were members of the NFL from 1930 to 1943, playing their home games at Ebbets Field. In 1944, they were renamed the Tigers, a name used by a team in the second American Football League in 1936. In 1945, they merged...

The Brooklyn Tigers football team was established in 1936 and played in the second loop to call itself the American Football League. Before the end of its inaugural season, the team moved to Rochester. It folded, along with the rest of the league, after...

The original Bills football team was established in 1946 in Buffalo as the Bisons in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). In 1947, after a name-the-team contest, the new name was selected. In 1949, the NFL absorbed several AAFC teams but, oddly, the Bills were...

Not long after Dallas joined the league, Chicago became a key rival, even though they were in different divisions. Remember the glory days of one of pro football in this fun design from Old School Shirts.

The Columbus Panhandles football club was established in 1901. In 1904, they joined the Ohio League, before becoming charter members of the American Professional Football Association (later called the National Football League) in 1920. They changed their name to the Tigers in 1922 and...

In 1952, a group of Texas millionaires led by brothers Giles and Connell Miller purchased the assets, including the roster, of the New York Yanks football team, which had been sold back to the NFL at the end of the 1951 season. The Millers...

Thwarted in his attempt to buy and move pro football's Cardinals to Dallas, and later denied an expansion team for his hometown, Dallas oil heir Lamar Hunt formed his own league which began play in 1960. His team was the Dallas Texans (a name used...

In 1920, the Dayton Triangles were founding members of the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) in 1922. The team played in the very first game between two league teams when they met the Columbus...

In 1920, the Dayton Triangles were founding members of the American Professional Football Association (APFA). The team played in the very first game between two league teams when they met the Columbus Panhandles on October 3, 1920 in Dayton's Triangle Park. They played their home...

The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a pro football team established in 1899. They played as an independent team until 1924, when they joined the NFL. Their homefield was Frankford Stadium, also known as Yellow Jacket Field, which was located in the Frankford neighborhood near...

It's one of the oldest rivalries in football, and it's only gotten more intense.

Green Bay's football team is the second-oldest pro club in America after the Cardinals. They hold the distinction having played the longest in one city than any other pro football team in the U.S. and are one the league's most storied franchises. It has...

Green Bay's football team is the second-oldest pro club in America after the Cardinals. They hold the distinction having played the longest in one city than any other pro football team in the U.S. and are one the league's most storied franchises.

The Los Angeles Buccaneers played in the NFL in 1926 and 1927. They represented Los Angeles in name only, and we're instead a travelling team based in Chicago, though it's roster was stocked with players from California.

The Louisville Breckenridges, or Brecks for short, were members of the National Football League from 1921 to 1924.

The Chargers were charter members of the American Football League in 1960. They originally called Los Angeles home, but moved to San Diego after one season where they remained until 2016, when they moved back north to L.A.

The Memphis Hound Dogs were a proposed NFL team that would have started play in 1995 had the city been granted a franchise. Jacksonville and Charlotte were chosen instead, beating out Baltimore and St. Louis, as well as Memphis. The former owner of the...

The Minneapolis Marines were a professional football team established in 1905. An independent team for most of its existence, it joined the American Professional Football Association in 1921, that league's second season. The team ceased operations after the 1924 season but reformed as the...

The New Titans, officially the Titans of New York, were charter members of the American Football League in 1960. Their homefield was the deteriorating Polo Grounds, once home to baseball's Giants. While the team played respectively, attendance lagged, and the team was sold in...

The New Titans, officially the Titans of New York, were charter members of the American Football League in 1960. Their homefield was the deteriorating Polo Grounds, once home to baseball's Giants. While the team played respectively, attendance lagged, and the team was sold in...

The Portsmouth Spartans were established in 1928 and played in pro football's national league starting in 1930. In 1934, the team was bought and relocated to Detroit, where they became the Lions.

The Providence Steam Rollers played in the NFL from 1925 to 1931. In 1928, they became the first football team from New England to win a league title. They remain the last defunct team to win an NFL championship.

The St. Louis NFL team that nearly was. After losing the football Cardinals to Phoenix in 1987, St. Louis sought an expansion team. In October 1993, Charlotte was awarded a team (the Carolina Panthers) but the announcement of the second team was delayed. Many...

Established in 1931, the St. Louis Gunners were an independent football team that played the final three games of the 1934 NFL season after the collapse of the Cincinnati Reds football club. They beat Pittsburgh in their first league meeting but lost to Detroit...

More commonly known as the Playoff Bowl, this post season game determined the third place winner in the NFL. It was played between 1960 and 1969 in Miami's Orange Bowl and was named after NFL commissioner Bert Bell who passed away in 1959. The...