Red team color war chants professional#

When star player George Halas purchased the team the following year, he decided to change the nickname.

Red team color war chants professional#

In 1921, the Decatur Staleys, a charter member of the American Professional Football Association, moved to Chicago and kept their nickname, a nod to the team's sponsor, the Staley Starch Company. Mental Floss: Origins of all 30 NBA team names Richardson also chose the 1995 expansion team's color scheme of black, blue, and silver, a choice that initially came under scrutiny from NFL Properties representatives.Īccording to one newspaper report, the concern was raised at the 1993 NFL meetings that a team nicknamed the Panthers that featured black in its color scheme would appeal to street gangs and reflect poorly on the league. Panthers team president Mark Richardson, the son of team owner Jerry Richardson, chose the Panthers nickname because 'it's a name our family thought signifies what we thought a team should be - powerful, sleek and strong.' Wilson solicited potential nicknames from fans for his new franchise and ultimately chose Bills in homage to the city's defunct AAFC team. It helped that the team was owned by the president of Frontier Oil, James Breuil.īuffalo was without a team from 1950 to 1959, when owner Ralph Wilson acquired a franchise in the AFL. The Bills nickname referenced frontiersman Buffalo Bill Cody and was selected over Bullets, Nickels, and Blue Devils.

The Bills nickname was suggested as part of a fan contest in 1947 to rename Buffalo's All-America Football Conference team, which was originally known as the Bisons. Mental Floss: How 30 MLB teams got their names

Other names considered included the Railers, Bulldogs, Mustangs, and Steamers. Martin Company, a predecessor to Lockheed Martin that was based in Baltimore. The Marauders nickname referenced a B-26 built during World War II by the Glenn L. 'It gives us a strong nickname that is not common to teams at any level, and it gives us one that means something historically to this community,' said team owner Art Modell, who had attempted to buy the Colts nickname back from the franchise that left Baltimore for Indianapolis in 1984. Of the more than 33,000 voters in the Sun's phone-in poll, more than 21,000 picked Ravens. Ravens, a reference to Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem, beat out Americans and Marauders in a contest conducted by the Baltimore Sun. It is deadly and has great sporting tradition.'Įlliott won four season tickets for three years and a football autographed by the entire 1966 inaugural team. 'The falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight,' Elliott wrote. While several fans submitted the nickname Falcons, schoolteacher Julia Elliott of nearby Griffin was declared the winner of the contest for the reason she provided.

Thirteen hundred people combined to suggest more than 500 names, including Peaches, Vibrants, Lancers, Confederates, Firebirds, and Thrashers. Shortly after insurance executive Rankin Smith brought professional football to Atlanta, a local radio station sponsored a contest to name the team. Mental Floss: Stories behind the AFL throwback jerseys The team adopted the cardinal bird as part of its logo as early as 1947 and first featured a cardinal head on its helmets in 1960. Team owner Chris O'Brien purchased used and faded maroon jerseys from the University of Chicago in 1901 and dubbed the color of his squad's new outfits 'cardinal red.' A nickname was born.

The franchise began play in Chicago in 1898 before moving to St.