Remembering the USFL

I just got a chance to watch ESPN's 30 for 30 show about the USFL. I had really forgotten a lot of the details about the league that were presented in that documentary. Watching it brought back so many great memories of the USFL that I had really forgotten about over the years.

I was a teenage sports fan at the time the USFL began and I remember how cool it seemed back then that a new league was going to take a legitimate shot at the NFL. Even then, I was a uniform and logo junkie, so the league's logos and uniforms fascinated me. It had been a long time since I had seen video of that many teams from the league and the great designs they had.

Some of my favorites were the Denver Gold, Oakland Invaders and Arizona Wranglers. All those teams had cool uniforms and logos. (plus, it supports my football and yellow theory I wrote about last week) The league also featured one of my favorite helmet designs of all-time, that of the Boston Breakers. Though I was not a fan of their unusual colors, the Michigan Panthers also had a unique helmet design.

I had forgotten about the league's totally cool championship trophy. I don't think I had seen a picture of it since it was last hoisted over a head in 1985, but it is one of the greatest sports trophy designs. The metallic helmet on top of the trophy was about as cool as a trophy can get.

It is too bad that the league ended the way it did. It had so much going for it, top name players, cool logos and uniforms, and an exciting brand of football. The ESPN show documented all that led to the demise of the league. It also took a look at the involvement the Donald Trump as the owner of the New Jersey Generals and how it impacted the league's future. Much of the detail the show presented had escaped me so many years ago. It is a shame the league went away. How great would it be for all of us sports design folks to have this league around now, 25 years after it's founding?

If you haven't seen the show yet, search it out. It will bring back some great memories from the league that tried to do something extraordinary, and almost succeeded.

Comments

[Daniel J Leonard]

Jim,
I remember that red New Jersey General helmet!
The only season our Pittsburgh Maulers played, I saw Herschel Walker square of with Mike Rozier in Three Rivers Stadium on my birthday weekend in April of 1984.
The Maulers had one of the coolest logos.
A purple, muscular, hard-hatted steel worker swinging a long-handled sledge hammer over his head.
Still have the six-pack carrier they gave away as a promotion during that game.

Daniel J Leonard
Tucson, Arizona

[CJ]

It is funny to me that you mention the Boston Breakers logo. I had always liked it too. I actually played football at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR in the mid 90's, and for several years that was our helmet logo. It turns out that the head coach at Lewis & CLark, Tom Smythe, was an assistant coach for the Breakers when they were in Portland. He then took the logo with him wherever he coached going forward (he coached HS and small college football in Oregon). Luckily for me, I have a helmet from Lewis & Clark so I have that awesome design on display in my office every day.

[Jim Ransdell]

CJ-that is great that you have that on display. I love the Breakers helmet, one of my all-time favorites.

Dan-liked the Maulers logo as well.