San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers trace back their history way back in August of 1959, when Barron Hilton met with five other representatives from other places to talk about opening up a football league, a league which was later called the American Football League, one of the greatest and most historical leagues in the professional sports.
When the American Football League formally started in 1960, it only had 8 teams: the Dallas Texans, Denver Broncos, New York Titans, Houston Oilers, Oakland Raiders, Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, and Hilton’s Los Angeles Chargers.
In 1961, the team moved to San Diego and subsequently changed their name to San Diego Chargers. The Chargers continued playing in the AFL for nine more years. As a total, they appeared in four AFL Championships and have achieved the AFL playoffs five times. In 1963, the Chargers have won against the Boston Patriots with a score of 51-10, all before 31,127 fans at the Balboa Stadium.
In year 1970, the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL) merged. Since the merger, after 34 years of continued playing, the San Diego Chargers Football team has already appeared three times in the AFC Championship game and has already made seven trips to the playoffs. However, in 1994, after 34 years of participation in the NFL, the Chargers have finally mad it to the Super Bowl XXIX, but unfortunately fell against he San Francisco 49ers in a final tally of 49-26.
Currently, the San Diego Chargers have one coach and five players enshrined in the Professional Football Hall of Fame: general manager and head coach Sid Gillman, quarterback Dan Fouts, wide receiver Lance Alworth, wide receiver Charlie Joiner, tight end Kellen Winslow, and offensive lineman Ron Mix.
San Diego Chargers: Team History
The team was established along with seven other AFL teams back in 1959. However, amongst all of the seven other teams, the Chargers were by far not the strongest. In 1960, the team began their first play in Los Angeles. They were initially owned by Barron Hilton, the son of the famously rich Conrad Hilton, the founder of the chain of Hilton Hotels. However, the following year, they moved to San Diego, hopefully for a greener pasture.
Their early success in the AFL was highlighted by one of the most outstanding play in the entire football history, by their wide receiver Lance Alworth. Alworth had unbelievably 543 receptions with more over 10,000 yards in his 11-year AFL/NFL career. In addition to his power play, he also set the professional football record with a reception of 96 in consecutive games.
Today, the San Diego Chargers are members of the American Football Conference representing the Western Division in the National Football League. The team is based in San Diego, California.
When they first began play in 1960, they only had one coach for more than ten years, Sid Gillman, a world-renowned coach and a Hall of Famer. He was even considered as the foremost authority in the football forward passing offense in all of his time.
San Diego Chargers Logo
Except for some minor changes, particularly with its colors, the Chargers have essentially used an arc-shaped lightning bolt as their logo since they debuted in 1960. However, during the AFL period, they added a shield that featured a horsehead, still the lightning bolt remains, but this time with the word CHARGERS.
The San Diego Chargers were amongst the first eight teams who included the all-original American Football League back in the 60’s. Their career may not be as successful as the other teams of their batch, but someday, they know that things will still look up for them.