Chicago Hornets

1949

AAFC The Chicago Hornets, perhaps the least remembered football squad to have played its home games at Soldier Field, are an interesting story from a colorful period in Chicago's storied football past. As a member of the short-lived but influential All-American Football Conference (AAFC), the franchise was involved in innovations ranging from the practical (the introduction of the face mask) to the more meaningful (the league's central role in the integration of professional football) and many in between that still inform today's game. Rechristened for the 1949 season (after playing as the Rockets from 1946-48) and facing stiff competition as Chicago's third football team, the Hornets were unsurprisingly unable to make ends meet and the team folded following the completion of it's lone season. We're proud to offer the Chicago Hornet's 1949 logo shirt as a nod to a lesser-known chapter in our city and nation's football heritage. This quintessential "angry animal" graphic was hand-screened with water-based inks on a super soft heather grey sweatshirt.