The Hartford Knights were a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team based in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. They began play in 1968 as a member of the

Atlantic Coast Football League The Atlantic Coast Football League (ACFL) was a professional american football minor league that operated from 1962 to 1973. Until 1969, many of its franchises had working agreements with NFL and AFL teams to serve as farm clubs. The league pai ...

, replacing the

Hartford Charter Oaks The Hartford Charter Oaks were a professional American football team based in Hartford, Connecticut. They began play in 1964 as a member of the Atlantic Coast Football League, replacing the Ansonia Black Knights. In 1965 the Charter Oaks were on ...

. For the 1969 season, they became the affiliate for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

. One of the best minor-league football teams of its era, the Knights never finished below second place in their league, won every division title they contested, and had a winning record every season they played (including a 17-win

perfect season A perfect season is a sports season, including any requisite playoff portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, and has occurred more commonly at the ...

in 1972). The Knights' most prominent alumnus was fullback

Marv Hubbard ''For the career criminal of the same name, see Battle of Alcatraz'' Marvin Ronald Hubbard (May 7, 1946 – May 4, 2015) was a professional American football player. He played fullback for the American Football League's and later National Fo ...

, who played his first professional season with the team in 1968 before appearing in multiple

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

s as a member of the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

. Other notable players included

Manch Wheeler Manchester Haynes Wheeler (March 2, 1939 – August 11, 2018) was an American football quarterback. He played college football at the University of Maine, serving as a versatile utility player who kicked and played defense in addition to quart ...

, the team's first starting quarterback who had previously played for the Bills; and

Mel Meeks Mel Meeks (born c. 1935) was a professional American football running back. Career A native of Muskogee, Oklahoma, Meeks never played college football and began his professional career relatively late in life after playing for a team on the Westov ...

, a power-runner who was one of the league's best running backs.

Season-by-season results

References

Atlantic Coast Football League teams American football teams in Connecticut Defunct sports teams in Connecticut Sports in Hartford, Connecticut 1968 establishments in Connecticut 1973 disestablishments in Connecticut American football teams established in 1968 American football teams disestablished in 1973 {{amfoot-team-stub