New York Sports Trivia

1. The New York Rangers was originally founded in 1926 as a team to compete alongside the Big Apple's other NHL franchise. What was its name?

From Quiz Us Too - New York City's Other Teams

Answer: New York Americans

In 1926, "Tex" Rickard, the president of Madison Square Garden, was awarded the right to set up a new NHL franchise to play in his arena. This came about following the success of the New York Americans, which had been established the previous year, and had consistently filled the Garden, despite having a mediocre season on the ice, which saw them finish fifth of the seven teams in the NHL at the time. The crowds attracted by the Americans led to the NHL agreeing to the establishment of a second franchise in the Big Apple. Initially, Rickard sought to call his new team the "Giants", but, by the time it was set up, it had been named as the New York Rangers, as in "Tex's Rangers", a play on Texas Rangers. The closing of the NHL's rival Western Hockey League led to a large number of quality players immediately becoming available, and saw the Rangers pick up a roster of talent that enabled them to immediately compete, reaching the playoffs in their first season. This success rapidly saw the Rangers assume a position as the city's dominant hockey team, relegating the Americans to a second-place status, and eventually dropping out of the league in 1942.

From Quiz Here First - New York City's Senior Teams

Answer: New Britain

The New York Giants' foundation came about through a desire to have an NFL presence in New York City. There had been a team named the Giants that played in Brooklyn between 1921 and 1923, and the name (which was also used by New York's National League baseball team) was resurrected two years later when New York bookmaker Tim Mara paid a $500 investment fee for an NFL franchise. On 4 October 1925, a week prior to their first league game against the Providence Steamrollers, the Giants lined up against the All-New Britain football club, from New Britain, Connecticut, to play their first ever game. A crowd of 10,000 were at Willow Brook Park in New Britain to see the new NFL team score a 26-0 victory against the local side, who were an experienced outfit who had played against a number of NFL teams. The Giants eventually finished their first season with an 8-4 record, coming fourth in the league standings.

From Quiz Rhyming Slang - New York City's Junior Teams

Answer: Titans

Upon the foundation of the American Football League in 1959, a total of eight franchises were initially set up, with one planned for New York City as a rival to the NFL's Giants. At its launch, the AFL's New York franchise was named as the "Titans of New York", usually being referred to as the New York Titans. The team's original owner, Harry Wismer, explained the choice of name by saying simply that "Titans are bigger and stronger than Giants". The Titans struggled right from the start; they progressively went from 2nd in 1960 to 4th in 1962 in the AFL Eastern Division, while financially the franchise's debts mounted, leading to the AFL having to take over operations from Wismer, before selling the team to a consortium led by Sonny Werblin in 1963. The new owners immediately made significant changes, obtaining the use of the newly built Shea Stadium, which they would share with the New York Mets, and changing the team's name to "Jets", as Shea was not far from LaGuardia airport, and the name reflected the modern approach the team would now take.

From Quiz Sport in New York

Answer: New York Americans

The Americans actually preceded the Rangers as an NHL franchise by one year, beginning play in 1925. They had little success on the ice, only reaching the play-offs in five out of seventeen seasons. Their final season, 1941-42, was spent under the new name of Brooklyn Americans, although they still played their home games at Madison Square Garden.

From Quiz Long Island Sports Stars

Answer: Carl Yastrzemski

Yastrzemski was a baseball and a basketball star in high school. He slammed 452 home runs and collected 3419 base hits during his big league career. Jim Rice was born in South Carolina, Ted Williams in California, and Tris Speaker in Texas.

From Quiz Buffalo Sports

Answer: Bandits

The Bandits entered the National Lacrosse League in 1992. They won the championship that year, becoming the first expansion team in league history to win the championship in their first year.

From Quiz Us Too - New York City's Other Teams

Answer: Montreal Maroons

In 1928, the Rangers finished their second NHL season with a second place finish in the American Division, giving them a berth in the playoffs for the second successive year. In the quarter-final they overcame the Pittsburgh Pirates across the two-game series, before getting past the Boston Bruins to reach their first Stanley Cup finals series, where they met the Montreal Maroons, who reached the series by beating the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens. Owing to the Rangers' home arena, Madison Square Garden, being pre-booked, all five games of the finals series were held at the Montreal Forum. In the first three games, the Maroons gained a pair of 2-0 victories, while the Rangers won Game 2 in overtime, in which the team's head coach, Lester Patrick, was forced to go in goal, stopping a total of 17 shots. The Rangers eventually won the last two games for a 3-2 series victory, to become the first American NHL side to win the trophy - the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association became the first US team to win the trophy in 1917.

From Quiz Here First - New York City's Senior Teams

Answer: Chicago Bears

The Giants won their first NFL title in 1927, at a time when the league champion was decided on the basis of the league table. However, in 1932, the league was forced to institute a play-off game between the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans, who had finished the season with identical records. The success of the play-off convinced the NFL to alter the league structure from a single table to two divisions, with the winners of each meeting in a championship game at the end of the season to determine the overall champion. At the end of the 1933 season, the Giants finished top of the new Eastern Division with an 11-3 record, and faced the reigning NFL champion Chicago Bears, who had won the Western Division. the game, held at the Bears' home stadium of Wrigley Field, was the third meeting between the two teams that season, with each team having one win. The Bears ended up winning 23-21 for their second consecutive league title. The two teams returned to the championship game the following year, with the Giants winning 30-13 thanks to 27 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

From Quiz Rhyming Slang - New York City's Junior Teams

Answer: Baltimore Colts

Having been saved from bankruptcy, the Jets set about attempting to build on their salvation with success on the field, starting in the 1963 season, their last at the old Polo Grounds before their move to Shea, where they were in contention for the divisional title until December, while in 1965, they drafted Alabama Crimson Tide's star quarterback Joe Namath. Their new quarterback proved a game changer for the Jets, leading them to their first winning season in 1967, before getting to the AFL playoffs the following year, where they won the AFL Championship and qualified for Super Bowl III. The Super Bowl had been established as a single championship game between the NFL and AFL champions as part of the agreement between the two leagues to merge by 1970. The first two games had been won by the NFL's Green Bay Packers, and no one saw any reason why the third matchup, between the Jets and the Baltimore Colts, should finish with anything other than a victory for the team from the senior league, given the Colts had a 13-1 record from the regular season. However, Namath confidently claimed that five AFL quarterbacks were better than the Colts' starter Earl Morrall, and that there was no way that the Jets would lose the game. The Jets eventually won the game 16-7, a first Super Bowl victory for the AFL.

From Quiz Sport in New York

Answer: Marv Levy

Levy took over the reigns in Buffalo in 1986, and quickly transformed a franchise which had been an NFL doormat for years into a serious challenger. Behind the arm of QB Jim Kelly, the Bills reached the Superbowl in four straight seasons from 1990-91 until 1993-94. Sadly for Buffalo fans, their team came up short on each occasion.

From Quiz Long Island Sports Stars

Answer: Craig Biggio

Biggio was a star baseball and football player at Kings Park High School in Suffolk County. He played his entire Big League career for the Astros. Jeff Bagwell also played his entire career with the Astros, but he was born in Massachusetts. Morgan and Cruz played for other teams in addition to the Astros.

From Quiz Buffalo Sports

Answer: O.J. Simpson

In 1973, "The Juice" rushed for 2,003 yards. He was the first player in league history to rush for over 2,000 yards. He did it in only 14 games.

From Quiz Us Too - New York City's Other Teams

Answer: New York Nets

In 1971, in an attempt to stop the upstart World Hockey Association placing a team at the newly built Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, officials from Nassau County on Long Island enlisted the help of William Shea, the man responsible for the foundation of the New York Mets, to try and get an NHL franchise for the area. Unlike the establishment of other New York based franchises, such as the Jets and Nets, which were part of rival leagues to the established organisations, the NHL was receptive to the idea of a second team in New York. Despite the initial misgivings of Rangers president Bill Jennings, the new franchise was established to play in Nassau County the same year. Roy Boe, a clothing magnate based in New York City, and the owner of the New York Nets of the ABA, was awarded the rights to the new NHL franchise in November 1971, remaining in control until he sold up in 1978. Although many expected the new team to be named as the Long Island Ducks, after an existing team playing in the Eastern Hockey League at the time, they were instead named the New York Islanders, with the map of Long Island forming part of their iconography. Upon their foundation, the Islanders began to build a fanbase among the population of suburban Long Island, with the Rangers remaining as the team for fans within the five boroughs.

From Quiz Rhyming Slang - New York City's Junior Teams

Answer: Polo Grounds

When the New York Titans (as the Jets were originally known as) were founded in 1959, New York City had a lack of major outdoor venues suitable for football. The largest stadium in the city was Yankee Stadium, which was shared by the New York Yankees and their tenants, the NFL's Giants. The only other extant venues of any size in the city were Lewisohn Stadium, the former home of the City College of New York football program, and the now disused Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, the former homes of baseball teams the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, who had both decamped to California two years previously. Ebbets Field was scheduled for demolition in 1960, which left the Polo Grounds as the only venue suitable and available for the Titans to play in. The Titans began play in 1960, with their first home game at the Polo Grounds a 27-3 win over the Buffalo Bills in September. Two years after the Titans moved in, they were joined by the newly formed New York Mets baseball team. As part of the deal forming the Mets, the city had agreed to build a new stadium to house them, which eventually became Shea Stadium. When the Titans were sold in 1963, which led to their being renamed as the Jets, the new owners agreed a leasing deal with the Mets to allow the Jets to use Shea Stadium. Both the Mets and the Jets moved in 1964, with the Jets' last game at the Polo Grounds being a 19-10 defeat over the Buffalo Bills in December 1963.

From Quiz Long Island Sports Stars

Answer: Jim Brown

Although born in Georgia, Brown moved to Manhasset as a child. He scored 126 NFL touchdowns and was later elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1983. Warfield was an outstanding receiver for the Browns and Dolphins; Kelly played for the Browns after Jim Brown had retired. Motley was a star prior to Brown's arrival in the NFL.

From Quiz Buffalo Sports

Answer: Hasek

He didn't win a Stanley Cup until he went to Detroit.

From Quiz Us Too - New York City's Other Teams

Answer: Belmont Park

In 2000, the Islanders were sold to businessmen Charles Wang and Sanjay Kumar, who had a proposal to redevelop the Nassau Coliseum into a modern arena, with a major development surrounding it. However, in 2011 voters in Nassau County rejected the plan, which led to the owners looking at other options for a new venue for the team. In October 2012, a deal was signed to allow the Islanders to move inside the five boroughs for the first time in their history, when they secured the use of the newly built Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with the team moving there in 2015. Barclays Center however was not an optimum venue, as it had been built specifically for basketball, and when converted to hockey provided obstructed views in some areas of the arena. As a result starting in 2018, the Islanders began splitting their home schedule between Brooklyn and their old home in Uniondale, while at the same time negotiating to construct a new arena. In August 2019 approval was granted for a site near the Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, on the boundary between Queens and Nassau County. Having spent the entire 2020-21 season at the Nassau Coliseum, the Islanders moved into the new UBS Arena in November 2021.

From Quiz Here First - New York City's Senior Teams

Answer: Highlanders

In 1903, as part of an agreement between the fledgling American League, following its coming to terms with the National League, granted the right to a New York based team, with the franchise purchased by two local politicians, Frank J. Farrell and William S. Devery. The new team was provided with a new ballpark in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan, which was officially named "American League Park" but, because of its elevation, came to be more commonly known as Hilltop Park. As a result of this, the new team, although not having an official nickname, came to be known as the New York Highlanders, a nickname reinforced by their president at the time being Joseph Gordon, as they were referred to as "Gordon's Highlanders", a play on the Gordon Highlanders, a famous infantry regiment of the British Army. The Highlanders remained at Hilltop Park for a decade, although during that time they never reached the World Series. By 1912, Frank Farrell began looking for a site for a new ballpark, as the team had difficulty attracting fans. While the search continued, for the 1913 season the team became tenants of the National League New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. At the same time, a new nickname, Yankees, was officially adopted - this had been an unofficial nickname for the team for their decade at Hilltop Park, and was what they had often been referred to in the press as.

From Quiz Rhyming Slang - New York City's Junior Teams

Answer: Continental League

In 1957, New York City's two National League teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, both departed to move to California, leaving the Big Apple without National League baseball for the first time since 1883. As the National League proved unwilling to expand, in November 1958 New York based lawyer William Shea made a proposal to form a new third major league. The new Continental League was officially announced in July 1959, with an initial five charter franchises (New York City, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis and Toronto), and plans to start three more by the time of the league's intended start date of April 1961. In response to the Continental League proposal, both the National League and the American League announced plans to introduce two new teams each, thus heading off the Continental League plans in a number of markets. One of these was the National League's establishment of a new New York franchise, which was offered to the owners of the Continental League franchise. The establishment of the new team, which came to be called the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club (eventually shortened to the New York Mets), effectively killed off the Continental League plan for good.

From Quiz Sport in New York

Answer: Syracuse

The Syracuse Orange were members of the Big East Conference until 2013, when they moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Carrier Dome hosts both the basketball and gridiron teams. The Orange have been national champions in football (1959) and basketball (2003), but their most formidable squad is probably their men's lacrosse team, winners of ten national titles between 1983 and 2009.

From Quiz Long Island Sports Stars

Answer: Julius Erving

Julius Erving's nickname evolved int a simple "Dr. J" when he played in the NBA. He thrilled basketball fans with his finger rolls and spectacular dunks, playing the majority of his career with the Nets and the 76ers. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Nassau County Hall of Fame in 2004. Malone was born in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Daniels was born in Detroit.

From Quiz Buffalo Sports

Answer: Scott Norwood & Norwood

He was released the next year. The Bills brought in their all-time scoring leader Steve Christie.

From Quiz Us Too - New York City's Other Teams

Answer: Empire Soccer Club

In June 1994, the initial 10 franchise locations for the fledgling Major League Soccer were announced, with the New York Metropolitan area being one of them. The planned franchise for the Big Apple was officially launched in November of the same year, under the name Empire Soccer Club, coming from the term "Empire State", which is a universally recognised nickname for New York State. The new team went under the name Empire SC for almost a year until October 1995 when, at the official launch of MLS, they were given a new name as the NY/NJ MetroStars prior to the first MLS season beginning in early 1996, which referred to Metromedia, the company owned by the franchise's first owner, John Kluge. After two years of play, the club dropped the NY/NJ moniker, with the team referred to simply as the MetroStars, with no city, state or regional name included, a rarity in American sport. The team continued under this name until 2006, when it was purchased by Austrian drink manufacturer Red Bull, who elected to completely rebrand the franchise under its own name, becoming Red Bull New York, and generally referred to as the New York Red Bulls.

From Quiz Rhyming Slang - New York City's Junior Teams

Answer: Baltimore Orioles

Following their foundation, the Mets managed to achieve little on the field for most of their first decade, gaining an unwanted reputation as "lovable losers", and posting losing seasons every year from 1962 to 1968. The start of the 1969 season, the first in which the two leagues were split into divisions, initially indicated that there would be little change, but then a number of good winning runs put the team in third place in the NL East by mid-August, with a late surge through September taking them to the divisional title, and the team's first-ever post-season appearance. In the first ever NL Championship series, the Mets faced the Atlanta Braves, over whom they had an 8-4 overall record during the regular season. The Mets ended up sweeping the best of five series 3-0 to reach their first ever World Series against the American League champion Baltimore Orioles (the first of three successive Fall Classics that the Orioles would reach). Although the Mets lost the first game 4-1, they went on to win the next four games by an aggregate score of 14 runs to 5 to win the team's first World Series, and the first for an NL team from New York City since 1955, being given the moniker of the "Miracle Mets".

From Quiz Long Island Sports Stars

Answer: Sarah Hughes

Hughes was born in 1985, and edged out Irina Slutskaya and Michelle Kwan to win Olympic gold. Her father, John, was the captain of the 1969-70 Cornell University ice hockey team which won the NCAA title. Sasha Cohen was born in California. Robinson was a member of the Canadian figure skating team.

From Quiz Buffalo Sports

Answer: Dunn Tire Park

Dunn Tire Park is considered one of the finest ballparks in professional baseball. It was opened in 1988.

From Quiz Us Too - New York City's Other Teams

Answer: Supporters' Shield

Upon the start of league play in MLS in 1996, the MetroStars, as they were then, were expected to be the dominant force in the competition, having recruited a stable of well known and regarded players and a high-profile coach in Eddie Firmani, who had previously coached the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. But, from the start, the team struggled, only reaching the Conference playoff final on a single occasion in their first decade, and missing the playoffs three times, including in 1999, when they lost 25 of their 32 regular season games. It was only in 2008 that they reached the MLS Cup for the first time, eventually losing to Columbus Crew. Although the following season the Red Bulls (as they had by then become) finished last in the MLS table, after that a steady improvement in both their recruitment and play led to improvement in their standings - they won the Eastern Conference in 2010 before, in 2013, they finally won a major trophy when they picked up the Supporters' Shield, the trophy awarded to the team with the best regular season record in the league, which also saw them reach the CONCACAF Champions League for only the second time.

From Quiz Here First - New York City's Senior Teams

Answer: Hilltop Park

Hilltop Park, which was officially named "American League Park", was located on a parcel of land between 165th and 168th Streets, and was quickly built following the establishment of New York's AL franchise in 1903. Initially seating 16,000, it saw its first game on 30 April 1903 when the New York Highlanders played the Washington Senators. Even when built, the structure was fairly ramshackle, with some of the bleachers not completed until two months after it opened, and a swamp that needed to be drained and filled with rock in right field. In 1911, following the destruction of the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants moved to Hilltop Park until their new stadium was ready. Two years later, the Highlanders ten year lease on Hilltop Park expired and they elected to leave, instead moving in to the rebuilt Polo Grounds to share with the Giants, when they were renamed as the Yankees. It was while at the Polo Grounds that the Yankees played their first two World Series in 1921 and 22 against the Giants, although by 1923 their newly built home in the Bronx, Yankee Stadium, was complete, with the team playing their first game there on 18 April 1923 against the Boston Red Sox.

From Quiz Rhyming Slang - New York City's Junior Teams

Answer: Queens

The origins of the facility that eventually came to be Shea Stadium began with an effort to build a new ballpark for the Brooklyn Dodgers, whose owner was adamant that any new stadium be in Brooklyn, while the city preferred that it be in the Flushing area of Queens. Following the departure of both the Dodgers and New York Giants for California in 1957, it was four years before a National League team, in the shape of the New York Mets, was established. Part of the agreement in the establishment of the team was the construction of a purpose-built stadium to house them. In October 1961, the Mets signed a 30-year lease on the new facility, which was to be built in Flushing Meadows Park, a public park in the north of Queens between the Corona and Flushing neighbourhoods. Construction began that month, with the Mets eventually moving in in April 1964, having spent their first two seasons at the dilapidated Polo Grounds in Manhattan, the former home of the Giants. Initially named the "Flushing Meadow Park Municipal Stadium", prior to its opening a campaign was successful in having the stadium named in honour of William Shea, who had successfully brought National League baseball back to the city.

From Quiz Sport in New York

Answer: Red Holzman

William "Red" Holzman had been a scout for the Knicks prior to being appointed head coach in 1967. In 1969-70, the team won their first-ever NBA crown, defeating the LA Lakers 4-3 in the finals. The Lakers were the Knicks' final victims again 1972-73, this time by a score of four games to one. Holzman retired in 1982 with 613 victories with the Knicks.

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