Flashback: Columbus Checkers Photos, Prior to their Disappearance
The Columbus Checkers were the first professional team in the history of Columbus, Ohio and originally had a true medieval crest for a logo. They started play in 1966-67 in the IHL at the Ohio State Fairgrounds Coliseum (still exists today!) and struggled to a last place finish in year one. They would play over .500 hockey in year two with a 32-30-10 record in 72 games and make the playoffs. But that's about the best the Checkers would do. They would have a worse record in year three going 26-37-9 (1968-69), losing in the first round for the second straight year. Their fourth season (1969-70) would be even worse, finishing 24-36-12 and out of the playoffs. If you were living in Ohio during these years, you might have been able to watch the Checkers play their local rivals, the Dayton Gems on television...
Ad from the Dayton Daily News, February 22, 1970
After they completed the 1969-70 season, the Checkers actually... disappeared. The team had been up for sale throughout most of the season, as the owners had racked up almost $100,000 in debt. In the summer of 1970, it appeared that the ownership group had come to an understanding with another group from Chicago, Independent Investors, Inc, to loan the team money in exchange for an equity stake in the club. But, that deal apparently fell through. And no one knew that had happened until a representative from the Dayton Gems decided to pay a visit to the Columbus offices. Per The Journal Herald (Dayton) on July 8, 1970, "Where are Checkers?"
Whatever happened to the Columbus Checkers?
That's the question they're asking around the IHL today in the wake of a disappearing act that may make Houdini look like an amateur...
The Checkers' vanishing act was discovered by Dayton Gems GM Lefty McFadden, who stopped at the Columbus' team's office Monday. That is, where it used to be.
The office, a mobile unit normally parked on the grounds of the Ohio State Fairgrounds Coliseum, was no where in sight. Neither was any of the team's equipment...
Trying to reach Columbus President and GM Jerry Schmelzer proved equally frustrating. Schmelzer was reportedly vacationing in Africa...
With just three months until the opening of IHL training camps, league officials don't know whether to plan a schedule for seven or eight teams. The evidence seems to indicate that the Columbus Checkers are dead. But nobody can find the body.
By the end of July 1970, the IHL had assumed control of the franchise and was looking for new owners. Newspaper reports indicated that there were as many as five groups interested in owning the franchise, assuming they could pay the league's demands of a $50,000 entrance fee and $12,500 performance bond. Reportedly, a deal had been close with Charlie Finley, who at the time owned the Oakland A's (moving them from Kansas City in 1968) and the California Golden Seals. But that deal also fell through, and the Checkers were no more by August 1970. Finley would end up getting his hockey team, though. He started the Columbus Seals a year later for the 1971-72 season.
The Checkers would fold after four years due to poor attendance, but they did make an important contribution by introducing hockey to Columbus, which would become a big league market in 1997 with the creation of the Blue Jackets.
The following photos are courtesy of the Ohio History Connection. You can visit them at OhioMemory.org. These photos are of the Checkers hosting the Toledo Blades at their home arena, the Ohio State Fairgrounds Coliseum, during the 1969-70 season. They really show what the atmosphere of playing in a state fairgrounds was like as well as some 1970s flair. Notice the chain link fence surrounding the ice that would normally be plexiglass today.
