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Hartford Whalers

The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its 25-year existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to 1997.

Originally based in Boston, they were charter members of the WHA, known as the New England Whalers for all seven seasons. After their second season, the team moved 100 mi southwest to Hartford in April 1974; five years later, the Whalers joined the NHL in the 1979 NHL–WHA merger and were renamed the "Hartford Whalers".

After 25 years in New England, the franchise relocated to North Carolina in 1997 and became the Carolina Hurricanes.

Early seasons in Boston (1971–1974)
The Whalers franchise was created in November 1971 when the World Hockey Association (WHA) awarded a franchise to New England businessmen Howard Baldwin, W. Godfrey Wood, John Coburn and William Edward Barnes to begin play in Boston. The team began auspiciously, signing former Detroit Red Wings star Tom Webster, hard rock Boston Bruins' defenseman Ted Green (the team's inaugural captain), Toronto Maple Leafs' defensemen Rick Ley, Jim Dorey and Brad Selwood, and former Pittsburgh Penguins' goaltender Al Smith.

New England signed an unusually large number of American players, including Massachusetts natives and former U.S. Olympic hockey team members Larry Pleau (who had been a regular with the Montreal Canadiens the previous season), Kevin Ahearn, John Cunniff and Paul Hurley. Two other ex-U.S. Olympians on the Whalers' roster (Minnesotans Timothy Sheehy and Tommy Williams) had spent a significant part of their careers in Boston with Boston College and the Bruins, respectively.

The Whalers had the WHA's best regular season record in the 1972–73 season. Webster led the team in scoring and through the playoffs. Behind legendary ex-Boston University head coach Jack Kelley, the team defeated the Winnipeg Jets to win the inaugural WHA championship.

The club played its first season's home games at Boston Garden and Boston Arena. However, the Arena was too small and antiquated to sustain a WHA team while the Garden was owned by the rival NHL Bruins in which the Whalers found themselves fourth in priority for dates behind the Bruins, Boston Celtics, and even the American Hockey League's Boston Braves. Fed up with the situation, Baldwin decided to move elsewhere. In late February 1974, he announced the Whalers' upcoming relocation to Hartford, targeted for early April.

Relocation to Hartford (1974)
Hartford was about to open a new, modern downtown arena and convention center, the Hartford Civic Center. The city had hoped to get an American Basketball Association (ABA) team as the main tenant, but when that fell through, city leaders got in touch with the Whalers. Aside from various minor league teams in New Haven, the area had been largely bereft of professional hockey until the Whalers' arrival. The Civic Center was still being finished when the 1974–75 season began, so the Whalers played the first part of the season at The Big E Coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts, about 30 mi north.

On January 11, 1975, the team played its first game at the Hartford Civic Center in front of a sellout crowd. The franchise remained in Hartford until it relocated to North Carolina for the 1997–98 season, save for a temporary relocation to the nearby Springfield Civic Center in the late 1970s while their Hartford arena was being rebuilt after heavy snow followed by heavy rain caused the roof, which suffered from several engineering and construction shortcomings, to collapse.

Though they never again won the WHA championship, the New England Whalers were a successful team, never missing the playoffs in league history, and finishing first in their division three times. They had a more stable roster than most WHA teams: Ley, Webster, Selwood, Pleau, and Tommy Earl played over 350 games each with the club. The team scored a major coup when it signed legend Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty from the Houston Aeros in 1977.

The Whalers recorded losing records in their first two full seasons in Hartford, their final two WHA seasons saw more success. They went to the finals again in 1978, with a veteran team spearheaded by the Howes—50-year-old Gordie led the team in scoring—future NHL stars Gordie Roberts and Mike Rogers, All-Star defenseman Ron Plumb, and forwards John McKenzie, Dave Keon and Mike Antonovich, and possessed the league's best defense. The next season was not so fine, however, but while age finally caught up with Gordie Howe, the slack was picked up by Andre Lacroix, the WHA's all-time leading scorer, acquired from the Aeros.

Admission to the NHL
As the Whalers were one of the most stable WHA teams, the club was one of the four franchises admitted to the NHL when the rival leagues merged in 1979. Unlike the other former WHA teams, the Whalers were not stripped of most of their players. The Howes, Rogers, Ley, Keon, Smith, Roberts and Lacroix are the New England Whalers players who stayed on the team as it made the transition to the NHL and became the Hartford Whalers. (In the case of the Howes, Detroit intentionally turned down their option to re-sign longtime Red Wing Gordie, out of respect for his legacy already in place there.) Only Selwood, George Lyle and Warren Miller were reclaimed by their former NHL teams. The Whalers were the only American-based WHA team to join the NHL.

The New England Whalers renamed themselves the Hartford Whalers in May 1979, at the insistence of the Boston Bruins who objected to the team naming themselves for New England. Connecticut-based graphic designer Peter Good (1942–2023) was hired by the Jack Lardis Associates advertising agency to design a new logo for the team. Good put a whale's tail over a "W", allowing the negative space between the two shapes to create an "H". Good also helped design the team's new uniforms for the 1979–80 season in the team's new colors of green and blue.

NHL history
The Whalers were never as successful in the NHL as they had been in the WHA. They recorded only three winning seasons in their 18 years in the NHL, made the Stanley Cup playoffs eight times and won only one playoff series, earning the nickname "The Forever .500s" in mocking jest of their winning percentage. Whenever they did make the playoffs, they faced the near-certainty of having to get past the Boston Bruins or Montreal Canadiens to make it to the Conference Finals. The team developed a heated rivalry with the Bruins because they were based only 100 miles northeast of Hartford and the fact they used to play in the same arena. Home games against the Bruins usually attracted the Whalers' largest crowds, as many Bruins fans followed their team to Hartford. The Whalers had an all-time head-to-head record of 37–69–12 against Boston.

The Whalers were hampered by numerous off-ice factors. Hartford was the smallest American market in the NHL and was located on the traditional dividing line between the home territories for Boston and New York area teams. This limited the team's marketability. Additionally, for most of the Whalers' tenure as an NHL team, the Hartford Civic Center was one of the smallest arenas in the league. At its maximum, it seated just 15,635 for hockey. The team averaged over 14,000 fans only twice in its 15 years at the Civic Center. They averaged only 13,867 from 1980 to 1997. Most of their sellouts came when either the Bruins, the New York Islanders, or the New York Rangers played in Hartford, bringing thousands of their own fans with them.

Inaugural NHL season
Upon joining the NHL, the Whalers were placed in the Norris Division of the Wales Conference. Their first NHL season in 1979–80 looked somewhat promising. They were led by Mike Rogers, Blaine Stoughton, Dave Keon, Mark Howe, Rick Ley, NHL legend Gordie Howe and the all-time WHA leading scorer, Andre Lacroix, along with the franchise's first starting goaltender, Al Smith. The Whalers also acquired another NHL legend, Bobby Hull, near the NHL trade deadline in 1980. They finished the season with 73 points and a playoff berth and had the best record of the four former WHA franchises that entered the NHL in 1979–80. The Whalers remained the most recent first year expansion franchise to make the playoffs in their inaugural season, along with the 1979–80 Edmonton Oilers, until the 2017–18 Vegas Golden Knights accomplished the feat. In the first round of the playoffs, the Whalers were swept by the Montreal Canadiens three games to none. Following this season, Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull and Andre Lacroix all announced their retirements from professional hockey.

The early 1980s
Following the 1979–80 season, the Whalers had many aging veterans left over from their WHA days. To make matters worse, the Whalers reputation of making disastrous trades began to unfold, as the team began to trade away stars for mediocre players in an attempt to gain depth. For instance, they traded star defenseman Mark Howe and their first NHL scoring leader, Mike Rogers, in separate deals for players and draft picks which never panned out, and also swapped defensive-defenseman Gordie Roberts, who would go on to play 15 remaining professional seasons, for the remaining half of the season of Mike Fidler's NHL career. For the 1981–82 season, the NHL realigned its divisions and the Whalers were resituated in the Adams Division of the Wales Conference. The Whalers bottomed out in the 1982–83 season with a record of 19–54–7 (45 points), ranked 20th out of 21 teams in the NHL standings. On May 2, 1983, the Whalers hired Emile Francis as their new general manager to rebuild the team. About two months later, on July 7, Francis hired Jack Evans to be the Whalers' new head coach. By the end of the 1986–87 season, Francis had cut or traded away every player from the 1982–83 Whalers' roster save for Ron Francis, Paul MacDermid, and Paul Lawless.

Success in the mid-1980s
The team had a brief period of success in the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons. The Whalers began 1985–86 looking like a playoff contender. By the end of January, they had a record of 26–20–1 for 53 points after 47 games. At this time, however, the Whalers began to struggle when they lost their franchise player Ron Francis and star goal scorer Kevin Dineen to injuries. As a result, the Whalers struggled through February, winning just two games in the month and in danger of missing the playoffs for the sixth year in a row. In March, Francis and Dineen returned from their injuries and the Whalers put up a record of 12–4–2 in the months of March and April. The Whalers finished fourth in the Adams Division in the 1985–86 regular season, earning themselves a playoff berth for the first time since 1980. The Whalers went on to eliminate the first-place Quebec Nordiques in a three-game sweep in the first round, winning their first, and only, NHL playoff series in Hartford. The Whalers then pushed the division finals to seven games, losing the final game 2–1 in overtime to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens disposed of both the Rangers and Calgary Flames in five games in the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, respectively.

The following season, 1986–87, the Whalers won their lone division championship, led by centers Ron Francis and Ray Ferraro, emerging winger Kevin Dineen, defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, superstar goaltender Mike Liut and scorer Sylvain Turgeon. The 93 points earned that season were the most they would earn as an NHL team in Hartford; however, they were quickly eliminated in the first round by the Nordiques. The Whalers started the series strongly, winning the first two games at home, but, beginning in Game 3, the Nordiques were able to successfully take the Whalers off their game by playing a tough, chippy style of hockey. As a result, both teams broke NHL records in penalty minutes for an individual playoff game and a whole playoff series. The Nordiques won the next four games and thus the series, four games to two. While Hartford would make the playoffs for the next five seasons in a row, they never came close to duplicating their previous success, with one exception in the 1989–90 season.

The 1989–90 season
In 1989–90, the Whalers finished seventh overall in the NHL standings and fourth overall in the Wales Conference, with 85 points. This was the franchise's second-highest point total in the NHL while located in Hartford. The regular season was highlighted by captain Ron Francis putting up career highs in goals (32), assists (69) and points (101). Later in his career, Francis was only able to exceed 101 points once (in 1995–96) and never again exceeded 32 goals in a single season. At the trade deadline, the Whalers first year general manager Eddie Johnston made the first in a series of destructive trades by sending franchise goaltender Mike Liut to the Washington Capitals in exchange for center Yvon Corriveau. Liut was having a career year during the 1989–90 season and this trade left the Whalers with sophomore goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz as their starter, with rookie Kay Whitmore as the backup.

The Whalers went on to face the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs. In Game 4, the Whalers were in front of their home crowd with a two games to one series lead and a 5–2 lead in the game entering the third period. Bruins starting goaltender Reggie Lemelin was struggling throughout the series and was replaced by backup Andy Moog in the third period. At the same time, Peter Sidorkiewicz began struggling in goal for the Whalers, and the Bruins scored four unanswered goals in the third period, winning the game 6–5. Sidorkiewicz struggled for the rest of the series and Moog was spectacular for the Bruins. Without Liut, the Whalers had to either stick with Sidorkiewicz, which they did, or use the unproven rookie, Kay Whitmore, in goal. Goaltending turned out to be one of the big differences in this series and the Bruins won it in seven games. The Bruins went on to dispose of the Canadiens in five games, then sweep the Capitals in the Wales Conference Finals before losing in the Stanley Cup finals to the Edmonton Oilers.

The Ron Francis trade
On March 4, 1991, Francis was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, along with Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings, in exchange for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker. Francis was one of the most popular players on the team, and held nearly every significant offensive record in the franchise's history, both in the WHA and NHL. The trade was savagely condemned by Whalers fans, few of whom believed The Hockey News assessment that the Whalers had actually come out on the better end of the trade. Parker would only play four games in Hartford before suffering a concussion and a knee injury within two weeks of each other, effectively ending his NHL career. The Francis trade was made all the more painful when Francis and Samuelsson promptly helped lead the Penguins to two consecutive Stanley Cup titles. Coincidentally, Eddie Johnston, the Hartford general manager who had orchestrated the Francis trade, would follow him to Pittsburgh as the Penguins' head coach two years later.

The trades that Johnston made, particularly the Ron Francis trade, proved to be disastrous for the Whalers, since the players acquired did not meet the team's expectations, leaving the Whalers depleted of talent and costing them substantial goodwill in Hartford. The links below show all of the trades and transactions Ed Johnston made as the general manager of the Whalers.

The 1992 playoffs
The Whalers went to the playoffs for the final time in 1992 behind Jimmy Roberts' coaching, despite winning only 26 games. In those days, however, the top four teams in each division made the playoffs, regardless of record. They faced the heavily-favored Montreal Canadiens in the Adams Division Semi-finals. The Whalers lost Game 1 by a score of 2–0 and Game 2 by a score of 5–2, creating the expectation that the Canadiens would sweep the Whalers out of the first round, as they did in the 1989 playoffs. However, the Whalers came back home to win Games 3 and 4 by scores of 5–2 and 3–1, respectively. The main turning point in the series came in the second period of Game 5 — the Whalers had a 3–1 lead midway through the second period, where the Canadiens began rushing the crease and getting in the face of Whalers goaltender Frank Pietrangelo to distract him. The strategy worked, as the Canadiens scored four unanswered goals in the final five minutes of the second period. These goals were not called back, since this was before the time when the NHL began strictly enforcing crease infractions on goals. The Whalers lost Game 5 by a score of 7–4. The Whalers came back to win Game 6 by a score of 2–1 just 24 seconds into overtime on a goal by Yvon Corriveau. The series went back to Montreal for game 7 and the Whalers lost a dramatic double overtime game by a score of 3–2, as Russ Courtnall scored on a turn-around shot against Pietrangelo. Corriveau had an excellent chance for a second consecutive overtime winner in the first overtime period on a breakaway, but his shot missed the net. It was the last time the Whalers would qualify for the playoffs for the rest of their time in Hartford.

Roberts was fired thereafter, along with general manager Eddie Johnston. At the end of the three-year Johnston era, only seven players remained from the Whalers' active roster prior to Johnston taking over as general manager. Those players were forwards Ed Kastelic and Terry Yake; defensemen Randy Ladouceur, Brad Shaw and Adam Burt; and goaltenders Peter Sidorkiewicz and Kay Whitmore. During the summer of 1992, following Johnston's departure, Shaw and Whitmore were traded away, Kastelic left via free agency and Sidorkiewicz was lost to the Ottawa Senators in the expansion draft.

The Brian Burke and Paul Holmgren years
In the summer of 1992, the Whalers hired Brian Burke to replace Eddie Johnston as general manager to rebuild the Whalers. Burke had worked for the Vancouver Canucks, helping them build the team that eventually went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1994. Burke hired Paul Holmgren to be the Whalers' new head coach. Holmgren had been the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. Holmgren immediately named Pat Verbeek the new captain and he ended up playing on a line with young stars Andrew Cassels and Geoff Sanderson. The Whalers also acquired goaltender Sean Burke in exchange for former first-round draft pick Bobby Holik. Cassels, Sanderson and Sean Burke remained star players for the Whalers through their final season in Hartford. In addition, future NHL star Michael Nylander began his NHL career with the Whalers during the 1992–93 season. Since the 1992–93 season was a rebuilding year for the Whalers, they finished the season with only 58 points, the second-worst point total in franchise history, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1985.

The Whalers entered the 1993–94 season as members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference, and with high hopes from a core of young talented players. The Whalers were also able to draft defenseman Chris Pronger, who began his career with the Whalers, playing alongside veteran defenseman Brad McCrimmon, and later became an NHL star. However, problems began at the management level when general manager Brian Burke announced he would resign when the season began to take an executive position with the NHL. In addition, Burke had some disagreements with Whalers owner Richard Gordon. After Burke left, Holmgren took over as both the head coach and general manager. The Whalers started off the season poorly. Holmgren felt he was unable to handle the job of general manager and head coach, so he made Pierre McGuire the new head coach. The coaching change did not help the Whalers, however, since McGuire was not popular with the players; the Whalers continued to struggle. The Whalers reached a low point in the season when six players and two assistant coaches were arrested in Buffalo, New York, after being involved in a bar room brawl. Pronger was one of the players arrested; he was 19 years of age at the time, two years below than the legal drinking age in the State of New York. Around this same time, Paul Holmgren checked himself into rehab for alcohol addiction after being arrested with a DUI in Simsbury. The Whalers finished the season with 63 points, only a five-point improvement from the previous season. One bright spot for the Whalers was the emergence of Sean Burke as their franchise and star goaltender. Another highlight of the 1993–94 season was when Brian Propp scored his 1,000th career NHL point with the Whalers. Propp announced his retirement after the season.

New ownership
In the summer of 1994, the Whalers were purchased, in a deal brokered by the Connecticut Development Authority, by Compuware CEO Peter Karmanos, along with partners Thomas Thewes and Jim Rutherford. Rutherford became the team's new general manager and Holmgren returned as the head coach. The new ownership wanted to turn the team into a winner for the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season, so Rutherford went out to the free agent market and signed Jimmy Carson and Steven Rice. On draft day, the Whalers selected the highly rated Jeff O'Neill in the first round. Rutherford also acquired defenseman Glen Wesley from the Boston Bruins in exchange for three first-round draft picks (Kyle McLaren, Johnathan Aitken and Sergei Samsonov). Despite these acquisitions, the Whalers struggled at the beginning of the season, starting off with a record of 2–7–2. In mid-February, the Whalers began improving, led by their top line of Sanderson, Cassels and Verbeek, along with franchise goaltender Sean Burke. For the next 30 games, the Whalers put up a record of 16–11–3 and it appeared as if the Whalers were on their way to their first playoff berth since 1992. Unfortunately, the Whalers played poorly down the stretch, winning only one game in the last seven and missed the playoffs by four points.

Before the beginning of the 1995–96 season, the Whalers management became frustrated with the slow development of highly rated prospect Chris Pronger. As a result, Pronger was sent to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Brendan Shanahan. Shanahan was not happy with the trade even before playing a single game in Hartford. However, he was immediately made the team's new captain. The Whalers won their first four games of the season, but then struggled for the rest of the calendar year of 1995. As a result, Paul Maurice replaced Holmgren as head coach in November. On December 28, 1995, the Whalers received a morale boost when they reacquired one of their most popular players from the 1980s, Kevin Dineen. His skills and leadership had an immediate impact on the team, as the Whalers began playing significantly better in January. Despite the strong finish in the second half of the season, the Whalers were unable to recover from their poor start and they missed the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.

Before the beginning of the 1996–97 season, Brendan Shanahan ended his silence about his displeasure about playing in Hartford. He demanded a trade out of Hartford because he claimed he did not want to play in a small market for a team with an uncertain future about its location. Whalers fans and local media condemned Shanahan for his comments and he was immediately stripped of his captaincy; Kevin Dineen took over the role. After the second game of the season, Shanahan was traded (along with Brian Glynn) to the Detroit Red Wings for Keith Primeau, Paul Coffey and a first-round draft pick. Despite these problems, the Whalers got off to a very good start, with a 14–7–6 record after the first 27 games, sitting in first in their division. They were led by a strong first line of Sanderson, Cassels and Dineen along with a solid second line of Primeau, O'Neill and Sami Kapanen. During the calendar year of 1996, the Whalers achieved a record of 41–30–10 in 81 games. In 1997, following the good start, the Whalers' season began to slip away. This included a nine-game losing streak in January and a six-game losing streak in March. Despite the poor performance down the stretch, the Whalers still had an opportunity to make the playoffs in the final week of the season. However, the Whalers lost two games on the road to Ottawa and the New York Islanders, which eliminated them from the playoffs before their final regular season game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Departure from Hartford
Owner Peter Karmanos pledged to keep the Whalers in the city of Hartford for four years when he purchased the team in 1994. However, two years later, frustrated with lackluster attendance and little corporate support, he announced that if the Whalers were unable to sell at least 11,000 season tickets for the 1996–97 season, he would likely move the team. Furthermore, ownership only made season tickets available in full-season (41-game) packages, eliminating the popular six-, 9-, 10- and 20-game mini-plans in a strategy largely designed to spur purchases from corporations and wealthier individuals. Sales were underwhelming at the beginning of the campaign, and at the end of the 1995–96 season, it was still unknown whether the Whalers would stay in Connecticut past 1998 or move elsewhere. However, thanks to an aggressive civic campaign and the efforts of many fans, the Whalers announced that they would stay in Connecticut through at least 1997, one year shy of his original promise. The "Save the Whale" campaign netted season ticket sales totaling 8,563 in less than a 45-day span, despite the Whalers raising ticket prices by an average of 20 percent, eliminating partial ticket plans and increasing the deposit amount for season tickets by 750 percent. This represented an expansion of over 3,500 tickets from the existing base.

In early 1997, Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland stated that he did not want to spend Connecticut taxpayer dollars to fund a new arena in Hartford. Despite this, negotiations between the Whalers and Rowland to build a new $147.5 million arena seemed to be going well. Talks fell apart when Karmanos wanted an additional $45 million to cover losses during the three years the new arena was to be built. The Whalers ultimately announced that they would be leaving Hartford after the 1996–97 season. This marks one of the few times that a team announced it would leave its current city without having already announced an agreement with a new one. Karmanos had discussed relocating the Whalers to Norfolk, Virginia (which would have been the first major sports team for that market) as the Hampton Roads Rhinos, but the failure of a season-ticket drive in Norfolk, coupled with a lack of an adequate arena, led to those plans being canceled. Karmanos stated that Rowland had no intention of making a serious offer to keep the Whalers in Connecticut since Rowland harbored hopes to bring a National Football League (NFL) franchise to the State. Rowland went on to negotiate a tentative deal that would bring the New England Patriots to Connecticut, but those talks also fell apart after the state and Patriots ownership failed to reach an agreement on a new stadium, instead choosing to stay in Foxborough to build what would become Gillette Stadium.

On April 13, 1997, the Whalers played their last game in Hartford, defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2–1. Team captain Kevin Dineen, who had returned to Hartford midway through the 1995–96 season after being acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers, scored the final goal in Whalers history. On May 6, 1997, Karmanos announced the team would move to Raleigh, North Carolina, to become the Carolina Hurricanes, playing its first two seasons in North Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum while awaiting arena construction in Raleigh, a year earlier than planned. Talks with Nashville, Columbus, and even Suburban Detroit were discussed before bringing the Whalers to North Carolina.

Post-departure
The following summer in 1997, the Binghamton Rangers, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the New York Rangers, relocated to the Hartford market to take the place of the Whalers, renaming themselves the Hartford Wolf Pack. Former Whalers owner Howard Baldwin acquired the right to manage the team in 2010 and announced that the Wolf Pack were changing their name to the Connecticut Whale in the middle of the 2010–11 season, adopting the Whalers' old green-blue-white palette. The team changed back to the Hartford Wolf Pack after the Rangers terminated the relationship following the 2012–13 season.

Glen Wesley was the last Whaler still active with the Hartford/Carolina franchise, upon his retirement on June 5, 2008, though his stint was not continuous, playing seven games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2003 after a deadline deal before re-signing in Carolina in the 2003 off-season. Craig Adams was the last player drafted in Whalers' history. However, Adams did not become a member of the team until 2000, after the team had already moved to North Carolina, and he retired in 2015.

Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere was the final former Hartford Whalers player still playing in the NHL; he retired after the end of the 2013–14 season. Robert Petrovicky was the last former Whaler active in professional hockey, playing in European leagues through the end of the 2015–16 season.

New England: 1972–1979
As the New England Whalers, the team generally wore dark green and white uniforms with a similar style to the iconic Detroit Red Wings uniforms. The uniforms feature the team roundel in front and the Pucky logo on either shoulder. In 1974, the white uniform added yellow trim and replaced the roundel logo with the "harpoon W" logo, and the following year, the green uniform adopted the same elements. In 1977, the striping on the waist and socks was modified.

Green uniform era: 1979–1992
After becoming the Hartford Whalers, the team adopted its most iconic uniform design: green and white uniforms with blue, white and green stripes and the new Peter Good-designed logo in front. The design underwent a few cosmetic changes, such as wearing Cooperalls in the 1982–83 season, switching from angular to straight sleeve stripes and back during the early 1990s, and removing the Pucky logo in 1985.

Blue and silver uniform era: 1992–1997
For the Whalers' final years in Hartford, the team switched their primary colors to dark blue and added silver accents to the logo and striping. The numbers received extra contrasting trim.

Hurricanes' Whalers tribute
In 2018, the Hurricanes announced they would wear green Hartford Whalers throwback uniforms during two games against the Boston Bruins, first on December 23, 2018, at home and again on March 5, 2019, in Boston. The announcement was generally viewed as positive recognition of the roots of the Hurricane franchise, although not all former Whalers' fans approved of the use. The Hurricanes again wore the Whalers uniforms for a home game against the Los Angeles Kings, on January 11, 2020. Its fourth appearance came on January 29, 2022, against the New Jersey Devils. The most recent appearance came on March 26, 2023, in a 4–3 shootout loss to the Bruins.

Adidas' "Reverse Retro" program in 2021 saw the Hurricanes wear silver versions of the classic Whalers uniform, bridging both Whalers eras in the design.

In the 2023–24 season, the Hurricanes wore a white version of the Whalers uniform against the Devils, and donned Cooperalls in pregame warmups.

"Brass Bonanza" theme song
Unlike most sports teams at any level the Whalers' had an official theme song. The song was entitled "Brass Bonanza", and was a tune composed and arranged by Jacques Ysaye (under the pseudonym of Jack Say), originally called "Evening Beat". The song was a big hit with the team, Whalers fans, and even fans of other NHL teams and was played at home games when the Whalers entered the rink for warmups and also after they scored a goal. It was introduced in the mid-1970s on the B side of a souvenir record of team radio-broadcast highlights while they were still named the New England Whalers and playing in the WHA. However, in 1992, then-general manager Brian Burke cancelled the use of the song because he said "there were players who were embarrassed by it", and replaced it with a goal horn and the song "Hot, Hot, Hot" by Buster Poindexter, then a year later, "Rock and Roll Part 2" by Gary Glitter. While the goal horn is still used by the Hurricanes today, "Brass Bonanza" was quickly reintroduced after Burke left the team the following year.

The song is still very popular with Hartford crowds and continues to occasionally be played at XL Center events, including at Hartford Wolf Pack/Connecticut Whale games from 2011 to 2013 and at the University of Connecticut's basketball and men's ice hockey games. The song plays whenever a player on the city's minor-league baseball team, the Hartford Yard Goats, hits a home run. It was also previously used by the Whalers' AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Whalers, the Danbury Whalers of the Federal Hockey League (FHL), and Quinnipiac University's men's and women's ice hockey teams. It has also been played at Fenway Park in Boston during Boston Red Sox games in between innings for several years. Rock bands have been known to play the song during shows in Connecticut, most notably The Zambonis. The song was played when the Carolina Hurricanes scored a goal on an event called heritage night where the Hurricanes dressed in Whalers attire. The Florida Everblades, a former affiliate of the Hurricanes in the ECHL, play the song after every home game at Hertz Arena. The song has now been adopted by the city's soccer team, Hartford Athletic, and by the Premier Hockey Federation's Connecticut Whale, being played after goals scored by the teams. The Victoria Royals of the WHL - Western Hockey League - have used the theme for goals since 2017.

"Pucky The Whale" mascot
The official mascot of the Whalers was named "Pucky The Whale" and most commonly referred to as "Pucky". Depicted as a green whale, it was the team's secondary logo appearing on the shoulders of their jerseys from the 1970s WHA days until the mid 1980s. In the 2010s a new mascot costume version of Pucky was making appearances around Connecticut.

Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals scored for, GA = Goals scored against, PIM = Penalty minutes

NHL – Hartford Whalers
Notes:
 * 1 Season was shortened due to the 1994–95 NHL lockout

Hall of Famers

 * Players
 * Paul Coffey, 1996, inducted 2004
 * Ron Francis, 1981–1991, inducted 2007
 * Gordie Howe, 1977–1980, inducted 1972
 * Mark Howe, 1977–1982, inducted 2011
 * Bobby Hull, 1980, inducted 1983
 * Dave Keon, 1976–1982, inducted 1986
 * Chris Pronger, 1993–1995, inducted 2015
 * Brendan Shanahan, 1995–1996, inducted 2013

 * Builders
 * Emile Francis, 1983–1989, inducted 1982

Team captains
Note: includes both WHA Whalers and NHL Whalers
 * Ted Green, 1972–1975
 * Rick Ley, 1975–1980
 * Mike Rogers, 1980–1981
 * Dave Keon, 1981–1982
 * Russ Anderson, 1982–1983
 * Mark Johnson, 1983–1985
 * Ron Francis, 1985–1990
 * Randy Ladouceur, 1991–1992
 * Pat Verbeek, 1992–1995
 * Brendan Shanahan, 1995–1996
 * Kevin Dineen, 1996–1997

Retired numbers
The retirement of McKenzie's number was notable, in so far as it was one of the only three instances in NHL history (the others being the NHL Quebec Nordiques retiring J. C. Tremblay's number and the Ottawa Senators retiring Frank Finnigan's number) that an NHL franchise retired the number of a player who had never played for it while the franchise was in the NHL.

After the move to North Carolina, the Hurricanes returned number 2 and 19 to circulation; Glen Wesley was the only player to wear number 2 in Carolina before that number was re-retired in 2009 in his honor. Howe's number 9 remained officially retired by Carolina, and has never been issued since the relocation to North Carolina, but there is no banner to acknowledge it.

First-round draft picks
Note: This list does not include selections from the WHA.
 * 1979: Ray Allison (18th overall)
 * 1980: Fred Arthur (8th overall)
 * 1981: Ron Francis (4th overall)
 * 1982: Paul Lawless (14th overall)
 * 1983: Sylvain Turgeon (2nd overall)
 * 1984: Sylvain Cote (11th overall)
 * 1985: Dana Murzyn (5th overall)
 * 1986: Scott Young (11th overall)
 * 1987: Jody Hull (18th overall)
 * 1988: Chris Govedaris (11th overall)
 * 1989: Bobby Holik (10th overall)
 * 1990: Mark Greig (15th overall)
 * 1991: Patrick Poulin (9th overall)
 * 1992: Robert Petrovicky (9th overall)
 * 1993: Chris Pronger (2nd overall)
 * 1994: Jeff O'Neill (5th overall)
 * 1995: Jean-Sebastien Giguere (13th overall)

Hartford Whalers individual records (NHL)

 * Most goals in a season: Blaine Stoughton, 56 (1979–80)
 * Most assists in a season: Ron Francis, 69 (1989–90)
 * Most points in a season: Mike Rogers, 105 (1979–80/1980–81)
 * Most penalty minutes in a season: Torrie Robertson, 358 (1985–86)
 * Most points in a season, defenseman: Mark Howe, 80 (1979–80)
 * Most points in a season, rookie: Sylvain Turgeon, 72 (1983–84)
 * Most wins in a season: Mike Liut, 31 (1986–87)

Franchise scoring leaders in Hartford
These are the top-ten point-scorers in Hartford Whalers' history, combining NHL and WHA totals.

Legend: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game

Career leaders (WHA, 1972–1979)

 * Games: Rick Ley, 478
 * Goals: Tom Webster, 220
 * Assists: Larry Pleau, 215
 * Points: Tom Webster, 425
 * Penalty minutes: Rick Ley, 716
 * Goaltender wins: Al Smith, 141

Career leaders (NHL, 1979–1997)

 * Games: Ron Francis, 714
 * Goals: Ron Francis, 264
 * Assists: Ron Francis, 557
 * Points: Ron Francis, 821
 * Penalty minutes: Torrie Robertson, 1,368
 * Goaltender games: Sean Burke, 256
 * Goaltender wins: Mike Liut, 115
 * Shutouts: Mike Liut, 13

Former affiliations
During its existence the team was affiliated with the following teams:
 * American Hockey League
 * Springfield Indians, 1979–1980, 1990–1994
 * Binghamton Whalers, 1980–1990
 * Springfield Falcons, 1994–1997

 * Colonial Hockey League
 * Chatham Wheels, 1992–1993

 * East Coast Hockey League
 * Louisville Icehawks, 1991–1993
 * Raleigh IceCaps, 1993–1994
 * Richmond Renegades, 1994–1997

 * Central Hockey League
 * Cincinnati Stingers, 1979–1980

 * Eastern Hockey League
 * Utica Mohawks, 1979–1980
 * Syracuse Hornets, 1980–1981

 * International Hockey League
 * Saginaw Gears, 1980–1983
 * Flint Generals, 1983–1984
 * Salt Lake Golden Eagles, 1984–1987
 * Milwaukee Admirals, 1987–1988
 * Indianapolis Ice, 1988–1989
 * Kansas City Blades, 1990–1991

title: Hartford Whalers


text:
User:Александър/Sandbox/Chaplin/

Charlie Chaplin Charlie Chaplin Charlie CHAPLIN Charlie Chaplin Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (April 16, 1889 - December 25, 1977) was the most famous actor in early Hollywood cinema, and later also a notable director. His principal character was "The Tramp": a lower class character with considerable personal dignity who wears a tight coat, oversized pants and shoes, a derby hat, a bamboo cane, and his signature square mustache. Chaplin was one of the most creative personalities in the silent film era; he directed, acted, wrote his stories, and was even known to write his movie scores.

Born in Walworth, London, England into poor circumstances, in 1906 he started his artistic career as a music hall performer (a clown in Fred Karno's Mumming Birds company). With Karno, he visited the US in 1913 and his act was seen by film producer Mack Sennett who hired Chaplin for his film studio, Keystone.

While Chaplin initially had difficulty adjusting to the demands of film acting, he soon adopted and flourished in the medium. This was made possible in part by Chaplin developing his signature Tramp persona and eventually earning directorship and creative control over his films which enabled him to become Keystone's top star and talent.

His salary history suggests how rapidly he became world famous.
 * 1914: Keystone, worked for $150 a week
 * 1914-1915: Essanay, $1250 a week, plus $10,000 signing bonus
 * 1916-1917: Mutual, $10,000 a week, plus $150,000 signing bonus
 * 1917: First National, a million dollar deal -- the first actor ever with such a high price tag.

In 1919 he founded the United Artists studio with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and David Wark Griffith.

Although "talkies" (movies with sound) became the dominant mode of moviemaking soon after they were introduced in 1927, Chaplin resisted making a talkie all through the 1930s. It is a tribute to Chaplin's versatility that he also has one film credit for choreography for the 1952 film Limelight, and one credit as a singer for the title music of the 1928 film The Circus. The best-known of several songs he composed is "Smile", famously covered by Nat King Cole among others.

His first sound picture, The Great Dictator (1940) was an act of defiance against Adolf Hitler and fascism, filmed and released in the United States years before it abandoned its policy of isolationism to enter World War II. Chaplin played a fascist dictator, clearly modeled on Hitler (also with a certain physical likeness), as well as a Jewish barber cruelly persecuted by the Nazis. Hitler, who was a great fan of movies, is known to have seen the film twice (records were kept of movies ordered for his personal theater). After the war and the uncovering of the Holocaust, Chaplin stated that he would not have been able to make such jokes about the Nazi regime had he known about the actual extent of the pogrom.

Chaplin's political sympathies always lay with the left. Several of his movies depict the dismal situation of workers and the poor, with Modern Times (1936) being a prime example.

Although Chaplin had his major successes in the United States, he refused to accept U.S. citizenship; he was born in Britain and proudly retained his British nationality. During the era of McCarthyism, Chaplin was accused of "un-American activities", and his lifelong enemy J. Edgar Hoover, who had instructed the FBI to keep extensive files on him, tried to remove his residency rights.

In 1952, Chaplin left the United States for a trip to England; Hoover learned about it and negotiated with the INS that his reentry permit would not be honored. Chaplin decided then to stay in Europe and made his home in Switzerland. He returned briefly for an award ceremony in 1972.

Chaplin won the honorary Oscar twice. When the first Oscars were awarded on May 16, 1929, the voting audit procedures that now exist had not yet been invented, and the categories were still very fluid. When it became apparent that Chaplin, who had been nominated for Best Actor and Best Comedy Direction, would fail to win either award for his movie The Circus, the Academy decided to give him a special award "for versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus". The other film to receive a special award that year was The Jazz Singer.

Chaplin's second honorary award came 44 years later in 1972 and was "For the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century". He came out of his exile and collected his award less than a month before the death of J. Edgar Hoover. Chaplin was also nominated without success for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay for The Great Dictator (1940), and again for Best Original Screenplay for Monsieur Verdoux (1947).

In 1973, he received an Oscar for the Best Music in an Original Dramatic Score for the 1952 film Limelight. Because of Chaplin's difficulties with McCarthyism, the film did not open in Los Angeles when it was first produced. This criterion for nomination was not fulfilled until 1972.

His final films were A King in New York (1957) and A Countess from Hong Kong (1966), starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando.

Chaplin's professional successes were repeatedly overshadowed by reports from his private life. In 1918, 28 years old, he married the 16 year old Mildred Harris, followed by a divorce two years later. They had one child together, which died as an infant. In 1924 he fell in love with the 16 year old Lita Grey during the preparations for his movie Gold Rush. They married when she became pregnant, and had two sons together. They divorced in 1927. The publication of the divorce court records with many intimate details led to a campaign against Chaplin. In 1936, Chaplin secretly married the actor Paulette Goddard. After a number of happy years, this marriage too ended in divorce in 1942. Shortly thereafter, he met Oona O'Neill, daughter of the dramatist Eugene O'Neill, and married her in 1943. This marriage was a long and happy one, with eight children.

On March 4, 1975, after many years of self-imposed exile from his native country, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

Charlie Chaplin died in Vevey, Switzerland and was interred in the Corsier-Sur-Vevey Cemetery in Corsier-Sur-Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. Two months later, on March 3, 1978, his body was stolen from the cemetery, in an attempt to extract money from his relatives. The plot failed, the robbers were captured and the body was recovered 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva.

A film was made in 1992 about his life entitled Chaplin, directed by Academy Award winner Sir Richard Attenborough, and starring Robert Downey Jr., Dan Akyroyd, Geraldine Chaplin (Charlie's daughter), Anthony Hopkins, Milla Jovovich, Moira Kelly, Kevin Kline, Diane Lane, Penelope Ann Miller, Paul Rhys, Marisa Tomei, Nancy Travis, and James Woods.

Filmography

 * 1914 Between Showers (short)
 * 1914 A Busy Day (short)
 * 1914 Caught in a Cabaret
 * 1914 Caught in the Rain (short)
 * 1914 Cruel, Cruel Love (short)
 * 1914 Dough and Dynamite]] (short)
 * 1914 The Face on the Barroom Floor
 * 1914 The Fatal Mallet (short)
 * 1914 A Film Johnnie (short)
 * 1914 Gentlemen of Nerve (short)
 * 1914 Getting Acquainted (short)
 * 1914 Her Friend the Bandit (short)
 * 1914 His Favorite Pastime (short)
 * 1914 His Musical Career (short)
 * 1914 His New Profession (short)
 * 1914 His Prehistoric Past
 * 1914 His Trysting Place
 * 1914 Kid Auto Races at Venice
 * 1914 The Knockout
 * 1914 Laughing Gas
 * 1914 Mabel at the Wheel (short)
 * 1914 Mabel's Busy Day
 * 1914 Mabel's Married Life
 * 1914 Mabel's Strange Predicament (short)
 * 1914 Making a Living (short)
 * 1914 The Masquerader (short)
 * 1914 The New Janitor (short)
 * 1914 The Property Man
 * 1914 Recreation (short)
 * 1914 The Rounders (short)
 * 1914 The Star Boarder (short)
 * 1914 Tango Tangles (short)
 * 1914 Those Love Pangs (short)
 * 1914 Tillie's Punctured Romance
 * 1914 Twenty Minutes of Love (short)
 * 1915 The Bank
 * 1915 By the Sea (short)
 * 1915 The Champion
 * 1915 His New Job
 * 1915 His Regeneration (short)
 * 1915 In the Park (short)
 * 1915 A Jitney Elopement
 * 1915 A Night Out
 * 1915 A Night in the Show (short)
 * 1915 Shanghaied (short)
 * 1915 The Tramp
 * 1915 A Woman (short)
 * 1915 Work
 * 1916 Behind the Screen
 * 1916 Charlie Chaplin's Burlesque on Carmen
 * 1916 The Count
 * 1916 The Fireman
 * 1916 The Floorwalker
 * 1916 One A.M. (short)
 * 1916 The Pawnshop (short)
 * 1916 Police!
 * 1916 The Rink (short)
 * 1916 The Vagabond
 * 1917 The Adventurer
 * 1917 The Cure
 * 1917 Easy Street
 * 1917 The Immigrant
 * 1918 The Bond (short)
 * 1918 A Dog's Life
 * 1918 Shoulder Arms
 * 1919 A Day's Pleasure (short)
 * 1919 Sunnyside
 * 1921 The Idle Class
 * 1921 The Kid
 * 1921 The Nut
 * 1922 Nice and Friendly (short)
 * 1922 Pay Day
 * 1923 The Pilgrim
 * 1923 Souls For Sale
 * 1923 A Woman of Paris
 * 1925 The Gold Rush
 * 1926 A Woman of the Sea
 * 1928 The Circus
 * 1928 Show People
 * 1931 City Lights
 * 1936 Modern Times
 * 1940 The Great Dictator
 * 1947 Monsieur Verdoux
 * 1952 Limelight
 * 1957 A King in New York
 * 1967 A Countess From Hong Kong

For the Jamaican musician named Charlie Chaplin, see Charlie Chaplin (singer).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User:Александър/Sandbox/Chaplin/


text:
Baltimore Bullet

Baltimore Bullet(s) may refer to:

Sports

 * Michael Phelps (born 1985), nicknamed Baltimore Bullet, American former swimmer
 * Baltimore Bullets (1944–1954), an American Basketball League (ABL) franchise (1944–47) and National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise (1947–54)
 * Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973), now Washington Wizards, a National Basketball Association franchise
 * Baltimore Bullets (EPBL), an Eastern Professional Basketball League franchise (1958–61)

Others

 * The Baltimore Bullet, a 1980 film

title: Baltimore Bullet


text:
Talk:Axis of Evil Wannabees

John Cleese didn't actually write that. Adam Bishop 21:42 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * This should be moved to Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense Mintguy 21:45 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * It's famous enough for an article. But wikipedia should give the original source and perhaps move ist to lists of axis --Mikaill 22:02 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * It might possibly be famous enough to report on, but not to replicate outright. There may be some value in having a description of the joke or jokes -- maybe Axis of Evil in culture or Axis of Evil jokes -- but simply replicating net flotsam really isn't encyclopedia material. I'd say this has to go. -- ESP 22:56 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * It's a start, of course the article should be more informative as only the list. But it's better to have this article, than to put it in Axis of Evil. --Mikaill 08:39 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * I don't see the point in an article on an individual parody, still less in an article that basically repeats the parody with half the humour taken out. Better to add an external link to the axis of evil article. Redirected. Martin

From Votes for deletion Not deleted since redirected. --mav 04:02 24 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * Axis of Evil Wannabees - subjective list; highly POV. --Jiang 21:38 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * Delete, please. --Eloquence 23:01 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is not a joke book. This needs to go. -- ESP
 * Delete, already covered as a footnote on Axis of evil -- Popsracer
 * Delete. It's also a bloody copyright violation. --Daniel Quinlan 05:33 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * Redirected. Don't list articles here when you can just redirect them. Thanks. Martin
 * I think it would be much better off deleted. Besides the fact that this was originally a copyright violation and non-encyclopedia entry, searching for "Wannabees" shouldn't result in an "Axis of Evil Wannabees" hit (which it does now). --Daniel Quinlan 10:05 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * Why don't you take this to wikipedia talk:deletion policy? Martin 11:22 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * I don't think this is a valid redirect. If I created George Washington Is Fat you would delete, not redirect to George Washington, I presume? --Delirium 16:43 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * Axe it. -- Cimon Avaro on a pogo-stick 02:28 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:Axis of Evil Wannabees


text:
Washington Bullets (song)

"Washington Bullets" is a song from The Clash's 1980 album Sandinista!. A politically charged song, it is a simplified version of imperialist history from the 1959 Cuban Revolution to the Nicaraguan Sandinistas of the 1980s, with mention of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Dalai Lama, Salvador Allende and Víctor Jara, referencing his death at the hands of the Chilean military dictatorship in the stadium that now bears his name. Although mainly a criticism of the foreign policy of the United States, the song's final stanza also delivers a criticism of Communist states by making reference to the treatment of pacifist Buddhist monks in the People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution and the Soviet Union's Invasion of Afghanistan.

The song's title is often thought to have been a pun on the name of Washington DC's basketball team, the Washington Bullets (now called the Washington Wizards), but frontman Joe Strummer denied any knowledge of the basketball team prior to the song's release.

The song is one of The Clash's more experimental, in the reggae style, with a marimba and lyrics that are almost spoken rather than sung. Though the marimba is the most prominent instrument, electric guitar riffs are still audible. The marimba part is an altered version of the melody from "Turkey in the Straw".

On the tribute album The Clash Tribute: The Never Ending Story, the song was covered by Attila the Stockbroker, with new lyrics to the later verses, omitting the reference to Afghanistan and The Clash's subtle attack on communism. The new verses are critical of U.S. involvement in the end of the Soviet Union, and Boris Yeltsin's embrace of western-style capitalism, making particular disparaging references to the new world order following the end of the Cold War.

title: Washington Bullets (song)


text:
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)

The Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ministre des Affaires étrangères) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the Government of Canada's international relations and is the lead minister responsible for Global Affairs Canada, though the minister of international trade leads on trade issues. In addition to Global Affairs Canada, the minister is also the lead in overseeing the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development and the International Development Research Centre.

From 1909 to 1993, the office was called the Secretary of State for External Affairs. The first two secretaries of state for external affairs, from 1909 until 1912, (Charles Murphy under Sir Wilfrid Laurier and William James Roche under Sir Robert Borden) concurrently served as the Secretary of State for Canada. The two portfolios were permanently separated in 1912, and the external affairs portfolio was then held by the prime minister of Canada until 1946.

History
Ministers holding the external affairs and foreign affairs portfolios have sometimes played prominent international roles:

 * Lester B. Pearson (a future prime minister) defused the Suez Crisis and established the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces and as a result received the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize.
 * Joe Clark (a former prime minister) led opposition to South Africa's Apartheid system within the Commonwealth of Nations, against initial resistance from the British government of Margaret Thatcher.
 * Lloyd Axworthy brought about the Ottawa Treaty, banning anti-personnel landmines in most countries of the world.

As in Pearson's case (and that of Louis St. Laurent, his predecessor), the portfolio can be a final stepping stone to the Prime Minister's Office. Until 1946, it was customary for the office to be held by the sitting prime minister. John Diefenbaker would hold the portfolio on two subsequent occasions.

Prior and subsequent diplomatic services
Lester Pearson is the only minister to have been a diplomat prior to their appointment. Pearson entered the Canadian foreign service in 1927 and rose to become Canadian ambassador to the United States from 1944 to 1946.

Paul Martin, Sr. served as Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom after his retirement from active politics. Following his defeat in the 2011 election, Lawrence Cannon has served as Canadian ambassador to France since 2012, while Stéphane Dion was named Canadian ambassador to the European Union and Germany immediately after leaving cabinet in 2017. Unlike Pearson, none were career diplomats.

List of ministers
Key: {{legend||Liberal Party of Canada|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}} {{legend||Historical conservative parties: Liberal-Conservative, Conservative (historical), Unionist, National Liberal and Conservative, Progressive Conservative|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}} {{legend||Conservative Party of Canada|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}}

{| class="wikitable" ! colspan="7" |

Secretaries of State for External Affairs (1909–1993)
!No. !Portrait !Name ! colspan="2" |Term of office !Political party !Ministry ! style="background:; color:white" | 1 ! style="background:;" | 2 ! rowspan="2" style="background:;" | 3 ! style="background:;" | 4 1st time ! style="background:; color:white" | 5 1st time ! style="background:;" |(4) 2nd time ! style="background:; color:white" |(5) 2nd time ! style="background:;" | 6 ! style="background:; color:white" |(5) 3rd time ! style="background:; color:white" | 7 ! rowspan="2" style="background:; color:white" | 8 ! style="background:;" | 9 ! style="background:;" | 10 ! style="background:;" | – 2nd time; Acting Minister ! style="background:;" | 11 ! style="background:; color:white" | 12 ! style="background:; color:white" | 13 ! style="background:; color:white" | 14 1st time ! style="background:; color:white" | 15 ! style="background:;" | 16 ! style="background:; color:white" | 17 ! style="background:; color:white" |(14) 2nd time ! style="background:; color:white" | 18 ! style="background:;" | 19 ! style="background:" | 20 ! style="background:;" | 21 ! colspan="7" |
 * Charles Murphy.jpg
 * Charles Murphy
 * May 19, 1909 || October 6, 1911
 * Liberal
 * 8 (Laurier)
 * William James Roche.jpg
 * William James Roche
 * October 10, 1911 || April 1, 1912
 * Conservative (historical)
 * rowspan="2" |9 (Borden)
 * rowspan="2" |RobertLBorden.jpg
 * rowspan="2" |Robert Borden
 * April 1, 1912 || October 11, 1917
 * Conservative (historical)
 * October 12, 1917 || July 9, 1920
 * Unionist
 * 10 (Borden)
 * 10 (Borden)
 * Former PM Arthur Meighen.jpg
 * Arthur Meighen
 * July 10, 1920 || December 29, 1921
 * National Liberal and Conservative
 * 11 (Meighen)
 * Wm Lyon Mackenzie King.jpg
 * William Lyon Mackenzie King
 * December 29, 1921 || June 28, 1926
 * Liberal
 * 12 (King)
 * Former PM Arthur Meighen.jpg
 * Arthur Meighen
 * June 29, 1926 || September 25, 1926
 * Conservative (historical)
 * 13 (Meighen)
 * Wm Lyon Mackenzie King.jpg
 * William Lyon Mackenzie King
 * September 25, 1926 || August 7, 1930
 * Liberal
 * 14 (King)
 * Richard Bedford Bennett.jpg
 * Richard Bedford Bennett
 * August 7, 1930 || October 23, 1935
 * Conservative (historical)
 * 15 (Bennett)
 * Wm Lyon Mackenzie King.jpg
 * William Lyon Mackenzie King
 * October 23, 1935 || September 3, 1946
 * Liberal
 * rowspan="3" |16 (King)
 * Louisstlaurent.jpg
 * Louis St. Laurent
 * September 4, 1946 || September 9, 1948
 * Liberal
 * rowspan="2" |Lester B. Pearson with a pencil.jpg
 * rowspan="2" |Lester B. Pearson
 * September 10, 1948 || November 15, 1948
 * rowspan="2" |Liberal
 * November 15, 1948 || June 20, 1957
 * 17 (St. Laurent)
 * 17 (St. Laurent)
 * John G. Diefenbaker.jpg
 * John Diefenbaker
 * June 21, 1957 || September 12, 1957
 * Progressive Conservative
 * rowspan="4" |18 (Diefenbaker)
 * Sidney Smith.JPG
 * Sidney Earle Smith
 * September 13, 1957 || March 17, 1959
 * Progressive Conservative
 * John G. Diefenbaker.jpg
 * John Diefenbaker
 * March 19, 1959 || June 3, 1959
 * Progressive Conservative
 * Howard Charles Green.jpg
 * Howard Charles Green
 * June 4, 1959 || April 21, 1963
 * Progressive Conservative
 * Paul Martin Sr Portrait 1943 (cropped).jpg
 * Paul Martin Sr.
 * April 22, 1963 || April 20, 1968
 * Liberal
 * 19 (Pearson)
 * Mitchell Sharp 1962 Toronto Star (Restored) (cropped 3-4).jpg
 * Mitchell Sharp
 * April 20, 1968 || August 7, 1974
 * Liberal
 * rowspan="3" |20 (P. E. Trudeau)
 * Allan MacEachen.jpg
 * Allan MacEachen
 * August 8, 1974 || September 13, 1976
 * Liberal
 * Don-Jamieson.jpg
 * Don Jamieson
 * September 14, 1976 || June 3, 1979
 * Liberal
 * Flora MacDonald 1979 (cropped).jpg
 * Flora MacDonald
 * June 4, 1979 || March 2, 1980
 * Progressive Conservative
 * 21 (Clark)
 * No image.svg
 * Mark MacGuigan
 * March 3, 1980 || September 9, 1982
 * Liberal
 * rowspan="2" |22 (P. E. Trudeau)
 * Allan MacEachen.jpg
 * Allan MacEachen
 * September 10, 1982 || June 29, 1984
 * Liberal
 * Jean Chrétien1.jpg
 * Jean Chrétien
 * June 30, 1984 || September 16, 1984
 * Liberal
 * 23 (Turner)
 * JoeClark.jpg
 * Joe Clark
 * September 17, 1984 || April 20, 1991
 * Progressive Conservative
 * rowspan="2" |24 (Mulroney)
 * No image.svg
 * Barbara McDougall
 * April 21, 1991 || June 24, 1993
 * Progressive Conservative
 * No image.svg
 * Perrin Beatty
 * June 25, 1993 || November 3, 1993
 * Progressive Conservative
 * 25 (Campbell)

Ministers of Foreign Affairs (1993–present)
!No. !Portrait !Name ! colspan="2" |Term of office !Political party !Ministry ! style="background:; color:white" | 1 ! style="background:; color:white" | 2 ! style="background:; color:white" | 3 ! rowspan="2" style="background:; color:white" | 4 ! style="background:; color:white" | 5 ! style="background:;" | 6 ! style="background:;" | 7 ! style="background:;" | 8 ''Acting Minister until June 25, 2008'' ! style="background:;" | 9 ! style="background:;" | 10 ! style="background:;" | – ! style="background:;" | 11 ! style="background:; color:white" | 12 ! style="background:; color:white" | 13 ! style="background:; color:white" | 14 ! style="background:; color:white" | 15 ! style="background:; color:white" | 16
 * No image.svg
 * André Ouellet
 * November 4, 1993 || January 24, 1996
 * Liberal
 * rowspan="4" |26 (Chrétien)
 * Lloyd Axworthy (1999).JPEG
 * Lloyd Axworthy
 * January 25, 1996 || October 16, 2000
 * Liberal
 * John Manley IMF.jpg
 * John Manley
 * October 17, 2000 || January 15, 2002
 * Liberal
 * rowspan="2" |Bill Graham by Rod Brito.jpg
 * rowspan="2" |Bill Graham
 * January 15, 2002 || December 11, 2003
 * rowspan="2" |Liberal
 * December 12, 2003 || July 19, 2004
 * rowspan="2" |27 (Martin)
 * rowspan="2" |27 (Martin)
 * PierrePettigrew.JPG
 * Pierre Pettigrew
 * July 20, 2004 || February 5, 2006
 * Liberal
 * Peter MacKay 2014.jpg
 * Peter MacKay
 * February 6, 2006 || August 14, 2007
 * Conservative
 * rowspan="7" |28 (Harper)
 * Maxime Bernier.jpg
 * Maxime Bernier
 * August 14, 2007 || May 26, 2008
 * Conservative
 * No image.svg
 * David Emerson
 * May 25, 2008 || October 29, 2008
 * Conservative
 * Lawrence Cannon on March 29, 2010.jpg
 * Lawrence Cannon
 * October 30, 2008 || May 18, 2011
 * Conservative
 * John Baird - Canadian MP.jpg
 * John Baird
 * May 18, 2011 || February 3, 2015
 * Conservative
 * Ed Fast visits University of the Fraser Valley.jpg
 * Ed Fast (acting)
 * February 3, 2015 || February 9, 2015
 * Conservative
 * Rob Nicholson 2013 crop.jpg
 * Rob Nicholson
 * February 9, 2015 || November 4, 2015
 * Conservative
 * Canadian Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion - 2016 (28405975206) (cropped).jpg
 * Stéphane Dion
 * November 4, 2015 || January 10, 2017
 * Liberal
 * rowspan="5" |29 (J. Trudeau)
 * Chrystia Freeland at OSCE - 2017 (38910129611) (cropped).jpg
 * Chrystia Freeland
 * January 10, 2017 || November 20, 2019
 * Liberal
 * François-Philippe Champagne, 2017 (cropped).jpg
 * François-Philippe Champagne
 * November 20, 2019 || January 12, 2021
 * Liberal
 * Marc Garneau - 2018 (42748534304) (cropped).jpg
 * Marc Garneau
 * January 12, 2021 || October 26, 2021
 * Liberal
 * Mélanie Joly, Foreign Minister of Canada in 2024 (cropped).jpg
 * Mélanie Joly
 * October 26, 2021 ||Incumbent
 * Liberal
 * }

title: Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)


text:
Minister of International Development (Canada)

The minister of international development (Ministre du Développement international) is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The minister has responsibility for the international development portfolio and is one of the three ministers (along with the minister of foreign affairs and the minister of international trade) responsible for Global Affairs Canada.

Between 1995 and 2015 the post was known as the Minister for International Cooperation.

Previous post
Prior to its current title, the post was held as Minister of State (External Relations) from 1982-1983, Minister for External Relations between 1983-1995, and as the Minister for International Cooperation from 1995 and 2015.

List of ministers
Key:

{{legend||Liberal Party of Canada|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}} {{legend||Conservative Party of Canada|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}}


text:
Utah Starzz

The Utah Starzz were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Salt Lake City. They began play in the 1997 WNBA season as one of the league's eight original teams.

History
One of the eight original WNBA teams, the Starzz, which was partially named after the old ABA team. Utah Jazz ownership was not interested in keeping the Starzz, and without new owners the team would have folded. No local ownership was found, so in 2002, the Starzz announced their intentions to move out of Salt Lake City. On December 5, 2002, the Utah Starzz was bought by Spurs Sports & Entertainment, and it was announced that the Starzz would move immediately to San Antonio and change their nickname to the Silver Stars.

The Starzz were the sister team to the NBA's Utah Jazz.

The Starzz relocated, in 2003, to San Antonio where the team became the San Antonio Silver Stars.

Uniforms

 * 1997–2002: For home games, white with blue on the sides and shoulders and white Starzz logo text on the chest. For away games, blue with purple on the sides and white Starzz logo text on the chest. The Starzz logo is on the shorts.

Final roster
{| class="toccolours" style="font-size: 95%; width: 100%;" ! colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background-color:#006666; color:#FFFFFF;"|Utah Starzz roster ! Players !! Coaches {| class="sortable" style="background:transparent; margin:0px; width:100%;" ! Pos. !! # !! Nat. !! Name !! Ht. !! Wt. !! From
 * - style="text-align:center; background-color:#330099; color:#FFFFFF;"
 * valign="top" |
 * valign="top" |

Notable players

 * Margo Dydek
 * Marie Ferdinand-Harris
 * Kristen Rasmussen
 * Olympia Scott
 * Natalie Williams
 * Fran Harris
 * Erin Alexander
 * Adrienne Goodson

Head coaches

 * Denise Taylor (1997–1998)
 * Frank Layden (1998–1999)
 * Fred Williams (1999–2001)
 * Candi Harvey (2001–2002)

General managers

 * Tim Howells (1997–1999)

Draft picks

 * 1997 Elite Draft: Dena Head (1), Wendy Palmer (9)
 * 1997 WNBA Draft: Tammi Reiss (5), Jessie Hicks (12), Raegan Scott (21), Kim Williams (28)
 * 1998 WNBA Draft: Margo Dydek (1), Olympia Scott (11), LaTonya Johnson (21), Tricia Bader (31)
 * 1999 WNBA Draft: Natalie Williams (3), Debbie Black (15), Adrienne Goodson (27), Dalma Ivanyi (39)
 * 2000 WNBA Draft: Naomi Mulitauaopele (12), Stacy Frese (35), Kristen Rasmussen (51)
 * 2001 WNBA Draft: Marie Ferdinand (8), Michaela Pavlickova (24), Shea Ralph (40), Cara Consuegra (56)
 * 2002 WNBA Draft: Danielle Crockrom (11), Andrea Gardner (27), Edmarie Lumbsley (43), Jaclyn Winfield (59)

All-stars

 * 1999: Natalie Williams
 * 2000: Natalie Williams
 * 2001: Natalie Williams
 * 2002: Marie Ferdinand, Adrienne Goodson

title: Utah Starzz


text:
Tombolo

A tombolo is a sandy or shingle isthmus. A tombolo, from the Italian tombolo, meaning 'pillow' or 'cushion', and sometimes translated incorrectly as ayre (an ayre is a shingle beach of any kind), is a deposition landform by which an island becomes attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar. Once attached, the island is then known as a tied island.

Several islands tied together by bars which rise above the water level are called a tombolo cluster. Two or more tombolos may form an enclosure (called a lagoon) that can eventually fill with sediment.

Formation
The shoreline moves toward the island (or detached breakwater) owing to the accretion of sand in the lee of the island, where wave energy and longshore drift are reduced and therefore deposition of sand occurs.

Wave diffraction and refraction
True tombolos are formed by wave refraction and diffraction. As waves near an island, they are slowed by the shallow water surrounding it. These waves then bend around the island to the opposite side as they approach. The wave pattern created by this water movement causes a convergence of longshore drift on the opposite side of the island. The beach sediments that are moving by lateral transport on the lee side of the island will accumulate there, conforming to the shape of the wave pattern. In other words, the waves sweep sediment together from both sides. Eventually, when enough sediment has built up, the beach shoreline, known as a spit, will connect with an island and form a tombolo.

Unidirectional longshore drift
In the case of longshore drift due to an oblique wave direction, like at Chesil Beach or Spurn Head, the flow of material is along the coast in a movement which is not determined by wave diffraction around the now tied island, such as the Isle of Portland, which it has reached. In this and similar cases like Cádiz, while the strip of beach material connected to the island may be technically called a tombolo because it links the island to the land, it is better thought of in terms of its formation as a spit, because the sand or shingle ridge is parallel rather than at right angles to the coast.

Morphology and sediment distribution
Tombolos demonstrate the sensitivity of shorelines. A small piece of land, such as an island, or a beached shipwreck can change the way that waves move, leading to different deposition of sediments. Sea level rise may also contribute to accretion, as material is pushed up with rising sea levels. Tombolos are more prone to natural fluctuations of profile and area as a result of tidal and weather events than a normal beach is.

Because of this susceptibility to weathering, tombolos are sometimes made more sturdy through the construction of roads or parking lots. The sediments that make up a tombolo are coarser towards the bottom and finer towards the surface. It is easy to see this pattern when the waves are destructive and wash away finer grained material at the top, revealing coarser sands and cobbles as the base.

Examples

 * Adam's Bridge (until 1480), between India and Sri Lanka
 * Aupōuri Peninsula, New Zealand
 * Barrenjoey Headland, Pittwater, New South Wales, Australia
 * Beavertail Point, Conanicut Island, Rhode Island, United States
 * Bennett Island, De Long Group, Russia
 * Biddeford Pool, Maine, United States
 * Bijia Mountain, China
 * Broulee Island, New South Wales, Australia
 * Bruny Island, Tasmania, Australia
 * Burgh Island, Devon, England
 * Cádiz, Andalucía, Spain
 * Chausey, Manche département, France (two features connecting the main island and two smaller outcrops)
 * Chappaquiddick Island, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, United States
 * Charles Island, Connecticut, United States
 * Chesil Beach, Portland, Dorset, England
 * Cheung Chau, Hong Kong
 * Crimea, Ukraine
 * Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania, Australia
 * S'Espalmador, Formentera, Spain
 * Fingal Bay, New South Wales, Australia
 * The Rock of Gibraltar
 * Grand Island National Recreation Area, Michigan, United States
 * Grótta, Seltjarnarnes, Iceland
 * Gugh, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, England
 * Gwadar, Pakistan
 * Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan
 * Howth Head, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
 * Inishkeel Island, Narin, Republic of Ireland
 * Kapıdağ Peninsula, Balıkesir, Turkey
 * Knappelskär, Nynäshamn, Sweden
 * Konet Island, Kuala Sungai Baru, Malacca, Malaysia
 * Kurnell, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
 * Lake Pomorie, Bulgaria
 * Langness, Derbyhaven, Isle of Man
 * Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain
 * Little Heart's Ease, Newfoundland and Labrador beach, Newfoundland, Canada
 * Llandudno, North Wales
 * Louds Island at Muscongus Bay, Maine, United States
 * Maharees, Dingle Peninsula, Republic of Ireland
 * Mare Island, Vallejo, California, United States
 * Maria Island, Tasmania, Australia
 * Maury Island, Washington, United States
 * McMicken Island State Park, Washington, United States
 * Miquelon, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, France
 * Monemvasia, Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece
 * Monte Argentario, Tuscany, Italy
 * Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
 * Moses' Pass (Whale Tail), Ballena National Marine Park, Uvita, Costa Rica
 * Mount Maunganui, New Zealand
 * Mount Taipingot, Rota, Northern Marianas
 * Nahant, Massachusetts, United States (a natural tombolo, but connected to the mainland by a causeway)
 * Nissi beach, Ayia Napa, Cyprus
 * Ormara, Pakistan
 * Palisadoes, Kingston, Jamaica
 * Peniche, Portugal
 * Peniscola, Castellon, Spain
 * Porchat Island, Itararé Beach, São Vicente, Brazil
 * Presqu'ile Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
 * Presque Isle, Michigan, United States
 * Presqu'ile de Giens, Hyères, France
 * Quiberon, France
 * Ras Hafun, Somalia
 * Sainte-Marie, Martinique, France
 * Seongsan Ilchulbong in Jeju Province, South Korea
 * Scotts Head, Dominica
 * Shaman's Island, Douglas, Alaska, United States
 * Sharp Island, Sai Kung District, Hong Kong
 * Silver Strand (San Diego), Coronado, California, United States
 * St Michael's Mount, Cornwall, England
 * St Ninian's Isle, Shetland, Scotland
 * Sveti Stefan, near Budva, Montenegro
 * Tam Hai, Quang Nam province, Vietnam
 * Twin Coves Beach, near Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera
 * University Beach, Ward Island, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
 * Uummannaq in North Star Bay, Greenland
 * Vatersay, Scotland – the island comprises two sections connected by a broad tombolo
 * Zhifu Island, Yantai, China

Some of these may be simple isthmuses, and not have the deposition creation that defines a true tombolo.

title: Tombolo


text:
Orlando Miracle

The Orlando Miracle were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Orlando, Florida. It began play in the 1999 WNBA season. The Miracle relocated, in 2003, to Uncasville, Connecticut, where the team became the Connecticut Sun. The Miracle was a sister team to the NBA's Orlando Magic.

Franchise history
The city of Orlando was granted an expansion franchise in 1998, and the Orlando Miracle took the floor for the 1999 WNBA season.

The Miracle posted respectable records in their four years of existence (1999–2002). The Miracle made the playoffs once, in 2000, and lost in the first round against the Cleveland Rockers. In 2001, the Miracle took a step backwards, but they hosted the 2001 WNBA All-Star Game. In 2002, the Miracle posted a 16-16 record, but missed the playoffs after losing the tiebreaker for the final playoff spot to the Indiana Fever.

The 2002 season would also prove to be the Miracle's last in Orlando.

Relocation to Connecticut
After the 2002 WNBA season, the NBA sold off all of the WNBA franchises to the operators of the teams. Magic owner Rich DeVos was not interested in keeping the Miracle, and no local ownership group emerged. In January 2003, the Connecticut-based Mohegan Native American Tribe bought the team.

The new owners moved the team to Uncasville, Connecticut and changed the nickname to the Sun (in reference to the tribe's Mohegan Sun casino.) The Connecticut Sun's new nickname and logo were reminiscent of another Florida-based WNBA franchise, the Miami Sol, which folded at the same time as the Miracle.

Uniforms

 * 1999–2002: For home games, white with blue on the sides and shoulders and white Miracle logo text on the chest. For away games, blue with white on the sides and white Miracle logo text on the chest. The Miracle logo is on the shorts.

Former players

 * Cintia dos Santos 2000–2002
 * Katie Douglas 2001–2002
 * Jessie Hicks 2000–2002
 * Adrienne Johnson 1999–2002
 * Shannon Johnson 1999–2002
 * Carla McGhee 1999–2002
 * Taj McWilliams-Franklin 1999–2002
 * Elaine Powell 1999–2002
 * Nykesha Sales 1999–2002
 * Brooke Wyckoff 2001–2002
 * Monica "Monee" Sheppard

General managers

 * Carolyn Peck (1999-2002)
 * Dee Brown (2002)

Assistant coaches

 * Rick Stukes (1999–2000)
 * Charlene Thomas-Swinson (1999–2001)
 * Michael Peck (2001)
 * Vonn Read (2002)
 * Valerie Still (2002)

Draft picks
Current WNBA players are in italics.
 * 1999 Expansion Draft: Andrea Congreaves (2), Kisha Ford (4), Yolanda Moore (6), Adrienne Johnson (8)
 * 1999 WNBA Draft: Tari Phillips (8), Sheri Sam (20), Taj McWilliams-Franklin (32), Carla McGhee (44), Elaine Powell (50)
 * 2000 WNBA Draft: Cintia dos Santos (4), Jannon Roland (20), Shawnetta Stewart (36), Romona Hanzova (52)
 * 2001 WNBA Draft: Katie Douglas (10), Brooke Wyckoff (26), Jaclyn Johnson (42), Anne Thorius (58)
 * 2002 WNBA Draft: Davalyn Cunningham (23), Saundra Jackson (39), Tomeka Brown (55)

Trades

 * April 18, 2002: The Miracle acquire Clarisse Machanguana from the Charlotte Sting for the Miracle's first-round pick in the 2002 WNBA Draft.
 * July 8, 2002: The Miracle acquire Wendy Palmer from the Detroit Shock for Elaine Powell.

All-Stars

 * 1999: Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Shannon Johnson, Nykesha Sales
 * 2000: Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Shannon Johnson, Nykesha Sales
 * 2001: Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Nykesha Sales
 * 2002: Shannon Johnson, Nykesha Sales

Regular season attendance

 * A sellout for a basketball game at TD Waterhouse Center is 17,248.

title: Orlando Miracle


text:
Portsmouth Spartans

The Portsmouth Spartans were a professional American football team that played in Portsmouth, Ohio from their founding in 1928 to their relocation to Detroit in 1934. Originally drawing players from defunct independent professional and semi-professional teams, they joined the fledgling National Football League (NFL) in 1930. Their home stadium was Universal Stadium, known today as Spartan Municipal Stadium.

The team became the Detroit Lions upon their relocation in 1934. The Lions continue to compete in the NFL to this day.

History

The Spartans formed in 1928 when the team began importing players from defunct independent professional and semi-professional teams. The following year, Portsmouth residents agreed to fund the construction of a football stadium that was comparable to those in neighboring communities along the Ohio River. That approval prompted the National Football League to grant the city a franchise on July 12, 1930. The Spartans played their first NFL game at Universal Stadium on September 14. With fewer than 43,000 residents in 1930, Portsmouth became the NFL's second smallest city, ahead of only Green Bay, which had a population of under 38,000. During the team's first year in the league, the Spartans compiled a record of 5–6–3, tying for seventh place in the eleven-team league in 1930.

Early highlights as the Portsmouth Spartans include the "iron man" game against Green Bay in 1932. In that game, Spartans coach Potsy Clark refused to make even a single substitution against the defending NFL champion Packers. Portsmouth won 19–0 and used only 11 players all game. At the end of the 1932 season, the Spartans were tied for first place in the league with the Chicago Bears. That prompted what in retrospect became known as the first NFL playoff game. Blizzard conditions in Chicago meant the game was moved from Wrigley Field's outdoor field to the indoor field at Chicago Stadium, which allowed for only an 80-yard field. The game was won 9–0 by the Bears, on a touchdown pass from Bronko Nagurski to Red Grange. The resulting interest led to the establishment of Eastern and Western conferences and a regular championship game beginning in 1933.

Despite success on the field, the Spartans were fighting to survive off the field. The team was in so much debt that the players received shares in the team in lieu of their salaries. In 1934, a group led by George A. Richards, the owner of Detroit radio station WJR, was announced as having bought the Spartans and moved them to Detroit for the 1934 season. Richards renamed the team the Detroit Lions. He not only wanted to offer a nod to the Detroit Tigers, but also wanted to signal his goal of building a team that would be the "king of the NFL."

List of seasons
1 The result of the 1932 NFL Playoff Game to determine the NFL champion between the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans counted in the standings.

2 Prior to the 1972 season, ties did not count in the NFL standings. Therefore, the Bears (6–1–6) and the Spartans (6–1–4) were considered to be tied atop the standings ahead of the Packers (10–3–1).

title: Portsmouth Spartans


text:
SS Saros

SS Saros was a 2044-ton steamship which was wrecked at Point Hicks, in what is now Croajingolong National Park. Helmed by a Captain Aitken, it left Geelong bound for Sydney on 23 December 1937, but ran aground in heavy fog. All crew on board were rescued after a distress signal brought assistance from other ships.

Remnants from the wreckage are still visible to walkers in the area.

title: SS Saros


text:
Three-letter acronym

A three-letter acronym (TLA), or three-letter abbreviation, is as the phrase suggests an abbreviation consisting of three letters. The abbreviation for TLA, TLA, has a special status among abbreviations and to some is humourous since abbreviations that are three-letters long are very common and TLA is, in fact, a TLA.

TLA is autological.

Most TLAs are initialisms (the initial letter of each word of a phrase), but most are not acronyms in the strict sense since they are pronounced by saying each letter, as in APA. Some are true acronyms (pronounced as a word) such as CAT (as in CAT scan) which is pronounced as the animal.

Examples

 * Academic testing: ACT, SAT
 * Air Navigation Services (ANS): AIS, ATC, ATM, ATS, CNS, FIS, MET, and SAR
 * IATA airport codes: LAX and LHR
 * Business: CEO, CFO, and other C-level officers
 * Canine registries: AKC and CKC
 * Chemistry, biology, and pharmaceuticals: GMO, LSD, and MSG
 * Clinical medicine: CAD, CHF, PSA, and SOB
 * Communications shorthand: LOL and OMG
 * Computer phrases: CPU, DOS, RAM, ROM, and GNU
 * Corporations: BMW, IBM, AMD, KFC and NEC
 * Countries: SRI, USA, CAR, UAE, DRC, etc.
 * Currency: USD, GBP, and CHF
 * Famous people: SRK, FDR, JFK, MJK, MLK, OBL, RBG, RDJ, RFK, and RMS
 * File extensions: JPG, PDF, and XLS
 * Military and weaponry: BFR and RPG
 * Musical groups: R.E.M., XTC, TLC, E.L.O., MC5, GBH, O.A.R., MDC, D.R.I., JFA
 * Personal advertisements: SBM for Single Black Male, STR for Short Term Relationship
 * Political Parties: BJP, CCP, GOP, and AAP
 * Religion: LDS, SBC, and SDA
 * Ship prefixes: HMS, USS, and RMS
 * Sports organizations: NFL, MLB, (North America); AFL, and NRL (Australia); NPB (Japan); ACB, LFP (Spain); IPL (India), EPL (England), WBO
 * State postal abbreviations: NSW, QLD, VIC, and TAS (Australia)
 * Television networks: ABC (Australia, U.S.), BBC (UK), CBC (Canada, Japan), and NHK (Japan)
 * Three-letter agencies: CIA, FBI, CBI, FSB, and NSA
 * Traffic offenses: DUI, DWI, GTA, OVI
 * Wars and political conflicts: HYW and WWI

History and origins
The exact phrase three-letter acronym appeared in the sociology literature in 1975. Three-letter acronyms were used as mnemonics in biological sciences, from 1977 and their practical advantage was promoted by Weber in 1982. They are used in many other fields, but the term TLA is particularly associated with computing. In 1980, the manual for the Sinclair ZX81 home computer used and explained TLA. The specific generation of three-letter acronyms in computing was mentioned in a JPL report of 1982. In 1988, in a paper titled "On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science", eminent computer scientist Edsger W. Dijkstra wrote (disparagingly), "No endeavour is respectable these days without a TLA" By 1992 it was in a Microsoft handbook.

Combinatorics
The number of possible three-letter abbreviations using the 26 letters of the alphabet from A to Z (AAA, AAB, ... to ZZY, ZZZ) is 26 × 26 × 26 = 17,576. An additional 26 × 26 × 10 = 6,760 can be produced for each single position allowed to be a digit 0-9, such as 2FA, P2P, or WW2, giving a total of 37,856 such three-character strings.

Out of the 17,576 possible TLAs that can be created using 3 uppercase letters, at least 94% of them had been used at least once in a dataset of 18 million scientific article abstracts. Three-letter acronyms are the most common type of acronym in scientific research papers, with acronyms of length 3 being twice as common as those of length 2 or 4.

In standard English, WWW is the TLA whose pronunciation requires the most syllables—typically nine. The usefulness of a TLA typically comes from its being quicker to say than the phrase it represents; however saying 'WWW' in English requires three times as many syllables as the phrase it is meant to abbreviate (World Wide Web). "WWW" is sometimes abbreviated to "dubdubdub" in speech.

title: Three-letter acronym


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Armand David

Armand David, CM (7 September 1826, Espelette – 10 November 1900, Paris) was a Lazarist missionary Catholic priest as well as a zoologist and a botanist.

Several species, such as Père David's deer, are named after him — Père David being French for Father David.

Biography
Born in Espelette near Bayonne, in the north of Basque Country, in Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France, he entered the Congregation of the Mission in 1848, having already displayed great fondness for the natural sciences. Ordained in 1851, he was in 1862 sent to Peking, where he began a collection of material for a museum of natural history, mainly zoological, but in which botany, geology, and palaeontology were also well represented.

At the request of the French government, important specimens from his collection were sent to Paris and aroused the greatest interest. The Jardin des Plantes commissioned him to undertake scientific journeys through China to make further collections. He succeeded in obtaining many specimens of hitherto unknown animals and plants, and the value of his comprehensive collections for the advance of systematic zoology and especially for the advancement of animal geography received universal recognition from the scientific community at Paris in April, 1888. He had found in China all together 200 species of wild animals, of which 63 were hitherto unknown to zoologists, and 807 species of birds, 65 of which had not been described before. He made a large collection of reptiles, amphibians, and fishes and handed it over to specialists for further study. Also, a large number of moths and insects, many of them hitherto unknown, were brought to the museum of the Jardin des Plantes. What Father David's scientific journeys meant for botany may be inferred from the fact that among the rhododendrons which he collected no less than fifty-two new species were found and among the primulae about forty, while the Western Mountains of China furnished an even greater number of hitherto unknown species of gentian.

The most notable of the animals 'found' by David, which were hitherto unknown to Europeans, were the giant panda in Baoxing County and Père David's deer. The latter had disappeared with the exception of a few preserved in the gardens of the emperor of China, but David succeeded in securing a specimen and sent it to Europe. David also sent back the first emerald ash borer specimen. In the midst of his work as a naturalist Father David did not neglect his missionary labours, and was noted for his careful devotion to his religious duties and for his obedience to every detail of his order's rules.

Eponymy
The plants Buddleja davidii and Ulmus davidiana, the David Elm, were named for him, and also Lilium davidii. The fish Sarcocheilichthys davidi was named in his honor by Henri Émile Sauvage in 1878, because Père David collected the type specimen. Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus) was likewise named after him by Alphonse Milne-Edwards.

Père David's Rat Snake (Elaphe davidi) was named in his honor by Henri Émile Sauvage in 1884.

Catholic missionaries in China

 * Michel Benoist
 * Giuseppe Castiglione
 * Armand David
 * Matteo Ricci
 * Johann Adam Schall von Bell
 * Ferdinand Verbiest
 * St. Francis Xavier

Eponymous taxa

 * Père David's tit
 * Père David's deer
 * Davidia involucrata
 * Père David's snowfinch
 * Père David's mole
 * Père David's owl
 * Père David's vole
 * Père David's rock squirrel
 * Père David's laughingthrush
 * Andrias davidianus
 * Clematis armandii
 * Buddleia davidii
 * Viburnum davidii
 * Acer davidii

title: Armand David


text:
Guus Kouwenhoven

Guus Kouwenhoven, often misspelled as Gus Kouwenhoven or Guus van Kouwenhoven (born 15 February 1942, 's-Hertogenbosch) is a Dutch arms dealer convicted for arms trafficking in Liberia during the presidency of Charles Taylor.

Deported from the US
In the 1970s, Kouwenhoven was sentenced to two years in prison in the United States after being caught in a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting operation along with his then business partner Peter Rombouts while attempting to sell 6 stolen artworks, including a Rembrandt. In this case he was sentenced to two years incarceration but served only 17 days before being deported from the US.

Involvement in Liberia
Kouwenhoven started his career in Liberia in the 1980s as the manager of Hotel Africa and later on headed the Oriental Timber Corporation (OTC), the main timber company in Liberia in the early 2000s, during the Liberian Civil War. The company was used as a cover for arms smuggling from China and Serbia, via Viktor Bout an arms trader from the former Soviet Union who frequented the hotel and used it as a hub for arms sales all over Africa. Syrian-born Richard (Amar) Chichakli was the financial manager of Bout's arms operations.

The United Nations issued an order in 2001 banning him from traveling because of arms trafficking, and banned arms trade with him.

The three, Taylor himself, Kouwenhoven and Bout were arrested within a single year, while Chichakli evaded arrest for several years, and was caught in Australia in 2013.

Trials
Kouwenhoven was arrested in the Netherlands on 18 March 2005 and stood trial at the Court of First Instance in The Hague, starting 24 April 2006, charged with arms smuggling and war crimes in Liberia in the 90s, for which the Dutch public prosecutors sought a 20-year jail sentence and a fine of €450,000. The court tried to summon Charles Taylor to testify against Kouwenhoven. On 7 June 2006 Kouwenhoven was sentenced to 8 years in jail for arms smuggling. The court did not find him guilty of war crimes. Both the public prosecutors and Kouwenhoven sought a higher court appeal and Kouwenhoven was released in March 2007 in anticipation of his new trial. The Court of Appeal in The Hague acquitted him of all charges on 10 March 2008 and sharply criticized the work of the prosecution.

The prosecution appealed the acquittal to the Supreme Court on 20 March 2008. In April 2010 the Supreme Court ordered a re-trial at the court in Den Bosch. In November 2014, the court in Den Bosch was to hear arguments for dismissal as there were no witnesses available to testify. The Prosecutor Cara Pronk-Jordan wished to have the earlier anonymous interviews used as evidence. Kouwenhoven fled to South Africa in December 2016, claiming medical grounds. On 21 April 2017, Kouwenhoven was convicted in absentia to a 19-year jail sentence for illegal arms trafficking and complicity in war crimes in Liberia and Guinea. A day after this conviction, “Interpol despatched a Red List Notice to the Interpol NCB in Pretoria” requesting that he be provisionally arrested.

Kouwenhoven was arrested on a Dutch warrant on Friday 8 December 2017 at his home in Fresnaye, Cape Town, by the South African Police and appeared before the Cape Town Magistrate's Court from 12 December 2017. In February 2020 the magistrate ruled "with great regret" that Kouwenhoven could not be extradited to the Netherlands in terms of South Africa's Extradition Act because the offences were not committed in the Netherlands.

title: Guus Kouwenhoven