Los Angeles Chargers
The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional football team that plays in the National Football League (NFL) and were established in 1960 as part of the American Football League (AFL). Originally based in Los Angeles, the team moved to San Diego shortly after its inception, where it enjoyed significant success, including winning the AFL Championship in 1963. The Chargers joined the NFL in 1970 during the league's merger and became known for their innovative, high-scoring offensive style.
Despite periods of struggle, particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s, the team reached Super Bowl XXIX in 1995 but was defeated by the San Francisco 49ers. After several seasons of ups and downs, the Chargers returned to Los Angeles in 2017, playing in a temporary stadium until the opening of SoFi Stadium in 2020, which they share with the Los Angeles Rams. Notable players in the franchise's history include Hall of Famers like LaDainian Tomlinson, Dan Fouts, and Junior Seau, highlighting the team's rich legacy and impact in the NFL.
Los Angeles Chargers
Overview
The Los Angeles Chargers are a National Football League (NFL) franchise that began play in the 1960 season. The Chargers were one of the original teams in the American Football League (AFL), a rival to the NFL formed to take advantage of the sport’s growing popularity. After a move to San Diego, the Chargers epitomized the innovative, wide-open style of play embraced by the AFL. They became one of the league’s most successful teams, winning the 1963 AFL title, and eventually joined the NFL when the leagues merged in 1970.
Despite featuring a revolutionary passing attack in the early 1980s, and one of the most dynamic running backs in NFL history in the mid-2000s, the Chargers largely struggled to replicate their success from the early AFL days. They advanced to the Super Bowl in the 1994 season, but lost the championship game. In 2017, the team left San Diego to return to Los Angeles.
Quick Facts
Inaugural season: 1960
Home field: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
Owner: Dean Spanos
Team colors: Powder blue, Sunshine gold, white, navy, royal blue
History
Boosted by the growing influence of television, the NFL was riding a wave of success and gaining popularity in the 1950s. Several businessmen approached the league and expressed interest in owing expansion teams. However, the NFL was reluctant to expand into too many new markets and denied their requests. In 1959, eight of these businessmen got together and formed a new football league to begin play in 1960, called the American Football League (AFL). The AFL began with franchises in Boston, Massachusetts; Buffalo, New York; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Houston, Texas; New York City; Oakland, California; and Los Angeles, California.
The Los Angeles franchise was owned by Barron Hilton, a hotel executive and heir to the Hilton Hotel chain. Team officials held a name-the-team contest and selected the name Chargers because it reminded them of a well-known fight call used by the University of Southern California (USC) football team. The call featured a bugle fanfare followed by fans yelling “Charge!” The team’s original logo resembled a shield emblazoned with a horse’s head and a lightning bolt. In 1973, the logo was simplified to a curved, horizontal lightning bolt. The original team colors were powder blue, gold, and white. The team later changed the powder blue to royal blue and then to navy blue. (In the twenty-first century, they began to feature powder blue once again on alternate uniforms, and in 2019 readopted it as their primary uniform color.)
The AFL owners knew they had to do something to stand out from the NFL, so teams adopted a game philosophy that focused on high-scoring offenses and innovative play calling. This was in sharp contrast to the defensive-oriented, run-based style of the NFL. The Chargers’ first head coach, Sid Gillman, was perfect for this style of play. Gillman’s play calling spread out the players on the field, giving the quarterback more space to throw the ball and allowing for longer downfield passes. The strategy paid off, and after a slow start to their inaugural season, the Chargers averaged 46 points a game over their last four regular season games. The Chargers advanced to the AFL Championship game before losing to Houston.
Despite the Chargers’ success on the field, Hilton was unhappy with the fan support the team received in Los Angeles. Prior to the 1961 season, Hilton relocated the team south to San Diego. The Chargers repeated as AFL West Division champions and played in the AFL Championship game, only to lose to Houston again. After missing the playoffs in the 1962 season, the Chargers won the AFL Championship in January 1964 with a 51–10 drubbing of the Boston Patriots. The team also made it to the next two AFL championships, but lost both times to the Buffalo Bills.
In 1970, the AFL and NFL officially merged and San Diego was placed in the American Football Conference’s (AFC) West Division. Joining them were their former AFL rivals the Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, and Denver Broncos.
In 1978, the team hired Don Coryell as head coach. Coryell implemented a high-scoring, passing-focused offense that earned the nickname “Air Coryell.” From 1979 to 1981, San Diego won three straight division titles and twice advanced to the AFC title game. In January 1982, the Chargers played in one of the most exciting playoff games in NFL history, an exhausting 41–38 overtime win against the Miami Dolphins. San Diego made the playoffs again in the 1982 season, but fell upon hard times for most of the next decade. The team posted only one winning season from 1983 to 1991.
The Chargers made an improbable playoff run in 1992, bouncing back from an 0–4 start to win their division, making them the first team in NFL history to recover from such a deficit. After the 1994 season, the Chargers advanced to the AFC title game in January 1995 where they shocked the favored Pittsburgh Steelers. San Diego’s appearance in Super Bowl XXIX was the first time the franchise had been to a championship game since 1965. However, the Chargers were blown out by the San Francisco 49ers, 49–26.
After a few more down years, San Diego began a resurgence in 2004. The team won its division five times in six seasons. During this time, the Chargers made one AFC Championship game, but failed to advance to the Super Bowl. The team's fortunes declined again in the 2010s, as they managed playoff appearances only in 2013 and 2018, losing in the divisional round both times.
Barron Hilton had sold the Chargers in 1966 to businessman Eugene Klein. Klein sold the team in 1984 to Alex Spanos, a southern California real estate developer. Spanos maintained control of the Chargers until 2015 when his failing health forced him to turn the team over to his son Dean. For years, Chargers’ officials had been trying to get the city of San Diego to help build a new football stadium. When that effort failed, Dean Spanos announced that the team would be moving to Los Angeles for the 2017 season. From 2017 to 2019, the Chargers played home games at a stadium built for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer while awaiting the construction of a $5 billion, 70,000-seat complex in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. The new venue, named SoFi Stadium, opened for the 2020 season and was shared by the Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams.
Notable players
Several people who spent significant time with the Chargers have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Sid Gillman was inducted in 1983 as a coach, holding the franchise record with 86 victories. Hall-of-Fame wide receiver Lance Alworth was one of the key weapons in Gillman’s high-powered offenses of the 1960s.
Quarterback Dan Fouts, inducted in 1993, ran the Air Coryell attack of the early 1980s. Fouts made six Pro Bowls in his fifteen-year career and threw for 43,040 yards. One of his main targets was fellow Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow, a tight end who notably caught 13 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown in the Chargers’ epic playoff victory over Miami in 1982. Joining Winslow on that team was wide receiver Charlie Joiner, who was inducted into Canton in 1996. Head coach Don Coryell was himself inducted in 2023.
The successful Chargers teams of the early 1990s featured a defense anchored by Hall-of-Fame linebacker Junior Seau. General manager Bobby Beathard, with the franchise from 1990 to 2000, also earned a place in the Hall of Fame.
In the 2001 NFL Draft, the Chargers selected running back LaDainian Tomlinson with the fifth overall pick. He spent nine seasons with the Chargers, developing into one of the greatest running backs of all time and the main offensive weapon in the team’s rise to the top of the AFC West standings. Tomlinson made five Pro Bowls during his tenure and won the NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 2006. That season, he ran for 28 touchdowns and caught three touchdown passes, setting the NFL single-season total touchdowns record. Tomlinson also set the Chargers’ all-time marks for rushing touchdowns and rushing yards. He was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2017.
Two other key players for the Chargers in the early twenty-first century were tight end Antonio Gates and quarterback Philip Rivers. Gates joined the team as an undrafted free agent in 2003 and remained with the franchise for his entire sixteen-year playing career. Regarded as one of the best tight ends of all time, he earned six All-Pro selections and set team records for receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. Rivers, who was drafted in 2004, became the Chargers’ starting quarterback in 2006 and emerged as one of the league's top passers. He was also known for his durability, starting every game for the team through the 2019 season. Rivers became the Chargers' all-time leader in most passing categories, including yards (59,271) and touchdowns (397). By the time he retired after spending the 2020 season with the Indianapolis Colts, he ranked fifth all-time across the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns. Justin Herbert succeeded Rivers as the Chargers' starting quarterback and became a next-generation star himself, setting several rookie passing records in 2020.
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