16 April 1967 - The Renegades Ride The Airwaves

On 16 April 1967, televised professional football arrived in the United States with an NPSL match between the Baltimore Bays and the Atlanta Chiefs.

Formed earlier that year, the National Professional Soccer League included ten teams across the US and Canada. It was not sanctioned by FIFA or the US Soccer Federation, who instead backed the competing United Soccer Association and branded the NPSL a "renegade league." But that label didn't hinder the NPSL, who reached a deal with CBS for the broadcast of twenty-one games that first season.

For the first televised match on opening weekend, Baltimore hosted Atlanta and won 1-0 with the lone goal coming from forward Guy Saint-Vil (pictured). Because the new league used a novel points system in which a win was worth six, a draw worth two, and each goal worth one (up to a maximum of three per side per game), Baltimore earned seven points.

They went on to win the Eastern Division, but lost to the Oakland Clippers, the Western Division champions,  in a single-game playoff.

At the end of the season, the NPSL merged with the United Soccer Association to form the North American Soccer League.

28 September 1968 - The Title Was Probably Recognition Enough

On 28 September 1968, the Atlanta Chiefs won the inaugural NASL title, beating the San Diego Toros 3-0 over two legs in the final.

Formed earlier that year from a merger of the United Soccer Association and the National Professional Soccer League (both of which had formed in 1967), the new North American Soccer League divided a total of seventeen teams into four different divisions. They used an unusual scoring system in which teams earned six points for a win, three points for a draw, no points for a loss, and one point (up to three per game) for each goal scored.

The Chiefs (pictured) won the Atlantic Division comfortably, while the Toros--who had an identical record as the Oakland Clippers but more goals--won the Pacific Division by a single point. After playoff wins over the Cleveland Stokers and Kansas City Spurs, respectively, the two teams met in the two-legged final.

The first leg, played on 21 September, ended as a scoreless draw. But Atlanta took the second leg 3-0 with goals from Peter McParland, Kaizer Motaung, and Delroy Scott.

Afterward, Atlanta boss Phil Woosnam was named Manager of the Year and Motaung received the Rookie of the Year award. But not a single Atlanta player was included on the league's All Star Team (which included five Oakland players and only two Toros).