User:Harper J. Cole/sandbox/History of the Los Angeles Chargers (draft)

The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team that currently plays and competes in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers were established in 1960 and played one season in Los Angeles before moving to San Diego in 1961. The team returned to Los Angeles in 2017.

Foundation, first season and relocation
The Los Angeles Chargers were established with seven other American Football League teams in 1959. In 1960, the Chargers began AFL play in Los Angeles. The Chargers' original owner was hotel heir Barron Hilton, son of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton.

The new franchise ran a contest to decide their name, with "Chargers" the winning entry. General manager Frank Leahy, picked the name, and Hilton agreed: "I liked it because they were yelling ‘charge’ and sounding the bugle at Dodgers Stadium and at USC games." The Chargers initially considered playing at the Rose Bowl, but instead signed a lease to play at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Barron Conrad Hilton unveiled the Chargers' uniforms which featured blue and gold with lightning bolts on the sides of the helmets and trousers, at a cocktail party at Hilton's Santa Monica residence. Players Jack Kemp and Ron Mix modeled the new uniforms.

Hilton named Sid Gillman the first head coach of the Chargers on January 8, 1960. Later that year, Leahy resigned due to ill health, and Gillman became the general manager as well. He served in that dual role until late in the 1969 season, and kept at least one of the two jobs until 1971.

The Chargers began their inaugural season on September 10, 1960, overcoming a 20–7 deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat the Dallas Texans 21–20 before 17,724 persons in the L.A. Coliseum in the opening league game. They went on to compile a 10–4 record and clinch a place in the first AFL title game; a crowd of 9,928 in the L.A. Coliseum watched the Chargers top the Denver Broncos 41–33 to clinch the AFL Western Division title with a game to spare. On January 1, a crowd of 32,183 in Jeppesen Stadium and a national television audience saw host the Houston Oilers defeat the Chargers 24–16 in the AFL championship game.

Attendances were disappointing in Los Angeles, averaging below 16,000 throughout the season; the AFL moved the 1960 title game away from the L.A. Coliseum to avoid the embarrassment of their showpiece game being played in front of rows of empty seats. Hilton, who lost close to a million dollars on the Chargers from their founding through to the end of the 1960 season, was approached by the city of San Diego about a possible move, with local sportswriter Jack Murphy a key figure in building enthusiasm for the team. Hilton, after being assured that Balboa Stadium's capacity would be increased from 23,000 to 34,000, agreed to the relocation. The franchise officially became known as the San Diego Chargers after the AFL approved the move on February 10, 1961.