36The Los Angeles Chargers were an original American Football League (AFL) team and began in the AFL’s maiden season of 1960. The original owner was Barron Hilton, who took over the Hilton Hotels chain founded by his father Conrad. Hilton had quite a few other projects in the works including a credit card called “Carte Blanche.” Credit cards were still in their infancy in the 1950’s going into the 1960’s. Diner’s Club was the first company to offer the concept of charging goods and services in 1950. American Express had been in business beginning in 1850, but didn’t go into the credit card avenue until 1950. Visa begun in 1958, but both were still small companies as far as credit lines go. 1958 is when Carte Blanche was first available. Hilton had the idea to advertise his new venture by calling his team “Chargers”, which meant he wanted people to be credit card chargers. In 1968, Carte Blanche was sold to a national bank which later would be renamed Citibank. I brought this logo from Los Angeles, where I lived for 6 years and where my son played American football. Let this emblem decorate the collection of a true American football fan. Greetings from LA! There is a wall mount on the back.
