arenafootball2 - Memphis Xplorers
Memphis Xplorers Unveil New Logo
 Southaven, MS. - The Memphis Xplorers af2 team
unveiled their 2002-2003 logo during a press conference
Tuesday at the DeSoto Civic Center. The logo features a
likeness of a Spanish conquistador, based on the
region’s history as the place where the Mississippi
River was first discovered by the explorer Hernando de
Soto.
The large gold “X” in the logo derives its color from
the golden treasure for which de Soto died searching;
the green coat of arms represents the deep, lush fields
of Mississippi; and De Soto’s metal helmet represents
the iron-hard Xplorers football warriors.
“We are proud to be part of DeSoto County and the
Memphis area, and to claim our place on the
Mississippi,” Xplorers general manager Greg Griffith
said. “The conquistadors conquered everything they
encountered, and we are going to do the same thing on
the field.”
De Soto was a wealthy captain from Francisco
Pizarro’s Inca conquest who became Governor of Cuba and
adelantado of La Florida. In the spring of 1539, he left
his wife as Governor of Cuba and sailed for Tampa Bay
with seven vessels, 600 soldiers, three Jesuit friars
and several dozen civilians, fully intending to start a
settlement. But after contacting local Indian tribes
upon his arrival and hearing great tales of rich Indian
villages to the North, he abandoned all plans of
starting a colony and decided instead to search for
treasure.
De Soto sent the fleet back to Cuba, took an army of
Indian prisoners as guides and a herd of hogs for food
and marched inland from the marshy coastline. In the
spring of 1540, he headed northwestward into Georgia.
For the next three years, he explored the frontiers of
Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas
and Mississippi.
De Soto is known for discovering the Mississippi
River. In the Indian kingdom of Quizquiz on the
Mississippi, a few miles south of current-day Memphis,
his entourage built four large flatboats and crossed the
river. De Soto died of fever at modern-day Ferriday,
Arkansas, but his legacy as a great soldier and
conquistador lives on.
This article was taken from
www.xplorersaf2.com. All rights
reserved.
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