The Los Angeles Golden Knights fight club was established in 2014 by Veteran Fighter and current League Marshall Lance Hoffman. Covering a large geographical area the early version of the LA Golden Knights included fighters from Santa Barbara all the way to San Diego. Los Angeles Golden Knights were one of the original 3 Armored Combat League Chapters along with the New York Sentinels and Boston Dark Knights.
Choosing the name
The name came first, and was a result of Chris Minerd and Lance Hoffman driving back to Santa Barbara after an event. Among the other ideas being kicked around was “Southern California Saints” to reflect the Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego communities, but the other name that stuck was Chris’ suggestion of “Golden Knights” as an homage to California’s nickname of the Golden State.
Team colors and Cross of Lorraine
The colors and the Lorraine cross came next. Yellow was a given, considering the inspiration for our name, and Lance wanted to avoid the red/white/blue motif that was already very popular among the regional teams at that time.
Black and Gold
For contrasting colors, black on yellow was both very visually striking and distinct. There were several possibilities in regards to the specific logo, as the original criteria was “something more historically accurate” (Lance was a pain in the ass about authenticity, even back then). One of the other strong candidates was a yellow field strewn with black ermine spots, but the angular Lorraine cross was both very visually striking, easier to put on a surcoat, and more significant: the Lorraine cross is a symbol of France, which is where southern California knights (Lance and Makoto) first competed internationally.
Growth and Plans of Expansion
When L.A. really started to boom, it was only a matter of time before we would need another Chapter, and Lance started looking at where our fighters in So Cal were located, and where we could draw a reasonable division. The largest cluster was in and around L.A. county, which I wanted to keep intact. Santa Barbara (including Ventura and SLO counties) was the most numerous satellite group, so well in advance of making it official, Lance started considering names, logos, and leadership for L.A. since he would be taking over S.B.
