Prior to the first season of the National Hockey League (NHL), which commenced on December 19, 1917, there had been many seasons of ice hockey played by various amateur and professional leagues, often held contemporaneously, going back to the 1880s, to which the NHL can trace its roots.
 Below is a list of pre-NHL seasons by ice hockey leagues that are precursors of the National Hockey League.
KnowledgeWare was a software company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia co-founded by James Martin and run by Fran Tarkenton.
 It produced a Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tool called IEW (Information Engineering Workbench).
 KnowledgeWare was sold to Sterling Software in 1994, which was in its turn acquired by Computer Associates.
Francis Asbury Tarkenton (born February 3, 1940) is a former National Football League (NFL) quarterback, television personality, and computer software executive.
 He played in the NFL for 18 seasons and spent the majority of his career with the Minnesota Vikings.
Robert Lawrence Hauck (born June 14, 1964) is a college football coach, currently the special teams coordinator for the San Diego State football team.
 He most recently was the head coach at UNLV Rebels.
 Hauck was previously the head coach at Montana, where he led the Grizzlies to seven conference titles and postseason berths in as many seasons, including three national championship game appearances.
 In 2013, following three losing seasons at UNLV, Hauck led the Rebels to their first winning season since 2000.
Zejer spent two seasons in the Turkish Super Lig with Beşiktaş J.K. and Gaziantepspor and many seasons in the Ekstraklasa with Zagłębie Lubin and Stomil Olsztyn.
The Children's Theatre Company (formerly known as The Moppet Players from 1961 to 1965) is a regional theatre established in 1965 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, specializing in plays for families, young audiences and the very young.
 The theatre is the largest theatre for multigenerational audiences in the United States and is the recipient of 2003 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.
 The founding is credited to John Clark Donahue and Beth Linnerson.
 Many productions are adaptations from children's literature including Pippi Longstocking, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, "Cinderella", How The Grinch Stole Christmas, A Year with Frog and Toad and "Alice in Wonderland" that have been in the company's repertoire for many seasons.
 Among their early premiere productions was Richard Dworsky's musical version of "The Marvelous Land of Oz", which was one of several productions to be issued on video in the early 1980s.
 The casts themselves are a mix of adult and young adult performers.
Anders "Masken" Carlsson (born 25 November 1960 in Gävle, Sweden) is a Swedish retired ice hockey center who played parts of three seasons with the New Jersey Devils in the National Hockey League and many seasons in the Elitserien for Brynäs IF, Södertälje SK, VIK Västerås HK and Leksands IF.
 In addition to playing in the 1987 Canada Cup, he represented Sweden six times at the World Championships, winning gold medals in 1987 and 1991, and silver medals in 1986, 1990 and 1997.
 He is currently an amateur scout for the Colorado Avalanche He is currently General Manager of SHL-team Rögle BK.
Rokometni Klub Gorenje Velenje (English: Gorenje Velenje Handball Club ), commonly referred to as RK Gorenje or simply Gorenje, is a Slovenian handball club from Velenje.
 They play their games at the Red Hall ("Rdeča dvorana ").
 The club has many selections ranging from junior to professional teams.
 The club's greatest achievements were four republic championship titles (1972–73, 1980–81, 1984–85 and 1988–89) in the former Yugoslavia.
 Since the Slovenian independence, the club has won three league titles (2008–09, 2011–12, and 2012–13), and one Slovenian handball cup title (2002–03).
 The club also participated in the EHF competitions for many seasons, including the EHF Cup, the EHF Cup Winners' Cup, and the EHF Champions League.
 Currently, Gorenje competes in the Slovenian First League.
 Together with Celje, they are the only club that have participated in every season of the Slovenian First League since its formation in 1991.
Fred Gaines Campbell (August 8, 1920 – December 3, 2008) was an American professional basketball player and coach as well as minor league baseball player.
 He played in the National Basketball League for the Detroit Gems and Detroit Vagabond Kings.
 While playing for the Gems he served as the head coach during the second half of the season after coach Joel Mason resigned.
 In many seasons with the Vagabond Kings, except for the only one in which the franchise played in the NBL (the rest of the years they were independent), Campbell also served as a player-coach.
 In two seasons as an NBL player, Campbell averaged 5.8 points per game.
Anders Börje Salming (] ; born 17 April 1951), nicknamed "The King", is a Swedish retired professional ice hockey defenceman.
 He played for Brynäs IF, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Detroit Red Wings, and AIK.
 Salming was one of the first European players to make an impact in the National Hockey League (NHL), paving the way for future generations of players.
 He was one of the premier defencemen of his era in the NHL, and was recognized for this by being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996.
 Remembered for his many seasons with the Maple Leafs, he holds numerous franchise records, including most assists.
 Salming also played extensively for Sweden in international play.
 He was recognized for this by being selected to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Centennial All-Star Team.
 On 27 January 2017, in a ceremony during the All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, Salming was part of the second group of players to be named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

Question: How many seasons did the man who runs KnowledgeWare play in the NFL ?
Answer: 18 seasons