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NFL History 1920
- 1929
1920
Pro
football was in a state of confusion due to
three major problems: dramatically rising
salaries; players continually jumping from
one team to another following the highest
offer; and the use of college players still
enrolled in school. A league in which all
the members would follow the same rules seemed
the answer. An organizational meeting, at
which the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland
Indians, and Dayton Triangles were represented,
was held at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto
showroom in Canton, Ohio, August 20. This
meeting resulted in the formation of the American
Professional Football Conference.
A
second organizational meeting was held in Canton, September
17. The teams were from four states-Akron, Canton, Cleveland,
and Dayton from Ohio; the Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers
from Indiana; the Rochester Jeffersons from New York;
and the Rock Island Independents, Decatur Staleys, and
Racine Cardinals from Illinois. The name of the league
was changed to the American Professional Football Association.
Hoping to capitalize on his fame, the members elected
Thorpe president; Stanley Cofall of Cleveland was elected
vice president. A membership fee of $100 per team was
charged to give an appearance of respectability, but
no team ever paid it. Scheduling was left up to the
teams, and there were wide variations, both in the overall
number of games played and in the number played against
APFA member teams.
Four
other teams-the Buffalo All-Americans, Chicago Tigers,
Columbus Panhandles, and Detroit Heralds-joined the
league sometime during the year. On September 26, the
first game featuring an APFA team was played at Rock
Island's Douglas Park. A crowd of 800 watched the Independents
defeat the St. Paul Ideals 48-0. A week later, October
3, the first game matching two APFA teams was held.
At Triangle Park, Dayton defeated Columbus 14-0, with
Lou Partlow of Dayton scoring the first touchdown in
a game between Association teams. The same day, Rock
Island defeated Muncie 45-0.
By
the beginning of December, most of the teams in the
APFA had abandoned their hopes for a championship, and
some of them, including the Chicago Tigers and the Detroit
Heralds, had finished their seasons, disbanded, and
had their franchises canceled by the Association. Four
teams-Akron, Buffalo, Canton, and Decatur-still had
championship as-pirations, but a series of late-season
games among them left Akron as the only undefeated team
in the Association. At one of these games, Akron sold
tackle Bob Nash to Buffalo for $300 and five percent
of the gate receipts-the first APFA player deal.
1921
At the league meeting in Akron, April 30, the championship
of the 1920 season was awarded to the Akron Pros. The
APFA was reorganized, with Joe Carr of the Columbus
Panhandles named president and Carl Storck of Dayton
secretary-treasurer. Carr moved the Association's headquarters
to Columbus, drafted a league constitution and by-laws,
gave teams territorial rights, restricted player movements,
developed membership criteria for the franchises, and
issued standings for the first time, so that the APFA
would have a clear champion.
The
Association's membership increased to 22 teams, including
the Green Bay Packers, who were awarded to John Clair
of the Acme Packing Company.
Thorpe
moved from Canton to the Cleveland Indians, but he was
hurt early in the season and played very little.
A.E.
Staley turned the Decatur Staleys over to player-coach
George Halas, who moved the team to Cubs Park in Chicago.
Staley paid Halas $5,000 to keep the name Staleys for
one more year. Halas made halfback Ed (Dutch) Sternaman
his partner.
Player-coach
Fritz Pollard of the Akron Pros became the first black
head coach.
The
Staleys claimed the APFA championship with a 9-1-1 record,
as did Buffalo at 9-1-2. Carr ruled in favor of the
Staleys, giving Halas his first championship.
1922
After admitting the use of players who had college
eligibility remaining during the 1921 season, Clair
and the Green Bay management withdrew from the APFA,
January 28. Curly Lambeau promised to obey league rules
and then used $50 of his own money to buy back the franchise.
Bad weather and low attendance plagued the Packers,
and Lambeau went broke, but local merchants arranged
a $2,500 loan for the club. A public nonprofit corporation
was set up to operate the team, with Lambeau as head
coach and manager.
The
American Professional Football Association changed its
name to the National Football League, June 24. The Chicago
Staleys became the Chicago Bears.
The
NFL fielded 18 teams, including the new Oorang Indians
of Marion, Ohio, an all-Indian team featuring Thorpe,
Joe Guyon, and Pete Calac, and sponsored by the Oorang
dog kennels.
Canton,
led by player-coach Guy Chamberlin and tackles Link
Lyman and Wilbur (Pete) Henry, emerged as the league's
first true powerhouse, going 10-0-2.
1923
For the first time, all of the franchises considered
to be part of the NFL fielded teams. Thorpe played first
for Oorang, then for the Toledo Maroons. Against the
Bears, Thorpe fumbled, and Halas picked up the ball
and returned it 98 yards for a touchdown, a record that
would last until 1972.
Canton
had its second consecutive undefeated season, going
11-0-1 for the NFL title.
1924
The league had 18 franchises, including new ones
in Kansas City, Kenosha, and Frankford, a section of
Philadelphia. League champion Canton, successful on
the field but not at the box office, was purchased by
the owner of the Cleveland franchise, who kept the Canton
franchise inactive, while using the best players for
his Cleveland team, which he renamed the Bulldogs. Cleveland
won the title with a 7-1-1 record.
1925
Five new franchises were admitted to the NFL-the
New York Giants, who were awarded to Tim Mara and Billy
Gibson for $500; the Detroit Panthers, featuring Jimmy
Conzelman as owner, coach, and tailback; the Providence
Steam Roller; a new Canton Bulldogs team; and the Pottsville
Maroons, who had been perhaps the most successful independent
pro team. The NFL established its first player limit,
at 16 players.
Late
in the season, the NFL made its greatest coup in gaining
national recognition. Shortly after the University of
Illinois season ended in November, All-America halfback
Harold (Red) Grange signed a contract to play with the
Chicago Bears. On Thanksgiving Day, a crowd of 36,000-the
largest in pro football history-watched Grange and the
Bears play the Chicago Cardinals to a scoreless tie
at Wrigley Field. At the beginning of December, the
Bears left on a barnstorming tour that saw them play
eight games in 12 days, in St. Louis, Philadelphia,
New York City, Washington, Boston, Pittsburgh, Detroit,
and Chicago. A crowd of 73,000 watched the game against
the Giants at the Polo Grounds, helping assure the future
of the troubled NFL franchise in New York. The Bears
then played nine more games in the South and West, including
a game in Los Angeles, in which 75,000 fans watched
them defeat the Los Angeles Tigers in the Los Angeles
Memorial Coliseum.
Pottsville
and the Chicago Cardinals were the top contenders for
the league title, with Pottsville winning a late-season
meeting 21-7. Pottsville scheduled a game against a
team of former Notre Dame players for Shibe Park in
Philadelphia. Frankford lodged a protest not only because
the game was in Frankford's protected territory, but
because it was being played the same day as a Yellow
Jackets home game. Carr gave three different notices
forbidding Pottsville to play the game, but Pottsville
played anyway, December 12. That day, Carr fined the
club, suspended it from all rights and privileges (including
the right to play for the NFL championship), and re-turned
its franchise to the league. The Cardinals, who ended
the season with the best record in the league, were
named the 1925 champions.
1926
Grange's manager, C.C. Pyle, told the Bears that
Grange wouldn't play for them unless he was paid a five-figure
salary and given one-third ownership of the team. The
Bears refused. Pyle leased Yankee Stadium in New York
City, then petitioned for an NFL franchise. After he
was refused, he started the first American Football
League. It lasted one season and included Grange's New
York Yankees and eight other teams. The AFL champion
Philadelphia Quakers played a December game against
the New York Giants, seventh in the NFL, and the Giants
won 31-0. At the end of the season, the AFL folded.
Halas
pushed through a rule that prohibited any team from
signing a player whose college class had not graduated.
The
NFL grew to 22 teams, including the Duluth Eskimos,
who signed All-America fullback Ernie Nevers of Stanford,
giving the league a gate attraction to rival Grange.
The 15-member Eskimos, dubbed the Iron Men of the North,
played 29 exhibition and league games, 28 on the road,
and Nevers played in all but 29 minutes of them.
Frankford
edged the Bears for the championship, despite Halas
having obtained John (Paddy) Driscoll from the Cardinals.
On December 4, the Yellow Jackets scored in the final
two minutes to defeat the Bears 7-6 and move ahead of
them in the standings.
1927
At a special meeting in Cleveland, April 23, Carr
decided to secure the NFL's future by eliminating the
financially weaker teams and consolidating the quality
players onto a limited number of more successful teams.
The new-look NFL dropped to 12 teams, and the center
of gravity of the league left the Midwest, where the
NFL had started, and began to emerge in the large cities
of the East. One of the new teams was Grange's New York
Yankees, but Grange suffered a knee injury and the Yankees
finished in the middle of the pack. The NFL championship
was won by the cross-town rival New York Giants, who
posted 10 shutouts in 13 games.
1928
Grange and Nevers both retired from pro football,
and Duluth disbanded, as the NFL was reduced to only
10 teams. The Providence Steam Roller of Jimmy Conzelman
and Pearce Johnson won the championship, playing in
the Cycledrome, a 10,000-seat oval that had been built
for bicycle races.
1929
Chris O'Brien sold the Chicago Cardinals to David
Jones, July 27.
The
NFL added a fourth official, the field judge, July 28.
Grange
and Nevers returned to the NFL. Nevers scored six rushing
touchdowns and four extra points as the Cardinals beat
Grange's Bears 40-6, November 28. The 40 points set
a record that remains the NFL's oldest.
Providence
became the first NFL team to host a game at night under
floodlights, against the Cardinals, November 3.
The
Packers added back Johnny Blood (McNally), tackle Cal
Hubbard, and guard Mike Michalske, and won their first
NFL championship, edging the Giants, who featured quarterback
Benny Friedman.
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