1920 Decatur Staleys season - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; clear: right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; width: 23em;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" style="text-align: center; background-color: ;" | 1920 Decatur Staleys season
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center" |
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| Head Coach|| George Halas

George Halas

George Stanley Halas, Sr. , nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears...

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| style="vertical-align: top;" | Home Field|| Staley Field

Staley Field

Staley Field in Decatur, Illinois was the home of the Decatur Staleys club of the American Professional Football Association in 1920, coached and managed by the young George Halas. Modern convention has tended to label this club the "Decatur Staleys"....

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{| style="background: none; width: 20em; margin: 0 auto;"
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! style="background: #E0E7EF;" colspan="2" | Results
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| Record || 10-1-2 Overall
5-1-2 APFA

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

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| style="vertical-align: top;" | Place || 2nd APFA
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| style="vertical-align: top;" | Playoff Finish || No playoffs until 1932
|-
! style="background: #E0E7EF;" colspan="2" | Timeline
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{| class="infobox" style="font-size:90%; width:100%; border:0px;"
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| align="center" | Previous Season
| align="center" | Next Season
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| align="center" | 1919

1919 Decatur Staleys season

The 1919 Decatur Staleys season was the first in the team's long existence. It was also the only season in which the Staleys-Bears team was not a member of the National Football League. The team, under George Halas, would become a founding member of that league a year later.-Schedule:-References:*...

| align="center" | 1921

1921 Chicago Staleys season

The 1921 Chicago Staleys season was their second regular season completed in the young American Professional Football Association. The club posted a 9-1-1 record under head coach/player George Halas earning them a first place finish in the team standings and their first league championship. The...

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Games in italics are against non-NFL teams.

The 1920
1920 NFL season
The 1920 APFA season was the inaugural regular season of the National Football League which was called the American Professional Football Association in 1920 and 1921...

Decatur Staleys season was their inaugural regular season

Regular season (NFL)

The National Football League regular season begins the weekend after Labor Day. Each team plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Traditionally, the majority of each week's games are played on Sunday afternoon, with weekly games on Sunday night and Monday night, and occasional games on Thursday...

completed in the newly formed American Professional Football Association. The club posted a 10-1-2 record under first year head coach/player George Halas

George Halas

earning them a second place finish in the team standings. The stars of the Staleys were Ed "Dutch" Sternaman

Edward Sternaman

Edward Sternaman , better known as Dutch, was an American player, coach, and owner in professional football for the NFL's Chicago Bears....

, Jimmy Conzelman, and George Halas

George Halas

. Sternaman has a remarkable season with 11 rushing TDs, 1 receiving TDs, 4 field goals, and 3 PATs, totaling 87 points scored out of the Staleys' total of 164. Jimmy Conzelman ran for two scores and threw two more. Halas led the team in receiving scores with 2. In the last league game of the season, the Staleys needed a win versus Akron to have a chance at the title. Akron, predictably, played for a tie, achieved that, and won the first APFA title. The last game of the season against the Chicago Logan Square AC was after the season was officially over and does not count towards the standings.

Future Hall of Fame Players

Guy Chamberlin
Guy Chamberlin
Berlin Guy "Champ" Chamberlin was a professional American football player and coach in the National Football League . He played at Nebraska Wesleyan University and then at the University of Nebraska, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He graduated from Nebraska in 1916...

, End
Jimmy Conzelman, Quarterback
Paddy Driscoll
Paddy Driscoll
John Leo "Paddy" Driscoll was a professional American football quarterback. Driscoll was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965 and is a member of the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team...

, Back
George Halas
George Halas
George Stanley Halas, Sr. , nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears...

, End
George Trafton
George Trafton
George Edward Trafton , was an American football player. He played as a center for the Decatur Staleys of the National Football League from 1920 to 1921 and 1923–1932. He is credited as being the first center to snap the ball with one hand...

, Center

Schedule

{| class="wikitable"
!Date || Opponent || Location || Result || Score || Record || Attendance
|-style="background: #ddffdd;"
| Sunday, Oct. 3 || Moline Tractors || Staley Field

Staley Field

||Win|| 20-0 || 1-0-0 || 1,500
|-style="background: #ddffdd;"
| Sunday, Oct. 10 || Kewanee Walworths || Staley Field

Staley Field

||Win|| 25-7 || 2-0-0 || 1,500
|-style="background: #ddffdd;"
| Sunday, Oct. 17 || Rock Island Independents

Rock Island Independents

The Rock Island Independents were a professional American football team based in Rock Island, Illinois. One of the first professional football teams, they were founded in 1907 as an independent club. They later played in what is now the National Football League from 1920 to 1925. They joined the...

|| Douglas Park

Douglas Park (Chicago park)

Douglas Park is a large Chicago Park District park that also serves as a cultural and community center in Chicago, Illinois. It is named after the U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, who died in 1861. Originally named South Park, its are in the North Lawndale community area of Chicago in Cook County,...

||Win|| 7-0 || 3-0-0 || 7,000
|-style="background: #ddffdd;"
| Sunday, Oct. 24 || Chicago Tigers

Chicago Tigers

The Chicago Tigers of the American Professional Football Association played only in the first year of the league and, because of this, have the distinction of being the first official NFL team to fold. They had a record of 2 wins, 5 losses and 1 tie...

|| Cubs Park

Wrigley Field

Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...

||Win|| 10-0 || 4-0-0 || 5,000
|-style="background: #ddffdd;"
| Sunday, Oct. 31 || Rockford Athletic Club
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...

|| Kishwaukee Park ||Win|| 29-0 || 5-0-0 ||
|-style="background: #ffeeaa;"
| Sunday, Nov. 7 || Rock Island Independents

Rock Island Independents

|| Douglas Park

Douglas Park (Chicago park)

||Tie|| 0-0 || 5-0-1 || 4,991
|-style="background: #ddffdd;"
| Thursday, Nov. 11 || Champaign Legion
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...

|| ||Win|| 20-0 || 6-0-1 ||
|-style="background: #ddffdd;"
| Sunday, Nov. 14 || Minneapolis Marines || Nicollet Park

Nicollet Park

Nicollet Park is a former baseball ground located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The ground was home to the minor league Minneapolis Millers of the Western League and later American Association from 1896 to 1955. During its first season it was officially known as Wright Field name for...

||Win|| 3-0 || 7-0-1 ||
|-style="background: #ddffdd;"
| Sunday, Nov. 21 || Hammond Pros

Hammond Pros

The Hammond Pros from Hammond, Indiana played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1926 as a traveling team.-History:The Pros were established by Paul Parduhn and Dr. Alva Young who was a boxing promoter, owner of a racing stable and a doctor and trainer for a semi-pro football team...

|| Staley Field

Staley Field

||Win|| 28-7 || 8-0-1 || 3,000
|-style="background: #ddffdd;"
| Thursday, Nov. 25 || Chicago Tigers

Chicago Tigers

|| Cubs Park

Wrigley Field

||Win|| 6-0 || 9-0-1 || 8,000
|-style="background: #ffdddd;"
| Sunday, Nov. 28 || Chicago Cardinals || Normal Park

Normal Park

Normal Park is the name of a former football field in Chicago, Illinois. It was on Racine Avenue between 61st and 63rd Streets. Normal Avenue is also sometimes given as one of its bordering streets, although Normal Avenue is about 7 blocks east of Racine , at least under the current city grid...

||Loss|| 7-6 || 9-1-1 || 5,000
|-style="background: #ddffdd;"
| Sunday, Dec. 5 || Chicago Cardinals || Cubs Park

Wrigley Field

||Win|| 10-0 || 10-1-1 || 11,000
|-style="background: #ffeeaa;"
| Sunday, Dec. 12 || Akron Pros

Akron Pros

The Akron Pros were a professional football team located played in Akron, Ohio from 1908–1926. The team originated in 1908 as a semi-pro team named the Akron Indians, however name was changed to the Pros in 1920 as the team set out to become a charter member of the American Professional...

|| Cubs Park

Wrigley Field

||Tie|| 0-0 || 10-1-2 || 12,000
|-style="background: #ffeeaa;"
| Sunday, Jan. 16 || Chicago Logan Square AC || Dexter Pavilion ||Tie|| 0-0 || 10-1-3 ||
|-
|}

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