Charles Francis Copley was a professional football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player who played for the 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...

 and the Milwaukee Badgers

Milwaukee Badgers

The Milwaukee Badgers were a professional American football team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that played in the National Football League from 1922 to 1926. The team played its home games at Athletic Park, later known as Borchert Field, on Milwaukee's north side...

 of the National Football League

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...

. Copely won a NFL championship in 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...

 with Akron. He was also a former teammate of Fritz Pollard

Fritz Pollard

Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard was the first African American head coach in the National Football League . Pollard along with Bobby Marshall were the first two African American players in the NFL in 1920...

 during his time with the Pros and the Badgers. In 1923 Charles became the coach of the Gilberton Cadamounts

Gilberton Cadamounts

The Gilberton Catamounts, sometimes called the Gilberton Cadamounts and the Gilberton Duck Streeters, were an 1920s-era professional footall team based in Gilberton, Pennsylvania. However the team played many of its home games in nearby Mahanoy City because Gilberton's home field, Stoddard Field....

. This caused Copley to recruit Pollard to play for Gilberton, making Pollard the first African-American to play football in Pennsylvania's

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 coal region. In 1917, Copley played alongside Bob Nash

Bob Nash (American football)

Robert Arthur "Nasty" Nash was a professional football player who played in the American Professional Football Association for the Akron Pros, Buffalo All-Americans, Rochester Jeffersons and the New York Giants...

 for the Massillon Tigers

Massillon Tigers

The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the "Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championships in 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906, then merged to become...

. The Tigers played in the "Ohio League

Ohio League

The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1903 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship . As the name implied, its teams were based in Ohio...

", which was the direct predecessor to the NFL.