Dixie League (football) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Origin

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942-1946

1946

1947 and the demise of the Dixie League

Origin

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942-1946

1946

1947 and the demise of the Dixie League

See also


Sport	American 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...
Founded	1936 1936 in sports -American football:* Minnesota Golden Gophers are the National college football champions* Green Bay Packers defeated Boston Redskins 21–6 for the NFL championship...
First Season	1936 1936 in sports -American football:* Minnesota Golden Gophers are the National college football champions* Green Bay Packers defeated Boston Redskins 21–6 for the NFL championship...
Last Season	1947 1947 in sports -American football:* Chicago Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21 to win the NFL championship.-Association football:England* First Division – Liverpool win the 1946-47 title.* FA Cup – Charlton Athletic beat Burnley 1-0 after extra time...
Claim to Fame	highest level pre-World War II World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... minor football league
No. of teams	varied from 5 (1936–1937,1940–1947) to 6 (1938–1939) - -
Disbanded	1947

The Dixie League was a professional American 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...

league founded in 1936 as the South Atlantic Football Association, with six charter member teams in Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, and Washington, D. C.. Like the American Association

American Association (football)

The American Association was a professional American football league based in New York City. Founded in 1936 as a minor league with teams in New York and New Jersey, the AA extended its reach to Providence, Rhode Island prior to the onset of World War II...

(another minor league

Minor league

Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...

that formed in 1936), its popularity (and attendance) rivaled that of the established 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...

. Unlike most minor professional football leagues, the Dixie League had a relative stability in membership in the years prior to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, maintaining a five- or six-team lineup (and adding a team in North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

upon the demise of the Washington team in 1941).

Like the AA and the second American Football League, the Dixie League suspended operations after the Pearl Harbor attack; unlike the AFL, the minor league reorganized after the end of the war and resumed competition in 1946. The following year, the DL collapsed when one of its member teams purchased the assets of a defunct team in the American Association (which changed its name to the American Football League)… and opted to jump leagues.

The Dixie League began its existence in 1936 when six independent teams joined forces for the purposes of competition. Charter members included the Maryland Athletic Club (which moved to Washington in 1936 to become the Washington Pros), Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

Orioles (no relation to the major league baseball team

Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...

), Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

Clancys, Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

Arrows, Portsmouth

Portsmouth, Virginia

Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...

Cubs, and the Alexandria Celtics

Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

(the last a traveling team

Traveling team

In professional team sports, a traveling team is a member of a professional league that never or rarely competes in its home arena or stadium. This differs from a barnstorming team in that the latter does not compete within a league or association framework...

). Charles Hamilton

Charles Hamilton

-People:* Charles Hamilton 1st Anglican bishop of Ottawa* Charles Hamilton, 5th Earl of Abercorn , Scottish peer* Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning , Scottish politician* Charles Hamilton , Member of Parliament for Truro...

became the new league's first president.

Although the new league officially called itself the South Atlantic Football League in its first year of existence, various sportswriters repeatedly called it the "Dixie League." The name was officially adopted for the 1937 season.

Like the New York Yankees

New York Yankees (NFL)

The New York Yankees were a short-lived professional American football team from 1926 to 1928. The team was a member of the first American Football League in 1926, and later the National Football League from 1927-1928. They played their home games at Yankee Stadium...

of the first American Football League, the Richmond Arrows provided the financial backbone of the Dixie League in its first year, averaging twice as many paying spectators per home game as the other league members. The Arrows played all their games at home, offering the visiting teams a five percent bonus for the privilege. On Nov. 15, 1936, Richmond's coach (Dave Miller) and players walked off the team in an effort for more pay. Richmond manager Blair Meaney, Jr. hired a new head coach (Bob Burdette) and new players (to join the five who didn’t strike) to finish the season.

Baltimore’s Ted Wright

Ted Wright

Weldon H. Wright was an American football running back in the National Football League for the Boston Redskins and the Brooklyn Dodgers. He played college football at the University of North Texas....

led the scoring, while the Orioles also featured the league's top passer, Leroy "Sunshine" Campbell. Until the player strike, back Mush DeLotto provided an explosive running game for the Richmond Arrows.

Playoffs: Washington defeated Richmond; Baltimore defeated Alexandria

Championship: Washington beat Baltimore, 3-0, on a Willis Brenner field goal

Field goal (football)

A field goal in American football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play . Field goals may be scored by a placekick or the now practically extinct drop kick.The drop kick fell out of favor in 1934 when the shape of the ball was changed...

with 13 seconds left in regulation.

Fourth-place Portsmouth declined to participate in the playoffs, opting for a game against nearby rival Norfolk. Despite finishing in last place, Alexandria took Portsmouth’s place against Baltimore.

In the first game of a series between the DL champion and the winners of the American Association, the Washington Pros (Dixie League) defeated the Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

Bay Parkways (American Association) 13-6 in Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

, January 1, 1937. While there would be more exhibition games involving members of the two leagues, this was the last time that an American Association team lost to a team in the Dixie League on the gridiron.

Compared to most sporting leagues in their beginning years, the Dixie League had begun strongly. All six charter members were in strong enough shape to compete in a second season (three of the six remained DL members from the 1936 beginning to the aborted 1947 season).

Richmond was still recovering from the effects of the player rebellion when the strikers formed a new team, the Richmond Rebels, and tried to replace the Arrows in the league. After being rebuffed, the Rebels tried to compete against the Arrows by forming the Virginia-Carolina Football League with a handful of semi-pro teams… and then marched through the season undefeated and giving up no points. The VCFL lasted only the 1937 season; the Rebels folded along with the league.

Despite the competition from the Rebels, the Arrows held their own, both on the field and at the turnstile

Turnstile

A turnstile, also called a baffle gate, is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. It can also be made so as to enforce one-way traffic of people, and in addition, it can restrict passage only to people who insert a coin, a ticket, a pass, or similar...

s. Despite their improved record, the Arrows could finish no higher than third place, behind the undefeated defending champion Washington (which became the Presidents) and the newly-rechristened Baltimore Blue Birds.

Team	W	L	T	Pct.	PF	PA
Washington Presidents	5	0	2	1.000	53	20
Baltimore Blue Birds	5	1	1	.833	89	18
Richmond Arrows	6	2	1	.750	90	28
Alexandria Celtics	2	5	0	.286	30	63
Norfolk Clancys	1	5	1	.167	34	112
Portsmouth Cubs	0	6	1	.000	20	75

Championship: no playoffs – Washington clinches title on 3-3 tie with Baltimore

While the league featured balance from top to bottom in its maiden season, it clearly divided into the "haves" and "have nots" in 1937. Five members of the Washington Presidents (including backfield mates Tom Oliver

Tom Oliver

Tom Oliver is an English television, film and theatre actor best known today for playing the role of Lou Carpenter in the Australian soap opera Neighbours.-Career:...

and Gene Augusterfer

Gene Augusterfer

Eugene Francis Augusterfer was a professional American football fullback and defensive back in the National Football League.-External links:*-References:...

) were named to the all league team. Baltimore's Ted Wright was once again the league's leading scorer while teammate "Sunshine" Campbell dented defenses with his passes. Richmond placed three linemen on the all league team, including league most valuable player Lyle Graham. The winless Portsmouth team had a future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Pro Football Hall of Fame

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...

on its roster, player-coach Ace Parker, who played in only one game for the Cubs before he signed with the NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers

Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)

The Brooklyn Dodgers were an American football team that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943, and in 1944 as the Brooklyn Tigers. The team played its home games at Ebbets Field. In 1945, because of financial difficulties, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks...

in early November.

After two years of stability, the Dixie League made some adjustments in 1938. William Nickels, Jr. became the league's second president, replacing Charles Hamilton. The DL was forced to play with only five teams after the folding of the Baltimore Blue Birds, and the Washington Patriots became a traveling team (having been upstaged by the Washington Redskins

Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...

' entry into the market the year before).

A. E. Stutz, the founder and owner of the Norfolk Clancys, died in late 1937; in 1938, new owner Harry Howren started stockpiling talent (including back Mush DeLotto, formerly of Richmond) sufficient enough for the newly-renamed Shamrocks to dominate league play that year. Another Shamrock player, tackle Vernon "Buck" Miles, was named the league's most valuable player at the end of the season.

Portsmouth, winless in 1937, reached .500 in 1938 as quarterback Larry Weldon

Larry Weldon

Lawrence Davis Weldon was an American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins. He attended Presbyterian College.-External links:...

led the league in scoring.

Team	W	L	T	Pct.	PF	PA
Norfolk Shamrocks	5	1	1	.833	59	30
Richmond Arrows	5	3	0	.625	81	38
Portsmouth Cubs	4	4	0	.500	96	86
Washington Patriots	1	3	1	.250	27	50
Alexandria Celtics	1	5	0	.167	42	101

No playoffs: Norfolk was declared league champions

After the season, Norfolk was defeated, 16-14, by the Hazelton

Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census, an increase of 8.6% from the 2000 census count .-Greater Hazleton:...

Redskins, champions of the Eastern Pennsylvania Football League. Two members of the 1937 Baltimore Blue Birds ("Sunshine" Campbell and Johnny Spirida) provided the difference in the game, with Campbell throwing two touchdown

Touchdown

A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

passes and Spirida scoring ten points in the game.

The number of traveling teams in the Dixie League was halved with the folding of the Alexandria Celtics. The number of league members stayed at five with the entrance of the Newport News

Newport News, Virginia

Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...

Builders, which actually played its home games in nearby Hampton

Hampton, Virginia

Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...

.

“Buck” Miles became the league MVP as he repeated his feat of scoring the most points in the Dixie League. His Cubs finished the season in a tie for the league lead with the Richmond Arrows (the Cubs had a 6-1 record, the Arrows 6-1-1). For the last game, the Cubs added Ace Parker (after he finished an All-Pro

All-Pro

All-Pro is a term mostly used in the NFL for the best players of each position during that season. It began as polls of sportswriters in the early 1920s...

season with the NFL Dodgers). He scored the only touchdown in a 7-0 Cubs victory over Newport News Builders to force a playoff with the Richmond Arrows for the league championship (in which Parker scores the only touchdown in a Cubs 7-0 win).

Playoff: Portsmouth 7, Richmond 0 – Portsmouth wins league championship

With the addition of the Roanoke

Roanoke, Virginia

Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...

Travelers, the Dixie League returned to having six teams for the 1940 season. While the team made a successful debut, finishing in second place, the Travelers had the misfortune of having almost half of its season cancelled as a result of bad weather.

Two early losses deprived Richmond of a chance for competing for the league title (which was easily won by Portsmouth), but the Arrows entertained the fans by being the first DL team to average more than two touchdowns a game. "Sunshine" Campbell, returning to the Dixie League after playing in the American Association

American Association (football)

and the EPFL, provided the passes, and A. B. Conner became the MVP of the Dixie League by scoring 49 points.

Portsmouth’s Larry Weldon

Larry Weldon

Lawrence Davis Weldon was an American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins. He attended Presbyterian College.-External links:...

set a new league record by throwing seven touchdown passes in the span of ten games. Over a span of 20 games in 1939 and 1940, Weldon and the Cubs managed to win 16 games, lose two, and tie two games (a .889 winning percentage) – and win two league titles.

Washington struggled through its third consecutive season as a traveling team… and left the league after the end of the 1940 season.

Team	W	L	T	Pct.	PF	PA
Portsmouth Cubs	8	1	1	.889	101	51
Roanoke Travelers	4	2	0	.667	55	58
Richmond Arrows	5	4	0	.556	155	69
Washington Presidents	2	3	2	.400	47	99
Norfolk Shamrocks	3	6	1	.333	73	105
Newport News Builders	1	7	0	.200	43	92

No playoffs: Portsmouth declared league champions for the second straight year.

For the first time, the Dixie League had six teams, all of them with actual home fields, with the Charlotte

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...

Clippers replacing Washington. As the United States started preparing for a war that appeared to be inevitable in the fall of 1941, the league benefited from the addition of military personnel from bases in the region.

Playing for the Newport News Builders, two such newcomers broke passing and scoring records that were established just the previous year. George Cafego

George Cafego

George Cafego was a college, and professional American football player and coach. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969.-High school and collegiate career:...

had eight of his passes go for touchdowns, while Ken Fryer scored 61 points, more than any minor league player in a single season before the entry of the US into World War II

World War II

. Despite the records on offense, the Builders finished the 1941 season in third place.

Charlotte had a successful freshman season in the Dixie League, scoring 184 points, roughly 30 more than Newport News and Norfolk… and the previous record set in 1940 by Richmond. The Clippers finished second to Norfolk, whose star back Pete Sachon was billed as "Pistol Pete" three decades before Pete Maravich

Pete Maravich

Peter "Pistol Pete" Press Maravich was an American professional basketball player. Born and raised in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Maravich starred in college at Louisiana State University and played for three NBA teams until injuries induced him to retire in 1980...

. "Pistol Pete" Sachon was selected the DL most valuable player for 1941.

Team	W	L	T	Pct.	PF	PA
Norfolk Shamrocks	7	1	2	.875	156	58
Charlotte Clippers	7	3	0	.700	184	76
Newport News Builders	6	3	1	.667	158	87
Richmond Arrows	4	5	1	.444	63	132
Portsmouth Cubs	3	7	0	.300	60	163
Roanoke Travelers	1	9	0	.100	42	147

No playoffs: Norfolk declared league champion

Like two other professional football leagues – the American Association and the third American Football League – the Dixie League suspended its operations in early 1942 in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack and the US entry into World War II. Norfolk Shamrocks owner Harry Howren disagreed with the decision of the league and opted to form the Virginia Football League for the 1942 season with DL members Portsmouth, Newport News, and Richmond. The plans were short-lived as Newport News failed to field a team and the other three teams played few games before competition was cancelled due to lack of spectator interest.

The league stayed in limbo until 1946. As American troops returned to the United States after the end of World War II, the owners of the Dixie League member teams, led by Howren, announced plans for "reorganizing" the league. With the exception of Roanoke (which was replaced by a team from Greensboro

Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...

), the Dixie League of 1946 resembled the DL of five years earlier, although a couple of members (Richmond and Portsmouth) opted for changes in the team name. William Nickels, Jr. continued as the league president.

While the league opted to maintain continuity on the playing field, the Dixie League joined forces with the American Association (which changed its name in 1946 to the American Football League) and the Pacific Coast Professional Football League

Pacific Coast Professional Football League

The Pacific Coast Professional Football League , also known as the Pacific Coast Football League and Pacific Coast League was a professional American football league based in California, USA, and competed from 1940 through 1948 in sports...

. On March 24, 1946, PCPFL president J. Rufus Klawans announced the "big three" minor leagues had formed the Association of Professional Football Leagues

Association of Professional Football Leagues

The Association of Professional Football Leagues was a compact formed in 1946 among the National Football League and three minor leagues of professional American football: the American Association , the Dixie League, and the Pacific Coast Professional Football League...

. The APFL entered into a working compact with the NFL, prohibiting the participation of players signed to "outlaw leagues" (originally directed toward the third AFL – which never returned from its limbo – but was subsequently applied to the newly-formed All America Football Conference). The Association lasted less than two years.

The new working relationship the "big three" minor leagues and the NFL reaped positive benefits for the Dixie League as the DL teams lined up "sponsors" in the major league. While both Dixie League and AFL teams acted as "farm teams" for their "sponsors," rules were in place to prevent the stockpiling of talent for later use by the NFL. As a result, the major league teams were not permitted to "raid" their minor league brethren, and the quality of play, and the players, was a step up compared to before World War II.

In addition to the new Greensboro franchise, the Dixie League of 1946 had two charter members change their names. The former Portsmouth Cubs became the Portsmouth Pirates, while the former Richmond Arrows adopted a familiar name: the Richmond Rebels.

The 1946 Dixie League campaign featured a tight race between two teams with potent offenses, the Charlotte Clippers (with backs Casey Jones

Casey Jones

John Luther Jones was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee, who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad...

and Butch Butler) and Richmond (with backs Glenn Knox and Tony Gallovich). League records for offense fell as Butler threw 11 touchdown passes and Richmond's Morgan Tiller had eight touchdown receptions. The two teams were even in their battle for the league title until the Rebels lost their final two games.

The Dixie League had a successful revival in 1946. No one could have foreseen its sudden demise a mere one year later.

Team	W	L	Pct.	PF	PA
Charlotte Clippers	9	1	.900	196	83
Richmond Rebels	7	3	.700	177	73
Norfolk Shamrocks	5	5	.500	131	155
Portsmouth Pirates	4	6	.400	102	195
Greensboro Patriots	4	6	.400	124	178
Newport News Builders	1	9	.100	53	219

No playoffs: Charlotte declared Dixie League champions

After a successful revival in 1946, the Dixie League prepared for a season of change in 1947. It inaugurated a new president, Tom Hanes. The Greensboro Patriots moved to Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...

, while the Roanoke Travelers returned to the fold, replacing the defunct Newport News franchise. Plans for possible expansion were being made for the 1948 season.

The optimism of the league started to disappear just before the first week of competition. Both Winston-Salem and Roanoke withdrew, leaving the Dixie League with a mere four teams. The week after the opening day (October 5) games, the league itself disappeared.

On October 7, control of the Portsmouth Pirates was transferred from an ailing Charles Aberson to a group based in Charlottesville

Charlottesville, Virginia

Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...

, with the agreement that the team would revert to Aberson in 1948. The next day, the league was blindsided by the announcement that longtime DL member Richmond purchased the assets of a defunct American Football League

American Association (football)

franchise (the Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

Indians, which lost all three games they played that season) and defected to the other minor league.

The move inflicted a fatal wound to the Dixie League. A month earlier, the DL had six members ready for competition; after the Richmond defection, only three teams remained. The league was forced to call it quits. While there were discussions of a possible reorganization for 1948, the Dixie League was no longer a viable entity. The Charlotte Clippers continued through 1949 as an independent team, while members of the Portsmouth Pirates and Norfolk Shamrocks combined forces to test the waters of independence in 1948.

The Richmond Rebels, Dixie League charter members like Portsmouth and Norfolk, continued their participation in the American Football League until the league had its implosion in 1950 (the Rebels won the last two AFL championships, in 1949 and 1950). The team petitioned to join the All America Football Conference for the 1950 season, but the major league’s merger with the National Football League

National Football League

thwarted the club’s intentions.

Washington Pros

Richmond Arrows

Baltimore Orioles

Portsmouth Cubs

Norfolk Clancys

Alexandria Celtics