Hammond Pros
Encyclopedia
The Hammond Pros from Hammond, Indiana
Hammond, Indiana
Hammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 80,830 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hammond is located at ....

 played in 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...

 from 1920 to 1926 as 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...

.

History

The Pros were established by Paul Parduhn and Dr. Alva Young
Doc Young
Alvah Andrew "Doc" Young was a founder of the National Football League. He was also the owner of NFL's Hammond Pros from 1920 until 1926. He was also a respected medical doctor and sports trainer.-Early career:...

 who was a boxing promoter, owner of a racing stable and a doctor and trainer for a semi-pro football team operated by the Hammond Clabby Athletic Association from 1915-17. It's believed that Dr. Young was part owner of the team. Dr. Young presided over a new team known as the "Hammond All-Stars," played against many of the teams that would become the backbone of the American Professional Football Association that year (including the Racine Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

, Detroit Heralds, 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...

, Minneapolis Marines, Cleveland Tigers, Canton Bulldogs
Canton Bulldogs
The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and its successor, the National Football League, from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1925 to 1926. The Bulldogs would go on to win the 1917, 1918...

, and Toledo Maroons
Toledo Maroons
The Toledo Maroons were a professional American football team based in Toledo, Ohio in the National Football League in 1922 and 1923. Prior to joining the NFL, the Maroons played in the unofficial "Ohio League" from 1902 until 1921.-Origins:...

), and went to the meeting in Canton, Ohio
Canton, Ohio
Canton is the county seat of Stark County in northeastern Ohio, approximately south of Akron and south of Cleveland.The City of Caton is the largest incorporated area within the Canton-Massillon Metropolitan Statistical Area...

 at which the APFA was formed in 1920. (It is said that the game between Hammond and Canton, which drew between 10,000 and 12,000 spectators, was the game that convinced team owners that a league would be viable.)

In 1919, the team starred 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...

 at wide receiver
Wide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...

; Halas left for the Decatur Staleys
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 -- the future Chicago Bears -- the next year and remained with that franchise as a player, coach and owner until his death in 1983. The Hammond Pros played most of its games in Chicago's Cub Park, which is now known as Wrigley Field
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...

. Despite the name, the Pros were never really more than a semi-pro team. Most of the players were locals who had full-time jobs and couldn't practice much, so Hammond was simply no match for most other NFL teams. It also didn't help that the Pros played most of their games on the road because Hammond lacked a field with any kind of seating capacity. Nevertheless, Young kept the team going in the NFL for seven years, during which they held a combined record of 5 wins, 26 losses, and 4 ties. They managed to reach .500 only once, with a 2-2-record in 1924. Young might have kept it going even longer, but after winning the 1926 battle with the American Football League
American Football League (1926)
The first American Football League , sometimes called AFL I, AFLG, or the Grange League, was a professional American football league that operated in 1926. It was the first major competitor to the National Football League. Founded by C. C...

, the NFL
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...

 decided to scale down to 12 teams, getting rid of many of the smaller franchises, including the Pros.

Of the nine African-American players in the league during those years, six played for the Pros, including the first African-American head coach in the NFL, 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...

.

Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame
A hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field...

rs

  • John "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...

  • 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...

  • 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...


Season-by-season

Year W L T Finish Coach
1920 2 5 0 12th Hank Gillo
Hank Gillo
Henry Charles "Hank" Gillo was a professional football player for the Hammond Pros, Racine Legion, and the Milwaukee Badgers from 1920 to 1926. In 1920, Gillo also served as head coach of the Pros. He played at the collegiate level at Colgate University...

1921 1 3 1 13th Max Hicks
Max Hicks
Max Hicks was a professional football player-coach in the early National Football League . He played in 1920 for the Hammond Pros and later served the team as a player-coach in 1921....

1922 0 5 1 15th Wally Hess
Wally Hess
Walter Bernard "Wally" Hess was a professional American football running back in the National Football League. He played six seasons for the Hammond Pros....

1923 1 5 1 15th Wally Hess
1924 2 2 1 10th Wally Hess
1925 1 4 0 14th 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...

, Doc Young
Doc Young
Alvah Andrew "Doc" Young was a founder of the National Football League. He was also the owner of NFL's Hammond Pros from 1920 until 1926. He was also a respected medical doctor and sports trainer.-Early career:...

1926 0 4 0 21st Doc Young

External links

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