Louisville (NFL)
Encyclopedia
Louisville, Kentucky
had two professional American football
teams in the National Football League
: the Breckenridges (or Brecks for short) from 1921 to 1923 and the Colonels in 1926. The NFL intended for the Brecks to be a traveling team
, however the team played a series of "home" games. All Brecks home games were played at Eclipse Park, until the stadium caught fire and burned to the ground on November 20, 1922. Meanwhile, the Colonels played all of their games on the road. While the Colonels were really a traveling team out of Chicago they are usually accepted as a continuation of the Brecks franchise.
The team's first ever professional football game was held on November 16, 1919. The game resulted in a 17-0 Brecks victory over the New Albany Calumets. Thst win allowed the Brecks to claim the mythical "Falls Cities" title. While a champion was declared, no "league" existed at this time.
football teams in the Louisville area. In 1920, there were at least nine independent teams in the area, including the Brecks and the Evansville Ex-Collegians.
NFL President Joseph Carr
liked the idea of having professional football in cities with strong baseball
traditions. This may answer why he granted Hertzman and the Brecks their franchise in 1921. Unlike today, the announcement of Louisville being granted an NFL franchise, was widely ignored by the Louisville press. However in 1920, only a little attention had been paid the league.
The Brecks were one of eight teams that joined the NFL (then called the American Professional Football Association) in 1921. Carr had intended to use the Brecks a traveling team to fill in open dates in the schedules of the more "established" teams. However the Brecks did not operate like one. The team played only two league games in 1921, one at home and one on the road, hardly justify the Brecks as a road team. But they were all Louisville born or raised in Louisville. And unlike most road teams, the Brecks' two league games were not with established teams but with the struggling Evansville Crimson Giants
and the Columbus Panhandles, another road team.
Hertzman managed the Brecks. The team played split schedules between league games and local, independent games.
. The Brecks next six games were played at Eclipse Park against independent teams. During those six games, the Brecks finished with a 4-2 record. A November 6, 1920 a game with the Cincinnati Celts
was canceled, because the Celts could not fulfill the contract.
The Brecks didn't play another APFA team until December 4. That game resulted in a 6-0 loss to the Columbus Panhandles in Louisville, due to a late game touchdown
pass. The Brecks lost their only two league games in 1921, however they did manage to finish with an overall record of 4-4-1.
38-0 and the Toledo Maroons
39-0. The very next game featured the worst loss in franchise history as the Brecks were defeated by the Racine Legion 59-0.
Louisville's first NFL victory didn't come until November 22, 1922. During that game, the Brecks defeated the Crimson Giants, 13-6. This game also proved to be the only game in which the Brecks scored.
However the Brecks experienced tragedy a few days later, when Elipse Park caught fire and burned to the ground. The teams remaining two games ere then cancelled. Had Eclipse Park not burned down, forcing cancellation of the final two games, the team would probably have financially broken even.
at the newly constructed Parkway Field
. In order for the team to bring the Akron Pros
, Columbus Panhandles, or Oorang Indians
to Louisville, the Brecks announced the sale of season tickets. However the 1923 season began in the same manner as the previous year, with a 37-0 loss to Canton. The following week saw a 34-0 loss at Columbus. Meanwhile the Brecks home opener against Akron was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. The Breck did manage to play the Oorang Indians in Louisville, for the team's very last NFL game. The Indians were and all-Native American
football team, created by, owner Walter Lingo
to promote the sale of his airedale
s. The provided pre-game entertainment and the very first halftime show
s. The Indians roster also included Jim Thorpe
. The Brecks would lose their final NFL game 12-0.
teams to their ranks, mostly to keep them out of the rival American Football League
. While the Colonels were really a traveling team out of Chicago, they are usually accepted as a continuation of the Brecks franchise. Bill Harley, the former owner of the Toldeo Maroons, was granted the right to manage the Louisville Colonel operation out of Chicago, while Hertman still owned the team.
The Colonels failed to register an NFL victory during the 1926 season
. The team's first game resulted in a 13-0 loss to the Canton Bulldogs
, while their second game resulted in a 47-0 loss to the Detroit Panthers. Louisville's final two NFL games came on November 7, 1926 (Chicago Bears
34, Louisville Colonels 0) and November 14, 1926 (Green Bay Packers
14, Louisville Colonels 0).
The Brecks-Colonels franchise is the last team from the four currently extant major professional sports leagues of North America
to play its home games in Kentucky, although the Kentucky Colonels
played in the American Basketball Association
from 1967 until the ABA-NBA merger
brought the ABA into the National Basketball Association
after the 1975-76 season. Only five of 38 different players played NFL football outside of Louisville.
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
had two 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...
teams 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...
: the Breckenridges (or Brecks for short) from 1921 to 1923 and the Colonels in 1926. The NFL intended for the Brecks to be 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...
, however the team played a series of "home" games. All Brecks home games were played at Eclipse Park, until the stadium caught fire and burned to the ground on November 20, 1922. Meanwhile, the Colonels played all of their games on the road. While the Colonels were really a traveling team out of Chicago they are usually accepted as a continuation of the Brecks franchise.
Louisville Brecks
The Brecks dated their beginnings back to 1899. Officially the name of the team was the Louisville Breckenridge Club. The club was located in Louisville at corner of Fifth and St. Catherine Streets at what was then the city's perimeter. The Louisville Courier-Journal reported in 1922 that the Brecks dated "back fifteen years, springing from a boys neighborhood team, the Floyds and Brecks, that has kept itself intact probably longer than any independent team in the country." At first the team was considered an amateur team, made up of mostly neighborhood boys. However by 1919, the team was considered professional, although evidently still made up of local players.The team's first ever professional football game was held on November 16, 1919. The game resulted in a 17-0 Brecks victory over the New Albany Calumets. Thst win allowed the Brecks to claim the mythical "Falls Cities" title. While a champion was declared, no "league" existed at this time.
The NFL
Brecks owner, Aaron Hertzman, sent a $25 franchise fee to the NFL on February 21, 1921. The Official NFL Encyclopedia confirms that although officials from Louisville failed to attend the April 1921 league meeting, the NFL did receive a letter requesting a franchise from the Breckenridges. As a result, Hertzman beat out many of the other professional and semi-proSemi-professional
A semi-professional athlete is one who is paid to play and thus is not an amateur, but for whom sport is not a full-time occupation, generally because the level of pay is too low to make a reasonable living based solely upon that source, thus making the athlete not a full professional...
football teams in the Louisville area. In 1920, there were at least nine independent teams in the area, including the Brecks and the Evansville Ex-Collegians.
NFL President Joseph Carr
Joseph Carr
Joseph "Joe" F. Carr was the president of the National Football League from 1921 until his death in 1939. Carr was born in Columbus, Ohio. As a mechanic for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Columbus, he directed the Columbus Panhandles football team in 1907 until 1922...
liked the idea of having professional football in cities with strong baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
traditions. This may answer why he granted Hertzman and the Brecks their franchise in 1921. Unlike today, the announcement of Louisville being granted an NFL franchise, was widely ignored by the Louisville press. However in 1920, only a little attention had been paid the league.
The Brecks were one of eight teams that joined the NFL (then called the American Professional Football Association) in 1921. Carr had intended to use the Brecks a traveling team to fill in open dates in the schedules of the more "established" teams. However the Brecks did not operate like one. The team played only two league games in 1921, one at home and one on the road, hardly justify the Brecks as a road team. But they were all Louisville born or raised in Louisville. And unlike most road teams, the Brecks' two league games were not with established teams but with the struggling Evansville Crimson Giants
Evansville Crimson Giants
The Evansville Crimson Giants were a professional American football team based in Evansville, Indiana and were a part of the National Football League in 1921 and 1922. The Giants home games were played at Bosse Field...
and the Columbus Panhandles, another road team.
Hertzman managed the Brecks. The team played split schedules between league games and local, independent games.
1921 season
They lost their first league game at to the Evansville Crimson Giants on October 2, 1921. Reports estimated that the game drew more than 2,000 spectators. The games proceeds went to a fund to erect a memorial to the first Indiana soldier to die in World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The Brecks next six games were played at Eclipse Park against independent teams. During those six games, the Brecks finished with a 4-2 record. A November 6, 1920 a game with the Cincinnati Celts
Cincinnati Celts
The Cincinnati Celts was the first professional football team to play in Cincinnati, Ohio. The team played in the unofficial "Ohio League" and the American Professional Football Association . The Celts were a traveling team, playing all of their APFA games in other cities' stadia...
was canceled, because the Celts could not fulfill the contract.
The Brecks didn't play another APFA team until December 4. That game resulted in a 6-0 loss to the Columbus Panhandles in Louisville, due to a late game 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:...
pass. The Brecks lost their only two league games in 1921, however they did manage to finish with an overall record of 4-4-1.
1922 season
The Brecks home schedule included only games with other road teams. However the Brecks played a series of tough opponents on the road. The team lost on the road to the eventual 1922 NFL Champion Canton BulldogsCanton 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...
38-0 and the 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:...
39-0. The very next game featured the worst loss in franchise history as the Brecks were defeated by the Racine Legion 59-0.
Louisville's first NFL victory didn't come until November 22, 1922. During that game, the Brecks defeated the Crimson Giants, 13-6. This game also proved to be the only game in which the Brecks scored.
However the Brecks experienced tragedy a few days later, when Elipse Park caught fire and burned to the ground. The teams remaining two games ere then cancelled. Had Eclipse Park not burned down, forcing cancellation of the final two games, the team would probably have financially broken even.
1923 season
After the destruction of Eclipse Park, the Brecks decided to play their home games of the 1923 season1923 NFL season
The 1923 NFL season was the 4th regular season of the National Football League. For the first time, all of the clubs that were considered to be part of the NFL fielded teams. The new teams that entered the league included the Duluth Kelleys, the St. Louis All Stars , and a new Cleveland Indians team...
at the newly constructed Parkway Field
Parkway Field
Parkway Field is the name of a minor league baseball and college baseball park that stood in Louisville, Kentucky. It was home to the Louisville Colonels of the American Association from 1923 into the mid 1950s, and then of the University of Louisville team for several decades until they abandoned...
. In order for the team to bring 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...
, Columbus Panhandles, or Oorang Indians
Oorang Indians
The Oorang Indians were a traveling team in the National Football League from LaRue, Ohio . The team was named after the Oorang dog kennels. It was a novelty team put together by the kennels' owner, Walter Lingo, for marketing purposes. All of the players were Native American, with Jim Thorpe as...
to Louisville, the Brecks announced the sale of season tickets. However the 1923 season began in the same manner as the previous year, with a 37-0 loss to Canton. The following week saw a 34-0 loss at Columbus. Meanwhile the Brecks home opener against Akron was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. The Breck did manage to play the Oorang Indians in Louisville, for the team's very last NFL game. The Indians were and all-Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
football team, created by, owner Walter Lingo
Walter Lingo
Walter Lingo was a Airedale breeder from La Rue, Ohio. During the 1920s, he owned the Oorang Dog Kennels. As a way of promoting his kennels, Lingo financed a National Football League franchise, called the Oorang Indians in 1922.-Dog breeder:...
to promote the sale of his airedale
Airedale
Airedale is a geographic area in Yorkshire, England, corresponding to the river valley of the River Aire . The valley stretches from the river's origin in Malham which is in the Yorkshire Dales, down past Keighley and Bingley, through Leeds and Castleford and on to join the Humber...
s. The provided pre-game entertainment and the very first halftime show
Halftime show
A halftime show is a performance given during halftime, the period between the first and second halves, or the second and third quarters, of a sporting event. Halftime shows are not given for sports with an irregular or indeterminate number of divisions , or for sports that do not have an extended...
s. The Indians roster also included Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe
Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...
. The Brecks would lose their final NFL game 12-0.
1924 season
The Brecks finished their last season of football in 1924 as members of the Fall Cities Football Federation and compiled a 2-3 record. The Brecks felt Alumni Field was "more suitable" to their schedule and moved their home games to the field in 1924. Meanwhile Aaron Hertzman, the owner of the now defunct Brecks, was elected the NFL's Sergeant of Arms.Louisville Colonels
The Louisville Colonels were created in 1926 to fill the schedules of the expanded NFL, but they were a traveling team that operated out of Chicago. That season, the NFL added several semi-proSemi-professional
A semi-professional athlete is one who is paid to play and thus is not an amateur, but for whom sport is not a full-time occupation, generally because the level of pay is too low to make a reasonable living based solely upon that source, thus making the athlete not a full professional...
teams to their ranks, mostly to keep them out of the rival 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...
. While the Colonels were really a traveling team out of Chicago, they are usually accepted as a continuation of the Brecks franchise. Bill Harley, the former owner of the Toldeo Maroons, was granted the right to manage the Louisville Colonel operation out of Chicago, while Hertman still owned the team.
The Colonels failed to register an NFL victory during the 1926 season
1926 NFL season
The 1926 NFL season was the 7th regular season of the National Football League. The league grew to 22 teams, a figure that would not be equaled in professional football until 1961, adding the Brooklyn Lions, the Hartford Blues, the Los Angeles Buccaneers, and the Louisville Colonels, with Racine...
. The team's first game resulted in a 13-0 loss to the 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...
, while their second game resulted in a 47-0 loss to the Detroit Panthers. Louisville's final two NFL games came on November 7, 1926 (Chicago Bears
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...
34, Louisville Colonels 0) and November 14, 1926 (Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
14, Louisville Colonels 0).
The Brecks-Colonels franchise is the last team from the four currently extant major professional sports leagues of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
to play its home games in Kentucky, although the Kentucky Colonels
Kentucky Colonels
The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
played in the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
from 1967 until the ABA-NBA merger
ABA-NBA merger
The ABA–NBA merger was the merger of the American Basketball Association with the National Basketball Association, which after multiple attempts over several years finally occurred in 1976.- Origins of ABA-NBA competition :...
brought the ABA into the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
after the 1975-76 season. Only five of 38 different players played NFL football outside of Louisville.
Season-by-season
| Year | W | L | T | Finish | Coach | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brecks | 1921 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18th | Austin Higgins |
| 1922 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 12th | Hubert Wiggs | |
| 1923 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 19th | Jim Kendrick Jim Kendrick James Marcellus Kendrick was a professional football player during the early years of the National Football League with the Toledo Maroons, Canton Bulldogs, Louisville Brecks, Chicago Bears, Hammond Pros, Buffalo Bisons, Rochester Jeffersons, Rock Island Independents, Buffalo Rangers and the New... |
|
| Colonels | 1926 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 21st | Lenny Sachs Lenny Sachs Leonard David Sachs was an American basketball and football coach and player. In 1961, he was posthumously enshrined as a coach in the Basketball Hall of Fame.... |