Pottsville Maroons
Encyclopedia
The Pottsville Maroons were an American football
team based in Pottsville, Pennsylvania
. Founded in 1920, they went on to play in the National Football League
(NFL) for four seasons, from 1925–1928. In 1929 they relocated to Boston
, where they played one season as the Boston Bulldogs.
Originally known as the Pottsville Eleven, the team was initially an independent team playing in the local eastern Pennsylvania
circuit. Home games were played at Minersville Park
, a high school stadium in nearby Minersville
. They joined the local Anthracite League
in 1924, the same year they adopted the "Maroons" nickname, and clinched the league title. The next season they joined the NFL under owner John G. Streigel. Though dominant on the field, a controversial suspension
cost them the 1925 NFL Championship. They were reinstated the following year, but after two successive losing seasons in 1927 and 1928, Streigel sold the Maroons to a group in Boston, where they played one season before folding.
1925 was their best season. The 1928 roster included three future Pro Football Hall of Fame
members - Johnny "Blood" McNally
, Walt Kiesling
, and coach Wilbur "Pete" Henry - but posted the worst record in franchise history. Writer John O'Hara
, who would go on to become a world-famous novelist with Appointment in Samarra
, covered the team for the local newspaper.
, Pottsville
had been fielding football teams from at least the 1910s. The team that became the Maroons was established in 1920 as the Pottsville Eleven, and had a roster mostly made up of firemen from the Yorkville Hose Company. The team was initially unaffiliated with any league, playing on the independent circuit against other teams from the coal mining towns of eastern Pennsylvania. In 1922 the team attracted the sponsorship of area businessmen Harold Kingsbury, Irvin Heinz and Frank Schoeneman, who brought in talented professional players such as Carl Beck
, Benny Boynton and Stan Cofall. Still, the team maintained a strong local presence by recruiting many Pottsville natives to its roster. The result was a team with consistent winning records and strong crowds.
. This was also the year the team adopted the Maroons name; according to legend, the team placed an order for new football jerseys with local sporting goods supplier Joe Zacko, telling him that the color was not important. Zacko sent them twenty-five maroon jerseys, giving birth to the name.
During the 1924 Anthracite League season, the Maroons added three members of the NFL's 1923 Canton Bulldogs
championship team to their roster. These players were Larry Conover
, Harry Robb
and future Hall of Fame inductee Wilbur "Pete" Henry. NFL President Joseph Carr
was not pleased to see stars like Henry deserting the league to play for an independent coal region team, but there was little he could do about it unless Pottsville joined the league. A suit filed by Henry's former NFL team was thrown out on a technicality by a Pennsylvania judge. The Maroons then posted a 6-0-1 record against Anthracite League teams and clinched the league title that November with a victory over Coaldale.
Immediately after winning the Anthracite League title, the Maroons issued challenges to both the NFL champion Cleveland Bulldogs
and the Frankford Yellow Jackets
, who claimed the Eastern professional championship. When neither team accepted, Striegel scheduled a game with the NFL's Rochester Jeffersons
, who had not beaten an NFL opponent since 1921. These two teams met in a season finale on the last Sunday of November. Rochester managed to defeat Pottsville 10-7, giving the Maroons their only loss of the season. However Pottsville ended its 1924 season with an overall record of 12-1-1, scoring 288 points and allowing only 17 while capturing the Anthracite League title.
was a relatively small high school field; the league administration may have been attracted by the favorable logistics of a second team near the Frankford Yellow Jackets
in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania's blue laws
, which prohibited football on Sundays in Philadelphia, were simply not followed in Pottsville, allowing traveling teams to play the Yellowjackets on a Saturday and then head to Pottsville on Sunday.
Since many Maroons players moved back to their NFL teams in 1925, the Maroons recruited several talented players to replace them. These included former Army great Walter French
and Jack Ernst
, a quarterback from Lafayette College
. Another Army recruit, end Eddie Doyle, later served in World War II
and was the first American killed in the landings in North Africa. Topping this collection of stars was Charlie Berry
, possibly the best athlete on the team; after a spectacular athletic career at Lafayette College
, he signed both pro baseball and pro football contracts. However, this strong talent was expensive, and difficult to make up even with sellout crowds at little Minersville Park.
During this time the Maroons insisted that their players live in the Pottsville area. During the 1920s most players had to travel great distances from their homes and only joined their teams on game day. By having the players live in Pottsville, coach and former Colgate University
assistant Dick Rauch
instituted regular practices for his players. This helped the Maroons to a 28-0 win over the Buffalo Bisons in their first NFL game. When not practicing, the Maroons spent their days hanging around the fire house, drinking Yuengling, playing cards and tossing footballs in the street. The Maroons then jumped out to a 9-1-1 record. However some believe that having visiting teams play Frankford the day before the Maroons benefited the team. Pottsville was 5-1-0 in their six games against teams that played the Yellow Jackets the previous day. On the first snap of the game against the Chicago Bears
, the Pottsville players knocked football legend Red Grange
out cold. Grange soon recovered from the hit, only to be knocked out again. Immediately Grange said "The hell with (the $500 owed to him for the one game), it ain't worth it." He then proceeded to walk off the field. The team's only loss in 1925 came from a 20-0 upset to the Yellow Jackets. However, in the second meeting of the two teams, the Maroons beat Frankford 49-0.
By this point in the season, Pottsville and the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals) were the two top teams in the league, having comparable records. At the time, the NFL Championship went to the team with the best record against other NFL teams. As such, the match-up between the two was of great importance. The Maroons met the Cardinals in late November near the end of the season for a game at Chicago's Comiskey Park
, under snowy conditions. The Maroons won the game 21-7, thereby putting them ahead of the Cardinals in the championship race.
, thus denying them the championship title. This has been the subject of controversy ever since.
Earlier in the year, the Frankford Yellow Jackets
had scheduled an exhibition game between a team of former University of Notre Dame
stars and the best NFL team in the east. As the NFL's dominant eastern team at the time, they believed they themselves would get to play the potentially lucrative match against the "Notre Dame All-Stars". However, when Pottsville later pulled ahead in the standings, they won the right to play the All-Stars. As Pottsville's Minersville Park
was a high school stadium with a capacity of only around 6,000, team owner John Streigel booked the much larger Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the big game. Philadelphia, though, was within the Yellow Jackets' designated territory, and Frankford complained to the league. Commissioner Carr warned Streigel several times that Pottsville's franchise would be suspended if they played in Philadelphia.
Not wanting to give up on a potential financial windfall for his team, Streigel went ahead with the game. He would later claim he had received verbal permission from the NFL by telephone, though he gave inconsistent responses as to which official he had spoken to. The Maroons won the game 9-7, which was considered a major win for professional football, but the match only attracted about 8,000 fans, a major financial disappointment. As threatened, Carr suspended Pottsville and removed them from the NFL, preventing them from finishing their schedule.
Meanwhile, Chicago Cardinals owner Chris O'Brien
hastily scheduled two games against the Hammond Pros
and the Milwaukee Badgers
, both of whom had already disbanded for the season. O'Brien's intention appears not to have been to secure the championship, but to improve their record so as to entice the Chicago Bears
and their star Red Grange
into one last game. The game against the Badgers spurred a scandal of its own, when the Badgers filled out their roster with four high school players, in contravention of NFL rules. Both teams were sanctioned by the league. Regardless, with Pottsville out of the league, the Cardinals had the best record, and were awarded the championship by the league. For his part, O'Brien refused to accept the title, and afterward the league never officially awarded it at all. Later both the franchise and the NFL would claim the Cardinals as the 1925 champions. The Cardinals did not attempt to publicly take credit for the title until 1933, when it was acquired by the Charles Bidwill
whose descendants still own the modern-day franchise (since relocated to St. Louis and now Arizona). The Cardinals have won only one further NFL title, in 1947, leading to discussion that the franchise is "cursed" as a result of the debacle.
. The league feared that the Maroons would jump to the threatening American Football League
. In 1926 Red Grange
and his manager C. C. Pyle
wanted an NFL franchise in New York City
. However, that move would have infringed on the territorial rights of the New York Giants
. Pyle and Grange were turned down, so they decided to start their own league, the AFL. To keep independent teams from joining Grange's league, the NFL hastily expanded to 22 franchises. The Maroons were one of the teams added, or in this case reinstated. That year the Maroons were once again in the thick of title contention until late in the season. Pottsville’s shutout victories over the Buffalo Rangers and Akron Indians led to the team finishing with a 10-2-1 record and third place in the final standings. 1926 also saw the signing of George Kenneally
, a rookie out of St. Bonaventure University
, who earned all-pro status and was named team captain in just his second season, and would later become part owner of the club.
However, towards the end of the season, the Maroons management struggled to meet its financial obligations, and there were published reports of a strike among the team's players.
The 1927 season
saw a decline in the team's on-field performance. Pottsville lost several of its stars, and others were growing older, and finished the season with a disappointing 5-8-0 record. Doc Striegel relinquished operational control of the team for the 1928 season
by "loaning" it to a group of three players: Herb Stein
, Pete Henry and Duke Osborn
. Henry took over the coaching reigns but the downward spiral continued. The Maroons ended what turned out to be their final season in Pottsville with a dismal 2-8-0 record. At the end of the season the players were given a small football made of anthracite coal, a memento of the last season played in Pottsville.
Striegel finally sold the club during the off season to a New England based partnership that included Maroons' standout George Kenneally. The new owners relocated the franchise to Boston prior to the 1929 season
, where it was renamed the Bulldogs. Six veteran Maroons players made the move with the team. Dick Rauch also returned to the fold, resuming his position as head coach.
Based at Boston's Braves Field
, the Bulldogs nonetheless had a two-game swan song
in their old stomping grounds, defeating both the Buffalo Bison on October 27 at Minersville Park and the Newark Tornadoes on October 29 at Mitchell Field. Unfortunately the franchise relocation and name change had done little to improve the club's on-field record. The team finally folded that year, ending the franchise's final season with a 4-4-0 record.
Because the Washington Redskins
began in 1932 as the Boston Braves, some Pottsville backers, with help from a few writers, have suggested that the Redskins descended from the Maroons by way of the Boston Bulldogs. The 1932 Boston franchise, however, had no relationship to the 1929 Bulldogs.
In 1967, the NFL created a special committee to investigate the 1925 controversy. The committee brought the Maroons' claim to a team owners meeting that year, where the owners voted 12-2 in favor of keeping the championship with the Cardinals. That same year, the surviving members of the Maroons carved their own championship trophy out of coal and presented it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
, where it can be seen today. The 1925 Maroons have since been immortalized in Pottsville, where there are bars and establishments bearing the team's name and an inspirational picture of the 1925 "World Champion" team displayed in the high school football team's locker room. In 2003, the NFL briefly decided to address via a vote during an owners meeting on whether the league should re-examine the case regarding the 1925 championship. But in October, the NFL voted 30-2 not to reopen the case. Thus the Cardinals are still listed as the 1925 NFL champions.
Today the people of Pottsville still embrace to the legacy of the Maroons. The town contains the headquarters of the Pottsville Maroons Memorial Committee, whose job it is to keep alive the spirit of Pottsville's only big-league sports franchise. In Pottsville, there was a major push led by Mayor John D.W. Reiley to restore the Maroons' 1925 title. The owner of a local embroidery shop still makes Maroons T-shirts and distributes them to residents and fans. In 2003 Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell
got involved in the Pottsville-NFL debate by lobbying NFL owners and asking city and borough councils across the state to lobby the league to restore the Maroons' title. Despite the long-time backing of Bears founder George Halas
, Steelers founder Art Rooney
and, more recently, Steelers chairman Dan Rooney
, Philadelphia Eagles
owner Jeff Lurie, the Pennsylvania General Assembly
, and former commissioner Paul Tagliabue
, the NFL’s other owners, led, not surprisingly, by the Cardinals, still continue to vote it down (30-2). Also in 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush
spoke on the subject. According to an article in ESPN the Magazine
, Bush sent a handwritten note to ESPN
calling the Maroons' case "illuminating."
After a 2003 vote in favor of keeping the 1925 title with the Cardinals, Rendell wrote an angry letter to Tagliabue calling the NFL owners a group of "cowardly barons". Rendell berated the National Football League and declared he would have no more communication with league officials until they grant the Pottsville Maroons the 1925 title. The governor ended the letter saying, "I am closing with the wish that every NFL franchise except for the Eagles and the Steelers lose large quantities of money".
In 2006 David Fleming authored the book Breaker Boys: The NFL’s Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship.
In 2008, to determine which was the better team in 1925, USA Today
statistician Jeff Sagarin
analyzed the two teams' statistics, including considerations for strength of schedule. The results showed the Maroons as the better team to the second-place Cardinals.
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...
team based in Pottsville, Pennsylvania
Pottsville, Pennsylvania
Pottsville is the only city in and the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 15,549 at the 2000 census. The city lies along the west bank of the Schuylkill River, north-west of Philadelphia...
. Founded in 1920, they went on to play 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...
(NFL) for four seasons, from 1925–1928. In 1929 they relocated to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, where they played one season as the Boston Bulldogs.
Originally known as the Pottsville Eleven, the team was initially an independent team playing in the local eastern Pennsylvania
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...
circuit. Home games were played at Minersville Park
Minersville Park
Minersville Park was an American football stadium in Minersville, Pennsylvania, near Pottsville. It is most notable as the home field for the Pottsville Maroons football team from 1920 to 1928, including during their run in the National Football League from 1925 to 1928. It was a high school...
, a high school stadium in nearby Minersville
Minersville, Pennsylvania
Minersville is located in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, four miles west of Pottsville. Anthracite coal deposits are plentiful in the region. In 1900, 4,815 people lived here; in 1910, 7,240, people lived here; and in 1940, 8,686 people lived here...
. They joined the local Anthracite League
Anthracite League
The Anthracite League, also referred to as the Anthracite Association, was a 1924 football league comprising teams based in eastern Pennsylvania. These teams were based in coal mining towns, hence the league name's reference to anthracite coal. The league lasted for just one season, before folding...
in 1924, the same year they adopted the "Maroons" nickname, and clinched the league title. The next season they joined the NFL under owner John G. Streigel. Though dominant on the field, a controversial suspension
1925 NFL Championship controversy
The 1925 National Football League Championship, officially held by the Chicago Cardinals, has been the subject of controversy since it was awarded. The controversy centers around the suspension of the Pottsville Maroons by NFL commissioner Joseph Carr, which prevented them from taking the title.The...
cost them the 1925 NFL Championship. They were reinstated the following year, but after two successive losing seasons in 1927 and 1928, Streigel sold the Maroons to a group in Boston, where they played one season before folding.
1925 was their best season. The 1928 roster included three future 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...
members - Johnny "Blood" McNally
John McNally
John Victor "Blood" McNally was an American football player who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.-Early life:...
, Walt Kiesling
Walt Kiesling
Walter Andrew Kiesling was an American football player and coach.-Playing career:A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Kiesling played both offensive and defensive line at the University of St. Thomas...
, and coach Wilbur "Pete" Henry - but posted the worst record in franchise history. Writer John O'Hara
John O'Hara
John Henry O'Hara was an American writer. He initially became known for his short stories and later became a best-selling novelist whose works include Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. He was particularly known for an uncannily accurate ear for dialogue...
, who would go on to become a world-famous novelist with Appointment in Samarra
Appointment in Samarra
Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John O'Hara. It concerns the self-destruction of Julian English, once a member of the social elite of Gibbsville ....
, covered the team for the local newspaper.
Origins
Like other coal towns in eastern PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
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...
, Pottsville
Pottsville, Pennsylvania
Pottsville is the only city in and the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 15,549 at the 2000 census. The city lies along the west bank of the Schuylkill River, north-west of Philadelphia...
had been fielding football teams from at least the 1910s. The team that became the Maroons was established in 1920 as the Pottsville Eleven, and had a roster mostly made up of firemen from the Yorkville Hose Company. The team was initially unaffiliated with any league, playing on the independent circuit against other teams from the coal mining towns of eastern Pennsylvania. In 1922 the team attracted the sponsorship of area businessmen Harold Kingsbury, Irvin Heinz and Frank Schoeneman, who brought in talented professional players such as Carl Beck
Carl Beck
Carl Linnwood Beck was a professional football player from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After attending high school, Beck attended the West Virginia University, Bucknell University and Lafayette College. He made his professional debut in the National Football League in 1921 with the Buffalo...
, Benny Boynton and Stan Cofall. Still, the team maintained a strong local presence by recruiting many Pottsville natives to its roster. The result was a team with consistent winning records and strong crowds.
Anthracite League
In 1924 local surgeon John G. "Doc" Striegel purchased the Pottsville Eleven for $1,500. That year teams in the local circuit decided to form an official league, which became known as the Anthracite LeagueAnthracite League
The Anthracite League, also referred to as the Anthracite Association, was a 1924 football league comprising teams based in eastern Pennsylvania. These teams were based in coal mining towns, hence the league name's reference to anthracite coal. The league lasted for just one season, before folding...
. This was also the year the team adopted the Maroons name; according to legend, the team placed an order for new football jerseys with local sporting goods supplier Joe Zacko, telling him that the color was not important. Zacko sent them twenty-five maroon jerseys, giving birth to the name.
During the 1924 Anthracite League season, the Maroons added three members of the NFL's 1923 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...
championship team to their roster. These players were Larry Conover
Larry Conover
Larner Somers Gardner Conover aka "The Atlantic City Airedale" was a professional football player who played during the early years of the National Football League. After attending high school in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Conover attended Pennsylvania State University, where he served as the...
, Harry Robb
Harry Robb
Harry Duplein Robb was an American football player and coach during the 1920s. He was born in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania and attended Peabody High School in Pittsburgh. Upon his high school graduation, he attended college at both Penn State University and Columbia University...
and future Hall of Fame inductee Wilbur "Pete" Henry. 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...
was not pleased to see stars like Henry deserting the league to play for an independent coal region team, but there was little he could do about it unless Pottsville joined the league. A suit filed by Henry's former NFL team was thrown out on a technicality by a Pennsylvania judge. The Maroons then posted a 6-0-1 record against Anthracite League teams and clinched the league title that November with a victory over Coaldale.
Immediately after winning the Anthracite League title, the Maroons issued challenges to both the NFL champion Cleveland Bulldogs
Cleveland Bulldogs
The Cleveland Bulldogs was a team that played in Cleveland, Ohio in the National Football League. They were originally called the Indians in 1923, not to be confused with the Cleveland Indians NFL franchise in 1922...
and the Frankford Yellow Jackets
Frankford Yellow Jackets
The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, though its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won the NFL championship in 1926...
, who claimed the Eastern professional championship. When neither team accepted, Striegel scheduled a game with the NFL's Rochester Jeffersons
Rochester Jeffersons
The Rochester Jeffersons from Rochester, New York played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1925.Formed as an amateur outfit by a rag-tag group of Rochester-area teenagers after the turn of the century , the team became known as the Jeffersons in reference to the locale of their playing...
, who had not beaten an NFL opponent since 1921. These two teams met in a season finale on the last Sunday of November. Rochester managed to defeat Pottsville 10-7, giving the Maroons their only loss of the season. However Pottsville ended its 1924 season with an overall record of 12-1-1, scoring 288 points and allowing only 17 while capturing the Anthracite League title.
NFL
The Anthracite League collapsed after the season, but Striegel and the Maroons were undeterred. They applied for, and received, a franchise in the NFL. This was somewhat unusual, as the team's Minersville ParkMinersville Park
Minersville Park was an American football stadium in Minersville, Pennsylvania, near Pottsville. It is most notable as the home field for the Pottsville Maroons football team from 1920 to 1928, including during their run in the National Football League from 1925 to 1928. It was a high school...
was a relatively small high school field; the league administration may have been attracted by the favorable logistics of a second team near the Frankford Yellow Jackets
Frankford Yellow Jackets
The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, though its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won the NFL championship in 1926...
in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania's blue laws
Blue Laws
The Blue Laws of the Colony of Connecticut, as distinct from the generic term "blue law" that refers to any laws regulating activities on Sunday, were the initial statutes set up by the Gov. Theophilus Eaton with the assistance of the Rev. John Cotton in 1655 for the Colony of New Haven, now part...
, which prohibited football on Sundays in Philadelphia, were simply not followed in Pottsville, allowing traveling teams to play the Yellowjackets on a Saturday and then head to Pottsville on Sunday.
Since many Maroons players moved back to their NFL teams in 1925, the Maroons recruited several talented players to replace them. These included former Army great Walter French
Walter French (baseball)
Walter Edward French Walter Edward French Walter Edward French (born July 12, 1899 – May 13, 1984 , was a professional baseball player who played outfielder in the Major Leagues from to . He played for the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1925 he batted .370 in 67 games for the Athletics and was...
and Jack Ernst
Jack Ernst
John Oliver Ernst was an American football running back. He played six seasons for the Pottsville Maroons, New York Yankees, Boston Bulldogs, and Frankford Yellow Jackets. In 1925 Jack helped the Maroons win the NFL Championship, before it was stripped from the team due to a disputed rules...
, a quarterback from Lafayette College
Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private coeducational liberal arts and engineering college located in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. The school, founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter,son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown and citizens of Easton, first began holding classes in 1832...
. Another Army recruit, end Eddie Doyle, later served in 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...
and was the first American killed in the landings in North Africa. Topping this collection of stars was Charlie Berry
Charlie Berry
Charles Francis Berry was an American athlete and sports official who enjoyed careers as a catcher and umpire in Major League Baseball and as an offensive end and official in the National Football League...
, possibly the best athlete on the team; after a spectacular athletic career at Lafayette College
Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private coeducational liberal arts and engineering college located in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. The school, founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter,son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown and citizens of Easton, first began holding classes in 1832...
, he signed both pro baseball and pro football contracts. However, this strong talent was expensive, and difficult to make up even with sellout crowds at little Minersville Park.
During this time the Maroons insisted that their players live in the Pottsville area. During the 1920s most players had to travel great distances from their homes and only joined their teams on game day. By having the players live in Pottsville, coach and former Colgate University
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
assistant Dick Rauch
Dick Rauch
Richard Harvie Rauch was an American football player and coach in the United States. Rauch attended Penn State University. He was a player-coach for the Boston Bulldogs, New York Yankees and the Maroons over the course of his four-year career. Rauch made his professional debut in the National...
instituted regular practices for his players. This helped the Maroons to a 28-0 win over the Buffalo Bisons in their first NFL game. When not practicing, the Maroons spent their days hanging around the fire house, drinking Yuengling, playing cards and tossing footballs in the street. The Maroons then jumped out to a 9-1-1 record. However some believe that having visiting teams play Frankford the day before the Maroons benefited the team. Pottsville was 5-1-0 in their six games against teams that played the Yellow Jackets the previous day. On the first snap of the game against the 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...
, the Pottsville players knocked football legend Red Grange
Red Grange
Harold Edward "Red" Grange, nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost", was a college and professional American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and for the short-lived New York Yankees. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League...
out cold. Grange soon recovered from the hit, only to be knocked out again. Immediately Grange said "The hell with (the $500 owed to him for the one game), it ain't worth it." He then proceeded to walk off the field. The team's only loss in 1925 came from a 20-0 upset to the Yellow Jackets. However, in the second meeting of the two teams, the Maroons beat Frankford 49-0.
By this point in the season, Pottsville and the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals) were the two top teams in the league, having comparable records. At the time, the NFL Championship went to the team with the best record against other NFL teams. As such, the match-up between the two was of great importance. The Maroons met the Cardinals in late November near the end of the season for a game at Chicago's Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. It was built by Charles Comiskey after a design by Zachary Taylor Davis, and was the site of four World Series and more than 6,000 major league games...
, under snowy conditions. The Maroons won the game 21-7, thereby putting them ahead of the Cardinals in the championship race.
1925 NFL Championship controversy
Before the season ended, however, the Maroons were suspended by NFL commissioner Joseph CarrJoseph 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...
, thus denying them the championship title. This has been the subject of controversy ever since.
Earlier in the year, the Frankford Yellow Jackets
Frankford Yellow Jackets
The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, though its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won the NFL championship in 1926...
had scheduled an exhibition game between a team of former University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
stars and the best NFL team in the east. As the NFL's dominant eastern team at the time, they believed they themselves would get to play the potentially lucrative match against the "Notre Dame All-Stars". However, when Pottsville later pulled ahead in the standings, they won the right to play the All-Stars. As Pottsville's Minersville Park
Minersville Park
Minersville Park was an American football stadium in Minersville, Pennsylvania, near Pottsville. It is most notable as the home field for the Pottsville Maroons football team from 1920 to 1928, including during their run in the National Football League from 1925 to 1928. It was a high school...
was a high school stadium with a capacity of only around 6,000, team owner John Streigel booked the much larger Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the big game. Philadelphia, though, was within the Yellow Jackets' designated territory, and Frankford complained to the league. Commissioner Carr warned Streigel several times that Pottsville's franchise would be suspended if they played in Philadelphia.
Not wanting to give up on a potential financial windfall for his team, Streigel went ahead with the game. He would later claim he had received verbal permission from the NFL by telephone, though he gave inconsistent responses as to which official he had spoken to. The Maroons won the game 9-7, which was considered a major win for professional football, but the match only attracted about 8,000 fans, a major financial disappointment. As threatened, Carr suspended Pottsville and removed them from the NFL, preventing them from finishing their schedule.
Chris O'Brien (American football)
Christopher O'Brien, was a painting and decorating contractor as well as a pro football franchise owner. He is mostly known as the owner of the Chicago Cardinals, and is known as the “Father of Professional Football in Chicago,”...
hastily scheduled two games against the 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...
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...
, both of whom had already disbanded for the season. O'Brien's intention appears not to have been to secure the championship, but to improve their record so as to entice the 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...
and their star Red Grange
Red Grange
Harold Edward "Red" Grange, nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost", was a college and professional American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and for the short-lived New York Yankees. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League...
into one last game. The game against the Badgers spurred a scandal of its own, when the Badgers filled out their roster with four high school players, in contravention of NFL rules. Both teams were sanctioned by the league. Regardless, with Pottsville out of the league, the Cardinals had the best record, and were awarded the championship by the league. For his part, O'Brien refused to accept the title, and afterward the league never officially awarded it at all. Later both the franchise and the NFL would claim the Cardinals as the 1925 champions. The Cardinals did not attempt to publicly take credit for the title until 1933, when it was acquired by the Charles Bidwill
Charles Bidwill
Charles W. Bidwill , sometimes known as Charley Bidwill, was an owner of the NFL's Chicago Cardinals. He owned the team for 14 seasons from 1933 until 1947. His interest in sports was demonstrated by his two aims in life: to win an NFL Championship and the Kentucky Derby...
whose descendants still own the modern-day franchise (since relocated to St. Louis and now Arizona). The Cardinals have won only one further NFL title, in 1947, leading to discussion that the franchise is "cursed" as a result of the debacle.
Return to the NFL
The NFL reinstated the Maroons the very next season1926 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 league feared that the Maroons would jump to the threatening 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...
. In 1926 Red Grange
Red Grange
Harold Edward "Red" Grange, nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost", was a college and professional American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and for the short-lived New York Yankees. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League...
and his manager C. C. Pyle
C. C. Pyle
Charles C. "C. C." Pyle , often called Cash and Carry Pyle, was a Champaign, Illinois theater owner and sports agent who represented American football star Red Grange and French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen...
wanted an NFL franchise in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. However, that move would have infringed on the territorial rights of the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
. Pyle and Grange were turned down, so they decided to start their own league, the AFL. To keep independent teams from joining Grange's league, the NFL hastily expanded to 22 franchises. The Maroons were one of the teams added, or in this case reinstated. That year the Maroons were once again in the thick of title contention until late in the season. Pottsville’s shutout victories over the Buffalo Rangers and Akron Indians led to the team finishing with a 10-2-1 record and third place in the final standings. 1926 also saw the signing of George Kenneally
George Kenneally
George Vincent "Gigi" Kenneally, Sr was an American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the Pottsville Maroons, the Boston Bulldogs, the Chicago Cardinals, the Boston Braves, and the Philadelphia Eagles. He attended St...
, a rookie out of St. Bonaventure University
St. Bonaventure University
St. Bonaventure University is a private, Franciscan Catholic university, located in Allegany, Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. It has roughly 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students....
, who earned all-pro status and was named team captain in just his second season, and would later become part owner of the club.
However, towards the end of the season, the Maroons management struggled to meet its financial obligations, and there were published reports of a strike among the team's players.
The 1927 season
1927 NFL season
The 1927 NFL season was the 8th regular season of the National Football League. Prior to the season, the league decided to eliminate the financially weaker teams. As a result, the league dropped from 22 to 12 teams, and a majority of the remaining teams were centered around the East Coast instead...
saw a decline in the team's on-field performance. Pottsville lost several of its stars, and others were growing older, and finished the season with a disappointing 5-8-0 record. Doc Striegel relinquished operational control of the team for the 1928 season
1928 NFL season
The 1928 NFL season was the 9th regular season of the National Football League. The league dropped to 10 teams after both the Cleveland Bulldogs and the Duluth Eskimos folded before the season. The Buffalo Bisons also had a year out from the league. The Detroit Wolverines were an expansion club...
by "loaning" it to a group of three players: Herb Stein
Herb Stein
Herb Stein was an American football player. After high school, Stein attended the University of Pittsburgh and served as the team's center from 1918 until 1921. He was a consensus All-American for Pitt in both his junior and senior years and served as the team captain in 1920...
, Pete Henry and Duke Osborn
Duke Osborn
Robert Duke Osborn was born on February 1, 1897 in Falls Creek, Pennsylvania. After high school, Osborn attended Penn State University. Osborn made his professional debut in the National Football League in 1921 with the Canton Bulldogs. He would go to help the Bulldogs win back-to-back NFL...
. Henry took over the coaching reigns but the downward spiral continued. The Maroons ended what turned out to be their final season in Pottsville with a dismal 2-8-0 record. At the end of the season the players were given a small football made of anthracite coal, a memento of the last season played in Pottsville.
Boston Bulldogs
1929 NFL season
The 1929 NFL season was the 10th regular season of the National Football League. The league increased back to 12 teams with the addition of Orange Tornadoes and Minneapolis Red Jackets and the re-entry of the Buffalo Bisons...
, where it was renamed the Bulldogs. Six veteran Maroons players made the move with the team. Dick Rauch also returned to the fold, resuming his position as head coach.
Based at Boston's Braves Field
Braves Field
Braves Field was a baseball park that formerly stood on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium was home to the Boston Braves National League franchise from 1915–1952, when the team moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
, the Bulldogs nonetheless had a two-game swan song
Swan song
"Swan song" is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that the Mute Swan is completely silent during its lifetime until the moment just before death, when it sings one beautiful song...
in their old stomping grounds, defeating both the Buffalo Bison on October 27 at Minersville Park and the Newark Tornadoes on October 29 at Mitchell Field. Unfortunately the franchise relocation and name change had done little to improve the club's on-field record. The team finally folded that year, ending the franchise's final season with a 4-4-0 record.
Because 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,...
began in 1932 as the Boston Braves, some Pottsville backers, with help from a few writers, have suggested that the Redskins descended from the Maroons by way of the Boston Bulldogs. The 1932 Boston franchise, however, had no relationship to the 1929 Bulldogs.
Today
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...
, where it can be seen today. The 1925 Maroons have since been immortalized in Pottsville, where there are bars and establishments bearing the team's name and an inspirational picture of the 1925 "World Champion" team displayed in the high school football team's locker room. In 2003, the NFL briefly decided to address via a vote during an owners meeting on whether the league should re-examine the case regarding the 1925 championship. But in October, the NFL voted 30-2 not to reopen the case. Thus the Cardinals are still listed as the 1925 NFL champions.
Today the people of Pottsville still embrace to the legacy of the Maroons. The town contains the headquarters of the Pottsville Maroons Memorial Committee, whose job it is to keep alive the spirit of Pottsville's only big-league sports franchise. In Pottsville, there was a major push led by Mayor John D.W. Reiley to restore the Maroons' 1925 title. The owner of a local embroidery shop still makes Maroons T-shirts and distributes them to residents and fans. In 2003 Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell
Ed Rendell
Edward Gene "Ed" Rendell is an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania. Rendell, a member of the Democratic Party, was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 2002, and his term of office began January 21, 2003...
got involved in the Pottsville-NFL debate by lobbying NFL owners and asking city and borough councils across the state to lobby the league to restore the Maroons' title. Despite the long-time backing of Bears founder 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...
, Steelers founder Art Rooney
Art Rooney
Arthur Joseph "Art" Rooney, Sr. , often referred to as "The Chief", was the founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football franchise in the National Football League.-Family history:...
and, more recently, Steelers chairman Dan Rooney
Dan Rooney
Daniel Milton "Dan" Rooney is the United States Ambassador to Ireland. He is chairman emeritus of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team in the National Football League , which was founded by his father, Art Rooney. Rooney was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000 for his contributions...
, Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
owner Jeff Lurie, the Pennsylvania General Assembly
Pennsylvania General Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times , the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. Since the Constitution of 1776, written by...
, and former commissioner Paul Tagliabue
Paul Tagliabue
Paul John Tagliabue is a former Commissioner of the National Football League. He took the position in 1989 and was succeeded by Roger Goodell, who was elected to the position on August 8, 2006. Tagliabue's retirement took effect on September 1, 2006. He had previously served as a lawyer for the NFL...
, the NFL’s other owners, led, not surprisingly, by the Cardinals, still continue to vote it down (30-2). Also in 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
spoke on the subject. According to an article in ESPN the Magazine
ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine is a bi-weekly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut in the United States. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998....
, Bush sent a handwritten note to ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
calling the Maroons' case "illuminating."
After a 2003 vote in favor of keeping the 1925 title with the Cardinals, Rendell wrote an angry letter to Tagliabue calling the NFL owners a group of "cowardly barons". Rendell berated the National Football League and declared he would have no more communication with league officials until they grant the Pottsville Maroons the 1925 title. The governor ended the letter saying, "I am closing with the wish that every NFL franchise except for the Eagles and the Steelers lose large quantities of money".
In 2006 David Fleming authored the book Breaker Boys: The NFL’s Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship.
In 2008, to determine which was the better team in 1925, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
statistician Jeff Sagarin
Jeff Sagarin
Jeff Sagarin is an American sports statistician well-known for his development of a methodology for ranking and rating sports teams in a variety of sports...
analyzed the two teams' statistics, including considerations for strength of schedule. The results showed the Maroons as the better team to the second-place Cardinals.
Season-by-season
| Year | W | L | T | Finish | Coach | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pottsville Maroons | 1925 | 10 | 2 | 0 | expelled | Dick Rauch Dick Rauch Richard Harvie Rauch was an American football player and coach in the United States. Rauch attended Penn State University. He was a player-coach for the Boston Bulldogs, New York Yankees and the Maroons over the course of his four-year career. Rauch made his professional debut in the National... |
| 1926 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 3rd | Dick Rauch Dick Rauch Richard Harvie Rauch was an American football player and coach in the United States. Rauch attended Penn State University. He was a player-coach for the Boston Bulldogs, New York Yankees and the Maroons over the course of his four-year career. Rauch made his professional debut in the National... |
|
| 1927 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 8th | Dick Rauch Dick Rauch Richard Harvie Rauch was an American football player and coach in the United States. Rauch attended Penn State University. He was a player-coach for the Boston Bulldogs, New York Yankees and the Maroons over the course of his four-year career. Rauch made his professional debut in the National... |
|
| 1928 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 8th | Pete Henry Pete Henry Wilbur Francis "Pete" Henry was a professional American football player and coach in the National Football League. He later worked for more than 20 years as athletic director and occasional football coach at Washington & Jefferson College, his alma mater.Henry attended college at Washington &... |
|
| Boston Bulldogs | 1929 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4th | Dick Rauch Dick Rauch Richard Harvie Rauch was an American football player and coach in the United States. Rauch attended Penn State University. He was a player-coach for the Boston Bulldogs, New York Yankees and the Maroons over the course of his four-year career. Rauch made his professional debut in the National... |