Related Research Articles
Latrobe is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,060 as of the 2020 census. A part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, it is located near Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Ridge. Latrobe was incorporated as a borough in 1854, and as a city in 1999. The current mayor is Rosemarie M. Wolford.
Thomas Gawthrop "Doggie" Trenchard was an All-American football player at Princeton University in 1893 and a college football head coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Pittsburgh, and West Virginia University. Trenchard earned the nickname "Doggie" because of his shaggy haired appearance.
Walter Raleigh "Okey" Okeson was an American football player and coach. He was a player-coach for the first all-professional football team, the Latrobe Athletic Association club in 1897. Okeson was the head football coach at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for one season, in 1900, compiling a record of 5–6.
The Latrobe Athletic Association was a professional football team located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, from 1895 until 1909. A member of the unofficial Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit, the team is best known for being the first football club to play a full season while composed entirely of professional players. In 1895, team's quarterback, John Brallier, also became the first football player to openly turn professional, by accepting $10 and expenses to play for Latrobe against the Jeannette Athletic Club.
John Kinport "Sal" Brallier was one of the first professional American football players. He was nationally acknowledged as the first openly paid professional football player when he was given $10 to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association for a game against the Jeanette Athletic Association in 1895.
The Greensburg Athletic Association was an early organized football team, based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, that played in the unofficial Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit from 1890 until 1900. At times referred to as the Greensburg Athletic Club, the team began as an amateur football club in 1890 and was composed primarily of locals before several professional players were added for the 1895 season. In 1894 it was discovered that the team had secretly paid formerly Indiana Normal player, Lawson Fiscus, to play football and retained his services on salary. The team was the chief rival of another early professional football team, the Latrobe Athletic Association.
David J. Berry was an American football manager during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the top promoter for the sport during that time period. He is credited with inventing the "all-star game concept" in 1898, and also helped to form one of the first organized football leagues in 1902.
John "Jack" Gass was an early professional football player. He played mostly with the Latrobe Athletic Association from 1895 until 1899. In 1898, he was a member of the Western Pennsylvania All-Stars, which was a team put together by Latrobe manager Dave Berry for the purpose of challenging the star-filled Duquesne Country and Athletic Club to the first pro football all-star game held at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. The All-Stars lost to Duquesne, 16–0. In 1897, Gass was a member of the very first all-professional football team, in Latrobe, to play a complete season together. In 1900, he played for Latrobe's rival, the Greensburg Athletic Association.
The 1895 Latrobe Athletic Association season was their first season in existence. This season John Brallier became the first openly professional football player. The team was sponsored by the local YMCA and led by coach Russell Aukerman and manager Dave Berry.
The 1898 Latrobe Athletic Association season was their fourth season in existence. The team finished 7–3. The team's colors this season were red and blue.
The 1900 Latrobe Athletic Association season was their sixth season in existence. The team finished 6–3.
The 1900 Latrobe Athletic Association season was their seventh season in existence. It was a low profile season for Latrobe. The team played in only 3 games this season and finished 2-1.
The 1903 Latrobe Athletic Association season was their eighth season in existence. It was a low profile season for Latrobe. The team finished 9–0. Latrobe laid claim to the western Pennsylvania championship after the undefeated season. However, the Franklin Athletic Club was generally considered the 1903 U.S. Pro Football Champions, even though they had refused to play Latrobe.
The 1905 Latrobe Athletic Association season was their tenth season in existence. The team finished 8–0 and were unscored upon. As a result, Latrobe claimed the Pennsylvania professional football title.
The 1906 Latrobe Athletic Association season was their eleventh season in existence. The team finished 3–1.
The 1895 Greensburg Athletic Association season was their sixth season in existence. The team finished 9–1–1 or 8–2–1.
The 1900 Greensburg Athletic Association season was Greensburg Athletic's 10th and last season. The American football team finished with a record of 3–6–1.
Arthur Lamont "Tiger" McFarland was an early professional American football player who played with the Greensburg Athletic Association as well as the Latrobe Athletic Association. He later played for the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1902 version of the National Football League and for the 1903 US Football Champions, the Franklin Athletic Club. Sweet also won, with Franklin, the 1903 World Series of Football, held that December at Madison Square Garden.
The Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit was a loose association of American football clubs that operated from 1890 to approximately 1940. Originally amateur, professionalism was introduced to the circuit in 1892; cost pressures pushed the circuit to semi-professional status from about 1920 through the rest of its existence. Existing in some form for 48 years, it was one of the longest-lived paying football loops to operate outside the auspices of the National Football League.
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 the American Professional Football Association, from 1920 to 1923, and again from 1925 to 1926. The Bulldogs won the 1916, 1917, and 1919 Ohio League championships. They were the NFL champions in 1922 and 1923. In 1921–1923, the Bulldogs played 25 straight games without a defeat. This remains an NFL record.
References
- Van Atta, Robert (1980). "Latrobe, PA: Cradle of Pro Football" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. 2 (Annual): 1–21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-26.