1920 Decatur Staleys season | |
---|---|
Head coach | George Halas |
Home field | Staley Field |
Results | |
Record | 10–1–2 |
League place | 2nd APFA |
The 1920 season [1] was the Decatur Staleys 2nd season of existence, the first professional season of the franchise that would go on to be known as the Chicago Bears and their first under head coach George Halas, competing in the newly formed American Professional Football Association.
The team improved on their 6–1 record from 1919 to a 10–1–2 record and earning them a second-place finish in the league standings. In the last league game of the season, the Staleys needed a win versus Akron to have a chance at the title. Akron, predictably, played for a tie, achieved that, and won the first APFA title.
The stars of the Staleys were Ed "Dutch" Sternaman, Jimmy Conzelman, and George Halas. Sternaman had a remarkable season with 11 rushing TDs, 1 receiving TDs, 4 field goals, and 3 PATs, totaling 87 points scored out of the Staleys' total of 164. Jimmy Conzelman ran for two scores and threw two more. Halas led the team in receiving scores with 2.
The Decatur Staleys finished 6–1 in their 1919 season as an independent team. [2] Their 1919 owner, George Chamberlain, asked George Halas to help manage the team, and Halas accepted. [3] After the 1919 season, representatives of four Ohio League teams—the Canton Bulldogs, the Cleveland Tigers, the Dayton Triangles, and the Akron Pros—called a meeting on August 20, 1920, to discuss the formation of a new league. At the meeting, they tentatively agreed on a salary cap and pledged not to sign college players or players already under contract with other teams. They also agreed on a name for the circuit: the American Professional Football Association. [4] [5] They then invited other professional teams to a second meeting on September 17.
At that meeting, held at Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay's Hupmobile showroom in Canton, representatives of the Rock Island Independents, the Muncie Flyers, the Decatur Staleys, the Racine Cardinals, the Massillon Tigers, the Chicago Cardinals, and the Hammond Pros agreed to join the league. Representatives of the Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons could not attend the meeting, but sent letters to Hay asking to be included in the league. [6] Team representatives changed the league's name slightly to the American Professional Football Association and elected officers, installing Jim Thorpe as president. [6] [7] [8] Under the new league structure, teams created their schedules dynamically as the season progressed, so there were no minimum or maximum number of games needed to be played. [9] [10] Also, representatives of each team voted to determine the winner of the APFA trophy. [11]
If a team has a dagger (†), then that team is in a non-APFA team. For the attendance, if a cell is greyed out and has "N/A", then that means there is an unknown figure for that game. The green-colored cells indicates a win; the yellow-colored cells indicates a tie; and the red-colored cells indicate a loss.
Game | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bye | |||||||
2 | October 3 | vs. Moline Universal Tractors † | W 20–0 | 1–0 | Staley Field | 1,500 | ||
3 | October 10 | vs. Kewanee Walworths † | W 25–7 | 2–0 | Staley Field | 1,500 | ||
4 | October 17 | at Rock Island Independents | W 7–0 | 3–0 | Douglas Park | 7,000 | ||
5 | October 24 | at Chicago Tigers | W 10–0 | 4–0 | Cubs Park | 5,000 | ||
6 | October 31 | at Rockford A.C. † | W 29–0 | 5–0 | Kishwaukee Park | 3,000 | ||
7 | November 7 | at Rock Island Independents | T 0–0 | 5–0–1 | Douglas Park | 4,991 | ||
8 | November 11 | at Champaign Legion † | W 20–0 | 6–0–1 | Champaign, Illinois | 500 | ||
9 | November 14 | at Minneapolis Marines † | W 3–0 | 7–0–1 | Nicollet Park | — | ||
10 | November 21 | vs. Hammond Pros | W 28–7 | 8–0–1 | Staley Field | 3,000 | ||
11 | November 25 | at Chicago Tigers | W 6–0 | 9–0–1 | Cubs Park | 8,000 | ||
12 | November 28 | at Chicago Cardinals | L 6–7 | 9–1–1 | Normal Park | 5,000 | ||
13 | December 5 | at Racine Cardinals | W 10–0 | 10–1–1 | Cubs Park | 11,000 | ||
14 | December 12 | vs. Akron Pros | T 0–0 | 10–1–2 | Cubs Park | 12,000 | ||
15 | Bye | |||||||
# | January 15 | at Chicago Logan Square A.C. † | T 0–0 | Exhibition | Dexter Pavilion (indoor) | — |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Staleys | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Independents | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
October 17, 1920, at Douglas Park
After two games against non-APFA teams, the Staleys played against the APFA Rock Island Independents. [12]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Staleys | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Independents | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
November 7, 1920, at Douglas Park
On a five-game winning streak, the Staleys played against the Independents again. The game ended in a 0–0 tie. Several injuries occurred throughout the game for the Independents. Sid Nichols, Fred Chicken, and Oke Smith injured their knees on different plays. Harry Gunderson was hit late by George Trafton and the former had to get thirteen stitches on his face, and his hand was broken. [13]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Staleys | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Marines | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
November 14, 1920, at Nicollet Park
To conclude their six-game road game streak, the Staleys played against the Minneapolis Marines. The Marines were a non-APFA team but joined the league in 1921. [14] The only score of the game was a 25-yard field goal from Sternaman.[ citation needed ]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pros | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Staleys | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
December 12, 1920, at Cubs Park
The Staleys ended their season in week 12 against the Akron Pros. Prior to the game, Halas moved their home field to the much larger Cubs Park in Chicago and hired Paddy Driscoll from the Cardinals to play on his team in order to help defeat the Pros, which was against league rules at the time. [15] [16] Twelve thousand fans, which was the largest recorded crowd of the season, [17] showed up to watch the game. [18] Of the crowd, about 2,000 were from Pollard's hometown. [19] The Pros almost scored twice, but failed once because of ineligible receiver penalties. [18] On the other side, Fritz Pollard stopped a Staleys' touchdown against Sternment in the third quarter. [19] On the same drive, the Staleys missed a 30-yard field goal. [18] Chamberlin attempted to injure Pollard twice in an attempt to remove him from the game. [19] The final score ended in a 0–0 tie; [18] however, the Chicago Defender reported that the refereeing was biased towards Decatur. [19]
At the start of 1921 Halas organized an indoor football game on January 15 in Chicago’s Dexter Park Pavilion, a practice that was a semi-regular event among the local Chicago teams. The Bears played against a local team called Chicago Logan Square A.C. to a 0-0 tie.
The Staley monthly journal would state in the February 1921 issue that "the 'Western Champions' Played One Game of Indoor Football and Decided That Once Was Enough for Them." [20]
1920 APFA standings [21] | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
W | L | T | PCT | DIV | DPCT | PF | PA | STK | |
Akron Pros† | 8 | 0 | 3 | 1.000 | 6–0–3 | 1.000 | 151 | 7 | T2 |
Decatur Staleys | 10 | 1 | 2 | .909 | 5–1–2 | .833 | 164 | 21 | T1 |
Buffalo All-Americans | 9 | 1 | 1 | .900 | 4–1–1 | .800 | 258 | 32 | T1 |
Chicago Cardinals | 6 | 2 | 2 | .750 | 3–2–2 | .600 | 101 | 29 | T1 |
Rock Island Independents | 6 | 2 | 2 | .750 | 4–2–1 | .667 | 201 | 49 | W1 |
Dayton Triangles | 5 | 2 | 2 | .714 | 4–2–2 | .667 | 150 | 54 | L1 |
Rochester Jeffersons | 6 | 3 | 2 | .667 | 0–1–0 | .000 | 156 | 57 | T1 |
Canton Bulldogs | 7 | 4 | 2 | .636 | 4–3–1 | .571 | 208 | 57 | W1 |
Detroit Heralds | 2 | 3 | 3 | .400 | 1–3–0 | .250 | 53 | 82 | T2 |
Cleveland Tigers | 2 | 4 | 2 | .333 | 1–4–2 | .200 | 28 | 46 | L1 |
Chicago Tigers | 2 | 5 | 1 | .286 | 1–5–1 | .167 | 49 | 63 | W1 |
Hammond Pros | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 0–3–0 | .000 | 41 | 154 | L3 |
Columbus Panhandles | 2 | 6 | 2 | .250 | 0–4–0 | .000 | 41 | 121 | W1 |
Muncie Flyers | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0–1–0 | .000 | 0 | 45 | L1 |
† Awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup and named APFA Champions.
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
Since there were no playoff system in the APFA until 1932, [22] a meeting was held to determine the champions. Each team that showed up had a vote to determine the champions. [23] The Staleys and the All-Americans each stated they should be the champions because they had more wins and were not beaten by the Akron Pros. [17] However, since the Akron Pros had a 1.000 winning percentage, the Pros were awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup on April 30, 1921. [24] Seven players from the Staleys were on the 1920 All-Pro team. Guy Chamberlain, Hugh Blacklock, and George Trafton were on the first team; George Halas was on the second team; and Burt Ingwerson, Ross Petty, and Ed Sternaman were on the third team. [25]
Five players from the 1920 Decatur Staleys roster went on to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Guy Chamberlin was in the class of 1965, [26] Jimmy Conzelman was in the class of 1964, [27] Paddy Driscoll was in the class of 1965, [28] George Halas was in the class of 1963, [29] and George Trafton was in the class of 1964. [30] The Pro Football Hall of Fame's selection committee compiled a list of the National Football League 1920s All-Decade Team. Each of the aforementioned Hall-of-Famers are on this team. [31]
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George Stanley Halas Sr., nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder and owner of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), and served as his own head coach on four occasions. He was also lesser-known as a player for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Primary Products Ingredients Americas LLC, also formerly known as Tate & Lyle Primary Products, is an American subsidiary of Tate & Lyle PLC that produces a range of starch products for the food, paper and other industries; high fructose corn syrup; crystalline fructose; and other agro-industrial products. The company was incorporated in 1906 as A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company by Augustus Eugene Staley.
The 1920 APFA season was the inaugural season of the American Professional Football Association, renamed the National Football League in 1922. An agreement to form a league was made by four independent teams from Ohio on August 20, 1920, at Ralph Hay's office in Canton, Ohio, with plans to invite owners of more teams for a second meeting on September 17, 1920. The "American Professional Football Conference" (APFC) was made up of Hay's Canton Bulldogs, Akron Pros, the Cleveland Tigers and the Dayton Triangles, who decided on a six-game schedule to play each other at home-and-away, an agreement to respect each other's player contracts, and to take a stand against signing college students whose class had not yet graduated.
The 1921 APFA season was the second season of the American Professional Football Association, which was renamed the National Football League in 1922.
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The 1921 Chicago Staleys season was their second regular season completed in the young American Professional Football Association. The team improved on their 10–1–2 record from 1920 to a 9–1–1 record under head coach/player George Halas earning them a first-place finish in the team standings and their first league championship. The beginning of the season saw A.E. Staley turn over the team to Halas and Dutch Sternaman, who moved the team to Chicago. The team name was changed from the Decatur Staleys to the Chicago Staleys due to a contract between Staley and Halas. The Staleys were quite dominant, but all of Chicago's games were played at home. Two games were against the Buffalo All-Americans; the first, played on Thanksgiving, was won by Buffalo 7–6, giving the Staleys their only loss of the season.
The 1920 Akron Pros season was the franchise's inaugural season with the American Professional Football Association (APFA) and twelfth total season as a team. The Pros entered the season coming off a 5–5 record in 1919 as the Akron Indians in the Ohio League. The Indians were sold to Art Ranney and Frank Nied, two businessmen, to help achieve a better record and crowd. Several representatives from the Ohio League wanted to form a new professional league; thus, the APFA was created.
The 1920 Buffalo All-Americans season was the franchise's inaugural season with the American Professional Football Association (APFA), an American football league, and fifth total as a team. The All-Americans entered 1920 coming off a 9–1–1 record in 1919 as the Buffalo Prospects in the New York Pro Football League (NYPFL). Several representatives from another professional football league, the Ohio League, wanted to form a new national league, and thus the APFA was created.
The 1920 Chicago Cardinals season was the Cardinals' inaugural season in the American Professional Football Association. The team finished 6–2–1, earning fourth in the league. Their final two games of the season against the Chicago Stayms Foresters were played after the APFA season was officially over and did not count towards the standings.
The 1920 Chicago Tigers season was their sole season in the National Football League. The team finished 2–5–1, tying them for eleventh in the league.
The 1920 Cleveland Tigers season was the franchise's inaugural season in the American Professional Football Association (APFA) and fifth total as an American football team. The Tigers entered the season coming off a 5-win, 2-loss, 2-tie (5–2–2) record in 1919. After the 1919 season, several representatives from the Ohio League, a loose organization of professional football teams, wanted to form a new professional league; thus, the APFA was created.
The 1920 Dayton Triangles season was the franchise's inaugural season in the American Professional Football Association (AFPA)—later named the National Football League. The Triangles entered the season coming off a 5–2–1 record in 1919 in the Ohio League. After the 1919 season, several representatives from the Ohio League wanted to form a new professional league; thus, the APFA was created. A majority of the team stayed from the 1919 team, including the coaching staff, while two players left the team.
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The 1920 Muncie Flyers season was the franchise's inaugural season in the American Professional Football League (APFA)—later named the National Football League. The Flyers entered the season coming off a 4–1–1 record in 1919. Several representatives from the Ohio League wanted to form a new professional league; thus, the APFA was created. The 1920 team only played in one game that counted in the standings: a 45–0 loss against the Rock Island Independents. This game and the Columbus Panhandles–Dayton Triangles on the same date is considered to be the first league game featuring two APFA teams. The Flyers tried to schedule other games, but the opponents canceled to play better teams. As a result, the Flyers had to play the rest of the season's game versus local teams. In week 10, the Flyers won a game against the Muncie Offers More AC for the Muncie City Championship. No players from the 1920 Muncie Flyers were listed on the 1920 All-Pro Team, and no player has been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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