Regular season | |
---|---|
Duration | September 27-November 30, 1924 |
Champions | Cleveland Bulldogs |
The 1924 NFL season was the fifth regular season of the National Football League. The league had 18 teams play during the season, including the new clubs Frankford Yellow Jackets, Kansas City Blues, and Kenosha Maroons. The Louisville Brecks, Oorang Indians, St. Louis All Stars and Toledo Maroons folded.
Before the season, the owner of the now-defunct Cleveland Indians bought the Canton Bulldogs and "mothballed" it, taking the team's nickname and players to Cleveland for the season. The new team, the Cleveland Bulldogs, won the 1924 NFL title with a 7–1–1 record.
Eighteen teams competed in the NFL during the 1924 season.
First season in NFL * | Team folded this season ^ | Last season before hiatus, rejoined league later § |
First season in NFL, and then folded after this season *^ |
The Cleveland Bulldogs, Buffalo Bisons, Frankford Yellow Jackets, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears were the contenders for the title in November.
However, Buffalo faltered down the stretch, dropping their last three games to drop from 6–2 to 6–5, finishing squarely in the middle of the pack, and Green Bay similarly fell from 6–2 to 7–4. This left Cleveland and Chicago to contend for the title, since Frankford had two losses and the other two teams only one. Teams such as the Duluth Kelleys and the Rock Island Independents would have been contenders for the title, but their more limited schedules (six games for Duluth and nine for Rock Island) effectively ruled them out of title contention.
The official end of the season was designated on November 30, 1924, with Cleveland atop the league standings. After this date, Chicago challenged Cleveland to a post-season rematch and won, setting up a repeat of 1921, when the Bears (at that time still known as the Staleys) were able to win the championship from Buffalo (at the time known as the All-Americans) using the same tactic: this time, however, league officials declared any game after November 30 to be effectively exhibition games, null and void with regard to the season standings, which allowed the Bulldogs to keep their title. The Bears argued that the Bulldogs had agreed in advance that the game will be the title match, but the NFL officials claimed the Bulldogs couldn't make the decision for the league, and awarded them the title based on "league play". [1]
In terms of pure win–loss differential, the Yellow Jackets would have easily won the title, as they had nine more wins than losses, compared to the +6 of the Bulldogs and the +5 of the Bears.
Had the current (post-1972) system of counting ties as half-a-win and half-a-loss been in force in 1924, the Kelleys (5–1) would have tied with the Bulldogs (7–1–1) for the league title at .833, with the tiebreaker not applicable as the Kelleys and Bulldogs did not play each other, while the Yellow Jackets (11–2–1) would have finished third at .821, with the Bears (6–1–4) finishing fourth at .727.
NFL standings | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | |||
Cleveland Bulldogs | 7 | 1 | 1 | .875 | 229 | 60 | W2 | ||
Chicago Bears | 6 | 1 | 4 | .857 | 136 | 55 | W3 | ||
Frankford Yellow Jackets | 11 | 2 | 1 | .846 | 326 | 109 | W8 | ||
Duluth Kelleys | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | 56 | 16 | W1 | ||
Rock Island Independents | 5 | 2 | 2 | .714 | 88 | 38 | L1 | ||
Green Bay Packers | 7 | 4 | 0 | .636 | 108 | 38 | L1 | ||
Racine Legion | 4 | 3 | 3 | .571 | 69 | 47 | W1 | ||
Chicago Cardinals | 5 | 4 | 1 | .556 | 90 | 67 | L1 | ||
Buffalo Bisons | 6 | 5 | 0 | .545 | 120 | 140 | L3 | ||
Columbus Tigers | 4 | 4 | 0 | .500 | 91 | 68 | L1 | ||
Hammond Pros | 2 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 18 | 45 | W2 | ||
Milwaukee Badgers | 5 | 8 | 0 | .385 | 142 | 188 | L2 | ||
Akron Pros | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | 59 | 132 | W1 | ||
Dayton Triangles | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | 45 | 148 | L6 | ||
Kansas City Blues | 2 | 7 | 0 | .222 | 46 | 124 | L2 | ||
Kenosha Maroons | 0 | 4 | 1 | .000 | 12 | 117 | L2 | ||
Minneapolis Marines | 0 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 14 | 108 | L6 | ||
Rochester Jeffersons | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 7 | 156 | L7 |
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
The Cleveland Bulldogs were 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. However, after team owner Samuel Deutsch purchased the Canton Bulldogs in 1924, he merged the Canton team with his Indians and renamed his franchise the Cleveland Bulldogs. The Canton Bulldogs remained a part of the team until 1925, when they were sold back to Canton. The Cleveland Bulldogs played in the NFL until 1928 when they were relocated to Detroit and became the Detroit Wolverines. The team was later incorporated into the New York Giants in 1929. The Cleveland Bulldogs won the 1924 NFL championship.
The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, although its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won the NFL championship in 1926. The team played its home games from 1923 in Frankford Stadium in Frankford, a section in the northeastern part of Philadelphia, noted for the Market–Frankford Line that terminates there.
Buffalo, New York had a turbulent, early-era National Football League team that operated under multiple names and several different owners between the 1910s and 1920s. The early NFL-era franchise was variously called the Buffalo All-Stars from 1915 to 1917, Buffalo Niagaras in 1918, the Buffalo Prospects in 1919, Buffalo All-Americans from 1920 to 1923, Buffalo Bisons from 1924 to 1925 and in 1927 and 1929, and the Buffalo Rangers in 1926. The franchise, which was experiencing financial problems in 1928, did not participate in league play that season.
The Pottsville Maroons were an American football team based in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in the northeastern part of the state. Founded in 1920, they played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1925 to 1928. In 1929 they relocated to Boston, where they played one season as the Boston Bulldogs.
The Orange Tornadoes and Newark Tornadoes were two manifestations of a long-lived professional American football franchise that existed in some form from 1887 to 1941 and from 1958 to 1970, having played in the American Amateur Football Union from 1888 to 1895, the National Football League from 1929 to 1930, the American Association from 1936 to 1941, the Atlantic Coast Football League from 1963 to 1964 and 1970, and the Continental Football League from 1965 to 1969. The team was based for most of its history in Orange, New Jersey, with many of its later years in Newark. Its last five seasons of existence were as the Orlando Panthers, when the team was based in Orlando, Florida. The NFL franchise was sold back to the league in October 1930. The team had four head coaches in its two years in the NFL – Jack Depler in Orange, and Jack Fish, Al McGall and Andy Salata in Newark.
The Kenosha Maroons were a National Football League football team in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Officially, the club only played in the league during the 1924 season, dissolving after posting no wins in five games.
Below is a list of professional football Championship Games in the United States, involving:
Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national champion.
The 1923 NFL season was the fourth 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 were the Duluth Kelleys, the St. Louis All Stars, and a new Cleveland Indians team, while the Evansville Crimson Giants dropped out of the league and folded. The Canton Bulldogs repeated as NFL Champions after ending the season with an 11–0–1 record.
The 1925 NFL season was the sixth regular season of the National Football League. Five new teams entered the league: New York Giants, Detroit Panthers, Pottsville Maroons, Providence Steam Roller, and a new Canton Bulldogs team. The Kenosha Maroons folded, with the Racine Legion and Minneapolis Marines mothballing.
The 1926 NFL season was the seventh 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 the Racine Tornadoes re-entering. The Cleveland Bulldogs sat out the season, the Rock Island Independents defected to the upstart American Football League, and the Rochester Jeffersons suspended operations for the final time. The Akron Pros re-branded as the Akron Indians, the Duluth Kelleys as the Duluth Eskimos and the Buffalo Bison as the Buffalo Rangers. .
The 1927 NFL season was the eighth 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. The league absorbed many players and one franchise from the defunct American Football League. Wilfrid Smith in the Chicago Tribune wrote that "the reduction formed a more compact circuit and provided better competition." Smith opined that the "outstanding feature" of the 1927 NFL season was the debut of Benny Friedman who became one of the game's "best drawing cards" and proved that professional football could support itself in Cleveland.
The 1928 NFL season was the ninth regular season of the National Football League. The league dropped to 10 teams as the Cleveland Bulldogs and the Duluth Eskimos both folded before the season, while the Rochester Jeffersons, after missing two seasons of play, also folded, and the Buffalo Bisons also had a year out from the league. The Detroit Wolverines were added as an expansion team.
The 1929 NFL Season was the tenth regular season of the National Football League. The league increased back to 12 teams with the addition of the Staten Island Stapletons, Orange Tornadoes and Minneapolis Red Jackets and the re-entry of the Buffalo Bisons. The Pottsville Maroons became the Boston Bulldogs, the New York Yankees folded, and the Detroit Wolverines merged into the New York Giants, with the Giants the surviving partner.
The 1930 NFL season was the 11th regular season of the National Football League.
The 1931 NFL season was the 12th regular season of the National Football League. The league decreased to 10 teams due to financial hardships caused by the Great Depression: while the Cleveland Indians joined as an expansion team and the league lost the Minneapolis Red Jackets and the Newark Tornadoes, the Frankford Yellow Jackets folded midway through the season.
The 1925 National Football League (NFL) Championship, claimed by the Chicago Cardinals, has long been the subject of controversy, centering on the suspension of the Pottsville Maroons by NFL commissioner Joseph Carr, which prevented them from taking the title. The Maroons were one of the dominant teams of the 1925 season, and after defeating the Chicago Cardinals 21–7 on December 6, they came away with the best record in the league. However, Carr suspended and removed the team from the NFL after they played an unauthorized exhibition game in Philadelphia, on the grounds that they had violated the territorial rights of the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Chicago played and won two more games against weak NFL opponents, but were sanctioned because Cardinals player Art Folz hired four Chicago high school football players to play for the Milwaukee Badgers under assumed names to ensure a Cardinals victory.
The 1925 New York Giants season was the franchise's inaugural season in the National Football League. The team finished with a record of 8–4 against league opponents.
The 1927 New York Giants season was the franchise's 3rd season in the National Football League, and first under head coach Earl Potteiger. The Giants suffered their only loss and sole tie to the Cleveland Bulldogs. They were ranked first in yards allowed, yards gained, and points allowed, and were second in points scored. Over the entire season, the Giants scored 197 points and allowed 20. The team was led in scoring by fullback Jack McBride who scored 57 points, with six rushing touchdowns, two field goals, and 15 extra points. They then lost an exhibition game on December 26, 1927, in Oklahoma to Otto and Ira Hamilton's Hominy Indians, 13–6.
Veryl Henry Ebert was an American football guard, tackle, and blocking back who played for the Minneapolis Marines of the National Football League (NFL) in 1924. He played in four games and started one. Ebert played college football for Carleton College. He was also a football coach at Stillwater Area High School in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota.