Regular season | |
---|---|
Duration | September 20 – December 20, 1925 |
A controversial ruling by the NFL suspended the Pottsville Maroons from all league privileges, including the right to play for the NFL championship. | |
Champions | Chicago Cardinals |
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.
Twenty teams competed in the NFL during the 1925 season.
First season in NFL * | Last active season ^ | Last season before hiatus, rejoined league later § |
Team jumped to the AFL † | Rejoined the NFL ** |
Controversy surrounds who actually won the 1925 NFL Championship. Officially, the Chicago Cardinals are listed as the 1925 NFL champions because they finished with the best record; however, many Pottsville fans at the time claimed that the Maroons were the legitimate champions. The Maroons and the Cardinals were the top contenders for the title, with Pottsville winning a late-season meeting between them, 21–7. But the Maroons scheduled a game against a team of University of Notre Dame All-Stars in Philadelphia (and winning 9–7) on the same day that the Frankford Yellow Jackets were scheduled to play a game in the same city. Frankford protested, saying that it was violating their protected territory rights.
Although NFL president Joe Carr warned the Maroons in writing that they faced suspension if they played in Philadelphia, the Maroons claimed that Carr had previously approved the game during a telephone call, and played anyway. In response, Carr fined the club, suspended it from all league rights and privileges (including the right to play for the NFL championship), and returned its franchise to the league.
In 2003, the NFL decided to again examine the case regarding the 1925 championship. In October of that year, the NFL voted 30–2 not to reopen the case, with only Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the league's two Pennsylvania-based teams, voting in favor. Thus, the Cardinals are still listed as the 1925 NFL champions. [1]
Had the current (post-1972) system of counting ties as half a win and half a loss been in place in 1925, the Maroons would have won the championship with a win percentage of .833, while the Cardinals would have finished runner-up at .821.
NFL standings | |||||||||
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W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | |||
Chicago Cardinals * | 11 | 2 | 1 | .846 | 229 | 65 | W2 | ||
Pottsville Maroons * | 10 | 2 | 0 | .833 | 270 | 45 | W5 | ||
Detroit Panthers | 8 | 2 | 2 | .800 | 129 | 39 | W1 | ||
New York Giants | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 | 122 | 67 | W1 | ||
Akron Pros | 4 | 2 | 2 | .667 | 65 | 51 | L2 | ||
Frankford Yellow Jackets | 13 | 7 | 0 | .650 | 190 | 169 | W2 | ||
Chicago Bears | 9 | 5 | 3 | .643 | 158 | 96 | W3 | ||
Rock Island Independents | 5 | 3 | 3 | .625 | 99 | 58 | L1 | ||
Green Bay Packers | 8 | 5 | 0 | .615 | 151 | 110 | W1 | ||
Providence Steam Roller | 6 | 5 | 1 | .545 | 111 | 101 | L1 | ||
Canton Bulldogs | 4 | 4 | 0 | .500 | 50 | 73 | L1 | ||
Cleveland Bulldogs | 5 | 8 | 1 | .385 | 75 | 135 | L1 | ||
Kansas City Cowboys | 2 | 5 | 1 | .286 | 65 | 97 | W1 | ||
Hammond Pros | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | 23 | 87 | L3 | ||
Buffalo Bisons | 1 | 6 | 2 | .143 | 33 | 113 | L4 | ||
Rochester Jeffersons | 0 | 6 | 1 | .000 | 26 | 111 | L5 | ||
Dayton Triangles | 0 | 7 | 1 | .000 | 3 | 84 | L7 | ||
Duluth Kelleys | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 6 | 25 | L3 | ||
Milwaukee Badgers | 0 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 7 | 191 | L6 | ||
Columbus Tigers | 0 | 9 | 0 | .000 | 28 | 124 | L9 |
* The Pottsville Maroons were suspended from the league in December, resulting in the Chicago Cardinals being named the NFL champions.
NFL league president Joseph Carr chose an all-star team for 1925, including players from Red Grange's tour. [2]
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, Philadelphia, a neighborhood in the northeast of Philadelphia, noted for the Market–Frankford Line that terminates there.
The Providence Steam Rollers were a professional American football team based in Providence, Rhode Island in the National Football League (NFL) from 1925 to 1931. Providence was the first New England team to win an NFL championship. The Steam Roller won the league's championship in 1928, which is the latest NFL championship win by a defunct team to date. Most of their home games were played at the Cycledrome, a 10,000-seat stadium that was built as a velodrome for bicycle races.
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.
Below is a list of professional football Championship Games in the United States, involving:
The 1922 NFL season was the third regular season of what was now called the National Football League (NFL); the league changed its name from American Professional Football Association (APFA) on June 24, 1922.
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.
The 1926 NFL season was the seventh regular season of the National Football League (NFL). It was a year in which a record 22 teams participated, a number not equaled again until after the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.
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 Philadelphia Quakers were a professional American football team that competed in the first American Football League in 1926 and won the league's only championship.
Francis Dale "Hap" Moran was an American football halfback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Frankford Yellow Jackets, the Chicago Cardinals, the Pottsville Maroons and the New York Giants. He played college football for Carnegie Tech and Grinnell.
The first American Football League (AFL), 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 (NFL). Founded by Charles "C.C." Pyle, with General Charles X. Zimmerman as vice president and starring Hall of Fame halfback Harold Edward "Red" Grange, the short-lived nine-team league struggled to attract fans and players from the more established – then six-year-old – NFL. While Pyle's and Grange's New York Yankees team and the already established Philadelphia Quakers became reliable draws, the lack of star power and the uncertain financial conditions of the other seven teams led to the league's dissolution after one season.
The 1925 National Football League (NFL) Championship, awarded to 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 for a chance at 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 that city's 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.
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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. The team finished with a record of 11 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie — best in the NFL.
The 1925 Chicago Cardinals season marked the sixth year of the club in the National Football League (NFL). Playing all of their games in the city of Chicago, the team finished with a record of 12–2–1, tops in the league in terms of winning percentage. In an attempt to ensure a league championship, the Cardinals played a hastily-scheduled game against a new club, the Milwaukee Badgers, who included several high school students among its ranks, resulting in a contested championship. The 59–0 game was supposed to be erased from the record books but never was.
Christopher O'Brien was a Chicago, Illinois pro football franchise owner. He was the owner of the Chicago Cardinals, and has been called the "Father of Professional Football in Chicago". O'Brien was also a co-founder of the American Professional Football Association by representing the Cardinals at the September 17, 1920, league meeting at Ralph Hay's Hupmobile dealership in Canton, Ohio.
The 1925 Chicago Cardinals–Milwaukee Badgers scandal was a scandal centered on a 1925 game between the Chicago Cardinals and the Milwaukee Badgers of the National Football League. The scandal involved a Chicago player, Art Folz, hiring a group of high school football players to play for the Milwaukee Badgers against the Cardinals. This would ensure an inferior opponent for Chicago. The game was used to help prop up their win–loss percentage and as a chance of wresting the 1925 Championship away from the first place Pottsville Maroons.