The Akron Pros were a professional football team that played in Akron, Ohio from 1908 to 1926. The team originated in 1908 as a semi-pro team named the Akron Indians, but later became Akron Pros in 1920 as the team set out to become a charter member of the American Professional Football Association. Fritz Pollard, the first black head coach in the NFL, co-coached the Akron Pros in 1921. Paul Robeson played for the team in 1921 as well. He was among the earliest stars of professional football before football became segregated from 1934 to 1946. In 1926, the name was changed back to the Akron Indians, after the earlier semi-pro team. Due to financial problems, the team suspended operations in 1927 and surrendered its franchise the following year.
The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before folding after one season. Three years later, the team tried again, playing in the Ohio League from 1907 to 1919, not winning a championship, before becoming charter members of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) which became the National Football League (NFL).
The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangle Park, which was located at the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater Rivers in north Dayton. They were the longest-lasting traveling team in the NFL (1920–1929), and the last such "road team" until the Dallas Texans in 1952, who, coincidentally, descended from the Dayton franchise.
The Rock Island Independents were a professional American football team, based in Rock Island, Illinois, from 1907 to 1926. The Independents were a founding National Football League franchise. They hosted what has been retrospectively designated the first National Football League game on September 26, 1920 at Douglas Park. The Independents were founded in 1907 by Demetrius Clements as an independent football club. Hence, the team was named the "Independents."
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.
William Roy "Link" Lyman, also sometimes known as Roy Lyman, was an American football player and coach.
Berlin Guy "Champ" Chamberlin, sometimes misspelled Guy Chamberlain, was an American professional football player and coach. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1962 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965. He was also named in 1969 to the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team.
Wilbur Francis "Pete" Henry was an American football player, coach, and athletic administrator. He was a charter inductee into both the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.
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.
Louie Lehman Smyth was a professional football player for the Canton Bulldogs from 1920 until 1923. Smyth won two NFL championships with the Bulldogs in 1922 and 1923 and another with the Yellow Jackets in 1926. He also played for the Hartford Blues, Rochester Jeffersons and the Providence Steamroller. Outside of the National Football League, he played for the Gilberton Cadamounts of the Anthracite League. During his year in Gilberton, Smyth doubled as a player with the Jeffersons. In 1923 Smyth led the NFL in touchdowns, with 7.
Eugene Russell Smith was a professional football player during the early years of the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Staleys/Bears, Canton Bulldogs, Milwaukee Badgers, Cleveland Bulldogs, Detroit Panthers and Hammond Pros. Smith won NFL championships with the Staleys in 1921, the Canton Bulldogs in 1923 and the Cleveland Bulldogs in 1924. He played a total of 50 games in the NFL.
Benjamin Aaron Roderick was a professional American football player during the early years of the National Football League (NFL) with the Buffalo All-Americans, Canton Bulldogs and Buffalo Bisons. Roderick won an NFL championship with the Canton Bulldogs in 1923. He also played for Cleveland Tigers, while playing in the American Professional Football Association, the organization that later became the NFL.
Ralph George "Fat" Waldsmith was a professional football player during the early years of the National Football League (NFL). Waldsmith won an NFL championship with the Canton Bulldogs in 1922. before that season, he played for the Cleveland Indians in the American Professional Football Association, which was the run-up to the NFL.
Arthur Andrew "Bunny" Corcoran was a professional football player in the National Football League (NFL) with the Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, Akron Pros and the Buffalo All-Americans. He also played on the pre-NFL era, Frankford Yellow Jackets and the Canton Bulldogs of the "Ohio League".
Isaac Roy Martin was an professional American football player and coach of football and basketball. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) with the Canton Bulldogs in 1920. Martin served as the head football coach at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio from 1914 to 1916 and John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio from 1922 to 1923.
Douglas Park is a public park located at 18th Avenue and 10th Street in Rock Island, Illinois.
Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs, published in 1934, is a book by Dr. Harry March that was the first ever attempt to write a history of professional American football. March had served in several executive offices with the New York Giants of the National Football League in the late 1920s and was a founder of the second American Football League. The book, while popular and entertaining with some important information and interesting anecdotes, is often viewed as inaccurate by modern sports historians. Jack Cusack, manager of the Canton Bulldogs from 1912 to 1917, summed up the book's flaws by stating; "In my library is a book... entitled Pro Football: Its "Ups and Downs" and in my opinion it is something of a historical novel."
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.
The 1923 All-Pro Team consists of American football players chosen by various selectors as the best players at their positions for the All-Pro team of the National Football League (NFL) for the 1923 NFL season. Tackle Pete Henry of the Canton Bulldogs and quarterback Paddy Driscoll of the Chicago Cardinals were the only two players unanimously selected as first-team All-Pros by all known selectors. Two African-American players won All-Pro honors: ends Inky Williams of the Hammond Pros and Duke Slater of the Rock Island Independents.
Lakeside Park is a defunct stadium most known for being where the Canton Bulldogs played. Lakeside Park was located in Canton, Ohio. The stadium was used from 1920 until the end of the franchise in 1926.