Eastern League of Professional Football

Last updated
Eastern League of Professional Football
Sport Football
Founded1926
Founder James H. Gildea
Ceased1927
DirectorHerman Meyer
No. of teams10
Country United States
Last
champion(s)
All-Lancaster Red Roses
Most titlesAll-Lancaster Red Roses

The Eastern League of Professional Football was an american football minor league formed in 1926 by independent clubs from Pennsylvania and New Jersey (separate from the "Eastern Pennsylvania Football League" which played in the late 1930s and early 1940s before World War II, along with the Middle Atlantic's Dixie League). The Eastern League was a regional minor league that never intended to challenge either the National Football League or even Red Grange's new American Football League's, dominance over the sport. [1]

Contents

In the league's first season the championship was awarded to All-Lancaster Red Roses over the Bethlehem Bears in a controversial move.

History

In January 1926, James H. Gildea, the owner/manager of the Coaldale Big Green football club, began pushing his idea for a football league in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Gildea's intention was to organize a circuit of teams that were well established and successful but unable to compete financially with the teams of the National Football League. As the core of the new circuit, Gildea sought out the membership of the old Anthracite League clubs. He also courted several other well established Pennsylvania and New Jersey clubs. [2]

1926 season

By the time the 1926 football season opened, ten teams were on board with the newly christened Eastern League of Professional Football. The league's first season had plenty of ups and downs, including financial difficulties that led one club to drop out of the circuit, and a controversy surrounding the championship. The game on the field, however, was very competitive. Five teams had league records of .500 or better. However, the Eastern League's still remained organized until the next season. [2]

1926 Championship controversy

The Bethlehem Bears and the All-Lancaster Red Roses were the top two teams in the league. On November 28, 1926 both teams meet for a game that would most likely determine the league champion. The Bears won the 3-0 due to a last minute field goal by Gyp Downey.

The Bears ended the season with 6-2-2 record against league opponents and a post-season victory over All-Lancaster. Bethlehem felt that these actions were enough to legitimize their claim to an Eastern League championship. However, there was some question regarding Bethlehem's claim to the championship. These questions may have been related to the introduction of several "ringers" into the Bears line-up for the team's final four games against Eastern League opponents. Local newspapers soon reported that the league awarded the title to the 5-2-3 All-Lancaster Red Roses. Presumably on the basis of that team's October victory over the second-place Gilberton Catamounts. After the season, Bethlehem offered the Pottsville Maroons of the National Football League $4,000 to play them at home. The Bears then lost to Pottsville in a lopsided defeat. [2]

1926 League standings [3]
TeamWinsLossesTies %PFPANotes
Bethlehem Bears 622.7507245
Gilberton Cadamounts 522.7145122
All-Lancaster Red Roses 523.7144949Awarded league championship
Mount Carmel Wolverines 531.6259143
Coaldale Big Green 443.5006343
Atlantic City Roses 242.3332265
Shenandoah Red Jackets 251.2865541
Mount Airy Athletic Club 131.2501367
Newark Blues 160.142758
Clifton Heights Black & Orange 111.500310Withdrew from league 13 October 1926

*This table is shows both league and non-league unofficial standings.

The All-Lancaster Red Roses were named the 1926 Eastern League of Professional Football Champions.

1927 season

1927 League standings [4]
TeamWinsLossesTies %PFPA
All-Lancaster Roses 5001.000968
Atlantic City Roses 510.8337913
Coaldale Big Green 330.5004061
Newark Blues 131.2503274
Bethlehem Bears 131.2501350
Shenandoah Red Jackets 050.000677
Wilkes-Barre Panthers 110.500181

Forfeited the game against Atlantic City (0-1) for a chance to play against Staten Island Stapletons and never returned.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankford Yellow Jackets</span> American professional football team, part of the NFL from 1924–1931

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 subway-elevated transit line that terminates there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pottsville Maroons</span> 1920s American football team

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange/Newark Tornadoes</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancaster Barnstormers</span> American minor-league professional baseball team

The Lancaster Barnstormers are an American professional baseball team based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They are a member of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner league" of Major League Baseball. The Barnstormers have played their home games at Clipper Magazine Stadium in the city's Northwest Corridor since 2005.

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 York White Roses was the name of a minor league baseball team in the city of York, Pennsylvania, US, that existed from 1894–1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1925 NFL Championship controversy</span>

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 Chicago Cardinals season resulted in the Cardinals winning their first NFL championship. The 1925 championship is contested and never awarded by the NFL after the Pottsville Maroons were suspended.

The American Association (AA) was a professional American football minor league based in New York City. Founded in 1936 with teams in New York and New Jersey, the AA extended its reach to Providence, Rhode Island prior to the onset of World War II. After a four-year hiatus, the league was renamed the American Football League as it expanded to include teams in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1947, the Richmond Rebels of the Dixie League purchased the assets of the defunct AFL Long Island Indians and jumped leagues.

The Anthracite League, also referred to as the Anthracite Association, was a short-lived American football minor league comprising teams based in coal-mining towns in eastern Pennsylvania. The league lasted for just one season before folding. The teams in the league were the Coaldale Big Green, Wilkes-Barre Barons, Shenandoah Yellow Jackets, Gilberton Cadamounts, and Pottsville Maroons.

The Coaldale Big Green was an early professional football team based in Coaldale, Pennsylvania. The club played as an independent until joining the Anthracite League in 1924. After leaving the league in 1924, the team spent its 1925 season as an independent, then joined the short-lived Eastern League of Professional Football in 1926. While the most well known Anthracite League team is the Pottsville Maroons, which jumped to the National Football League in 1925 and immediately established itself as a championship contender, the most consistently successful club in the coal region was the Big Green. Coaldale won the coal region's Curran Cup in 1921, 1922 and 1923.

The Melrose Athletic Club was a professional football team based in Atlantic City, New Jersey from 1921 until around 1927. The club which was also known as the Atlantic City Roses and the Atlantic City Atlantics was arguably the most popular football team in New Jersey during the 1920s. Due to the team's location in Atlantic City, the Roses attracted several of the teams from the Anthracite League, based in Pennsylvania, as well as the Canton Bulldogs, Frankford Yellow Jackets, Pottsville Maroons and Rochester Jeffersons of the National Football League.

Carl Linnwood Beck was a professional football player from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After attending high school, Beck attended the West Virginia University, Bucknell University and Lafayette College. He made his professional debut in the National Football League in 1921 with the Buffalo All-Americans. He played for the All-Americans for 1 year, before leaving the NFL. He later returned to the NFL in 1925 as a star with both the Pottsville Maroons and the Frankford Yellow Jackets. To date, he is considered by sports writers to be one of the greatest running backs ever developed in Pennsylvania. When not playing football, Beck worked as a police officer for the Harrisburg Bureau of Police.

The Bethlehem Bears were an early professional football team from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The team was initiated and formed by Michael "Gyp" Downey who served as player-coach and the team's manager. The Bears competed in the Eastern League of Professional Football in 1926.

Leo Frederick Douglass was a professional football who played in the National Football League in 1926. Douglass split the 1926 season playing for the Brooklyn Lions and the Frankford Yellow Jackets. He won the 1926 NFL championship when with Yellow Jackets.

The All-Lancaster Red Roses were an Eastern League of Professional Football team that played during the league's only year of existence, 1926. They finished third in the 10-team league with a 5-2-3 record. They played in the league championship against the Bethlehem Bears, and though they lost 3–0, the league still considered the Red-Roses the league champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Cardinals</span> Former American football team

The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons.

References

  1. "ExplorePAHistory.com - Image".
  2. 1 2 3 "Bethlehem Bears". Archived from the original on 2009-05-11. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  3. "1926 Eastern Football League (EFL)".
  4. "1927 Eastern Football League (EFL)".