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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 Cleveland Tigers were the first Cleveland team franchise in what became the National Football League (NFL). The Tigers played in the "Ohio League" before joining the American Professional Football Association during the 1920 and 1921 seasons.
Homer Hurd Davidson was a professional Major League Baseball player for the Cleveland Naps. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he played only 6 games for the Naps during the 1908 season. Davidson was better known as a professional football player. He played in the Ohio League, which was the direct predecessor to the modern National Football League. One veteran Ohio sportswriter once rated Davidson to be the equal of Walter Eckersall, an infamous quarterback from the University of Chicago. He attended college at the University of Pennsylvania and played on the Penn Quakers baseball team.
The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in Ohio. It is the direct predecessor to the modern National Football League (NFL).
The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the "Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championships in 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906, then merged to become "All-Massillons" to win another title in 1907. The team returned as the Tigers in 1915 but, with the reemergence of the Bulldogs, only won one more Ohio League title. Pro football was popularized in Ohio when the amateur Massillon Tigers, hired four Pittsburgh pros to play in the season-ending game against Akron. At the same time, pro football declined in the Pittsburgh area, and the emphasis on the pro game moved west from Pennsylvania to Ohio.
The Shelby Blues were an American football team based in Shelby, Ohio. The team played in the Ohio League from 1900 to 1919. In 1920, when the Ohio League became the APFA, the Blues did not join but continued to play against APFA teams, only to later suspend operations. The Blues returned to play as an independent between 1926 and 1928.
Harry Turner was a professional football player. He was one of the most popular players on the Canton Professionals, the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs who played in the Ohio League. The team's center, Turner played with the Pros from around 1911 until his death in 1914.
George Watson "Peggy" Parratt was a professional football player who played in the "Ohio League" prior to it becoming a part of the National Football League. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Parratt played quarterback for the Shelby Blues, Lorain Pros, Massillon Tigers, Massillon All-Stars, Franklin Athletic Club of Cleveland, Akron Indians and the Cleveland Tigers between 1905 and 1916. Parratt threw the first legal forward pass in professional football history while playing for the Massillon Tigers on October 25, 1906.
Frank Nesser was a professional football player in the "Ohio League" and the early National Football League. During his career he played mainly for the Columbus Panhandles, however he did also play for a little for the Akron Indians, whenever he was recruited by Indians manager, Peggy Parratt.
The Nesser brothers were a group of American football-playing brothers who helped make up the most famous football family in the United States from 1907 until the mid-1920s. The group consisted of seven brothers who worked for Panhandle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Columbus, Ohio, and who were later used as the foundation for the Columbus Panhandles of the Ohio League, and later the National Football League, when the club was founded by future NFL president Joe Carr in 1907.
George Milton Roudebush was a professional football player with the Canton Bulldogs, Cincinnati Celts of the "Ohio League", and the Dayton Triangles of the early National Football League. He was also a lawyer in Cleveland for 73 years.
The Pittsburgh Lyceum were a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1906 until 1910. The team played against many of the top "Ohio League", the most notables being the Canton Bulldogs and the Massillon Tigers. They were regarded as one of the top professional football teams in Pittsburgh from 1907 until the mid-1920s. The Lyceum was also the last pro football championship team Pittsburgh would produce until the 1970s. Many of their victories came against many of the strongest teams in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. Hence, they were given the mythical moniker the "Tri-State Champions" in 1909. The team was finally defeated in 1909, via an upset by the Dayton Oakwoods in their final game of 1909. The Lyceums broke up after a disappointing 1910 season. An unrelated incarnation of the team existed in 1924. Art Rooney, who would go on establish the Pittsburgh Steelers and become enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, played for the Lyceum.
Edward Wood was an early professional football player for the Latrobe Athletic Association, the Franklin Athletic Club and finally for the Canton Bulldogs of the "Ohio League". He also played on Dave Berry's Western Pennsylvania All-Star team, a collection of early football star players, that was designed to compete with the star-heavy Duquesne Country and Athletic Club on December 3, 1898 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. In 1902 he played in the first National Football League for the Philadelphia Phillies. He also played for Franklin when it won the 1903 World Series of Football over the Watertown Red & Black at Madison Square Garden. Wood later became one of the first professional players to catch forward passes when they became legal in 1906.
Dan Policowski was an early professional football player for the Massillon Tigers from 1904 to 1906. Originally from Canton, Ohio, which was the home of the Tigers', rival the Canton Bulldogs, Policowski played end under the alias Dan Riley. He was also known as "Bullet Riley".
Joseph Collins was an American football player for the University of Notre Dame in 1908 and 1909. During his time at Notre Dame, Collins discovered and recommended Knute Rockne to the football team's coach, Frank Longman.
The Shelby Tigers was a professional American football team, based in Shelby, Ohio, from 1910 until 1911. The team played in the Ohio League, which was the direct predecessor to the modern National Football League.
Sherburne Henry Wightman was a professional American football player-coach in the "Ohio League", which was the direct predecessor to the modern National Football League. He is best remembered for coaching the Massillon Tigers to an Ohio League title in 1906, over the Canton Bulldogs, which led to accusations of a betting scandal. In 1907, he coached a version of the Massillon Tigers called the "All-Massillons" to another Ohio League title. Prior to his professional career, Wightman played at the college level for the Chicago Maroons, under Amos Alonzo Stagg, and Swarthmore College.
John Lang was a professional American football player. In 1902 he won a championship in the first National Football League with the Pittsburgh Stars. A year later he was a member of the Franklin Athletic Club football team that was considered the "best in the world". He also won the 1903 World Series of Football, held at Madison Square Garden, with the Franklin Athletic Club.
Julius "Baldy" Wittmann was a professional football player in the Ohio League for the Massillon Tigers, as well as the Tigers 1907 spin-off team the "All-Massillions". When the Tigers were established in 1903, Wittmann was picked to start on the team at end, despite never playing the game before. Prior to his involvement with the Tigers, Wittman was the proprietor of a local cigar store and a spare-time police officer. His slogan for the cigar store was "our prices and the Massillon Tigers can't be beat".
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 would go on to win 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, which as of 2019 remains an NFL record. As a result of the Bulldogs' early success along with the league being founded in the city, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton. Jim Thorpe, the Olympian and renowned all-around athlete, was Canton's most-recognized player in the pre-NFL era.
References
- Roberts, Milt (1979). "Peggy Parratt MVP" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. 1 (6): 1–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-22.
- PFRA Research. "Glamourless Gridirons: 1907-1909" (PDF) (6). Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-26.Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - Carroll, Bob; Bob Braunwart (1981). "Ohio League" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. 3 (6): 1–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-22.
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