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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.
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The 1921 NFL Championship controversy, known among Buffalo sports historians and fans as the Staley Swindle, is a dispute in which the Buffalo All-Americans unintentionally surrendered the 1921 APFA Championship title to the Chicago Staleys. The controversy began at the conclusion of the 1921 season, when the All-Americans finished the season with the best record in the American Professional Football Association. However, after losing what the All-Americans owner had intended to be an exhibition game to the Staleys on December 4, 1921, the All-Americans lost their title to Chicago on a tiebreaker.
The 1919 Decatur Staleys season was the first in the team's long existence, later becoming known as the Chicago Bears. It was also the only season in which the Staleys/Bears team was amateur, not a member of the National Football League or managed by George Halas. The 1919 Staleys were a works team, made up purely of regular A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company employees, and finished with a 6–1 record to win the Central Illinois Championship.
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References
- ↑ George Halas and the Birth of the NFL (PDF). p. 606.
- ↑ Miller, Jeff. "Buffalo's Forgotten Championship:The Story of Buffalo's First Professional Football Team". Buffalonian.com. Archived from the original on 2008-07-18. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
- ↑ Price, Mark J. (April 25, 2011). "Local history: Searching for lost trophy". Akron Beacon Journal .
