Related Research Articles
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.
The New York Yankees were a short-lived professional American football team from 1926 to 1929. The team was a member of the first American Football League in 1926, and later the National Football League from 1927 to 1929. They played their home games at Yankee Stadium. The team featured Red Grange at halfback.
The Staten Island Stapletons, also known as the Staten Island Stapes, were a professional American football team founded in 1915 that played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1929 to 1932. The team was based in the Stapleton section of Staten Island. They played under the shortened nickname the "Stapes" the final two seasons. Jack Shapiro, who was a blocking back for the Stapletons, was the shortest player in NFL history.
The 1926 NFL season was the seventh regular season of the National Football League. The league grew to 22 teams, a figure that would not be equaled in professional football until 1961, adding the Brooklyn Lions, the Hartford Blues, the Los Angeles Buccaneers, and the Louisville Colonels, with the Racine Tornadoes re-entering. The Cleveland Bulldogs sat out the season, the Rock Island Independents defected to the upstart American Football League, and the Rochester Jeffersons suspended operations for the final time. The Akron Pros re-branded as the Akron Indians, the Duluth Kelleys as the Duluth Eskimos and the Buffalo Bison as the Buffalo Rangers. .
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.
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, (1882–1939), and General Charles X. Zimmerman, (1865–1926), as vice president and starring Hall of Fame halfback Harold Edward "Red" Grange, (1903–1991), the short-lived league with nine teams competed against the more established – then six-year-old – NFL, both for players and for fans. 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.
Joseph Theodore Sternaman was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for eight seasons for the Chicago Bears and Duluth Kelleys of the National Football League (NFL). At 5'6" and 135 pounds he was called "the strongest little man I ever met" by sportswriter Grantland Rice. He played quarterback during the years Red Grange starred with the Bears. In 1926, he was the quarterback, head coach, and owner of the Chicago Bulls of the first American Football League (AFL).
The Boston Bulldogs were a professional American football team that competed in the first American Football League in 1926. Owned by Robert McKirby, the Bulldogs lasted only six games into the AFL season, playing one home game in Braves Field and one in Fenway Park. Coached by player-coach Herb Treat, the majority of the team played their college football in New England, Pennsylvania, and New York. The offense, marked by its inconsistent performance was led by Joe McGlone was inconsistent, scoring a total of 20 points in its existence… 17 of which were tallied in one game. Erwin Gehrke and Carl Etelman shared the kicking duties. Bill Cronin, a tailback, scored the team's only offensive touchdown.
Stephen Douglas Wycoff was an American football running back for the New York Giants, Staten Island Stapletons, and Boston Redskins in the National Football League (NFL), the Newark Bears in the first American Football League (AFL), and the Boston Shamrocks in the second American Football League (AFL). He played college football at Georgia Tech, where he was a running back and senior captain.
The 1926 AFL season is the only season of the first American Football League. It started with nine teams, with the initial game of the season being played in front of 22,000 fans in Cleveland, Ohio, but by the end of the season, only four teams were still in existence: three teams owned or subsidized by league founder C. C. Pyle and star Red Grange and league champion Philadelphia Quakers. The initial lineup of teams included the traveling Wildcats and a charter member of the National Football League, the Rock Island Independents, which became a second traveling team after having poor attendance in its first three games.
The Los Angeles Wildcats was a traveling team of the first American Football League that was not based in its nominal home city but in Chicago, Illinois. Coached by Jim Clark, the team was designed to be a showcase for University of Washington star back George “Wildcat” Wilson. Compared to most traveling teams in professional football, the Wildcats were successful, compiling a 6–6–2 record in the only season of the team's – and the league's – existence.
The Cleveland Panthers were a professional American football team. They were an independent team founded in 1919 from the remains of the Youngstown Patricians. The Panthers played, with various degrees of success, continuously from 1919 and eventually, as fewer opponents played them each year after 1926, sputtered to a quiet folding in 1933.
The Chicago Bulls were a professional American football team that competed in the first American Football League in 1926. Owned by Joey Sternaman, the Bulls also had AFL founders C. C. Pyle and Red Grange as shareholders. Joey Sternaman was also the coach and blocking back for the Bulls throughout their brief existence.
Daniel Blaine (1891–1958) was a professional football player for the Staten Island Stapletons from 1915 until 1924. In 1915 he, along with three other players, formed the team to play other semi-pro teams from New York and New Jersey. He suspended his football career in 1918 to serve in the United States military during World War I. Once the war ended, Blaine took over sole ownership of the Stapletons. He stayed in the Stapleton lineup at halfback until ending his playing career in 1924 at age 33. After his retirement from football, Blaine focused solely on owning and managing the team.
The 1926 Rock Island Independents season was their only season in the first American Football League, after jumping to the upstart league from the National Football League. The team finished 2–6 in league play and 2–7–2 overall, earning them seventh place in the league. The Independents struggled to bring in 5000 fans to its home games and later became a traveling team after having poor attendance in its first three games. The AFL folded after the 1926 and the Independents did not rejoin the NFL. They instead played as a minor, semi-pro team in 1927, then folded.
The Brooklyn Lions were a National Football League team that played in the 1926 NFL season. The team was formed as the league's counter-move to the first American Football League, which enfranchised a team called the Brooklyn Horsemen, a professional football team that competed in the 1926 AFL season.
Burton Caswell "Cy" Williams was an American college and professional football player who was a tackle for three different professional teams in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) during the 1920s and early 1930s.
References
- ↑ “Bill Edwards Named President of A.F.L.", New York Times , March 8, 1926
- ↑ David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen, and Rick Korch, The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional Football, From 1892 to the Present (St. Martin’s Press 1994), ISBN 0-312-11435-4
- ↑ 1926 American Football League from Elias Sports Bureau and Pro Football Research Association Linescore Committee Archived June 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen, and Rick Korch, The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional Football, From 1892 to the Present (St. Martin’s Press 1994), ISBN 0-312-11435-4
- ↑
- Hogrogian, John (1985). "The Staten Island Stapletons" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. 7 (6): 1–9. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2010.
- ↑ David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen, and Rick Korch, The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional Football, From 1892 to the Present (St. Martin’s Press 1994), ISBN 0-312-11435-4