The NFL, founded in 1920, wasn’t always the money-printing machine it is today. In the early years of the league, college football was much more popular, and many early NFL teams struggled, moved, or withdrew. From Canton Bulldogs to Los Angeles Buccaneers, here are eight long-gone franchises with unusual stories.
1. Canton Bulldogs (1920-1926)
The Canton Bulldogs, a founding member of the NFL, were an early powerhouse in the league, winning back-to-back championships in 1922 and 1923. Despite their dominance, the franchise moved to Cleveland for financial reasons for the 1924 season and won. another championship like the Cleveland Bulldogs. The team then returned to Canton but withdrew after the 1926 season, having finished 1-9-3. The Bulldogs’ early success partly led to the NFL’s decision to locate the Professional Football Hall of Fame in the city.
READ MORE: The birth of the National Football League
2. Tonawanda (NY) Kardex Loggers (1921)
The Lumbermens, arguably the most obscure franchise in the NFL, played in one game, a 45-0 loss to the Rochester, NY Jeffersons during the league’s formation. And with that, they ceased to exist – unable, or perhaps unwilling, to program additional games.
“It was typical [of the NFL’s early days], teams came and went, “said Chris Willis, head of the NFL Films research library in 2017.” The main reason some of these teams didn’t survive those early days was because it cost money. ‘money to form a team, to pay the players. “
3. New York Yankees (1927-1928)
Red Grange, “The Galloping Ghost,” played at the University of Illinois and in the NFL.
Historica Graphica Collection / Heritage Images / Getty Images
When most sports fans hear “1927 New York Yankees,” they think of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, who were stars on one of the greatest baseball teams of all time. But there was another New York Yankees team that year, an NFL team with one of the best running backs in the game, Red Grange, also known as “The Galloping Ghost.”
The Yankees became a professional football team following a contract dispute between Grange and the Chicago Bears and joined the NFL in 1927. Grange was so dominant at the University of Illinois that columnist Damon Runyon writes: “This man, Red Grange of Illinois is three or four men in one for football.
But Grange couldn’t take the Yankees far in 1927 (7-8-1), and he missed the entire 1928 season with a knee injury. In 1929, he returned to the Chicago Bears, causing the downfall of the troubled Yankees.
4. Frankford (Pa.) Yellow Jackets (1924-1931)
In 1926, the Yellow Jackets won the NFL title, knocking out 10 opponents en route to a 14-1-2 record. That same year, another Philadelphia football team, the Philadelphia Quakers, won the American Football League (a competitive professional league that only survived one season).
Philadelphia Investigator Columnist Gordon MacKay has spent this fall lobbying for teams to compete to crown the true champion of professional football, writing: “Perhaps never in football history has this town had a feud of such an important family. ” The owner of the Quakers, in a statement published in the Applicant, challenged the Yellow Jackets. Frankford wanted to play, but the NFL denied him permission.
Suffering from low turnout, the team withdrew after the 1931 season.
5. Pottsville (Pa.) Maroons (1925-1929)
A 1925 team photo of the Pottsville Maroons.
Tim Leedy / MediaNews Group / Reading Eagle via Getty Images
In the franchise’s first year as an NFL team, the Maroons “won” the NFL Championship with a 10-2 record, capped off with a victory over the Chicago Cardinals. The NFL didn’t have a playoff back then, so the Maroons were named champions… for six days.
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Oddly, Pottsville was stripped of his title after playing an unauthorized game against Notre Dame, a university powerhouse. Then the Cardinals scheduled “two hastily-arranged games against weaker teams,” according to a Pennsylvania newspaper, won both and improved their record to 11-2-1. The Cardinals, with the best record in the NFL, have been declared champions.
Fishy as it sounds, the ploy was licensed by the league, and the NFL still recognizes the Cardinals as the 1925 champions. After the 1928 season, the Maroons moved to Boston.
6. Providence Steam Roller (RI) (1925-1931)
Led by a stellar defense, the Steam Roller won the NFL title in 1928 with an 8-1-2 record. The following season, Providence recorded three firsts, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It took place at a cycling venue – the sport was popular at the time – played four matches in six days (0-3-1) and hosted the first night game in professional football history.
The night game took place at Kinsley Park Stadium in Providence, where floodlights were recently installed. A local newspaper reported that the ball was painted white for the game against the Chicago Cardinals, making the orb “look like a big egg.” The newspaper added: “There was a sense of panic that the player who made the capture would be splashed with egg yolk.”
The night game, which Chicago won 16-0, drew an impressive 6,000 fans. But when home attendance dropped in 1931, the franchise was handed over to the league and never played in Providence again.
7. The Buccaneers of Los Angeles (1926)
A name-only Los Angeles team, the Buccaneers spent their only season in the NFL as a traveling team. They were co-coached by their top players, former University of California stars Talma “Tut” Imlay and Harold “Brick” Muller, who earned his nickname due to his flamboyant red hair. Most of the Bucaneers were from California. Despite not playing any home games, Los Angeles finished with a respectable 6-3-1 record in 1926.
According to Pittsburgh Daily Post, the team also played the first NFL game featuring “three all-time All-Americans” when they beat the Canton Bulldogs, 16-13. The three All-Americans were Muller for the Bucs, and Jim Thorpe (return) and Pete Henry (tackle) for the Bulldogs.
8. Dallas Texans (1952)
After their one season in 1952, the Dallas Texans became the last NFL franchise to fold, after a particularly lousy 1-11 season. The Texans, the league’s first team in the Deep South, were co-owned by 32-year-old Giles Miller, who is said to be America’s youngest millionaire, and his brother, Connell.
The Millers were rabid college football fans, but none were ready to run a professional sports franchise, especially one without talent. Midway through the season, the franchise was handed over to the NFL due to a “lack of funds,” Connell’s son wrote in a team retrospective for Texas monthly magazine in 2019. And, during the season, the team moved to Hershey, Pa. – the Vagrant Texans won their only game on Thanksgiving Day, against the Chicago Bears in Akron, Ohio, in front of 3,000 fans.
In the final week of the season, head coach Jimmy Phelan called off training and told his players, “Men, I’m not telling you your paychecks aren’t good, but if I was you, I was running to the bank. . ”
In 1960, the Dallas Texans of the American Football League began playing. The team moved to Kansas City in 1963 and eventually became part of the NFL.
