The First Undefeated Team - The 1920 Akron Pros

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 (later renamed the National Football League (NFL) in 1922). 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.

Prior to 1908, several semi-pro and amateur teams dominated the Akron football scene. The most dominant of these was a team known as the Akron East Ends. The East Ends' dominance of Ohio football went unmatched until the Massillon Tigers paid several ringers from the recently disbanded Pittsburgh Stars to defeat the East Ends in 1903. The Akron Indians date as far back as 1908. The early Indians teams went on to win Ohio League championships in 1908, 1909, 1913 and 1914. The team was always referred to as the Indians by the fans.

Returning to the team for the 1920 season would be most of last year's team, including quarterback Fritz Pollard. The Pros also added end Bob Nash, who previously played for the Tigers, Al Garrett, and end Al Nesser of the famous Nesser brothers. The Akron Pros Head Coach for the 1920 season was Elgie Tobin. They opened their regular season with a win over the Wheeling Stogies, en route to an 8–0–3 record. In week 11, the Pros traded Bob Nash—the first trade in APFA history. A meeting was held by the APFA to determine a winner, and the Pros' season concluded with the team winning the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup for finishing first place in the APFA. The Decatur Staleys and the Buffalo All-Americans demanded the title because of the number of wins each team had.

Rip King and Fritz Pollard were named first-team all APFA and Alf Cobb was named second-team all APFA by the Rock Island Argus. The Pros only allowed 7 points all season, which was the lowest among all APFA teams. The 1920 Akron Pros were the first team in the history of the APFA to have an undefeated record, in that they were never defeated in a game. After 1972, the Pros' 8-0-3 record would have been counted as an .856 percentage, but under the rules of the day, tied games were not counted in the standings. In 2005, Pollard became the only player from the 1920 Akron Pros to be elected into the Professional Football Hall of Fame.

he Pros played all their home games at League Park in Akron. The regular season schedule was not a fixed schedule but was created dynamically by each team as the season progressed. The first week of the season opened up on September 26, but the Pros did not have a game scheduled that week, and their season is denoted as beginning in week 2. The Pros played nine games against APFA teams and two against non-APFA teams; they played a total of six games at home. The two non-APFA teams the Pros would play in week two and four when the Pros played against the Wheeling Stogies and the Cincinnati Celts, respectively. In week seven, a game was scheduled to play at home against the Detroit Heralds, but the game was cancelled due to rain.

During the season, Pollard was treated with disrespect because of being African American. He stated, "The white players were trying to hurt me." By the end of the season, Pollard would be one of the highest paid players in the APFA. The main reasons were because of his skin color as well as being a great player.

The first week of 1920 season the Akron Pros did not play. In week 2 the Akron Pros defeated the Wheeling Stogies 43-0. The next week the Pros defeated the Columbus Panhandles 37-0. The following week in week 4 they won by a score of 13-0 over the Cincinnati Celts. Then the Akron Pros won 7-0 over the Cleveland Tigers in week 5. They then headed down to Canton to play the Bulldogs and won by a score of 10-0. In week 7 the Pros played did not play but had a rematch in week 8 against the Cleveland Tigers. In this matchup the Pros took a 7-0 lead into the second half. The Pros then let up a 50 yard touchdown pass from Mark Devlin to Tuffy Conn and an extra point by Al Pierotti in the third quarter. There would be no more scoring for the rest of the game ending in a 7-7 tie. This would be the only score the Pros would let up all year. In week 9 the Dayton Triangles would lose 13-0 to the Pros. In week 10 the Pros would play twice. The Pros would play Canton again and win 7-0 and then the Triangles again which ended in a 14-0. The last two weeks of the season the Akron Pros would end up tying the Buffalo All-Americans and the Decatur Staleys in a 0-0 score. 

The game against the Decatur Staleys would end up being the most significant game of the season since the Staleys had only one lose and ten wins. The Pros entered the game at 8-0-2. Prior to the game, the Staleys' coach, George Halas, moved their home field to the much larger Cubs Park in Chicago and hired Paddy Driscoll from the Cardinals to play on his team in order to help defeat the Pros, which was against league rules at the time. Twelve thousand fans, which was the largest recorded crowd of the season, showed up to watch the game. Of the crowd, about 2,000 were from Pollard's hometown. The Pros almost scored twice, but failed once because of ineligible receiver penalties. On the other hand, Pollard made a touchdown-saving tackle against Sternment in the third quarter. On the same drive, the Staleys missed a 30-yard field goal.The Staleys' Chamberlin attempted to injure Pollard twice in an attempt to remove him from the game.

Since there were no playoff system in the APFA until 1932, a meeting was held to determine the 1920 NFL Champions. Each team that showed up had a vote to determine the champions. Since the Akron Pros had a 1.000 winning percentage, the Pros were awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup on April 30, 1921. The trophy was a "silver-loving cup", donated by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company. This decision, however, would arise with controversy. The Staleys and the All-Americans each stated that they should win the award because they had more wins and were not beaten by the Akron Pros. Each player from the Pros was also awarded with a golden fob. It was of a football and "1920", "WORLD CHAMPIONS", and each players' first initial and last name was inscribed on the fob.

Five players from the Pros received awards. On December 2, King and Pollard were named 1st Team, Alf Cobb was named 2nd Team, and Nash as well as Brad Tomlin were named 3rd Team all AFPA by the Rock Island Argus. The Pros did not officially celebrate their championship season until the following year. In October 1921, most of the team was invited to the Elks Club of Akron, which was labeled as "a grand homecoming celebration for the world's champions". Pollard was congratulated during an Akron Merchants Association of Colored Business Men's meeting.

n their inaugural AFPA season, the Pros posted an undefeated, 8–0–3 season. As a result, they were the first team in the history to complete a non-modern "perfect season". Only four other teams has accomplished this feat: the 1922 Canton Bulldogs at 10–0–2, the 1923 Canton Bulldogs at 11–0–1, the 1929 Green Bay Packers at 12–0–1, and the 1972 Miami Dolphins at 17–0. Prior to 1972, the NFL did not count ties into winning percentage; however, in that year the NFL retrospectively altered its standings to treat tied games as being worth half of a win. With that being said, the 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only team to have a modern perfect season. Three other teams accumulated a perfect regular season record, but lost in the post season. The 1934 Chicago Bears posted a 13–0 record but lost in the 1934 NFL Championship Game to the New York Giants. The 1942 Chicago Bears posted an 11–0 record but lost in the 1942 NFL Championship Game to the Washington Redskins. Lastly, the 2007 New England Patriots posted a 16–0 record but lost in Super Bowl XLII to the New York Giants.

The 1920 Akron Pros had one of only two African American players in the AFPA, Fritz Pollard. He later went on to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2005. Even though the Pros were given the trophy in 1920, the league lost track of the event and for a long time published in its own record books that the 1920 championship was undecided. It was not until the 1970s that the NFL remembered its early vote on awarding the Akron Pros the championship.

Well, in 1921, the Pros made history again by making Fritz Pollard the first black coach in pro football history—more than 50 years before Frank Robinson took on that role for the Cleveland Indians, and 68 years before the next NFL coach of color, the Raiders’ Art Shell. Pollard led Akron to another fine season (8-3-1), with major contributions from a young African-American star named Paul Robeson—later to become one of the country’s greatest singers and civil rights activists. In the end, though, 1921 proved to be the last competitive season for the Rubber City’s football club. The Pros stumbled in the mid-‘20s, and after switching their name back to the Akron Indians in 1926, they vanished from the NFL in 1927, never to return.