The First NFL Team To Fold - The Story Of The Chicago Tigers

The Chicago Tigers of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) played their first and only season in 1920, the first year of the league (1920), and have the distinction of being the first NFL team to fold. They had a record of 2 wins, 5 losses and 1 tie. The team played its home games at Chicago's Wrigley Field (then called Cubs Park) and was the first NFL team to do so. The Tigers were never formally members of the APFA. However, since the team played seven games against APFA teams in 1920, resulting in a 1–5–1 league record, they are generally included in the league standings.

According to Emil Klosiinkski in the book, Pro Football in the Days of Rockne, the Tigers' main offensive weapon was their passing game. This specifically referred to the passes thrown by Johnny Barrett and Milt Ghee to Jack Meagher and Oscar Knop. On October 24, 1920, the Decatur Staleys (renamed the Chicago Bears in 1922) played a game against the Tigers at Cubs Park and billed it as "the season's most professional game" that would also determine the "pro title". Many Decatur games, at the time, were billed as championships in an attempt to lure crowds. The Staleys defeated the Tigers 10–0.

In 1920 the Tigers and Racine Cardinals were playing for the same Chicago fan dollar. Legend has it that the Cardinals' owner Chris O’Brien offered to play for the right to represent the city of Chicago in the APFA, and that Tigers’ owner Guil Falcon had agreed to the terms. The game resulted in a 6–3 Cardinals win, with Paddy Driscoll scoring the game's only touchdown on a 40-yard run. The Tigers finished the season with a 2–5–1 record and, as allegedly promised, dropped out of the league.

However, there are three problems with this story: first, the Tigers played two more league games after losing to the Cardinals; second, O'Brien was willing to let the Decatur Staleys play in Chicago the following season (in fact, it was the Staleys that proved to be the Tigers' actual last league opponent); and third, there is no contemporary evidence for the challenge. According to the NFL, the Chicago Tigers folded between the 1920 and 1921 seasons. The team is just a small footnote in the history of the National Football League.

Sources

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Ziemba, Joe (1999). When Football Was Football: The Chicago Cardinals and the Birth of the NFL. Triumph Books. ISBN 1-57243-317-5.

NFL Franchise Chronology: Chicago Tigers

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Who Were The First Three Franchises In Detroit?

In 1905, several University of Detroit football players, led by Bill Marshall, organized the Heralds as an amateur team after the university did not field a squad. While the university's football team resumed play in 1906, the Heralds continued to play as an amateur team. In 1911, the team dropped its amateur status and became semi-professional. In 1916, several out-of-town players were brought in to replace some of the older players, several of whom had been with the Heralds since 1905.

Despite not being based in Ohio, the Heralds played many of their games against teams in the Ohio League. In 1917, the team recorded an 8–2 record, their only losses coming at the hands of the Ohio League champion Canton Bulldogs and a military team from Battle Creek. The Heralds were a rarity in 1918; while most teams either stopped play or reduced their schedules to only local teams because of World War I and the flu pandemic, the Heralds continued to play a full schedule and even travel to other cities, accruing a 6–2 record with both losses coming to the Ohio League champion Dayton Triangles. In 1919, as the suspended teams resumed play and travel restrictions eased significantly, the Heralds went 1–4–2, including losses to Bulldogs and the Massillon Tigers.

In 1920, the American Professional Football Association, predecessor to the National Football League, was established. While the Heralds did not officially join the association, they are listed in league standings for the season. Overall, the Heralds went 2–3–3. The Heralds were reorganized into the Detroit Tigers, after the city's major league baseball team, for the 1921 season. However, after a tie and a win in their first two games, the Tigers lost the next five. Several players complained about not getting paid and left the team during the season. The team officially folded at the end of the season in mid-November. Its remaining players were given to the Buffalo All-Americans.

In 1925, Detroit fielded its second NFL franchise, the Detroit Panthers. The team was organized by future Hall of Famer, Jimmy Conzelman. Conzelman was a quarterback who had recently played with the Decatur Staleys, Rock Island Independents and the Milwaukee Badgers. Conzelman served as the team's owner, coach, and starting quarterback. The Panthers started the season 8–1. However, a 6–3 upset loss to the Independents on Thanksgiving Day knocked them out of first place and they ended the season in third.

The Panthers hoped to build on their 1925 season, but they opened the 1926 season with an 0–3 record. After rallying to a 4–0–2 record in their next six games, they lost their last three. Conzelman gave up the franchise and joined the Providence Steam Roller as player-coach.

Following the 1927 season, the Cleveland Bulldogs were sold to a group of investors, who moved the team to Detroit. Coached by LeRoy Andrews, the team was renamed the Detroit Wolverines. They were named after quarterback Benny Friedman's alma mater, the Michigan Wolverines. The Wolverines finished their 1928 season in third place with a 7–2-1 record, losing only to the Providence Steam Roller and the Frankford Yellow Jackets, the NFL's first and second place teams.

During the offseason, Tim Mara, the owner of the New York Giants, was interested in acquiring Friedman. Rather than simply trade for Friedman, Mara bought the entire Wolverines franchise and promptly deactivated it, delivering Friedman and other star Wolverines players to New York. The NFL would not return to the Motor City for six years, until the Portsmouth Spartans became the Detroit Lions in 1934.

While the Lions are well known for playing on Thanksgiving Day, the other Detroit teams had a history of playing on Thanksgiving Day as well. Here is a list of the games.

• 1917 Heralds vs. Canton Bulldogs (lost 7–0)
• 1920 Heralds at Dayton Triangles (lost 28–0)
• 1921 Tigers, merged with the Buffalo All-Americans, at Chicago Staleys (won 7–6)
• 1925 Panthers vs. Rock Island Independents (lost 6–3)
• 1926 Panthers vs. Los Angeles Buccaneers (lost 9–6)
• 1928 Wolverines vs. Dayton Triangles (won 33–0)
  
  

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 This contest (as of 2024) is the only game in NFL history to end with this score, thus creating a scorigami.

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 "Triangles are on Short End: Local Eleven Goes Down to Defeat at Detroit by Score of 33 to 0," Dayton Herald, Nov. 30, 1928, p. 32.

 The reporter for the United Press had the crowd at 3,500.

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Who Were The Rock Island Independents?

The Rock Island Independents were a professional American football team, based in Rock Island, Illinois, from 1907–1926. The Independents were a founding National Football League franchise. They hosted what has been retrospectively designated the First National Football League Game on September 26, 1920 at Douglas Park. The Independents were founded in 1907 by Demetrius Clements as an independent football club. Hence, the team was named the "Independents."

In 1926, the Independents left the NFL to become a charter member of the first American Football League, the only NFL team to do so. The Independents then folded along with the entire league in 1927.
On September 26, 1920, the Independents hosted the first official game featuring a team from the APFA. Thus, the Independents' Douglas Park became the site of the first ever National Football League contest. Just nine days after the league had formed, on September 26, 1920, the Independents defeated the St. Paul Ideals 48–0 in the first contest involving a member team of the APFA.

A week later, on October 3, 1920, the Independents defeated the Muncie Flyers 45–0 at Douglas Park in the first full week of APFA league play. 3,100 fans were in attendance as Arnie Wyman, former Minnesota great, made his debut for the Islanders, scoring three touchdowns. This might have been the first NFL game ever played between two NFL teams, however, NFL historical records don't indicate the kickoff time for this game or the other APFA game played that day between the Dayton Triangles and the Columbus Panhandles in Dayton, Ohio.

The Independents posted 4–2–1 records in the league's first year. They had the same record the next two seasons, with five of their six losses in three years coming to George Halas and the Decatur Staleys/Chicago Staleys/Chicago Bears. On June 24, 1922, the APFA changed its name to the National Football League (NFL).

The Independents' overall NFL record was 26–14–9, with five winning seasons in six years. After finishing fourth in 1920, their best overall finish in the National Football League standings was fifth, which they accomplished three times: in 1921 and 1922 under Jimmy Conzelman, and in 1924 under Johnny Armstrong.

In 1926, football star Red Grange and his agent, C. C. Pyle, formed the American Football League (AFL) after Pyle was denied ownership of an NFL franchise in New York City.

Talks took hold and the league was formed. Founding American Football League teams for 1926 were the Boston Bulldogs, Brooklyn Horsemen, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Panthers, Los Angeles Wildcats, Newark Bears, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Quakers and the Rock Island Independents. Rock Island left the NFL to join the new league. The Independents also moved from Douglas Park in Rock Island to Browning Field in neighboring Moline, Illinois for the 1926 season. The Independents were the only NFL team to make the jump to the rival league.

However, the AFL did not pay as much as the NFL did a year prior and Independents players left the team for bigger salaries with other NFL teams. As a result, the Independents ended their season with a 2–6–1 record. Coached by Johnny Armstrong, the Independents played their first three games at Browning Field and then played the rest of their 1926 games as a traveling team. The AFL folded after the season and the Independents were rejected in their attempt to rejoin the NFL. They played as a semi-pro team in 1927, then went out of business.

The team has 5 members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame alumni are Jimmy Conzelman (1920–1921), Joe Guyon (1924), Ed Healey (1920–1922), Duke Slater (1922-1926), and Jim Thorpe (1924–1925) played for the Independents.

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About Me Page

About Me Page

Pro Football Historian is a blog page written by Flint Given. I am an avid football fan who tries their best to watch every football game and tries to know each player, even players that might never touch the ball in the NFL field during the regular season. I have been watching football avidly since I was 11 years old. I currently work at NFL Films. Football is the only sport I mainly watch, in my mind their isn't an off-season when the NFL has free agency, the draft process, OTAs, training camp, etc.

I will try my best to inform people on prior NFL events that people might not know about. I love listening and reading about former past events in the NFL. Learning about teams from the 1920s like the Canton Bulldogs or the Akron Pros fascinates me. Even the first few NFL World Championships in the 1930s have amazing stories like the "Sneakers Game" and the first championship between the Spartans and the Bears. It's these kinds of events that I want to discuss in this blog. Doesn't matter what team you love or hate I will try my best to treat all teams the same because in this age many fans only focus on Super Bowl wins and not the championships won before the 1966 season. Hopefully you are interested and will continue to check up on my blogs.