Football Facts & Figures
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Cincinnati Bengals Team History
Cincinnati Bengals Team History Planning for the Cincinnati Bengals franchise began three full years before the team began playing in the American Football League in 1968. Paul Brown, who had enjoyed exceptional success as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns for 17 seasons before departing in 1962, had the urge to get back into pro football. In 1965, he met with then-Governor Jim Rhodes and the two agreed the state could accommodate a second pro football team. A year later in 1966, Cincinnati’s city council approved the construction of 60,389-seat Riverfront Stadium, which was scheduled for completion by 1970. The next year, a group headed by Brown was awarded an American Football League franchise that would begin play in 1968. Brown named his team the Bengals in recognition of previous Cincinnati pro football franchises with the same name in the 1930s and 1940s. Brown himself returned to the coaching ranks on the Bengals sidelines for the first eight years. He retired after the 1975 season but continued to serve as general manager until his death in 1991. Mike Brown then succeeded his father as general manager. The 1968 Bengals won their first two home games in 28,000-seat Nippert Stadium against Denver and Buffalo and finished with a 3-11 record, the most an expansion team of the 1960s recorded. Cincinnati improved enough in 1969 that Brown was named the AFL Coach of the Year. In 1970, they captured the AFC Central division title and thus became the first expansion team to win a championship of any kind in just three years. -
PRO FOOTBALL HALL of FAME TEACHER ACTIVITY GUIDE 2020-2021 Edition
PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME TEACHER ACTIVITY GUIDE 2020-2021 EDITIOn Quarterback Joe Namath - Hall of fame class of 1985 nEW YORK JETS Team History The history of the New York franchise in the American Football League is the story of two distinct organizations, the Titans and the Jets. Interlocking the two in continuity is the player personnel which went with the franchise in the ownership change from Harry Wismer to a five-man group headed by David “Sonny” Werblin in February 1963. The three-year reign of Wismer, who was granted a charter AFL franchise in 1959, was fraught with controversy. The on-the-field happenings of the Titans were often overlooked, even in victory, as Wismer moved from feud to feud with the thoughtlessness of one playing Russian roulette with all chambers loaded. In spite of it all, the Titans had reasonable success on the field but they were a box office disaster. Werblin’s group purchased the bankrupt franchise for $1,000,000, changed the team name to Jets and hired Weeb Ewbank as head coach. In 1964, the Jets moved from the antiquated Polo Grounds to newly- constructed Shea Stadium, where the Jets set an AFL attendance mark of 45,665 in the season opener against the Denver Broncos. Ewbank, who had enjoyed championship success with the Baltimore Colts in the 1950s, patiently began a building program that received a major transfusion on January 2, 1965 when Werblin signed Alabama quarterback Joe Namath to a rumored $400,000 contract. The signing of the highly-regarded Namath proved to be a major factor in the eventual end of the AFL-NFL pro football war of the 1960s. -
The Professional Football Researchers Association Once
The Professional Football Researchers Association Once More, With Feeling 1921 By PFRA Research Through the winter of 1920-21, the APFA couldn't even say for undecided. It took about fifty years for the NFL to remember the certain which team had won its championship. On the other hand, Akron Pros. there weren't a whole helluva lot of people who cared. How much prestige the title was worth was highly debatable. Of more importance, as it turned out, was the precedent of awarding the title by vote rather than by reading the top line of the In Philadelphia, the Union A.A. of Phoenixville -- while not a standings. The APFA hadn't kept standings in 1920, of course, but member of the APFA -- claimed the mythical "U.S. Professional once the practice was started it did not always yield a certain Championship" by virtue of eleven wins and no ties. Most of the answer at the end of the season, particularly during the next few wins had come against the likes of Edwardsville, Holmesburg, and years. Conshohocken, but the eleventh victim had been the Canton Bulldogs -- the recognized champs of 1919. In the midwest, few After Frank Nied and Ranney, the Akron owners, accepted their fans had ever heard of the Union A.A., and the team itself couldn't trophy, the meeting got down to its raison d'etre. The managers in trumpet its pretensions too loudly because most of its important turn made short speeches outlining conditions in their cities and players doubled on Sundays as the Buffalo All-Americans. -
Canton, Ohio and the National Football League
PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME TEACHER ACTIVITY GUIDE 2019-2020 EDITIOn DALLAS COWBOYS Team History In 1960, the Dallas Cowboys became the NFL’s first successful new team since the collapse of the All- America Football Conference 10 years earlier. Clint Murchison Jr. was the new team’s majority owner and his first order of business was to hire Tex Schramm as general manager, Tom Landry as head coach and Gil Brandt as player personnel director. This trio was destined for almost unprecedented success in the pro football world but the “glory years” didn’t come easily. Playing in the storied Cotton Bowl, the 1960 Cowboys had to settle for one tie in 12 games and Dallas didn’t break even until its sixth season in 1965. But in 1966, the Cowboys began an NFL-record streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons. That streak included 18 years in the playoffs, 13 divisional championships, five trips to the Super Bowl and victories in Super Bowls VI and XII. Dallas won its first two divisional championships in 1966 and 1967 but lost to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL championship game each year. Similar playoff losses the next seasons were followed by a 16-13 last-second loss to Baltimore in Super Bowl V following the 1970 season. The Cowboys were typified as “a good team that couldn’t win the big games.” But they dispelled such thought for good the very next year with a 24-3 win over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI. The Cowboys were Super Bowl-bound three more times from 1975 to 1978. -
Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHT PRO FOOTBALL’S EARLY YEARS Then all of a sudden this team was playing to 6,000–8,000 people. I personally think that the Oorang Indians, the Canton Bulldogs, and the Massillon Tigers were three teams that probably introduced people to pro football. — Robert Whitman. Professional football got its start long after pro baseball, and for many years was largely ignored by the general public. Prior to 1915, when Jim Thorpe signed with the Canton Bulldogs, there was little money in the game. The players earned less than was paid, under the table, to some allegedly amateur players on success- ful college teams. Jim Thorpe, 1920s jim thorpe association Things changed when Thorpe entered the pro game. Jack Cusack, the manager of the Canton Bulldogs, recalled: “I hit the jackpot by signing the famous Jim Thorpe … some of my business ‘advisers’ frankly predicted that I was leading the Bulldogs into bankruptcy by paying Jim the enormous sum of $250 a game, but the deal paid off even beyond my greatest expectations. Jim was an attraction as well as a player. Whereas our paid attendance averaged about 1,200 before we took him on, we filled the Massil- lon and Canton parks for the next two games — 6,000 for the first and 8,000 for the second. All the fans wanted to see the big Indian in action. On the field, Jim was a fierce competitor, absolutely fearless. Off the field, he was a lovable fellow, big-hearted and with a good sense of humor.” Unlike Thorpe’s experience in professional baseball, he was fully utilized on the gridiron as a running back, kicker, and fierce defensive player. -
Cleveland Browns Team History
Cleveland Browns Team History The Cleveland Browns were born in 1944 when Cleveland businessman Arthur B. McBride acquired a franchise in the new All-America Football Conference that would begin play in 1946. McBride’s first act after acquiring the team was to hire Paul Brown, who had been a very successful high school, college and service coach, as coach and general manager. The teams of the AAFC basically were of comparable quality to those of the NFL but, in the first 10 years of post-World War II pro football, the Cleveland Browns proved to be the best in either league. With such all-time greats as quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley and tackle-kicker Lou Groza leading the way, Cleveland won all four AAFC championships and amassed a 52-4-3 winning record. When the AAFC folded after the 1949 season, many insisted a major reason was the Browns’ dominance that eliminated any viable competition. The AAFC-NFL settlement called for the Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts to join the NFL. Many NFL diehards, still not convinced the Browns were for real, expected Cleveland to fail badly when they played against the established NFL teams. But the Browns quickly proved their domination was no fluke by opening the 1950 season with a stunning 35-10 victory over the defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles. Cleveland then won the NFL Eastern Conference championship for six straight years from 1950 to 1955 and NFL titles in 1950, 1954 and 1955. The Browns won another divisional title in 1957, a year that saw the great running back from Syracuse, Jim Brown, join the team. -
Jim Brown, Join the Team
PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME TEACHER ACTIVITY GUIDE 2018 - 2019 TEAM EDITION CLEVELAND BROWNS CLEVELAND BROWNS Team History The Cleveland Browns were born in 1944 when Cleveland businessman Arthur B. McBride acquired a franchise in the new All-America Football Conference that would begin play in 1946. McBride’s first act after acquiring the team was to hire Paul Brown, who had been a very successful high school, college and service coach, as coach and general manager. The teams of the AAFC basically were of comparable quality to those of the NFL but, in the first 10 years of post-World War II pro football, the Cleveland Browns proved to be the best in either league. With such all-time greats as quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley and tackle-kicker Lou Groza leading the way, Cleveland won all four AAFC championships and amassed a 52-4-3 winning record. When the AAFC folded after the 1949 season, many insisted a major reason was the Browns’ dominance that eliminated any viable competition. The AAFC-NFL settlement called for the Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts to join the NFL. Many NFL diehards, still not convinced the Browns were for real, expected Cleveland to fail badly when they played against the established NFL teams. But the Browns quickly proved their domination was no fluke by opening the 1950 season with a stunning 35-10 victory over the defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles. Cleveland then won the NFL Eastern Conference championship for six straight years from 1950 to 1955 and NFL titles in 1950, 1954 and 1955. -
Chronology of Professional Football
CHRONOLOGY OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL 1869 ly professional, becoming the 1903 throughout Ohio. Rutgers and Princeton played first team to play a full season The Franklin (Pa.) Athletic Club a college soccer football with only professionals. won the second and last 1909 game, the first ever, November World Series of pro football A field goal dropped from four 6. The game used modified 1898 over the Oreos AC of Asbury points to three. London Football Association A touchdown was changed Park, New Jersey; the Water- rules. During the next seven from four points to five. town Red and Blacks; and the 1912 years, rugby gained favor with Chris O’Brien formed a Orange AC. A touchdown was increased the major eastern schools neighborhood team, which Pro football was popular- from five points to six. over soccer, and modern foot- played under the name the ized in Ohio when the Massil- Jack Cusack revived a ball began to develop from Morgan Athletic Club, on the lon Tigers, a strong amateur strong pro team in Canton. rugby. south side of Chicago. The team, hired four Pittsburgh team later became known as pros to play in the season- 1913 1876 the Normals, then the Racine ending game against Akron. At Jim Thorpe, a former football At the Massasoit convention, (for a street in Chicago) Cardi- the same time, pro football and track star at the Carlisle the first rules for American nals, the Chicago Cardinals, declined in the Pittsburgh Indian School (Pa.) and a dou- football were written. Walter the St. Louis Cardinals, the area, and the emphasis on the ble gold medal winner at the Camp, who would become Phoenix Cardinals, and, in pro game moved west from 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, known as the father of Ameri- 1994, the Arizona Cardinals. -
The Ohio League
THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 3, No. 7 (1981) THE OHIO LEAGUE By Bob Braunwart & Bob Carroll Professional football came to Ohio in 1903 when the Massillon Tigers, a strong amateur team, hired four veteran Pittsburgh pros to play in their season-ending game against East Akron. The game was no small potatoes, being billed as for the "Ohio Independent Football championship," an unofficial title -- open to argument - - but taken quite seriously by the teams and fans. The pros proved a sound investment. Massillon won, 12-0, and professionalism was launched in the Buckeye State. The Tigers went a step farther by dividing the season's profits among its home talent, thereby putting the whole outfit on a professional basis. The little city of Massillon caught flack from most of the major newspapers in northern Ohio for its transgression against the amateur code, but the following year saw players paid in Salem, Akron, Lorain, Canton, Dover, Shelby, and doubtless any number of other places that were more circumspect about what they were doing with their money. Charles Follis, an outstanding halfback, became the first black pro football player when Shelby hired him to a season-long contract. Massillon, with its team augmented by still more Pittsburgh pros, spent 1904 undefeated, winning most of its games with ridiculous ease. Cleveland's Franklin A.C. was downed 56-6, but the top performance of the season was Marion, O., crushed 148-0! In 1905, the Canton Bulldogs were formed, primarily to beat Massillon. The two cities -- both within Stark County -- were natural rivals. -
Indianapolis COLTS Team History
PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME TEACHER ACTIVITY GUIDE 2020-2021 EDITIOn coach tony dungy - hall of fame class of 2016 InDIAnAPOLIS COLTS Team History In 1953, the city of Baltimore was awarded a new National Football League franchise. The team was nicknamed the Colts, the second pro football club to bear that name in a seven-year period. Earlier in 1947, a Baltimore Colts team was founded in the All-America Football Conference. Three years later, as part of the peace agreement between the AAFC and NFL, the Colts became an NFL member. But this venture failed and the franchise was disbanded after the 1950 season. But Baltimore was presented with a second chance for an NFL team three seasons later when the Dallas Texans franchise was cancelled by the league. NFL Commissioner Bert Bell challenged the city to sell 15,000 season tickets within six weeks. The successful sale took just over four weeks and, on January 23, 1953, Carroll Rosenbloom became the principal owner of the new Baltimore Colts. In 1954, Weeb Ewbank was named the Colts’ head coach and he began a steady building program that put his team over .500 for the first time in 1957. The Colts didn’t have another losing season for the next 14 years. Powered by a sensational young quarterback, Johnny Unitas, and a strong supporting cast that included such future Pro Football Hall of Famers as Artie Donovan, Gino Marchetti, Raymond Berry, Lenny Moore and Jim Parker, the Colts won NFL championships in both 1958 and 1959 and again in 1968. -
CHICAGO BEARS Team History
PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME TEACHER ACTIVITY GUIDE 2020-2021 EDITIOn Running Back Walter Payton - hall of fame class of 1993 CHICAGO BEARS Team History The Chicago Bears are one of only two charter members of the National Football League still in existence. Their 1,000-game history started in Decatur, Ill. in 1920 when the Staley Starch Company decided to sponsor a football team. Then on September 17, 1920, the Staleys, with George Halas as their representative, joined the American Professional Football Association, which was renamed the National Football League in 1922. The franchise fee was $100. In 1921, the Staley Starch Company gave Halas the team, $5,000 and permission to move the team to Chicago if he would agree to keep the Staleys name for a year. The Staleys won the 1921 league championship. A year later, the team was renamed the Chicago Bears. From the very start, the Bears were one of pro football’s most successful and innovative franchises. They were the first to buy a player from another team -- $100 for Ed Healey from Rock Island in 1922. The Bears signed the fabled collegiate All-American, Red Grange, in 1925 and then showcased him before the first huge pro football crowds. In 1932, they defeated the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 to win the championship in the first NFL game to be played indoors. The next year, they inaugurated the NFL championship series by defeating the New York Giants, 23-21. The Bears kicked off the 1940s with four straight NFL championship appearances. The Bears won three, including the famous 73-0 annihilation of the Washington Redskins in 1940. -
Ohio Tiger Trap
The Professional Football Researchers Association The Super Bulldogs 1916 By PFRA Research Having committed to big time pro football in 1915, Jack Cusack minutes into the game. Moments later he zipped a pass to Harry could hardly take a step backward in 1916. Most Canton fans who Costello for another touchdown. In the second quarter when the saw them remembered the 1916 team as the best of the Bulldogs. Bulldogs scored 42 points, Big Jim ran for two TDs, tossed a It's unlikely the 1916 bunch was actually stronger than the team second touchdown pass to Costello, and then reversed the process that later won back-to-back National Football League by scoring a touchdown via a throw from Costello. The irony was championships in 1922 and 1923, but those who favored the earlier that Canton could have won easily just on the work of Costello, team always had an unanswerable argument: the 1916 Bulldogs Carp Julian, and George Roudebush. The final score was 77-0, but had Jim Thorpe! only 39-0 if Thorpe's scores were factored out. The New York All- Stars proved only slightly more competitive than their Buffalo They had much more than Thorpe, of course. A new "bidding war" counterparts, losing 68-0. for players was in full swing across the Midwest, and, of all the bidders, Jack Cusack was the most successful at corraling talent. The real schedule began at the end of October when the Columbus Large linemen such as Howard "Cub" Buck of Wisconsin, Clarence Panhandles came to town. The 'Handles were slightly under- "Doc" Spears of Dartmouth, Ed "Unk" Russell, of Penn, and Nessered; Fred was out with a broken hand, but the other five Howard "Cap" Edwards of Notre Dame paved the way for Thorpe's brothers were their usual bruising selves.