The Professional Football Researchers Association Challenge From Canton: 1905 By PFRA Research Enough was enough! might have earned varsity letters for several strong eastern schools had they matriculated toward the dawn. In terms of sheer physical After two years of watching the Massillon Tigers strut proudly to the ability, the 1904 Tigers could have given a good account of Ohio Independent Football Championship -- the World Professional themselves on a man-to-man basis against the vaunted easterners. Title to all intents and purposes -- Canton could take no more. However, football is not a man-to-man game. Victory depends on 1905, they vowed, would be different. team play, not individual heroics. Because of that, had the '04 Tigers faced the national collegiate champion University of The 1903 Massillon victory over the local heroes didn't really count Pennsylvania team, the nod would have gone to the collegians. anyway, according to diehard Canton fans. The Canton team had taken Massillon's Tigers too lightly and been ambushed. 1904 Two factors weighed heavily in favor of college teams. shouldn't be counted either. Massillon had gone out and hired all those Pittsburgh pros while Canton fielded no major team at all. The first was coaching. Tiger leader Ed J. Stewart was still relatively inexperienced and, for all his ambition and drive, would A bunch called the "Shamrocks" claimed the Canton city have found himself overmatched in pitting his football "smarts" championship on a late November win over the "Imperials." against the veteran mentors of the east. Additionally, a pro coach -- Although one Shammrock -- Norman "Dutch" Speck -- was to be a no matter how clever -- had little power to compel his men to follow fixture on Canton gridirons for years and even play on the Bulldog his directions. If a pro player didn't like his orders he could jump to NFL title-winners of the 1920s, both squads were made up mostly another team. A collegian's only option in a disagreement with his of local pass-the-hat-and-divvy-up semi-pros. They were several coach was to give up football or leave school. cuts below such imported Massillon luminaries as Bob Shiring, the 250-pound center, Herman Kerchoffe, a 6-5 guard compared An even more important factor favoring the college teams was that favorably with the immortal Heffelfinger, and Doc McChesney, the they practiced daily. As a consequence, they were able to develop big-play tackle-end. Even Dan "Bullet" Riley, possibly the best timing, rehearse ball-handling, practice a wide range of plays, and native Canton player of the time, performed not for his hometown play as a single unit. Pros seldom saw more than one or two but for the hated Tigers, and no doubt he was being paid very well practices per week and there were always absentees at those. for his treason. Through much of the '04 season the Canton press Some of the best players only showed up for games. The results contented itself with snide remarks about the professionals to the were eleven men playing as individuals, simplified offenses, and west, but football leaders knew better than to issue a challenge to plenty of fumbles. the Tigers. But after all that has been said, and even giving a few points for But they would not wait forever. "college spirit," ANY football team in the world would have had its hands full against the teams that appeared in Massillon's orange On November 15, 1904, plans were announced to organize a new and black and Canton's red and white during 1905 and 1906. In athletic association in Canton to run both the baseball and football those two years, the best post-graduate players in the nation teams. So there would be no misunderstanding, the statement played for one side or the other. So much talent was gathered in stipulated that the football team was to be a "professional northeast Ohio during those two seasons that had it been sliced organization," complete with a "professional coach." onions, they'd have been crying all the way to Delaware. The gauntlet was down. Modern players may be bigger, faster, and better trained, but in "state of the art" football in '05 and '06, nobody did it better than the A popular pastime in Massillon during the 1904 season was Tigers and Bulldogs. speculating on how the wonderful Tigers might fare against one of the famous college elevens of the east. The charisma of Yale, * * * * Harvard, Princeton, Penn and a few other institutions of higher football was such that these ponderings was sneered at as Of course, in 1905, the Canton team was not yet known as the grandiose braggadocio by anyone from outside the Massillon city Bulldogs. That didn't happen until the next year. But the Canton limits. In point of fact, the comparison was not so silly. A.C., as they were called at first, set about building a football team with a toughness and tenacity that would have done real Bulldogs The Tigers were, after all, older than most college players; proud. generally they were bigger, and a few were even faster. There may not have been a more devastating lineman in the nation than Today, when a new National Football League team is created, the Kerchoffe. Shiring, McChesney, Riley, Ted Nesser and others tyro gets to sort through and pick from the leavings of all the other The Professional Football Researchers Association NFL teams. Then, constructed of spit and geritol, the shiney new time. End Baldy Wittmann would lose more hair over his cigar store team goes forth and gets its brains beat out. (the slogan was "our prices and the Massillon Tigers can't be beat") than over the team. He was still the captain, but Clark Schrontz In 1905, the best way to create a new team -- one that could became "field captain," a more practical position. Even Coach threaten to topple Massillon -- was to go out and offer money to the Stewart, who doubled as quarterback, benched himself in favor of best players on all the other teams. That was the course Canton Hayden. followed, and, considering the results, there's a great deal to be said for the old way of doing things. From the start it was obvious that the championship would turn on the scheduled Thanksgiving Day meeting between the two colossi Aside from Massillon, the nearest good team was the Akron A.C., of Stark County. Unfortunately, that meeting was delayed by a the club that had played the Tigers for the state title the year petty annoyance -- both teams had first to play their other before. From that squad, Canton picked seven men who'd played scheduled games. in the championship game, including Ed Murphy, who had scored a last-minute touchdown, "Doc" Rayl, an outstanding guard, and * * * * tackle Bill Laub, the Akron captain-coach. Laub was given the same job at Canton. Shorn of their key players, the Akron A.C. The Canton and Massillon newspapers treated the games leading decided to skip making a serious assault on the state football title in up to the Big One as a kind of contest between the two teams. The 1905 and scheduled accordingly. first question was how many points were scored against a foe; the second question was how little did the opponent gain. No one It is likely Canton made a bid for Shelby's great black star, Charles asked who won; victory was assumed. Only the margin had Follis, but the speedy halfback preferred to stay with his old club. relevance -- to be compared with how easily the other Stark County They did lure Bert Sutter, a small but effective veteran end. giant won. Three important acquisitions were slick quarterback Harry James of Canton got rolling first with a workmanlike, 41-0, victory over the Michigan U., John A. "Buck" Hall of Yale and Michigan, and Dave Lisbon A.C. on the last day of September. They played straight Cure of several schools but most recently with the famous pro team football with no frills because several players had just arrived in of Latrobe, Pa. James had field-generated a couple of Fielding town and were not familiar with the signals. The Canton Repository Yost's revered "Point-a-Minute" teams. Hall had All-America crowed that only once did Lisbon get as far as Canton's 45-yard credentials, but the fact he'd actually played at Yale would have line. made him an honored member of the Canton team anyway. Cure, with much less fanfare, would show himself to be one of the best The following Saturday both teams were in action. players in the land. Massillon's home field was on the grounds of the Ohio State Mental For subs, the team had the pick of Canton's semi-pros. Several Asylum. Two thousand semi-sane fans turned out at the Hospital other famous players joined up during the season, but from the Grounds to watch the Tigers' opener. Bullet Riley and Charley start the squad looked stronger on paper than the Massillon team Moran were big guns in an easy, 34-0, win over the Ohio Medical that had won everything the year before. University team, but they had more than enough help. The Medics were able to register only a single first down, while only once were But Massillon wasn't standing still. Far from it, Manager J.J. Wise they able to stop the Tigers. and Coach Stewart were determined on a third straight title.