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Did you know Tonawanda had an NFL team?

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hondo in seattle All Pro

hondo in seattle

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Yep, I know about this. NFL history is fascinating.

 

Did you know that the Buffalo All Americans were cheated out of the 1921 NFL Championship?

 

There was no championship game back then so the team with the best record was crowned champion. Buffalo finished the season undefeated and in first place with a 9-0-2 record. We dominated that year but unwisely agreed to 2 exhibition games after the season concluded without all our star players.

 

One of those games was against 2nd place Chicago Staleys. We beat Chicago in our one scheduled contest with them but lost the unofficial exhibition game.

 

George Halas convinced the league to reinterpret that exhibition game as a championship game and Chicago was awarded the championship. (Halas was better connected than the owner of the Buffalo squad). In Buffalo, we called the turn of events the "Staley Swindle."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1921_NFL_Championship_controversy

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Jerry Jabber Veteran

Jerry Jabber

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Yep, I know about this. NFL history is fascinating.

 

Did you know that the Buffalo All Americans were cheated out of the 1921 NFL Championship?

 

There was no championship game back then so the team with the best record was crowned champion. Buffalo finished the season undefeated and in first place with a 9-0-2 record. We dominated that year but unwisely agreed to 2 exhibition games after the season concluded without all our star players.

 

One of those games was against 2nd place Chicago Staleys. We beat Chicago in our one scheduled contest with them but lost the unofficial exhibition game.

 

George Halas convinced the league to reinterpret that exhibition game as a championship game and Chicago was awarded the championship. (Halas was better connected than the owner of the Buffalo squad). In Buffalo, we called the turn of events the "Staley Swindle."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1921_NFL_Championship_controversy

 

Damn!! Goes to show you how cursed Buffalo franchises have been over the years. Curse of William McKinley?

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hondo in seattle All Pro

hondo in seattle

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In 1921: "Tonawanda didn't drop out either, although they played only two games because they could find no one to schedule."

 

There's a good article on the 1921 season - and lots of other cool historical info - on the Professional Football Researchers Association website. The article mentions both the Tonawanda team and how the Buffalo team was cheated out of the championship.

 

http://www.profootballresearchers.com/articles/Once_More_With_Feeling.pdf

 

I believe the president of the PFRA, Ken Crippen, is a Buffalo guy. He wrote a book about the original Buffalo Bills (played in the 40's) and another about a Syracuse football club that played in 1890s.

Edited by hondo in seattle
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DC Tom Hall of Famer

DC Tom

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In 1921: "Tonawanda didn't drop out either, although they played only two games because they could find no one to schedule."

 

There's a good article on the 1921 season - and lots of other cool historical info - on the Professional Football Researchers Association website. The article mentions both the Tonawanda team and how the Buffalo team was cheated out of the championship.

 

http://www.profootballresearchers.com/articles/Once_More_With_Feeling.pdf

 

I believe the president of the PFRA, Ken Crippen, is a Buffalo guy. He wrote a book about the original Buffalo Bills (played in the 40's) and another about a Syracuse football club that played in 1890s.

 

Ken's actually a formerly-frequent-now-infrequent poster here.

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Rubes All Pro

Rubes

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Ken's actually a formerly-frequent-now-infrequent poster here.

 

Yeah, he'd totally be all over this. Only seems to stop by a few times a year now.

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Buffalo Barbarian Hall of Famer

Buffalo Barbarian

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The Tonawanda Kardex came into the league the same year as the Green Bay Packers but lasted only one game.

 

https://de.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/meet-the-nfl-team-that-lost-its-only-game-ever-before-folding-152314738.html

 

So, without Prohibition there would be no NFL :o

Yep, I know about this. NFL history is fascinating.

 

Did you know that the Buffalo All Americans were cheated out of the 1921 NFL Championship?

 

There was no championship game back then so the team with the best record was crowned champion. Buffalo finished the season undefeated and in first place with a 9-0-2 record. We dominated that year but unwisely agreed to 2 exhibition games after the season concluded without all our star players.

 

One of those games was against 2nd place Chicago Staleys. We beat Chicago in our one scheduled contest with them but lost the unofficial exhibition game.

 

George Halas convinced the league to reinterpret that exhibition game as a championship game and Chicago was awarded the championship. (Halas was better connected than the owner of the Buffalo squad). In Buffalo, we called the turn of events the "Staley Swindle."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1921_NFL_Championship_controversy

 

So buffalo inferiority complex really started back then.

Edited by Buffalo Barbarian
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hondo in seattle All Pro

hondo in seattle

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More Bills trivia: The Buffalo Bills played in the All American Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. We even played in - and lost - the AAFC Chamnpionship game in 1948.

 

In 1950 the Cleveland Browns (AAFC Champs) played against the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL Champs) in the "World Series of Football" - a precursor to the Super Bowl. The Eagles were a great team and everyone considered the NFL to be the far stronger league. But the Browns won in a shocking upset, 35-10.

 

But that was the last gasp of the AAFC as it had run out of money. The NFL agreed to accept three clubs from the AAFC into the NFL. Both the Browns and the 49ers were obvious choices. The Bills should have probably been the third choice. They had a fair team, did extremely well in ticket sales, and Buffalo was a big market in those days. The problem was that George Halas - who screwed the Bills with the Staley Swindle - still hated Buffalo and got some other owners on his side. The vote was 9-4 in favor of accepting the Bills but the vote needed to be unanimous.

 

Baltimore - a smaller market back then with a less successful team - entered the NFL instead. The Bills ceased to exist until Ralph started a new Bills franchise in 1960.

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sodbuster Veteran

sodbuster

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More Bills trivia: The Buffalo Bills played in the All American Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. We even played in - and lost - the AAFC Chamnpionship game in 1948.

 

In 1950 the Cleveland Browns (AAFC Champs) played against the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL Champs) in the "World Series of Football" - a precursor to the Super Bowl. The Eagles were a great team and everyone considered the NFL to be the far stronger league. But the Browns won in a shocking upset, 35-10.

 

But that was the last gasp of the AAFC as it had run out of money. The NFL agreed to accept three clubs from the AAFC into the NFL. Both the Browns and the 49ers were obvious choices. The Bills should have probably been the third choice. They had a fair team, did extremely well in ticket sales, and Buffalo was a big market in those days. The problem was that George Halas - who screwed the Bills with the Staley Swindle - still hated Buffalo and got some other owners on his side. The vote was 9-4 in favor of accepting the Bills but the vote needed to be unanimous.

 

Baltimore - a smaller market back then with a less successful team - entered the NFL instead. The Bills ceased to exist until Ralph started a new Bills franchise in 1960.

Every team in the AAFC that didn't have a competing franchise in the same city was merged into the NFL... except Buffalo. And this was in spite of Buffalo being a fairly strong market at the time.
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Buffalo Barbarian Hall of Famer

Buffalo Barbarian

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More Bills trivia: The Buffalo Bills played in the All American Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. We even played in - and lost - the AAFC Chamnpionship game in 1948.

 

In 1950 the Cleveland Browns (AAFC Champs) played against the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL Champs) in the "World Series of Football" - a precursor to the Super Bowl. The Eagles were a great team and everyone considered the NFL to be the far stronger league. But the Browns won in a shocking upset, 35-10.

 

But that was the last gasp of the AAFC as it had run out of money. The NFL agreed to accept three clubs from the AAFC into the NFL. Both the Browns and the 49ers were obvious choices. The Bills should have probably been the third choice. They had a fair team, did extremely well in ticket sales, and Buffalo was a big market in those days. The problem was that George Halas - who screwed the Bills with the Staley Swindle - still hated Buffalo and got some other owners on his side. The vote was 9-4 in favor of accepting the Bills but the vote needed to be unanimous.

 

Baltimore - a smaller market back then with a less successful team - entered the NFL instead. The Bills ceased to exist until Ralph started a new Bills franchise in 1960.

 

 

Halas = antichrist

Curious though if the Bills got in, who would have been the owner of the team?

 

and our history would be completely different with different players. :unsure:

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hondo in seattle All Pro

hondo in seattle

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Another good reason to hate the Bears. Halas is synonymous with that team.

 

Hondo - You're on fire on this topic. Thanks for the education.

 

I was an archaeology major in college. I like to know the beginnings of things.

 

But Ken Crippen knows 100x more than I do.

Edited by hondo in seattle
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hondo in seattle All Pro

hondo in seattle

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One of Buffalo's first NFL superstars was Ockie Anderson who played both QB and RB. He was second in the NFL in scoring in the inaugural 1920 season. In 1921, the year of the Staley Swindle, he led the NFL in TDs.

 

Anderson's head coach at Buffalo in 1920 and 1921, Tommy Hughitt, was also his teammate and fellow superstar. Hughitt played QB, RB, WR, punter, and place kicker and was also one of the league's leading scorers in those early years.

 

Led by the dynamic duo of Hughitt and Anderson, the Buffalo All-Americans were virtually unstoppable:

 

In 1920, Buffalo went 9-1-1.

 

In 1921, Buffalo finished 8-0-1, 9-1-2 if you count their 1-1 record in exhibition games. The NFL, at the urging of George Halas, counted the exhibition games.

 

In both years, Buffalo was the highest scoring team in the NFL and had the biggest margin of victory.

 

Both years, NFL leadership chose the champion and chose a different team amid controversy.

 

Neither Hughitt nor Anderson were elected to the HOF.

 

The curse of Buffalo goes back to the earliest days of football.

 

 

here is an interesting read;

 

http://www.ldolphin.org/cooper/

 

History at its best.

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