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National Football League
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The National Football League is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference. The NFL is one of the four professional sports leagues in North America. The NFLs 17-week regular season runs from the week after Labor Day to the week after Christmas, with each team playing 16 games, the NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season. The NFL agreed to merge with the American Football League in 1966, and the first Super Bowl was held at the end of that season, the merger was completed in 1970. Today, the NFL has the highest average attendance of any sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States. S. The NFLs executive officer is the commissioner, who has authority in governing the league. The team with the most NFL championships is the Green Bay Packers with thirteen, the current NFL champions are the New England Patriots, who defeated the Atlanta Falcons 34–28 in Super Bowl LI. Another meeting held on September 17,1920 resulted in the renaming of the league to the American Professional Football Association, the league hired Jim Thorpe as its first president, and consisted of 14 teams. Only two of these teams, the Decatur Staleys and the Chicago Cardinals, remain, the first event occurred on September 26,1920 when the Rock Island Independents defeated the non-league St. Paul Ideals 48–0 at Douglas Park. On October 3,1920, the first full week of league play occurred, the following season resulted in the Chicago Staleys controversially winning the title over the Buffalo All-Americans. In 1922, the APFA changed its name to the National Football League, in 1932, the season ended with the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans tied for first in the league standings. This method had used since the leagues creation in 1920. The league quickly determined that a game between Chicago and Portsmouth was needed to decide the leagues champion. Playing with altered rules to accommodate the playing field, the Bears won the game 9–0. Fan interest in the de facto championship game led the NFL, beginning in 1933, the 1934 season also marked the first of 12 seasons in which African Americans were absent from the league. The de facto ban was rescinded in 1946, following public pressure, the NFL was always the foremost professional football league in the United States, it nevertheless faced a large number of rival professional leagues through the 1930s and 1940s. Rival leagues included at least three separate American Football Leagues and the All-America Football Conference, on top of regional leagues of varying caliber. Three NFL teams trace their histories to these leagues, including the Los Angeles Rams
2.
Dayton Triangles
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The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their field, Triangle Park. They were the longest-lasting traveling team in the NFL, and the last such road team until the Dallas Texans in 1952, the original Dayton Triangles members first began playing together as basketball players at St. Marys College, now the University of Dayton, from 1908 until 1912. After graduation, the organized a basketball team of alumni, students. They went by the name of the St. Marys Cadets, the Cadets claimed the title of World Basketball Champions by defeating the Buffalo German Ramblers In the fall of 1913, the St. Marys Cadets organized a football team. The team was coached by Louis Clark, who coached the St. Marys college football team as well, Al Mahrt was elected team captain. The team finished their first season with a 7–0 record and won the Dayton City Championship and they also won the Southern Ohio Championship by defeating the Cincinnati Celts 27 to 0 at Redland Park. The team won a city championship in 1914, despite injuries to Al Mahrt. In 1915 the team changed its name to the Dayton Gym-Cadets after their presumed sponsors and that season saw Al Marhrt take over as the teams coach. The team only lost one game that season, to the Columbus Panhandles and they also won their third city championship. Storck would later become the manager, while Bud Talbott. The teams name was changed to the Dayton Triangles that season. In 1916, the Triangles went 9–1, defeating teams from Cincinnati, Detroit, Toledo, the Canton Bulldogs, with the legendary Jim Thorpe in the line-up, claimed the Ohio League Championship after their win over the Massillon Tigers. The Triangles challenged the Bulldogs to a game on December 10,1916, the following season saw the Triangles move into their new park, Triangle Park. The teams 1917 campaign was successful, the team went 6–0–2 that season. The Triangles were able to score 188 points and gave up only 13 to their opponents, in 1918 saw the United States entry in World War I, as well as a devastating Spanish flu pandemic. This allowed the Triangles to keep a team on the field and they claimed an Ohio League Championship. The Triangle player-coach that season was Earle Greasy Neale, since Bud Talbott joined the army, during their championship run, the Triangles defeated future NFL teams, the Toledo Maroons, Hammond Pros, Columbus Panhandles and Detroit Heralds
3.
Oorang Indians
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The Oorang Indians /ˈuːˌræŋ/ were a traveling team in the National Football League from LaRue, Ohio. The franchise was a novelty team put together by Walter Lingo to market his Oorang dog kennels, all of the Indians players were Native American, with Jim Thorpe serving as its leading player and coach. The team played in the National Football League in 1922 and 1923, of the 20 games they played over two seasons, only one was played at home in nearby Marion. With a population well under a thousand people, LaRue remains the smallest town ever to have been the home of an NFL franchise, or probably any professional team in any league in the United States. In 1919 Oorang Kennel owner, Walter Lingo, met and became friends with Jim Thorpe of the Canton Bulldogs, Lingo had had a deep passion for the Airedales, which he raised, and for Native American culture. LaRue, Ohio, was once the site of an old Wyandot village, Thorpe first came to Lingos defense after neighboring farmers accused Lingos Oorang Kennels of raising a nation of sheep killers. Thorpe came to Lingos aid by testifying that he knew an Oorang Airedale that had saved the life of a 6-year-old girl, named Mabel. Afterwards, Lingo and Thorpe became friends and soon began hunting together, in 1921, Lingo invited Thorpe and Pete Calac, who was a teammate of Thorpes at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, to his plantation in LaRue to hunt for opossum. It was on this trip that the men agreed on a way both to advertise Airedales and to employ Thorpe, whose career was now on the decline, Lingo would purchase a franchise in the young National Football League, and Thorpe would run the team. At the time, the cost of purchasing an NFL franchise was $100, meanwhile, just one of Lingos Airedales sold for $150. Lingo saw the idea of a franchise as a way of touring the countrys leading cities for the purpose of advertising his Airedales. Therefore, he placed two conditions on the team, the first was that Thorpe had to field an all-Indian team. Secondly, Lingo wanted the team to run his kennels in addition to playing football. Thorpe and Calac agreed to both terms, finally, Thorpe would be paid $500 a week to coach, play, and manage the kennels. In June 1922, Lingo, who served as the teams business manager, traveled to Canton, Ohio. He named his team the Oorang Indians, after his kennels, the name stood out to sports and dog fans alike. Lingo originally wanted the team to play out of LaRue, the issue led to the club performing almost exclusively on the road as a traveling team, where it could draw the biggest crowds and best advertise the dogs. However, Thorpe and Lingo also felt that it would be nice to keep the Indians at home once or twice a year, the nearest town with a suitable football field was Marion, Ohio, which served as the location for the Indians home games
4.
Canton Bulldogs
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The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and its successor, the Bulldogs would go on to win the 1917,1918 and 1919 Ohio League championships. They were the NFL champions in 1922 and 1923, in 1921–1923, the Bulldogs played 25 straight games without a defeat, which as of 2016 remains an NFL record. As a result of the Bulldogs early success along with the league being founded in the city, Jim Thorpe, the Olympian and renowned all-around athlete, was Cantons most-recognized player in the pre-NFL era. In 1924, Sam Deutsch, the owner of the NFLs Cleveland Indians, bought the Canton Bulldogs and took the Bulldogs name and its players to Cleveland and named his franchise the Cleveland Bulldogs. He then offered to sell the Canton franchise back to the city of Canton to play in the 1924 season, however there were no interested in the team. The Canton Bulldogs were however re-established in 1925, and the NFL considers the 1925 to 1926 Canton Bulldogs to be the team as the 1920 to 1923 incarnation. All in all, this version of the Cleveland-Canton-Philadelphia Bulldogs played from 1961 to 1966, another Canton Bulldogs team was slated to begin play in the Stars Football League in 2012, although that team never materialized. The Bulldogs name is also in use at Canton McKinley High School, prior to the debut of professional football in the city, an amateur team from Canton was mentioned as being a superior team in Stark County, Ohio. Until about 1902, this team competed with the Akron East Ends for the Ohio Independent Championship, when the Massillon Tigers arrived on the scene and went professional, Canton, as an amateur team, was no longer competitive. The Canton Bulldogs were officially established on November 15,1904 as the Canton Athletic Club, the statement stated that the football team was to be a professional organization, complete with a professional coach. The team was given the goal of beating the rival Massillon Tigers, to do this, Canton went out and offered money to the best players on all the other Ohio League teams. Bill Laub, a player, team captain and coach of the Akron East Ends, was hired as the teams first-ever coach, the team began its 1905 season, with a 7–0 record. The Bulldogs then traveled to Latrobe, Pennsylvania to play the Latrobe Athletic Association, Latrobe was not only the current Pennsylvania champions, but had gone undefeated for the last three seasons. Latrobe were also considered the only pro team capable of competing with Canton and Massillon, Canton would go on to lose its 1905 game to Latrobe, 6–0. However, the worst part of the loss came when coach Bill Laub became injured and was unable to finish the season, Blondy Wallace, a former All-American for the Penn Quakers, was then named as Laubs successor and team captain. Two weeks later, the team would lose the Ohio League championship game to the Massillon Tigers, sometime during the 1906 season, the Canton team became known as the Bulldogs although no one is quite sure how it came to be affixed to the Canton team. It wasnt called that in 1905, nor through most of the 1906 season, as late as November 4, R. C
