1.
Tommy Hughitt
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Tommy Hughitt was a National Football League utility player, coach and politician. He was also an All-American quarterback for the University of Michigan in 1913, Hughitt was born in Genoa, British Columbia, but grew up in Escanaba, Michigan, his father, Orrin Hughitt, owned the hardware store in Escanaba. His high school career in Escanaba was undistinguished, and Hughitt saw little playing time on his high school squad. Upon graduation he went to the University of Michigan, where he played halfback, from 1915 to 1916, Hughitt was the head football coach at the University of Maine. He compiled a 6–7–3 overall record, including the Maine Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship in 1915, Hughitt showed the effectiveness of the Yost system of coaching by developing a bunch of green material, a tam which staged a real comeback after a bad start last year. Maine is highly pleased with the work of Hughitt and has engaged him for this season, after experiencing a winless season in 1916, Hughitt left his coaching position in Maine and signed with the Youngstown Patricians of the Ohio League, turning professional as a player-coach. When the Prospects joined the ranks of the APFA in 1920 and he retired from football in 1924, shortly after acquiring a stake in his team. After Hughitts departure, he handed over the reins of the franchise to Walter Koppisch, after his time in the NFL, Hughitt remained in the City of Buffalo and legally changed his name to Tommy for the purpose of making his name recognizable as he entered politics. In 1937, he served for a term of four years on the Buffalo Common Council, in the private sector, Hughitt ran a Ford dealership in the Buffalo area for many years. He died while on vacation in Bartow, Florida and was buried in Buffalo and he was elected to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. However, despite his record, Hughitt has never considered for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 1913 College Football All-America Team List of Michigan Wolverines football All-Americans Tommy Hughitt at Pro-Football-Reference. com Tommy Hughitt at the College Football Data Warehouse
2.
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
3.
Buffalo (NFL)
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Buffalo, New York had a turbulent, early-era National Football League team that operated under multiple names and several different owners between the 1910s and 1920s. The franchise, which was experiencing problems in 1928, did not participate in league play that season. Buffalo operated a professional football circuit from at least the late 1800s onward. Among notable predecessors to the team discussed here were the Buffalo Oakdales, whose heyday was in the years 1908 and 1909 and these teams played each other and teams from nearby cities. The All-Stars played from 1915 to 1917 under the leadership of Eugene F. Dooley, in 1917, Dooley, along with Barney Lepper, took the team on a barnstorming tour of midwestern pro football teams. In 1918, the teams were not allowed to play outside the area because of the 1918 flu pandemic, Dooley. Shoe salesman Warren D. Patterson, at the time as this, formed a new team known as the Buffalo Niagaras. As the Niagaras, the team won a championship in 1918, going undefeated with a 6–0–0 record. The two teams tied the Thanksgiving Day game, but Buffalo handily defeated Rochester 20–0 the following Sunday, Patterson held on to the Prospects name and put together a lower quality team that played through 1923, including a 1922 game against the All-Americans themselves. Like the 1990s-era Buffalo Bills seven decades later, the 1918–21 All-Americans team is considered one of the best professional teams to have never won an NFL championship. Even though they didnt officially win any championships, there are two championships that are disputable, in 1920 and 1921, unique for a professional football team, the All-Americans had a sharing agreement with the Union Club of Phoenixville, a side project managed by All-Americans player Heinie Miller. Miller would take himself and seven other All-Americans to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania to play games on Saturdays, five All-Americans left the team to play for the Quakers full-time, Buffalo had the pickings of the then-defunct Detroit Tigers to replenish their roster. In 1920, the Akron Pros held the Buffalo All-Americans to a tie in front of only 3,000 fans. At the game, Akron owners, Frank Nied and Art Ranney agreed to sell Bob Nash to Buffalo for $300 and five per cent of the gate, along with the Decatur Staleys and Akron Pros, Buffalo claimed a share of the 1920 league title. That same season the Pros held the best record in the league, meanwhile, Buffalo and the Staleys had to win in order to capture the AFPA Championship. The Pros were able to hold the Staleys to a tie at Cub Park. However the Pros still had to play the All-Americans who were fresh from a 7–3 win over the Canton Bulldogs at New York Citys Polo Grounds, despite Buffalos confidence going into the match, the Pros also held the All-Americans to scoreless tie. Both the All-Americans and the Staleys complained about the championship, arguing that Akron had only tied, however, Joseph Carr moved at the leagues meeting in April 1921 to give Akron the sole title and the rights to the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup
4.
Columbus Panhandles
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The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroads and they were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before folding after one season. The Panhandles are credited with playing in the first NFL game against another NFL opponent and they have zero NFL championships, but Joseph Carr, the teams owner from 1907 to 1922, is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his work as NFL president. The earliest existence of the Panhandles was in 1900, the Columbus Press-Post reported Jack Walsh creating the Panhandle railroad team consisting of big hardy railroad men, no other articles in 1900 were written about the Panhandles. A game was scheduled for October 19 of next year, however, in 1901, managed by William Butler of the Ohio Medical University, the Panhandles played two games against the Columbus Barracks, a team consisting of local soldiers. The results were split, the first was a 2–6 loss while the second was a 12–6 win, Butler left the Panhandles for unknown reasons, and the new manager for the 1902 season was Harry Greenwood. Greenwood placed advertisements in every newspaper he could in order to schedule games against local opponents and his ad read The Panhandle Athletic Club has organized a football team and would like to play any college, high school or manufacturing team on Saturday or Sunday. As a result, the Panhandles scheduled four games in 1902, again, the Panhandles got a new manager for the 1903 season, E. E. Griest. Griest needed help with the team, so he hired Ben Chamberlain to coach the team, after an exhibition game against the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Panhandles won their first game of the season, a 38–0 victory over Neil Avenue Athletic Club. This victory gave the team some unexpected press, the Columbus Citizen wrote the first article praising the team, the Panhandles 1903 season ended with a 5–3 record. In 1904, Joseph Carr, who was a writer for the Ohio State Journal and manager of the railroads baseball team the Famous Panhandle White Sox. However the Panhandles didn’t take off and the team played just two games, Carr tried again three years later in 1907. One of the first things Carr did when he became the owner of the Panhandles was to one the railroads policies. Since most of the players were employed by the railroad. Because of this perk, Carr was able to schedule mostly road games, eliminating the expenses of stadium rental, game promotion, and security for the field. However, while the team did play the majority of their games on the road as a traveling team, the Panhandles adopted an amateur sandlot mentality for their playing style. Since the team was composed mainly of workers, the scenario gave the players limited time to practice. The Panhandles did the majority of their preparation during their lunch breaks, workers had a one-hour break during a normal workday, and the players on the team usually took the first 15 minutes to eat lunch and used the remaining 45 minutes to practice football
5.
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
