Taylorville and Carlinsville Scandal

 A semi Pro game in the small towns of Illinois brought trouble to multiple levels of football. This rivalry went awry into the devious clutches of greed and cheating and brought out a very ugly side of the game we hold dear. May we present the Taylorville scandal.

A scandalous affair of a semi-pro team in Taylorville, Illinois effected not only the Packers but the University of Illinois and even Notre Dame football.

29 Jan 1922, Sun Herald and Review (Decatur, Illinois) Newspapers.com

The mischievious tale is focused on a game that took place on November 27, 1921 between  semi-professional football teams of rival towns in the state of Illinois, Taylorville and Carlinville. Bob Bruanwart and Bob Carroll back in 1980 wrote a marvelous piece for the Professional Football Researchers Association on this scandalous affair, an I highly recommend you read it to get the juicy details. I will reference their great article throughout this story.

The small towns of Carlinsville and Taylorville must not have liked each other very much 100 years ago. This November 27 contest put the community rivalry at its pinnacle. According to an Associated Press wire feed on January 28, 1922:

"A group of citizens of Carlinville, Illa., it was learned today, decided last fall to financially
"clean out" the rival town of Taylorville, Illa., by obtaining 10 college stars to
play on their football team, and with victory apparently assured, to bet the limit
on the annual contest between the two elevens. But Taylorville learned of the plan,
obtained nine college stars for its own team and not only defeated Carlinville, but won
close to $50,000 by covering every Carlinville bet made, thus beating the rival town at its
own game.

“Ten Notre Dame players were in the Carlinville lineup, according to statements by
citizens of that town, while the nine Illinois men disqualified last night played on the
Taylorville eleven. "

29 Jan 1922, Sun Evansville Courier and Press (Evansville, Indiana) Newspapers.com

Evidently the feud stems back to the 1920 matchup of these to teams where Carlinville as the home team defeated their rival 10-7. Taylorville folks were teed off about the loss. So much so that they expressed that the outcome would be all together different the following season when the contest would be played in their backyard. When some of the Carlinville faithful heard this bold declaration, they decided to take action. And we say action we mean some activity that involved some betting "action."

Carlinville secretly recruited some collegiate stars offering then $200 each plus expenses paid to play in the 1921 game against Taylorville, ten men altogether from the University of Notre Dame. Here is what the AP story said:

“In the Carlinville line-up, according to persons associated with the team, were Gus Desch, member of the American Olympic team, and world champion 440-yard hurdler; Chester Wynne, selected by some as All Western conference fullback, and John Mohardt, All-American selection of several football writers. All played on the Notre Dame eleven last fall."

The people of Carlinville were literally gathering up all of their stashed away money and valuables to place bets on the "sure thing" as they had a secret of some ringer players that their home team could unleash on the unsuspecting Taylorville eleven. However, their secret was not so well kept. Somehow word got out and the people of Taylorville caught wind. Quietly they started to formulate their own sinister plan of winning this game. On game day there were bets being cast on each side, as each town thought they had a dirty little nugget of knowledge that was a sure-fire winner to gamble on.

The entire first half the two teams battled, Carlinville with their Notre Dame hires but Taylorville had their normal eleven on the field. Carlinville somehow found themselves down at the half by the score of 7-0. As the teams entered the field for the second half, nine new players emerged for Taylorville, all starters from the University of Illinois. Carlinville knew that their comeback might be just a bit trickier now with their opponents getting fresh players onto the field that was perhaps more talented than the regulars.

The PFRA Coffin Corner article of Carroll and Braunwart goes on to say: 

“Little Sternaman ran circles around the Carlinville ends. Jack Crangle plunged through the line and Larry Walquist forward passed for big gains. The game ended with Taylorville winner 16 to 0, fifty thousand dollars in cash to the good, and Carlinville out an equal sum.”
It seemed great for the time being but the news got out. The Big Ten coaches and officials were miffed. Even Illinois Head Coach Bob Zuppke was ticked off at his former players and suspensions fell upon the nime Illini players. Zuppke even said it was a good thing, but probably was reeling inside. The Taylorville coach at first said the players were not paid then recanted his statement when he later blurted out, that the Illinois players were already professionals, having been hired by the university. Illinois, he said, "fired them when they played for someone else."
And what about the Notre Dame players that were on the field for Carlinville that day? Well, they simply said who would beleive that a bunch of farmers would be ahead of the Irish players that went 10-1 that season and yet again have the Illini that went 3-4 on the season come out and whoop them the second half.
Taylorville had apparently taken the heat for their answer to the same dirty trick that was getting pulled on them. But what it did was bring realization that the practice of college players with eligibility remaining were playing with fake names in the pro ranks. The problem was about to get blown wide open. And we will cover that next week in our Gridiron Scandals and Scoundrels series.

The picture in the banner above was downloaded from the public domain of Wikimedia.com and is titled Churchman American football.jpg
American football, card of "Sports & games in many lands" by Churchman's cigarettes. Circa 1929.