Rock Island Independents Part 2

After a long successful run as an independent team, Rock Island's football franchise would help the form future of pro football, the National Football League.

Last week we covered the early years of the Rock Island Independents' football team. The team was playing some of the top teams of the midwest and Ohio Valley and was very competitive. Again we will reference the brilliant and well-done website of RockIslandIndependents.com. When we left off in Part 1 if you remember, the Independents had challenged the Canton Bulldogs to a title game at the end of the 1919 campaign. Jim Thorpe, the player/coach of the Canton eleven declined. Despite the offer rejection of the Bulldogs, Rock Island team owner Walter Flanigan ever being the great promoter of his team, claimed the Independents to be "Champions of the USA," per a PFRA Coffin Corner article by Bob Carrol and Bob Braunwart.

The popularity and contact with the big pro teams of the era gave them an invitation to join a group of franchises that would make professional football history when they would organize into the precursor of the NFL, the American Professional Football Association. Even though Canton owner Ralph Hay and his Bulldog team did not play Rock Island that year they did take note. In 1920 when it came time to gather the best teams in the country to form a professional football league, Flanigan and the Independents were invited to the party.

The Independents were indeed one of the eleven teams represented in Hay’s Hupmobile Showroom on September 17, 1920, along with Canton, Massillon, Dayton, Akron, Hammond, Rochester, Muncie, Decatur, the Chicago Cardinals, and Cleveland. Flannigan in fact helped shape the formation of the League that would eventually be called the NFL at this meeting alongside Thorpe, Halas, Lyons, Storck, and the others.

In fact, the first game involving an APFA team took place nine days after the meeting on September 26, 1920, at Douglas Park in Rock Island, Illinois, as the hometown Independents flattened the St. Paul Ideals 48-0. The Independents have that historic mark in history as being the first League team to play under the new banner of the APFA.

The public relations of Flanigan and his Rock Island machine were pumping hard to get fans in the stadium in between the meeting and the game. The Rock Island Argus posted an ad on September 18, 1920, that folks could see the new uniforms in a local store window that day after the new APFA formed in Ohio with Rock Island being a charter member.

The team added future Pro Football Hall of Fame player/coach Jimmy Conzelman to the roster for the 1920 and 1921 seasons. A week after the Rock Island eleven dispatched St. Paul, on October 3, 1920, the Independents defeated the Muncie Flyers 45–0 at Douglas Park in the first fully scheduled week of American Professional Football Association play. There were 3,100 fans in attendance as Arnie Wyman, the former Minnesota Golden Gopher great, made his debut for the Islanders, scoring three touchdowns. This could have been the first NFL game ever played between two NFL teams, however, NFL historical records don't indicate the kickoff time for this game or the other APFA game played that day between the Dayton Triangles and the Columbus Panhandles in Dayton, Ohio so it is unclear which game started or finished first.

Despite these two early season shutouts, the Independents finished with a modest 4-2-1 record in league play. They actually posted that same record the next two seasons as well losing 5 of their 6 games in the first three APFA/NFL seasons to George Halas teams. Halas Decatur Staleys of 1920 became the Chicago Staleys in 1921 and then the more recognizable Chicago Bears in 1922.

The 1921 season had an important storied highlight to it. On October 16, 1921, the Independents were down by a score early in a game with the Chicago Cardinals. Rock Island battled back to lead the Cards 14–7 by the second quarter. The comeback was sparked by two touchdowns, scored by Jimmie Conzelman. It is a bit unclear if the plays had been called or designed by then player-coach Frank Coughlin. 

However, for some unknown reason, Walter Flanigan soon then thereafter assigned the team's tackle, Ed Healey to go in and substitute for Coughlin. Almost as soon as Coughlin was headed toward the sideline, Healey delivered a message to Jimmy Conzelman from Flanigan, it read: "Coughlin was fired! The new coach was Conzelman!" This act marked the first and only time an owner had fired and hired a new coach in the middle of a game. 

The following season of 1922, Flanigan sold the contract of Ed Healey, to Halas and the Chicago Bears for $200. It was a great investment for Halas, as Healey soon became a star for the Bears and would later be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1964.

In 1923 Flanigan left the team to concentrate on his real estate and insurance businesses. Dale Johnson, another local businessman, took over as the team's owner, with the team's backup quarterback Vince McCarthy acting as manager. Rock Island went 2-3-3 that season, however, they did post winning seasons in 1924 and 1925 with the help of some rock stars of that era of the gridiron. Jim Thorpe, considered "the World's Greatest Athlete", joined the Independents in 1924 and the team went 5-2-2 in league play. 
After the 1925 season, they toured nationally to promote pro football, often under the name "Tampa Cardinals" at times.

The franchise made a huge move before the next season though. After the 1925 season, Johnson moved the team to the fledgling rival American Football League. C.C. Pyle and Grange convinced Johnson that the American Football League, which featured Red Grange, would out-perform the NFL. So the Independents then signed Elmer Layden, one of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame for 1926. They also switched home field stadiums that year from Douglas Park in Rock Island to Browning Field in nearby Moline, Illinois for the 1926 season. The Independents were the only NFL team to make the jump to the rival league, and it may have been their death blow.

After the 1926 season, the Independents folded along with the entire American Football League in 1927.

The banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of a cropped version of a Photo of the RI Independents Championship Football Team of 1919, taken by an Unknown author

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites mentioned above including the Rock Island Independents.com, American Football Database, ProfootballHOF.com and the PFRA.org.