Shelby A.C. Part II

Here is our continued story on the Shelby Athletic Club football team of the early 20th-Century. They had won the Ohio State Title two years in a row but changes in roster and coaching staffs could prevent them from a third crack at the Championship.

We learned a little bit about a team from Shelby, Ohio last week in the discussion on the Tube Works, Shelby Athletic Association and Athletic Club teams around 1900. We eluded to it last week that this core team went through some turnover in 1902 when new team manager, Frank Schiffer secured some new uniforms for the squad, blue in color. Their new coach in 1902, Dr. Morton William Bland, led the powerhouse roster he adopted along with new players such as Charles Follis to another Ohio State Championship.
News came just at the tail end of the 1902 season completed that Coach Bland would now be stepping down. It was a matter of contention according to some newspaper accounts of the day, from the Shelby Globe, that Bland's accepted resignation was over the controversy of a Shelby A.C. player named Dave Bushey. Bushey had been a key player on the A. C. squad but when he found out, allegedly from Dr. Bland, that the team was making money while he was playing for free, well let's just say that caused some friction. The problem amplified when key figures of the Shelby eleven, namely Russel Johnston, Schiffer and others found that Bushey got wind of the financial situation of the organization directly from Bland. Coach Bland's stepping down seemed to be a mutually orchestrated deal, after the trust factor had been damaged. 
Shelby player Branch Rickey was apparently offered the job of coaching the team then, but instead he stepped down too to accept a similar position with the Ohio Wesleyan baseball team. Rickey had been disqualified from playing sports collegiately after he was paid for his services in Shelby. We know that overseeing baseball operations would be a big part of Branch Rickey's future as eventually he would become the executive with the Brooklyn Dodgers who would sign Jackie Robinson to a contract, breaking the color barrier of the MLB and he would also be responsible for establishing the modern day farm system of professional baseball. He didn't get too far away from football either as he coached his hometown Delaware, Ohio High School eleven and when not doing that would still play halfback part time with the Shelby Athletic Club.
So in 1903 the coaching duties would be the responsibility of newly hired Head Coach A.J. Newcomb along with the newly elected captain of the team Dubbie Weiser. Frank Schiffer learned a little bit from the whole Bland and Bushey controversy from the year prior. Before the 1903 season Schiffer had each player sign a contract with the club, this included star back Charles Follis. Charles signing was extremely significant as he became the first black player to scribe his name on a professional football contract!
The securing of Follis was pretty big for Shelby too as the talented young man dashed for long scores time and time again during the next few seasons. The 1903 team was so good that there were a couple of teams that forfeited. One such was in the game against Ohio State's Medics team.
The pregame hype was that Shelby and the Medics each had identical records with 102 points and no one had put even a single point on the scoreboard against either defense. It was shaping up to be the game of the year, and in some respects it might have been. The game was hard fought throughout. The Med team had the early momentum and lead 11-0 at the half. There were some accusations of some dirty tactics by the Medics team that allowed them to score in the first half on a couple of plays, but the S. A. C. hung in there and wore the O. S. U. Med eleven down with a series of alternating runs by Follis and Rickey in the second half. The crowd was in a frenzy as Shelby scored and got themselves back into the game. The next series by O. S. U. was pivotal though. They hammered away with runs up the middle. The last one was when they went for it rather than punting, and ended up being about two inches shy of the line to gain, turning the ball over to Shelby at the Medics 15-yard line. The spot was contested by the captain and the coach of the Medics. The call got so heated that when it became apparent that the officials were sticking to their initial call the Medics Coach had his team walk off the field in protest. After multiple warnings they did not return and Shelby's stars were awarded a 6-0 forfeit victory and all of the gate receipts. Needless to say the Medics fired their hot headed coach the very next day.
The very next game was not as bright for Shelby as they not only suffered a 23-0 loss to a strong Northern University team but they also lost a couple of key players. Branch Rickey broke his ankle and Weiser ended up getting knocked out cold in the rough game. They rebounded a few weeks later and knocked off the Columbus Panhandles 22-5 without the services of Weiser, Rickey and Fred Turner. The Panhandles played hard too though and more injuries mounted as Charles Follis and Overton were badly bruised and tore some ligaments in the contest.
It was soon after this that more controversy arose. The East Akron team claimed that they were the State Champions because they had recently defeated Ohio Northern University, about a week after O. N. U. spanked Shelby. To further pour gasoline on this, was the fact that East Akron had cancelled a scheduled contest with the Shelby A. C. earlier in November because they wanted to play an "All-Coaches" team instead. Shelby's claim to a third consecutive title were in jeapordy, but they devised a plan. Shelby scheduled a second meeting with Northern. The game was heavily promoted and a special game time of 2PM was put in place so that even hard working farmers around the area could attend. Seasonably cold weather and even snowfall that day did not prevent the fans to pack into the stadium to witness Shelby avenge its earlier loss to O. N. U., this time showing a victory of 21-5. Shelby would now contest that they again were the champs of Ohio and discredit East Akron’s claims.
The Akron brass retorted that Champions were not made by claims in the press, but proven on the football field. East Akron's contention in a Cleveland news column said that East Akron should bear the Championship title because they knocked off Ohio Northern by the score of 11-0, while the Shelby gridders spilt a pair of contests with O. N. U. and even when they defeated them they allowed Northern to score five points. Surely the shutout gave merit to East Akron over Shelby in this State Championship contention between the two clubs.
The course of both claims changed however on December 6 when East Akron entertained the Massillon Tigers eleven. Massillon was ready for the questionable tactics of Akron and soundly defeated them 12-0, allowing Massillon to claim their first Ohio State Title.

1904

The Shelby A.C. squad would basically stay intact for the next season. Their big game scheduled for the year would be against the pesky East Akron team on October 31. Both teams entered the game undefeated, and the game showed how evenly matched they truly were as the result was a 0-0 tie. The war of words between East Akron and Shelby in the papers continued as each claimed the other threw punches and did other dirty maneuvers during the hard fought game. Fortunately the Shelby team did not suffer any substantial injuries in the Akron game.
The following weeks game could be even bigger now, as Shelby would  travel to face the defending champs, the Massillon Tigers, in a game that might just determine who the best team in the state truly was. It was interesting that Massillon hired former Shelby A. C. captain A. J. Newcomb to officiate the contest. It was such a big game that a special train was contracted to take nearly 600 fans from Shelby to watch the match up live. They were sadly disappointed though as Massillon whipped the S. A. C. 28-0. Claims of the Tigers hiring 6 or 7 ringers to play in the game circulated, however even the staunchest supporter left Massillon knowing that the Tigers truly overpowered the Athletic Club. Massillon undoubtedly had the better team, and the Shelby fans returned home sullen but most said how well they were treated by the Massillon fans during their visit.
The Shelby A. C. eleven played out the rest of the season by blowing out the remaining opponents. They finished the season at 9-1 and outscored their opponents 317-28 on the season. Yes all the points given up were by the Tigers. The Shelby A. C. team finished the first five seasons of the new century with 42 shutouts and only gave up 114 points while posting 882 of their own in that span.
The 1905 season seems to be the year that the team morphed into the team many call the Shelby Blues because of their jersey colors. Their ride at the top of football was not over by any means as the Blues would continue to keep Shelby, Ohio on the Pro football map for many seasons to come. We will talk about that next week on our Early Pro Teams: Shelby Blues.

The photo above in the banner is of some reproduced replicas of American football Watermellon balls used in early football, taken by Darin Hayes at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A place I highly recommend a visit to. Thank you to the Shelby Ohio History webs site and the Pro Football Researchers Association archives for information gained to write this story.