Anthracite League

Pro football just after World War I was an interesting period in gridiron history indeed. As what would become the NFL was just starting up there were other, and I say this loosely, "leagues" where paid football players took the field. One of those was a short lived group of teams in the Coal Region of Eastern Pennsylvania fondly called the Anthracite League. Historian Joe Zagorski visits to talk about this and more. You can find Joe on his podcast Pro Football in the 1970s on the Sports History Network.

In author David Fleming's book; The Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and Stolen 1925 Championship, it has a section where legendary player Fritz Pollard in a coaching stint in the infamous Anthracite Football League. Pollard according to the book said there were three type of football:

"You had your college and your pro, and then you had coal mine football."

To be in the Eastern Pennsylvania conference made up of mostly coal miners moonlighting for a little R and R on the upper side of the soil, you had to be one tough hombre. These guys were used to being in dangerous situations and performing hard labor, so when they had their chances at fresh air on the gridiron they let it all hang out. Many of these men that played the game were around coal mining all of their life, some were even second generation miners.

We are pleased that Author, Historian and Podcast Host of Pro Football in the 1970s, Joe Zagorski was able to join us in the Pigpen to talk about the Anthracite League and a PFRA Coffin Corner article Joe wrote back in 1987.

The stars that played in the coal region's professional football team are legendary. Players like Tony Latone, Fritz Pollard, Fats Henry, and Johnny Blood McNally graced the gridiron in this legendary league. The teams that played were almost as legendary, including; the Pottsville Maroons, Gilberton Cadamounts (or Duck Streeters), Shenandoah Yellow Jackets, Coaldale Big Green, and Wilkes-Barre. 

To learn more listen in on the podcast episode above with historian and author Joe Zagorski.

The banner photo is of an unrelated team of the 1920s era. Taken approximately 1920, the photo shows the original grandstand that was destroyed during a windstorm in 1932. It is suspected that the football team in the photo is that of the Chehalis Bearcats before a Swamp Cup game with Twin City rival, Centralia. Notice the taunting writing on the bleachers, "Centralia's Here to Lose". Courtesy Wikimedia Commons and taken by an Unknown author.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: Joe Zagorski, the PRFA, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com