June 24

Here is what happened in football on June 24: the NFL get's its name; some pro teams like the Oorang Indians, Milwaukee Badgers and Racine Legion that came to be; and one CFL squad that called it quits! We will provide you with a little bit of football nostalgia. This daily football history segment features the Great events, Franchise formation anniversaries as well as the birthdays of notable Hall of Fame players, coaches or anyone else in our great game and many more  Legendary stories of the Gridiron.

The Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the Day comes from Rochester, New York and their daily fish wrap the Democrat and Chronicle when on June 27, 1922 they printed this headline:

Football League Changes its Name

The story was about the June 24, 1922 event where the American Professional Football Association officially renamed itself the National Football League. The article says that the league would soon be offering franchises to many interested cities as they expanded the reach of pro football. The possibility that the cities of Chicago and Cleveland could each have two franchises was eminent as multiple teams were forming and joining the new NFL, as you will soon see below. Each franchise was asked to pony up $1000 to guarantee that they would follow the League's rules including playing college players while they are still affiliated with a school. A first offense of this was a $500 fine and the second offense was expulsion from the NFL.

If you want to be able to be able to read through some old articles like The Democrat and Chronicle, you need to check out Newspapers.com. At Newspapers.com, you can get access to over 640 million pages’ worth of news from the US, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland and more dating back from 1798 to yesterday.  Get a free one week subscription to Newspapers.com by visiting SportsHistoryNetwork.com/newspapers. And with a paid subscription, you’ll also be helping to support the production of this and other Sports History Network shows.

• June 24, 1922 - Milwaukee Badgers franchise forms and plays from 1922 through 1926. There is more about this team below.
• June 24, 1922 -  Oorang Indians franchise forms and survives in the 1922 through the 1923 season. More on this teams history is foundbelow inthe thumbnail.
• June 24, 1922 - Racine Legion/Tornadoes franchise forms and plays 1922 through 1926. 
• June 24, 1922 - The Chicago Staleys franchise changes their name to the Chicago Bears. 
• June 24, 1987 - The Canadian Football League's Montreal Allouettes franchise folds. This franchise has had its ups and downs. The CFL considers all versions of teams in the city of Montreal to fly under the banner of the Allouettes. In short the team was the Alloutettes from 1946 through the 1981 season. They were then a new team called the Mpntreal Concordes in 1982 to 1985. They came to life once more fas the "New" Allouettes in the 1986 and 1987 season only to shut it down once again. After some expiramentation in the early 1990's the Baltimore Stallions were relocated to Montreal and the franchise once again became the Allouettes in 1996. 

Racine Legion Tornadoes

June 24, 1922 - Racine Legion/Tornadoes franchise forms and plays 1922 through 1926. The Racine Legion was based in Racine, Wisconsin, and played in the National Football League from 1922 to 1924. Its official name was the Horlick-Racine Legion. The franchise had one final season when then operated as the Racine Tornadoes in 1926. According to a Professional Football Researcher Association 1984 article by Paul LaRose in the group's Coffin Corner Magazine, The team was organized by American Legion Post 76 to help promote both the club's activities and the city of Racine. The squad consisted of 18 men and was coached by one George "Babe" Ruetz. The Legions finished their inaugural season in fifth place with a 6-4-1 record having an agressive schedule that included the Chicago Bears. Things did not get much better than that though. The Legions last game was in Green Bay, October 24, 1926. After absorbing a 35-0 beating at the hands of the Packers, the team folded. Its four-year record was 15-15-5.

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Decatur Staleys a chat with Joe Ziemba presented by Pigskin Dispatch ‣ APFA Chapter 10

Football History | The history of the Decatur Staleys, an original APFA/NFL team.^**

Full Page

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Oorang Indians

June 24, 1922 -  Oorang Indians franchise forms and survives in the 1922 through the 1923 season. The Ohio History Central website indicates that this team featured Jim Thorpe and every member of the squad was of Native American descent. The team was based in La Rue, Ohio and was very active in the early 1920s APFA. A guy by the name of  Walter Lingo established the franchise in an effort to promote his Oorang dog kennels. La Rue, Ohio, is the smallest community ever to have sponsored a National Football League franchise. However, the Oorang Indians never played a single game in La Rue. All twenty of the team's games during the 1922 and 1923 seasons were on the road. So how did that work out? Well in the team's first season, the Indians finished twelfth in the league, with a record of two wins, six losses, and zero ties. The next season, the team finished eighteenth, with one win, ten losses, and zero ties. Needless to say with only 3 victories and no home games the Oorang Indians had to fold up shop after the 1923 season.

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Milwaukee Badgers

June 24, 1922 - Milwaukee Badgers franchise forms and plays from 1922 through 1926. According to the SqueakyCurd.com the Badgers ended their 5 seasons, with a total record of 16-27-6, including only one season above .500 and one season at 0-6. The Borchert Field at Athletic Park in fact became the stop for the Green Bay Packers when they played their home games in Milwaukee after the Badgers demise. The most famous story according to the article of the Badgers may be the infamous 1925 Chicago Cardinals scandal. Apparently the Cardinals scheduled two extra games at the end of the 1925 season in an effort to have a better win loss record that the Pottsville Maroons so that the NFL title could be claimed. The Badgers who had already disbanded at this time were resurrected by some crafty Chicago football folks that allegedly gathered some highschool, suited them up as the Badgers and then fed them to the Cardinals only to be whallopped 59-0. This win put the Cardinals ahead of the Maroons in the win-column, and with it the championship title. Our friend and Chicago Cardinals historian Joe Ziemba tells us though that the Cardinals , and any other NFL team, could schedule as many games as they wanted up until December 20, 1925 (when the season officially ended). Of course, there are several other underlying stories in play here, including the Pottsville team playing in a game forbidden by Joe Carr and the Cardinals refusing the 1925 NFL championship at the league meeting in February of 1926. But as historians such as Joe Horrigan and Chris Willis have pointed out, the Cardinals did indeed have the best record in 1925 and should be recognized as the NFL champs. Joe will give us more detail in on this story of the Caridnals versus Badgers saga in his new book that is in the works, that is yet untitled. I can't wait for that one! As far as the Badgers and their lack of success though, it was not for lack for talent, as their roster featured three future hall of famers in Jimmy Conzelman, Johnny “Blood” McNally, and Fritz Pollard. They were open to anyone with skills, and employed one of the largest contingencies of black players in the league. For whatever reason, they simply just didn’t put it all together with "W's."

More Information

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The Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the Day comes from Rochester, New York and their daily fish wrap the Democrat and Chronicle when on June 27, 1922 they printed this headline:

Football League Changes its Name

The story was about the June 24, 1922 event where the American Professional Football Association officially renamed itself the National Football League. The article says that the league would soon be offering franchises to many interested cities as they expanded the reach of pro football. The possibility that the cities of Chicago and Cleveland could each have two franchises was eminent as multiple teams were forming and joining the new NFL, as you will soon see below. Each franchise was asked to pony up $1000 to guarantee that they would follow the League's rules including playing college players while they are still affiliated with a school. A first offense of this was a $500 fine and the second offense was expulsion from the NFL.

If you want to be able to be able to read through some old articles like The Democrat and Chronicle, you need to check out Newspapers.com. At Newspapers.com, you can get access to over 640 million pages’ worth of news from the US, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland and more dating back from 1798 to yesterday.  Get a free one week subscription to Newspapers.com by visiting SportsHistoryNetwork.com/newspapers. And with a paid subscription, you’ll also be helping to support the production of this and other Sports History Network shows.

• June 24, 1922 - Milwaukee Badgers franchise forms and plays from 1922 through 1926. There is more about this team below.
• June 24, 1922 -  Oorang Indians franchise forms and survives in the 1922 through the 1923 season. More on this teams history is foundbelow inthe thumbnail.
• June 24, 1922 - Racine Legion/Tornadoes franchise forms and plays 1922 through 1926. 
• June 24, 1922 - The Chicago Staleys franchise changes their name to the Chicago Bears. 
• June 24, 1987 - The Canadian Football League's Montreal Allouettes franchise folds. This franchise has had its ups and downs. The CFL considers all versions of teams in the city of Montreal to fly under the banner of the Allouettes. In short the team was the Alloutettes from 1946 through the 1981 season. They were then a new team called the Mpntreal Concordes in 1982 to 1985. They came to life once more fas the "New" Allouettes in the 1986 and 1987 season only to shut it down once again. After some expiramentation in the early 1990's the Baltimore Stallions were relocated to Montreal and the franchise once again became the Allouettes in 1996. 

Racine Legion Tornadoes

June 24, 1922 - Racine Legion/Tornadoes franchise forms and plays 1922 through 1926. The Racine Legion was based in Racine, Wisconsin, and played in the National Football League from 1922 to 1924. Its official name was the Horlick-Racine Legion. The franchise had one final season when then operated as the Racine Tornadoes in 1926. According to a Professional Football Researcher Association 1984 article by Paul LaRose in the group's Coffin Corner Magazine, The team was organized by American Legion Post 76 to help promote both the club's activities and the city of Racine. The squad consisted of 18 men and was coached by one George "Babe" Ruetz. The Legions finished their inaugural season in fifth place with a 6-4-1 record having an agressive schedule that included the Chicago Bears. Things did not get much better than that though. The Legions last game was in Green Bay, October 24, 1926. After absorbing a 35-0 beating at the hands of the Packers, the team folded. Its four-year record was 15-15-5.

Full Page

---

Decatur Staleys a chat with Joe Ziemba presented by Pigskin Dispatch ‣ APFA Chapter 10

Football History | The history of the Decatur Staleys, an original APFA/NFL team.^**

Full Page

---

Oorang Indians

June 24, 1922 -  Oorang Indians franchise forms and survives in the 1922 through the 1923 season. The Ohio History Central website indicates that this team featured Jim Thorpe and every member of the squad was of Native American descent. The team was based in La Rue, Ohio and was very active in the early 1920s APFA. A guy by the name of  Walter Lingo established the franchise in an effort to promote his Oorang dog kennels. La Rue, Ohio, is the smallest community ever to have sponsored a National Football League franchise. However, the Oorang Indians never played a single game in La Rue. All twenty of the team's games during the 1922 and 1923 seasons were on the road. So how did that work out? Well in the team's first season, the Indians finished twelfth in the league, with a record of two wins, six losses, and zero ties. The next season, the team finished eighteenth, with one win, ten losses, and zero ties. Needless to say with only 3 victories and no home games the Oorang Indians had to fold up shop after the 1923 season.

More Information

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Milwaukee Badgers

June 24, 1922 - Milwaukee Badgers franchise forms and plays from 1922 through 1926. According to the SqueakyCurd.com the Badgers ended their 5 seasons, with a total record of 16-27-6, including only one season above .500 and one season at 0-6. The Borchert Field at Athletic Park in fact became the stop for the Green Bay Packers when they played their home games in Milwaukee after the Badgers demise. The most famous story according to the article of the Badgers may be the infamous 1925 Chicago Cardinals scandal. Apparently the Cardinals scheduled two extra games at the end of the 1925 season in an effort to have a better win loss record that the Pottsville Maroons so that the NFL title could be claimed. The Badgers who had already disbanded at this time were resurrected by some crafty Chicago football folks that allegedly gathered some highschool, suited them up as the Badgers and then fed them to the Cardinals only to be whallopped 59-0. This win put the Cardinals ahead of the Maroons in the win-column, and with it the championship title. Our friend and Chicago Cardinals historian Joe Ziemba tells us though that the Cardinals , and any other NFL team, could schedule as many games as they wanted up until December 20, 1925 (when the season officially ended). Of course, there are several other underlying stories in play here, including the Pottsville team playing in a game forbidden by Joe Carr and the Cardinals refusing the 1925 NFL championship at the league meeting in February of 1926. But as historians such as Joe Horrigan and Chris Willis have pointed out, the Cardinals did indeed have the best record in 1925 and should be recognized as the NFL champs. Joe will give us more detail in on this story of the Caridnals versus Badgers saga in his new book that is in the works, that is yet untitled. I can't wait for that one! As far as the Badgers and their lack of success though, it was not for lack for talent, as their roster featured three future hall of famers in Jimmy Conzelman, Johnny “Blood” McNally, and Fritz Pollard. They were open to anyone with skills, and employed one of the largest contingencies of black players in the league. For whatever reason, they simply just didn’t put it all together with "W's."

More Information

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The picture in the banner above is from the private stash of the Pig Pen. It is a shot up close of the endzone of Erie, PA's Cathedral Prep Rambler's Dollinger Field.