Football History Rewind Part 41

With World War I and the Spanish Flu Pandemic in the rearview mirror, and technology turning some of the long mundane daily chores into items that took just seconds each day, many Americans were enjoying a period of wealth and leisure time that they had never experienced before. Some of that time could be spent watching athletic event like football and some innovative people were finding ways to capitalize on that.

The decade of the 1920's in the United States is often referred to as the “Roaring Twenties” and the game of football shared in the roar with the rest of American society. The game was a wide-open strategy full of unique gadget plays and passing. The collegiate stadiums were full at game time of fans supporting their teams with verbal “Rah-Rahs” and with pennants and cheerleaders. A football game was a big social event in the college towns to a certain extent as it is now. Marching bands played school fight songs as crowds cheered their players on from the packed stands.

One might think the game could had suffered in these times where Prohibition and the feats of Charles Lindbergh grabbed most of the headlines but it did not, it thrived and the public wanted more!

One of the biggest roars was from the Bears of the University of California as they started what many consider to be a formidable collegiate grid iron dynasty. Known by many as the “Wonder Teams” of head coach Andy Smith, Cal went on a tear starting in the 1920 season where they went undefeated in five seasons with an incredible record of 44 victories and four ties. Some of the people close to those teams of the Cal in the “wonder years” believe that the 1920 one might have been the best of the bunch. You could hardly blame them as the Bears were the crowned National Champions in 1920.

Lee Cranmer was a tackle and guard for the University of Cal from 1919 through 1921 and in 1928 he sat down with writer L.H. Gregory of Portland, Oregon to talk about these special teams of Andy Smith.

“Our 1920 team was the best of all the California Wonder Teams.” Cranmer went on to expound upon his reasoning for this statement later in the interview when he was quoted,”The difference between that team and the one in 1921 was that in 1920 we knew we were good, that we had the stuff and we were out to demonstrate it. In 1921 we knew were good, and pretty darn good - so we sometimes felt we didn’t have to prove it.”

As complacent as the former Bear made the 1921 seem from his statement they too just like the 1920 squad did not lose a game. Rumors flew around about Andy Smith that he signaled in plays to his offense from the bench via a nervous habit. Stories claimed that Smith who was often parched during ball games would tell his Quarterback Charley Erb what play to run by which bucket the coach would dip his metal ladle into. Lee Cranmer in the same interview with L. H. Gregory discredits the story as an “ old wive’s tale.” Cranmer was quoted to say:

”Nothing to it at all. In the three years I played under Andy I never once knew him to signal from the bench. The water drinking was merely an expression of Andy’s nervousness during the game. Andy was too smart a coach to signal.” The Smith coached lineman went on to say, “When the Bears went onto the field, running the team was in the hands of Charley Erb, and it was Charley who called every play. One reason  Erb was such a great quarterback was that Andy Smith, after the game started, left him absolutely alone.”

Apparently from these reports Smith would coach up his teams to the point in practice and before the opening kick off that he did not need to alter things during the game. His and the Bears success during the “wonder team” years speaks volumes for the Smith way of coaching.

On September 17, 1920 At Ralph Hay’s Hupmobile Showroom in Canton, Ohio eleven franchise delegations met and each chipped in $100.00 to start the American Professional Football Association (which would change its name to the NFL in a couple years). There were not enough seats for everyone to have one so some of the guys sat on the floorboards of the cars in the showroom. Hay served prohibition draft beer in buckets for the men to drink while they talked. The teams represented were the Chicago Cardinals, Decatur Staleys, Canton Bulldogs, Muncie Flyers, Rock Island Independents, Hammond Pros, Rochester Jeffersons, Massillon Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Akron Pros and the Dayton Triangles.

The very first order of business was the withdrawal of the Massillon franchise from professional football in 1920. The league would pick up the Buffalo All-Americans, Columbus Panhandles, Detroit Heralds and the Chicago TIgers prior to the start of games being played. The first game featuring an AFPA team would be played on September 26, 1920 as the Rock Island Independents beat up on their non-league opponent the St. Paul Ideals 48-0. The first head to head matchup of APFA teams was on October 3, 1920 when the Dayton Triangles of Carl Storck blanked the Columbus Panhandles 14-0.

Please look back soon for Part 42 of this series when the 1921 season will be discussed. 

The banner photo is of 1918 Pitt football game action, titled "Skipper" On The Go taken by an Unknown author. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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