Football History Rewind Part 51

In this episode of the Football History Rewind, we discuss the 1922 Season of football at both the collegiate and professional levels as well as many more Legendary stories.

The 1922 season was again a season of retro-chosen national champions. 

According to TipTop25.com, 1922's game of the season, was Princeton at Chicago. It was the first game to be nationally broadcast on radio, and it was considered, then and for decades afterward, one of the greatest football games ever played. The Chicago Maroons of Amos Alonzo Stagg were up 18-7 and driving towards another late score when they fumbled and Princeton recovered the loose ball. The Tigers then rallied for 2 late touchdowns and an improbable 21-18 victory. The game was immortalized by the leading gridiron scribe of the day, Grantland Rice, who was there covering the game, to dub Princeton the "Team of Destiny."

The name stuck, and the phrase has now become a common term for any sports team that improbably wins close game after close game. Princeton struggled to win all but 2 of their games, but when the dust had cleared, they stood 8-0 against the toughest schedule played by any of this season's contenders. It was for these reasons that the College Football Researchers, chose the Tigers as the champs years later while Parke H. Davis and the National Championship Foundation selected them as a co-champion. 

Photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the 1922 Princeton Tigers versus the University of Chicago, taken by an unknown.

Davis' other choice was an 8-0 Cornell Big Red and the Helms Foundation agreed with him. The National Championship group picked California as the other title bearer for 1922 to go along with Princeton. I think Princeton has the edge here by today's standards as Tip Top 25 ranks the top 25 for the season and they have The Tigers beating #25 Colgate in week 3 by the tune of 10-0, Chicago as the 8th ranked team in the nation, and the seasons was closed by consecutive eins over rivals #9 Harvard and #10 Yale. I would say that is a pretty strong schedule in any era.

All-Americans

The only selector recognized by the NCAA as "official" for the 1922 season was Walter Camp, whose selections were published in Collier's Weekly. Camp chose the following as his official 1922 All American selections:

• Gordon Locke, QB from Iowa
• Eddie Kaw, Halfback from Cornell
• Herb Treat, Tackle from Princeton
• Harry Kipke, Halfback from Michigan
• Paul G. Goebel, End  from Michigan
• Harold Muller, End from California
• Frank Schwab, Guard from Lafayette
• George Owen, Halfback from Harvard
• Mike Gulian, Tackle from Brown
• Howdy Gray, End from Princeton
• Edgar Garbisch, Center from Army
• Fritz Breidster, guard from Army
• Charles Buell, QB from Harvard
• John Webster Thomas, Fullback from Chicago
• Paul Minick, Guard from Iowa
• Charles Hubbard, Guard from Harvard
• Wendell Taylor, End from Navy
• John Thurman, Tackle from Penn

NFL Champions of 1922

For the first time in history we can officially list a champion of the National Football League. On June 24, 1922 there was an event where the American Professional Football Association (APFA) officially renamed itself the National Football League. The league would go on to 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. 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.

The Canton Bulldogs were eventually crowned as the 1922 NFL Champs as they posted a strong 10-0-2 record. Player/Coach Guy Chamberlin had his team humming on all cylinders. Their ties were against a very strong Dayton Triangles squad as well as the upstart Toledo Maroons. In week 5 they narrowly escpaed with a 7-6 victory over the Chicago Bears a a couple weeks later won over the Buffalo All-Americans 3-0. An end of season rematch withthe Maroons showed the might of the Bulldogs as they blanked Toledo on the road 14-0 to solidify their claim to the crown.

Also on that title team of '22 for Canton with Chamberlin was Pete Henry, Link Lyman Tarzan Taylor, Doc Elliott, and Jim Kendrick.

Photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the 1922-23 Canton Bulldogs, taken by an unknown.

The picture in the banner above is from the Wikipedia Commons photo collection of Picture from the 1922 Princeton v. Chicago football game. Chicago was about to go up 18–7 about to score again when it fumbled and Princeton got a touchdown. The arrow points to Gray of Princeton scoring.