Football History Rewind Part 53

Here is what happened in professional football history in the year of 1923. We are covering as much of football as we can on a year by year basis in this Football History Rewind series.

The 1923 season was in fact the fourth for the fledgling National Football League and they had one full calander year with their new name after running as the American Profssional Football Association for 1920 and 1921. This 1923 season had some differences than other years. Each franchises was fully considered to be a part of the league and this helped in growth. The Duluth Kellys joined the League as well as a new version of the Cleveland Indians and the St Louis All Stars. Unfortunately  the Evansville Crimson Giants folded their membership from the group. The Columbus Panhandles changed their name and participated as the Columbus Tigers for 1923.

The Canton Bulldogs again were crowned as the League Champions as another undefated season, th second in a row was had by the franchise, this time they were 11-0-1. The Bulldogs tie was a November 11 game at Buffalo against the All-Americans with a 3-3 final tally. Canton would finish two games ahead of the 9-2-1 Chicago Bears.  The Bears lost their season opener to Rock Island and then later to Canton as well as two ties with the Milwaukee Badgers late in the season. Since there were no playoffs in the Old Era of Pro Football, the Bulldogs were named the outright NFL Champions by mere record. The Bulldgos would set an NFL record for the longest unbeaten streak in NFL history as they went 25 straight games without a loss. There record during that stretch was 22-0-3.  The teams fron the best record to the least were as follows: 

1. Canton Bulldogs
2. Chicago Bears
3. Green Bay Packers
4. Milwaukee Badgers
5. Cleveland Indians
6. Chicago Cardinals
7. Duluth Kelleys
8. Buffalo All-Americans
9. Columbus Tigers
10. Toledo Maroons
11. Racine Legion
12. Rock Island Independents
13. Minneapolis Marines
14. St. Louis All-Stars
15. Hammond Pros
16. Akron Pros
17. Dayton Triangles
18. Oorang Indians
19. Louisville Brecks
20. Rochester Jefferson

Interestingly enough Jim Thorpe again played his second and final season with the Oorang Indians squad. In a meeting of Oorang against the Chicago Bears, Thorpe fumbled the ball, and another legend of the game, George Halas scooped it up and rumbled it 98 yards for a score. Believe it or not this yardage of a fumble return would stand as the official longest in the NFL until 1972. 

The banner photo is of The Canton Bulldogs 1923 team, NFL champions. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons and taken byan unknown author.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Pro-Football-Reference.com & Stathead.com