Football History Rewind part 55

In this 55th edition of the Football History Rewind, we discuss the 1924 Pro Football Season as well as many more legendary stories.

The fifth season of the National Football League was filled with change and some familiar faces. The League went into the season with 18 teams (down from 20 that participated in the 1923 season). The Cleveland Indians, Toledo Maroons, Oorang Indians, Louisville Brecks, and the St Louis All-Stars all folded shop but some new blood was instilled into the fray to make it a net loss of only two teams. The Kansas City Blues, Kenosha Maroons and the Frankford Yellow Jackets all debuted as new franchises for the 1924 season.

Cleveland Bulldogs?

Photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of a manipulated detail of a 1915 picture of Guy Chamberlain from the Nebraska Cornhusker yearbook owned by Michael Moran

The Cleveland Indians are an interesting story though. Apparently the owner of the Cleveland Indians pro football team, a Cleveland area jeweler named Sam Deutsch, entered into an agreement on August 4, 1924 to buy the Canton Bulldogs franchise, players, equipment... yes the whole kit and kaboodle. Yes the same Canton Bulldogs that were the two time defending NFL Champions after the 1923 season. The sale was a win for both teams as Canton’s owners had great teams with good attendance at the games but were struggling to turn a profit. while Cleveland had cash flow but lacked the fire power to put fannies in the stands. So before the 1924 season started, Deutsch named his coach as Guy Chamberlin, the player-coach and stud player from the University of Nebraska who through his strategy and coaching led the Bulldogs to their 1922 and 1923 NFL championships in Canton. Deutsch demanded that some of the core players of his former Indians team still be in the lineup, especially quarterback Hoge Workman, an All-American from nearby Ohio State. The Cleveland Bulldogs were a powerhouse as the combined rosters of the Indians and the Bulldogs were what in essence was an All-star team of the two clubs. He promoted them as the Cleveland Bulldogs and the team continued the Canton Bulldogs unbeaten streak by dispatching the Chicago Bears in their opener 16-14, tying Frankford’s Yellow Jackets the next week, then rattling off a string of victories over the likes of the Akron Pros twice, Rochester Jeffersons and the Dayton Triangles. It was on November 16 though, riding a 31 game unbeaten streak dating back to Canton that the Bulldogs were finally defeated on the gridiron. It was the second meeting with Frankford Yellow Jackets that ended the streak as the Jackets knocked off the Dogs 12-7 in Cleveland.

Speaking of the Frankford Yellow Jackets in 1924...

The Frankford team played their inaugural game as an official member of the NFL by knocking off a tough Rochester team 24-0. That first year was indeed a successful campaign for the Jackets as they played to a 17-3-1 overall record and an official NFL mark of 11-2-1, with both of those losses coming at the hands of George Halas and his powerful Chicago Bears team. They played more games than most others mainly due to the Pennsylvania blue laws that prohibited professional sports to be played in the Commonwealth on the Sabbath. Brian Michael’s research from our post on the Frankford team in 2021, on this describes that this forced the Frankford eleven to play their home games on Saturdays and then often travel with their opponents back to that teams home and play again on Sunday. Playing twice a week was grueling but really displays just how good this squad was to accomplish such a lofty record. The debut season for the Yellow Jackets ended up placing them in third place in the NFL, but they had their sights set on a higher goal.

The Race for a 1924 NFL Champ

There were 5 main contenders  that emerged for the NFL Championship titel in 1924 as it came down to the wire. The Buffalo Bisons, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Bulldogs, Frankford Yellow Jackets, and Green Bay Packers were all there in November at the top of the standings. Buffalo shot their contention right out of the window, dropping their last three games to drop from 6–2 to 6–5, end end up somewhat mediocre. Green Bay also stumbeld late going from a substantial 6–2 record to fall 7–4. This left Cleveland and Chicago to contend for the title, since Frankford had two losses and the other two teams only one. Teams such as the Duluth Kelleys and the Rock Island Independents would have been contenders for the title but their more limited schedules (6 games for Duluth and 9 for Rock Island) effectively ruled them out of title contention.

November 30 was declared as the end of the season, and when the day arrived,  Cleveland sat just ahead of Chicago and Frankford in the standings. The ever coniving George Halas pulled and old trick out of the bag and challenged Cleveland to  post season contest between the two clubs. The Chicago owner did the same ploy against Buffalo in the 1921 season to take the crown. The Bears defeated the Bulldogs in the post November 30 game too, and seemingly thought they crafted another second place finish into a title, but the NFL brass headed by Joe Carr declared the standing on November 30 as final, and all games thereafter were exhibition contests with no merit for the Championship declaration.

Photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the Official Chicago Bears' team photo, where the team claimed the Championship after defeating the Cleveland Bulldogs on December 7, even putting the title "World's Champions" on the image.

So for basically the third straight year the Bulldogs were declared the NFL champions. 1922 and 1923 in Canton, and 1924 in Cleveland. Coach Guy Chamberlin was truly a special leader in pro football.

The picture in the banner above is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the Official Chicago Bears' team photo, where the team claimed the Championship after defeating the Cleveland Bulldogs on December 7, even putting the title "World's Champions" on the image.

Special thanks for information obtained from newspapers.com, American Football Fandom, Pro-Football-Refernce, Author Brian Michael and his book titled, THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES PHOTO HISTORY BOOK,  and Newspapers.com