14 Memorable Football Teams of Yesterday

Story by Yinzer Crazy Contributor Charlotte Hopkins

2.    The Philadelphia Phillies football team only played for one year, in 1902. The team was founded by John Roger, who named the team after his baseball team, also named the Philadelphia Phillies.

3.    The Canton Bulldogs football team in action. The Bulldogs joined the Ohio League in 1903. They became a part of the NFL in 1920 and won the championship titles in 1922 and 1923. The team played from 1903-1926. (Thumbnail photo above!)

4.    The Congerville Flyers played from 1905-1925. They were also known as the Muncie Flyers. They started as the Congerville Athletic Club and through the years would also go by the names Congerville Thirds, and the Jonesboro Flyers. So far, no players from the Congerviille Flyers made it into the Hall of Fame.

5.    The Rock Island Independents played from 1907-1925. Financial problems caused their downfall. In 1920, they were one of the teams invited to join the American Professional Football Association. That was two years before that organization was renamed the National Football League (NFL).

6.    The Akron Professionals played from 1908-1926. In 1925, their name changed to the Akron Indians. The team was shut down due to their poor record and struggling finances.

7.    The Triangles were one of the first five teams of the NFL. They started as the St. Mary’s Cadets in 1913. They became the Dayton Gym-Cadets in 1915. They changed their name once more to the Dayton Triangles. They played from 1916-1929.

8.    The Staten Island Stapletons football team, also called the Stapes, played from 1915-1935. The fall of the team is blamed on the Great Depression and having a stadium too small to house enough fans to earn a profit.

9.    The Providence Steam Rollers played from 1916-1933. Their games were suspended in 1931 due to financial problems brought on by the Great Depression. This would also be the reason the franchise disbanded two years later.

10. The Pottsville Maroons, from Pottsville Pennsylvania, were established in 1920. They joined the NFL in 1925 and played until 1929. In their last year, they relocated to Boston and became the Boston Bulldogs.

11. The Tonawanda Kardex Lumbermen, of New York, played against the Rochester Jeffersons on November 6, 1921, where they were defeated 45-0. This was their one and only game.

12. The Milwaukee Badgers was established in 1922. They disbanded in 1927 after getting fined for allowing high school students to play. That scandal was the idea of Art Folz, of the Chicago Cardinals. He hired the high schoolers to play for the Badgers in an effort to dominate over the Badgers.

13. The Boston Yanks played from 1944-1952. Due to a shortage of players, brought on by World War II, the team merged with the Triangles for the 1945 season. 

14. The Dallas Texans played for one season and that was in 1952. The team was owned by brothers, Giles and Connell Miller. Though the two were millionaires, they did not know how to manage a football team. They handed the Texans over to the NFL halfway through the season.