Professional American football league that operated from 1936 to 1937
The
American Football League
(
AFL
) was a professional
American football
league that operated in 1936 and 1937. The AFL operated in direct competition with the more established
National Football League
(NFL) throughout its existence.
[1]
While the
American
media generally ignored its operation (often relegating game coverage to "page filler" status), this
second AFL
was the first "home" of the
Cleveland Rams
, which joined the
National Football League
after one year in the AFL.
[1]
In 1937, the
Los Angeles Bulldogs
, the first professional football team to play its home games on the
West Coast
, also became the first professional football team to win a league championship with a perfect record (no losses, no ties) ? 11 years before the
Cleveland Browns
(
AAFC
) and 35 years before the
Miami Dolphins
(NFL) accomplished the same feat.
[1]
Origin
[
edit
]
The brainchild of former
New York Giants
personnel director
Harry March
, plans for the formation of the second American Football League were announced on November 12, 1935.
[2]
Fifteen cities bid for charter franchises for the new league, and on April 11, 1936, eight (
Boston
,
Cleveland
,
Jersey City
,
New York
,
Philadelphia
,
Pittsburgh
,
Providence
, and
Syracuse
) were awarded.
[1]
Within a few months, Jersey City, Providence, and Philadelphia pulled out and
Rochester
was granted a franchise. Two weeks later, the newest franchise was transferred to
Brooklyn
even though there was no stadium available at the time.
[1]
The league was envisioned to be a "players league", with veteran players involved in the management of the participating teams. March served as the AFL's president until his resignation in October. He was succeeded by James Bush, president of the
New York Yankees
AFL franchise.
Most of the new AFL franchises were built on the raiding of nearby NFL franchises in the league's first season. While first-season AFL champion Boston did not plunder the roster of the struggling
Redskins
team, the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Americans had no such qualms with their crosstown rivals, the Giants and the Pirates. Similarly the Cleveland Rams signed their head coach,
Damon Wetzel
, from the backfield of the
Chicago Bears
.
[3]
Teams
[
edit
]
Boston Shamrocks
. The offensive powerhouse of the AFL in the 1936 season, the
George Kenneally
[4]
-led Shamrocks were in a three-way battle with Cleveland and New York for the league championship when Boston beat the other two on consecutive weeks at the end of the season. The following year, the Shamrocks were beset with player defections and struggled to a 2?7 record. Playing its home games at
Fenway Park
and
Braves Field
, the team folded along with the league at the end of the 1937 season.
Primary locations of the 1936-37 American Football League
Brooklyn Tigers
. Awarded a franchise in 1936 although no home field was available in Brooklyn, the Tigers had a short, troubled existence. In mid-November, the team moved to Rochester (changing its name to the
Rochester Tigers
) and played in
Red Wing Stadium
despite the failure of
another AFL team
based in that city mere weeks before.
[5]
The team limped to the end of the 1937 season before fading into oblivion. The Tigers were coached by
Mike Palm
, who owned the team along with
Harry Newman
.
Cleveland Rams
. Owned by
Homer Marshman
and playing its home games in
Cleveland Municipal Stadium
, the Rams competed in the AFL for only one season (finishing second with a 5?2?2 record) with the league's stingiest defense and one of the league's two most potent offenses (along with Boston). When the NFL announced that it was willing to expand, Marshman applied for a franchise in the more-established league (along with representatives from
Houston
and
Los Angeles
). As a result, the Rams left the AFL for 1937 season, to be replaced by the people from Los Angeles whose NFL application was turned down. The 1936 Rams had
Sid Gillman
as a rookie end in his only season as an active professional player.
[6]
New York Yankees
. The second New York Yankees football team for an
American Football League
was coached by
Jack McBride
and featured the talents of star back
Ken Strong
.
[6]
Team president James Bush doubled as league president in the latter half of the 1936 season. Like the defending league champion Boston Shamrocks, the 1937 Yankees team was plagued by player defections to the NFL. Unlike the other New York Yankees football teams, the Yankees of AFL II had
two
home stadia:
Yankee Stadium
and
Triborough Stadium
on
Randall's Island
.
Pittsburgh Americans
. While the Americans were holding their own on the football field in 1936, they lagged the rest of the league in attendance (2500 average attendance for home games in
Forbes Field
); although the Americans survived the first season as a middle-of-the-pack AFL team, the team was folded after the third game in 1937. The Americans were not without stars: they signed former
Pirates
Ben Smith
and
Loran Ribble
.
Syracuse Braves
. The existence of the Braves was doomed from lack of fan support while losing every game at
Municipal Stadium
(
Don Irwin
and end
Red Badgro
were the head coaches). The team moved to Rochester at midseason and called itself the
Rochester Braves
for a few weeks before calling it quits. At the lone home game in
Red Wing Stadium
(November 1, 1936) the second half was delayed 40 minutes by Braves players demanding back pay. The game was finished; the franchise folded immediately afterward.
[5]
Soon afterwards, another AFL team (Brooklyn) followed the Braves to Rochester in an effort to survive the 1936 season.
Cincinnati Bengals
. Not related to the
current NFL franchise
, the Bengals joined the AFL for the 1937 season. Playing at
Crosley Field
, the team was a steady draw despite the team having a losing record. When the league folded at the end of the year, the Bengals continued as an independent team for 1938, joined the short-lived minor American Professional Football Association for 1939, and became a charter member of
the third AFL
in 1940.
Hal Pennington
was the team's originator; he was also the first head coach and general manager of the Bengals.
[7]
Los Angeles Bulldogs
. While an independent team, the Bulldogs defeated the
Philadelphia Eagles
in 1936.
[8]
After being turned down for the NFL for the 1937 season, the Bulldogs joined the AFL and became the first professional football team to play its home games on the West Coast. Averaging 14,000 in attendance for its home games in
Gilmore Stadium
, the Bulldogs were drawing twice as many fans per game as the rest of the league. Los Angeles did not lose or tie a game in its one season with the AFL, the first professional football team to win its league title with a perfect record. When the league folded at the end of the season, the
Gus Henderson
-led Bulldogs
[4]
continued on as an independent team before joining the minor league
American Professional Football Association
in 1939 and becoming a charter member of the
Pacific Coast Professional Football League
the following year.
League standings
[
edit
]
Final 1936 standings
[
edit
]
Final 1937 standings
[
edit
]
All-League selections
[
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]
There was no All-League team named for the 1936 season.
[9]
1937
[
edit
]
Bill Moore, Los Angeles (end)
Bill Steinkemper
, Cincinnati (tackle)
Pete Mehringer
, Los Angeles (guard)
Lee Mulleneaux
, Cincinnati (center)
Alex Drobnitch
, New York (guard)
Harry Field
, Los Angeles (tackle)
Red Fleming
, Boston (end)
Harry Newman
, Los Angeles (quarterback)
Don Geyer
, Cincinnati (halfback)
Al Nichelini
, Los Angeles (halfback)
Gordon Gore
, Los Angeles (fullback)
Demise of the second AFL
[
edit
]
While league champion contenders Boston, Cleveland, and the Yankees were consistent draws in 1936 (Boston nearly outdrawing the NFL rival
Redskins
, which moved to
Washington
the following year), the other four franchises presented problems for the AFL. Pittsburgh drew only 2500 customers per home game, Syracuse drew less than 5000 before moving to Rochester (and folding after one game), and Brooklyn didn't have a home until the team followed the Braves to Rochester. With the departure of two franchises (the Braves and the Rams), it was clear that change was in order for the AFL.
In the beginning of 1937, the league inaugurated its third president in less than 14 months,
J. J. Schafer
, added
Jack Dempsey
and
Bing Crosby
to its board, and proceeded to restock its franchise line-up with a franchise in a city in which an NFL franchise failed a mere three years earlier (
Cincinnati
) and a touring team based in Los Angeles whose application to join the more established league was turned down in favor of the Rams.
[1]
Unlike the NFL, AFL teams tended to have local interest only. Out-of-town newspapers rarely covered the league's activities, and when they did, the coverage was usually a bare-bones mention of the scores inserted as page filler.
Three weeks into the 1937 season, the poorly-drawing Pittsburgh Americans gave up the ghost while the other eastern teams were suffering the results of player raids by NFL teams (defending champion Boston was virtually gutted, leaving it in no shape to repeat its success).
The entry of the Los Angeles Bulldogs into the league also helped lead to the league's demise. The new team simply overwhelmed the rest of the AFL as the only team with a winning record. The Bulldogs played all of its away games in the first half of the season and then finished the demolition as they stayed home for the second half. While the Bulldogs had attendance figures comparable to that of the 1936 Shamrocks and Yankees (about 14,000 per home game), the former eastern powers lost their draw. Shamrocks owner Bill Scully noted that the team lost $37,000 in 1937; the rest of the league (excluding Los Angeles) fared worse.
[6]
With the optimism that began the 1937 season gone, the second American Football League closed up shop at the end of the season.
After the second AFL
[
edit
]
While the existence of the second American Football League was relatively brief, its influence in American sports was actually more than realized at that time. It introduced
major league
football to the West Coast, which had a team based in Los Angeles and played its games there (whereas the
Los Angeles Buccaneers
, a prior NFL team, was a traveling team based in Chicago).
The success of the Boston Shamrocks, particularly at the gate, was also a factor in
George Preston Marshall
moving his Boston Redskins to Washington. The AFL was also the first "home league" of the Cleveland Rams, which exist today as the
Los Angeles Rams
.
The Los Angeles Bulldogs returned to the independent circuit in 1938, as did the Cincinnati Bengals, which joined the fledgling minor league, the
American Professional Football Association
, in 1939 and became a charter member of the
third AFL
in 1940. The Bulldogs also joined the APFA for 1939 before becoming a charter member of the
Pacific Coast Professional Football League
in 1940.
In 1968, 27 years after the collapse of the third AFL, the Bengals name would be revived by
Paul Brown
for his
Cincinnati expansion franchise
in the fourth AFL, a team that continues to play in the NFL.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman, David Neft, and John Thorn,
Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League
(HarperCollins 1999)
ISBN
0-06-039232-0
- ^
"Plan New 'Pro' Football League for New Season".
The Morning Call
.
Allentown, PA
. Associated Press. November 13, 1935. p. 19.
- ^
George Gipe,
The Great American Sports Book
(Doubleday 1978)
ISBN
0-385-13091-0
- ^
a
b
1999 ESPN Information Please Sports Almanac
(ESPN Books, 1998),
ISBN
0-7868-8366-9
- ^
a
b
History of Football in Western New York
Archived
September 19, 2011, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
a
b
c
George Gipe,
The Great American Sport Book
(Doubleday 1978)
ISBN
0-385-13091-0
- ^
Hal Pennington Biography
- Xavier University Basketball Hall of Fame
- ^
Pay Dirt: The Business of Professional Team Sports
- ^
The Best of the Rest, Part One
Archived
February 9, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
? Pro Football Research Association (1983)
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