Sunday Game

Keith McClellan

Description

In the most complete and compelling account of the origins of professional football, The Sunday Game tells the stories of all the teams that played independent football in the small towns and industrial cities of the Midwest, from early in the twentieth century to the beginning of the National Football League shortly after the end of World War I. The foundations of what is now the most popular professional sport in America were laid by such teams as the Canton Bulldogs and the Hammond Clabbys, teams born out of civic pride and the enthusiasm of the blue-collar crowds who found, in the rough pleasure of the football field, the gritty equivalent of their own lives, a game they could cheer on Sunday afternoons, their only day free from work.

Sujets

• Fútbol americano
• American football

Informations

• Publié par: University of Akron Press
• Date de parution: 01 août 1998
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781935603412
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Sunday Game






Ohio History and Culture
The Sunday Game
At the Dawn of Professional Football

by Keith McClellan
The University of Akron Press
Copyright 1998 by Keith McClellan
All rights reserved
All inquiries and permissions requests should be addressed to the publisher, The University of Akron Press, Akron, OH 44325-1703.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition 1998
03 02 01 00 99 98 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McClellan, Keith
The Sunday game : at the dawn of professional football / by Keith McClellan.
p. cm.-(Ohio history and culture)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 1-884836-35-6 (cloth).-ISBN 1-884836-36-4 (pbk.)
1. Football-United States-History. I. Title. II. Series.
GV954.M37 1998
796.332 0973-dc21
98-24175

CIP
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
1 The Dawn of Professional Football
2 Setting the Stage
3 Assumed Names and Anti-Pro Sentiments
4 The Art of Scheduling
5 The Fort Wayne Friars, 1915
6 The Panhandles: Big As Mountains, Strong As Lions
7 Native American Players with Altoona
8 Evanston North Ends and the Kicking Swede
9 The Toledo Maroons and the Adrian College Boys
10 The Youngstown Patricians
11 Dayton: St. Mary s College and General Motors
12 The Detroit Heralds: Like a Ford in Heavy Traffic
13 The Cincinnati Celts: River City Champions
14 The Greatest Rivalry of Its Time
15 A Streetcar Conductor Wins the Day
16 Cleveland, Canton, and Massillon: Center of the Hurricane, 1916
17 The Akron Pros
18 Massillon and Canton: The Rivalry Continues, 1917
19 Davenport: When the Players Were in Charge
20 The Rock Island Independents
21 The Minneapolis Marines: Champions of Minnesota
22 Pro Football in Wisconsin
23 Wabash: The Little Town that Could
24 Racism Rears Its Ugly Head
25 Fort Wayne Friars: Indiana Champions, 1916
26 Fort Wayne Fizzles, 1917
27 Boosterism and the Hammond Clabbys, 1916
28 Hammond: New Indiana Champions
29 Football Prepared Young Men for the Future
30 Sunday Heroes
31 Promotion and Financing of Iron-Man Football: 1915-17
Appendix A. Rosters and Schedules
Appendix B. Professional Players Who Doubled as Coaches
Appendix C. All-Professional Teams, 1917
Appendix D. Walter Camp All-Americans in Pro Football, 1915-17
Notes
Index
List of Illustrations
1.1. Knute Rockne
5.1. Ivan Armon Zaring
6.1. The Nesser brothers
6.2. Columbus Panhandles (1913)
8.1., 8.2., 8.3. Evanston North Ends and the Wabash Athletic Association (1913)
8.4. Evanston North Ends and the Wabash Athletic Association (1914)
8.5. Eugene Schobinger
9.1. Frank Tubby Roush
10.1. Horace Hoke Palmer
10.2. Melvin Lesley McCreary
10.3. Franklin Bart Macomber
11.1., 11.2. Dayton Gym-Cadets and the Wabash Athletic Association (1914)
11.3. Frank S. White
12.1. John A. Roesink
12.2. Tom Moriarity
12.3. Leon C. Exelby
12.4. William Blake Miller
12.5. Lewis S. Castle
12.6. Rudolph W. Propst
12.7. Clarence Steamer Horning
14.1. George Edward Carp Julian
14.2. Alfred Earle Greasy Neale
14.3. James F. Jim Thorpe
14.4. Robert P. Butts Butler
15.1. Gideon Charles Smith
16.1. Paul R. Shorty Des Jardien
16.2. Harry Whitaker
16.3. James Martin Butchy Barron
16.4. Howard Cub Buck
18.1. DeOrmand Tuss McLaughry
21.1. Bob Marshall
21.2. Russell J. Tollefson
22.1. Scott Duke MacEachron
23.1. Mark G. Mickey Erehart
23.2. Homecoming parade for the Wabash Athletic Association
23.3. Pine Village Athletic Club (1915)
23.4. Wabash Athletic Association (1916)
23.5. Bill Williams
23.6. Pine Village Athletic Club (1916)
24.1. Clarence Smoke Fraim
25.1. Charles Gus Dorais
25.2. Ralph H. Bull Young
25.3. Edgar C. Big Ed Davis
25.4. Notre Dame alumni playing for the Fort Wayne Friars (1916)
27.1. Harold S. Hod Ofstie
29.1. WWI interrupted the formalization of a professional football league
Acknowledgments
Many people helped me with this book. Foremost was my wife Marian, whose encouragement, research assistance, ideas, and computer work were indispensable over the five-year journey this book required. She has been a true partner and a source of loving support in sickness and in health. Yvonne Johnson typed the first draft of rosters and schedules, a laborious, unrewarding task. Robert Hilsabeck, a mentor, historian, teacher, and friend, read and commented on two rough drafts of this book. His assistance and comments are appreciated. Elton Glaser is a sympathetic and skilled editor who had confidence in the manuscript in its early stages of development and provided encouragement at critical times. I am particularly thankful for his guidance.
A number of public librarians and historical society archivists were very helpful. Of particular note are Mark Burnette, archivist at the Evanston (IL) Historical Society, and Jack Miller of the Wabash County (IN) Historical Society. I am grateful to both for going beyond normal duty to provide assistance. A trunk full of Wabash Athletic Association records dating from the turn of the century was a rare find, and a search of Evanston City Directories unearthed long lost information.
The librarians at public libraries in Akron, Altoona, Canton (Stark County District Library), Chicago, Cleveland, Clinton, Columbus, Crawfordsville, Davenport, Dayton, Decatur, Des Moines, Detroit (including the Burton Historical Collection), Evanston, Fort Wayne, Green Bay, Hammond, Indianapolis, Joliet, Massillon, Milwaukee, Moline, Newcastle, Pittsburgh, Racine, Rock Island, Rockford, Toledo, Wabash, and Youngstown were invaluable. The Library of Congress, the Michigan Historical Society, the Ohio Historical Society, the Indiana Bureau of History, the Iowa Historical Society, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Youngstown Historical Society, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Library, and university libraries at the University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, University of Detroit-Mercy, Adrian College, Washington and Jefferson College, Georgetown University, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, Ohio State University, Bucknell University, Susquehanna University, The University of Akron, Cincinnati University, University of Illinois, Purdue University, University of Pittsburgh, and Ohio University were indispensable.
Charles Lamb and Norma Blackman, archivists at the University of Notre Dame; Philip Bantin, director of archives at Indiana University, along with Jim Grace and Brad Cook of that staff; Case Western Reserve University, The University of Akron, the Summit County Historical Society; Vicki Sussman at Denison University; John Riggs, archives researcher at DePauw University; Bertha Ihnot, archives assistant for manuscripts at Ohio State University; Baldwin Wallace College Archives; Ron Frankum and Chad Wheaton of Syracuse University Archives; Earl M. Rogers, university archivist, the University of Iowa; Knox College Archives; Mr. Medlicott, Franklin College reference librarian; George W. Bain, head of Archives and Special Collections, Ohio University; Penn State University Archives; Brown University Archives; and the Alumni Association at Colgate University-all were generous with their time and knowledge, as were Alice Diehl, Lebanon Valley College Library; William R. Massa Jr., public service archivist, Yale University; Lynn Beideck-Porn, University Archives and Special Collections, University of Nebraska; Kathy Byers, administrative assistant to the director, O Keefe Library, St. Ambrose University; Wanda Finney, University of Illinois Archives; James Bevin, Purdue University Special Collection; Anne Kintner, college archivist, Grinnell College; R. Jeanne Cobb, archivist, Bethany College; Paul Milliman, research assistant, Ohio Wesleyan University; Ron Becker, Rutgers University Archives; Suzy Taraba, Department of Special Collection, University of Chicago; Sandra Nyeman, Marietta College Archives; Jamie Peele, Kenyan College Archives; Gail Piacheck, University of Pennsylvania Archives; Phillip J. Zorich, special collections librarian, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Susann Posey, associate librarian, Mercersburg Academy; Roland M. Baumann, Oberlin College Archives; Elizabeth A. Nielsen, Oregon State University Archives; Don Link and Nanci A. Young, Princeton University Archives; Diane Jacob, Virginia Military Institute Archives; and H. Dewey DeWitt, Westminster College Archives.
I appreciate the correspondence from Mrs. Dwain ( Doris) Cottingham of Otterbein, Indiana, regarding the Pine Village Athletic Club. I also appreciate the correspondence with Vincent Sacksteder of Dayton, Ohio; Carl M. Becker of the Department of History, Wright State University; David W. Kraeuter and Susan M. Isola of Washington and Jefferson College; Lauren K. Landis, Genealogy Division, Stark County District Library, Canton, Ohio; Harold S. Parsons of the Warren County, Illinois, Genealogical Society; Verl L. Lekwa of Columbus Junction (Iowa), who reported on Ernest McRoberts; and Lutheran pastor Ralph Wallen, Storm Lake, Iowa, who made it possible to obtain church records on the family of Rueben Johnson.
Bob Carroll, president of the Professional Football Researchers Association, and Bob Gill, assistant editor of Coffin Corner, were generous with their accumulated knowledge and prior research, both of which were useful and insightful.
Finally, I would like to thank my uncle, Wesley Marquette, who played single platoon football before World War II and taught me, by example, how to play high school football with commitment and courage. I dedicate this book to him and to all of us who played single platoon football for the love of the game.