Pottsville Maroons

The Pottsville Maroons played in the National Football League from 1925 to 1928. The team became the Boston Bulldogs in 1929. The NFL consider the Bulldogs and the Maroons to be the same team.

The Maroons of Pottsville, Pennsylvania were one of the best teams in the league in 1925 and 1926, recording regular season records of 10-2 and 10-2-1, respectively. However, the team suffered losing records during their next two seasons. In 1929, the team then moved to Boston, Massachusetts and became the Bulldogs, but folded after the season.

[edit] 1925 NFL Championship controversy

Many Pottsville fans claim that the Maroons won the 1925 NFL Championship. The team was leading the league for most of the season, when NFL President Joseph Carr suspended the team for playing a team of University of Notre Dame All-Stars in Philadelphia (and winning 9-7) on the same day the Frankford Yellow Jackets were scheduled to play a game in Philadelphia, violating Frankford's franchise rights. Although Carr warned the Maroons in writing that they faced suspension if they played in Philadelphia, the Maroons claim that Carr approved the game during a telephone call. The Chicago Cardinals, who finished the year with the best record, were declared the 1925 champions. This decision was controversial, as the Cardinals' final game was played against a faltering franchise which, in violation of NFL rules, resorted to using high school students in its lineup. The NFL sanctioned both teams following the game. In addition, the Maroons' final league game, played shortly before the non-league Notre Dame game, was a victory over the Cardinals.

Although the NFL officially awarded the 1925 NFL championship to the Cardinals, they refused the title at first. [1] However, they would later have no objection about claiming the 1925 championship. [2]

Meanwhile, various fans and sportswriters continued to lobby the league to reverse the decision. The largest obstacle facing the Pottsville supporters is that the NFL would have to strike not one, but two of the Cardinals' wins for the Maroons to have the best record in 1925. Some argued in favor of striking those games because the Cardinals "shopped" for weak opponents late in the season, which under the league's rules of the time allowed last-minute scheduling during the last weeks of the season. On the other hand, Pottsville played a fairly easy schedule prior to their suspension, making their case less sympathetic. Still, the Maroons beat both the Cardinals and the Notre Dame all-stars (at a time when many considered college football superior to the emerging NFL), proving they were definitely a premier team.

By 1963, the NFL appointed a special commission to examine the case, but voted 12-2 in favor of continuing to recognize the Cardinals as champions. The lone supporters were Art Rooney and George Halas, the then-owners of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears, respectively.

In 2003, the issue was brought up again during the league's October owners meeting. However, the NFL voted 30-2 not to reopen the case, with the lone supporters being the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles, the league's two Pennsylvania teams. Thus for the foreseeable future, the Cardinals will still be officially listed as the 1925 NFL champions.

[edit] Season-by-season

[edit] References

• PottsvilleMaroons.com - Unofficial site about the history of the team.
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0062701746)
• Ghosts of the Gridiron: The Pottsville Maroons (URL last accessed March 13, 2006)
• 1925 Pottsville Maroons, Professional Football Researchers Association (URL last accessed March 13, 2006)