Buffalo (NFL)
Encyclopedia
Buffalo, New York
had a turbulent, early-era National Football League
team that operated under three different names and several different owners between the 1910s and 1920s. The early NFL era franchise was variously called the Buffalo All-Stars from 1915 to 1917, Buffalo Niagaras in 1918, the Buffalo Prospects in 1919, Buffalo All-Americans from 1920–1923, Buffalo Bisons from 1924–1925, 1927 and 1929, and the Buffalo Rangers
in 1926. The franchise, experiencing financial problems in 1928, did not participate in league play.
; in 1917, Lepper took the team on a barnstorming tour
of midwestern pro football teams. In 1918, the city's teams were not allowed to play outside the area because of the 1918 flu pandemic, and Lepper discontinued the All-Stars. Shoe salesman Warren D. Patterson, at the same time as this, formed a new team known as the Buffalo Niagaras, signing former Youngstown Patricians
quarterback Ernest "Tommy" Hughitt
as his quarterback. As the Niagaras, the team won a city-wide championship in 1918, going undefeated with a 6-0-0 record (including a forfeit), having only one touchdown scored on them in any of their six games. They were one of the few upper-level teams still able to play games that year, with most of the top level teams (such as the Patricians, Canton Bulldogs
and Massillon Tigers
) all having suspended operations due to the pandemic and/or World War I
player shortages; this allowed Buffalo to get a leg up on its Ohio competition and sign otherwise-unemployed players, setting a course for bringing the region on par with the Ohio League and the ultimate establishment of the NFL. With that, they could have theoretically staked a claim to being the best team in the nation, especially considering how the team would perform over the next three seasons, but the Professional Football Researchers Association
is dismissive of any claim that does not come from the Ohio League
, and gives the mythical "national title" to the Dayton Triangles
, who also went undefeated that year. When the New York Pro Football League
opened in 1919, the team, now reorganized into a franchise known as the Prospects, defeated the Rochester Jeffersons
for the league title in a two-game Thanksgiving weekend tournament
. The two teams tied the Thanksgiving Day game, but Buffalo handily defeated Rochester 20-0 the following Sunday.
Lepper teamed up with Hughitt and Patterson in early 1920 to create the Buffalo All-Americans, then quickly sold the team to Frank McNeil, a somewhat abrasive and aggressive owner who was able to get the team into the National Football League for its first season. However records indicate he may not have actually entered his team into the American Professional Football Association until 1921, the All-Americans are generally shown as the third-place team in league standings from that year. Patterson held on to the Prospects name and put together a lower quality team that played through 1923, including a 1922 game against the All-Americans themselves.
offense duplicated the feat against other (all) professional and league teams on October 1, 2007; the asterisked record is because in the early NFL, the All-Americans played several non-league opponents in their first four wins in 1920. Like the 1990s-era Buffalo Bills
seven decades later (and the 1960s-era Bills four decades later), the 1918-21 All-Americans team is often considered one of the best professional teams to have never won an NFL championship. Even though they didn't officially win any championships, there are two championships that are disputable, in 1920 and 1921.
, a side project managed by All-Americans player Heinie Miller
. Miller would take himself and seven other All-Americans to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
to play games on Saturdays (Pennsylvania had blue laws
that prevented play on Sunday), and then return to Buffalo on Sundays. This sharing agreement lasted into 1921 when Miller formed the new Union Quakers of Philadelphia
, but All-Americans owner Frank McNeil put a halt to the agreement halfway through the 1921 season after the Quakers played the Canton Bulldogs
and wore out the All-Americans players. Five All-Americans left the team to play for the Quakers full-time; Buffalo had the pickings of the then-defunct Detroit Tigers
to replenish their roster.
held the Buffalo All-Americans to a scoreless tie in front of only 3,000 fans. At the game, Akron owners, Frank Nied
and Art Ranney
agreed to sell Bob Nash
to Buffalo for $300 and five per cent of the gate, in the first known player deal between NFL clubs.
. However the Pros still had to play the All-Americans who were fresh from a 7-3 win over the Canton Bulldogs
at New York City's Polo Grounds
. Despite Buffalo's confidence going into the match, the Pros also held the All-Americans to scoreless tie.
Both the All-Americans and the Staleys complained about the championship, arguing that Akron had only tied, but not defeated them. However, Joseph Carr
(then serving only as owner of his Columbus Panhandles team) moved at the league's meeting in April 1921 to give Akron the sole title and the rights to the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup
. The motion was accepted, and Buffalo finished in third place, with Chicago in second place.
According to modern NFL tie-breaking rules, the 1920 Buffalo All-Americans
would be co-champions. They would be tied with the Akron Pros
in win percentage, 9½ wins to 1½ losses (.864), both teams beating out the Decatur Staleys, who would have a season that counted 11 wins to 2 losses (.846).
and the Chicago Staleys, manage to capture second place in the AFPA in 1921
, with their only loss of the season against Buffalo. Meanwhile McNeil scheduled the two additional games against the Akron Pros and Chicago, in back-to-back games. The first game was scheduled for December 3 against the tough Akron Pros, after which his team would take an all-night train to Chicago to play the Staleys the next day.
The All-Americans defeated the Pros on December 3. They then rode to Chicago, where they disembarked the next day, worn out and in no condition to play the Staleys. The All-Americans then lost to the Staleys, 10-7. Meanwhile McNeil still believed his team was the AFPA's 1921 champion, and even invested in tiny gold footballs for his players to commemorate the achievement. However Halas declared that the title was Chicago's, basing his claim on his belief that the second game of the Buffalo-Chicago series mattered more than the first. He also pointed out that the aggregate score of the two games was 16-14 in favor of the Staleys. McNeil insisted the Buffalo All-Americans were the champions, still maintaining that the last two games his team played were merely exhibitions. It didn't matter. The league awarded the championship by a vote of the Association's executive committee in January 1922 to the Staleys.
This episode is referred to by several sports historians and Buffalo sports fans as the "Staley Swindle." McNeil eventually went to his grave trying to get the league's decision overturned.
In their decision, based on a generally accepted (but now obsolete) rule that if two teams play each other more than once in a season, the second game counts more than the first, the executive committee followed established tradition. Had Buffalo not played the last game (or if it had not been counted as per Buffalo's wishes), they would have had an undefeated season and won the title.
In both the 1920 and 1921 seasons, Buffalo played all of its games at home (the lone exceptions being the two 1921 matches in Chicago and one against the Detroit Tigers).
, the All-Americans, though they never equaled the success of the first two seasons, continued to post winning records in 1922 and 1923. Star running back Ockie Anderson
's knees deteriorated during the 1922 season, forcing his early retirement and beginning the team's decline. In 1924, owner Frank McNeil sold the team back to Hughitt and Warren D. Patterson, who immediately changed the team name to Bisons (a stock name for Buffalo sports teams) and signed several players (Pete Calac
, Benny Boynton and Jim Ailinger
being among them) to make another run at the title. After starting the season 6-2, the team lost their last three to once again end up marginally above .500. Hughitt retired at the end of the season. After Hughitt's retirement at the end of the 1924 season, the team struggled for the rest of its lifespan.
However on October 1, 1925; the Bisons managed to wrestle Jim Kendrick
from his contract with the Hammond Pros
and signed him to play for Buffalo. In 1925 the Bisons were led by former Columbia University
star and Buffalo native Walter Koppisch
. Prior to Kendrick joining the team, the Bisons were already 0-2 on the season. Kendrick's first game with Buffalo came on Sunday, October 4, 1925 against the Rochester Jeffersons
. With Kendrick in the line-up, the Bisons managed to tie the Jeffersons and the Akron Pros in their next two games. A week later the Bisons defeated the Columbus Tigers, 17-6. However tragedy struck the team just a few days later when, team captain, Walter Koppisch was injured in a car accident and was advised to sit out a few games to allow his injuries to heal.
A week later, the Bisons were defeated by the Frankford Yellow Jackets
12-3. However the team was scheduled to play the New York Giants
at the Polo Grounds, a few days later. The game was also going to be the first game back for Koppisch. However the Bisons, despite a strong defensive showing, the Bisons could not generate their offensive potential. This game also end up as Koppisch's last appearance in a Buffalo uniform. The team then lost their final two games of the season to the Providence Steam Roller
(10-0) and the Chicago Cardinals (23-6).
In July 1926 it was announced that Walter Koppisch would not be returning to manage the Buffalo Bisons in the upcoming season. Meanwhile Jim Kendrick would announced to be taking over as the team's manager, and serving as a player-coach
.
" experiment, which turned the team into an exhibition from players from Texas
and the Southwestern United States
for the 1926 season. The team, while it was made up of players from Texas and Oklahoma
, would then represent Buffalo in the NFL. Because most of the players were Texans, the team was nicknamed the "Rangers" in reference to the state's legendary peacekeeping force
. Along with the West Coast's Los Angeles Buccaneers
and the South's Louisville Colonels, it was one of three teams that represented cities outside the NFL's existing footprint (coincidentally, there is a city named Buffalo, Texas
). Kendrick believed that if the players have no outside interests or anything to divert their minds from playing football, they can play better. This was an 'experiment' for the new manager, and the season's outcome would determine if his theory was correct.
The Buffalo media alternately referred to them as the "Bison Rangers," combining the old moniker with the new so that fans might more easily identify the team that was on its third name in seven years. The one-year experiment brought a 4-4-2 (.500) season. Buffalo expected Kendrick to return to field the Rangers for the 1927 season
, however Kendrick signed with the New York Giants, and most of the remaining players went their separate ways, citing their dislike for Buffalo's cold winters as the primary reason for not sticking around.
, a local high school and college coach and an assistant with the team since 1925, was brought in to coach the 1927 season. After five games (all losses
, all but one being a shutout), the team suspended operations and failed to finish the season. The team did not return to play in 1928, but returned in 1929 with former Oorang Indian
Al Jolley
as coach. Much like in 1927, the Bisons failed to win a game in their final season until their final game, when in a case of cosmic irony they upset the Chicago Bears
19-7; thus, the very team that had spoiled their lossless season
in 1921 had spoiled their winless season
in 1929. With the Great Depression
underway, the Bisons folded, never to return again.
With the exception of the three teams that have direct descendants still in the NFL, the Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals and Dayton Triangles (whose remains reside in the current Indianapolis Colts—or the St. Louis Rams, depending on the perspective), Buffalo was the longest-lived of the league's original teams.
The team has no official relation to future Buffalo pro football franchises: the Buffalo Indians
and Tigers
of the third American Football League, the Buffalo Bisons
of the AAFC
, or the Buffalo Bills
of today which was one of the new AFL
teams (formation announced in 1959) that first played in 1960.
rs played for the All-Americans, Bisons or Rangers.
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
had a turbulent, early-era National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
team that operated under three different names and several different owners between the 1910s and 1920s. The early NFL era franchise was variously called the Buffalo All-Stars from 1915 to 1917, Buffalo Niagaras in 1918, the Buffalo Prospects in 1919, Buffalo All-Americans from 1920–1923, Buffalo Bisons from 1924–1925, 1927 and 1929, and the Buffalo Rangers
1926 Buffalo Rangers season
The 1926 Buffalo Rangers season was their seventh in the league. The team improved on their previous output of 1-6-2, winning four games. They finished ninth in the league.-Background:...
in 1926. The franchise, experiencing financial problems in 1928, did not participate in league play.
Prior to the NFL
The All-Stars played from 1915 to 1917 under the leadership of Barney LepperBarney Lepper
Howard Emmett Lepper was a professional football player, as well as the manager, for the Buffalo All-Americans. Aside from playing football in Buffalo, Lepper also helped start the team in 1917, when they were called the Buffalo All-Stars, Niagaras and Prospects. All of the early press...
; in 1917, Lepper took the team on a barnstorming tour
Barnstorm (sports)
Barnstorming in athletics refers to sports teams or individuals that travel to various locations, usually small towns, to stage exhibition matches....
of midwestern pro football teams. In 1918, the city's teams were not allowed to play outside the area because of the 1918 flu pandemic, and Lepper discontinued the All-Stars. Shoe salesman Warren D. Patterson, at the same time as this, formed a new team known as the Buffalo Niagaras, signing former Youngstown Patricians
Youngstown Patricians
The Youngstown Patricians were a semi-professional football team based in Youngstown, Ohio. In the 1910s, the team briefly held the professional football championship and established itself as a fierce rival of more experienced clubs around the country, some of which later formed the core of the...
quarterback Ernest "Tommy" Hughitt
Tommy Hughitt
Ernest Fredrick Hughitt , was a National Football League utility player and coach. He was also an All-American quarterback for the University of Michigan in 1913....
as his quarterback. As the Niagaras, the team won a city-wide championship in 1918, going undefeated with a 6-0-0 record (including a forfeit), having only one touchdown scored on them in any of their six games. They were one of the few upper-level teams still able to play games that year, with most of the top level teams (such as the Patricians, Canton Bulldogs
Canton Bulldogs
The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and its successor, the National Football League, from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1925 to 1926. The Bulldogs would go on to win the 1917, 1918...
and Massillon Tigers
Massillon Tigers
The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the "Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championships in 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906, then merged to become...
) all having suspended operations due to the pandemic and/or World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
player shortages; this allowed Buffalo to get a leg up on its Ohio competition and sign otherwise-unemployed players, setting a course for bringing the region on par with the Ohio League and the ultimate establishment of the NFL. With that, they could have theoretically staked a claim to being the best team in the nation, especially considering how the team would perform over the next three seasons, but the Professional Football Researchers Association
Professional Football Researchers Association
The Professional Football Researchers Association is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by writer/historian Bob Carroll and six other football researchers and is...
is dismissive of any claim that does not come from the Ohio League
Ohio League
The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1903 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship . As the name implied, its teams were based in Ohio...
, and gives the mythical "national title" to the Dayton Triangles
Dayton Triangles
The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangle Park, which was located at the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater Rivers in north...
, who also went undefeated that year. When the New York Pro Football League
New York Pro Football League
The New York Pro Football League was a professional American football league active in the 1910s and based in upstate New York, primarily Western New York. Between 1920 and 1921, the league's best teams were absorbed into the National Football League, though none survive in that league today...
opened in 1919, the team, now reorganized into a franchise known as the Prospects, defeated the Rochester Jeffersons
Rochester Jeffersons
The Rochester Jeffersons from Rochester, New York played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1925.Formed as an amateur outfit by a rag-tag group of Rochester-area teenagers after the turn of the century , the team became known as the Jeffersons in reference to the locale of their playing...
for the league title in a two-game Thanksgiving weekend tournament
Thanksgiving Classic
The National Football League's Thanksgiving Classic is a series of games played during the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. It has been a regular occurrence since the league's inception in 1920. Since 2006, three games are played every Thanksgiving...
. The two teams tied the Thanksgiving Day game, but Buffalo handily defeated Rochester 20-0 the following Sunday.
Lepper teamed up with Hughitt and Patterson in early 1920 to create the Buffalo All-Americans, then quickly sold the team to Frank McNeil, a somewhat abrasive and aggressive owner who was able to get the team into the National Football League for its first season. However records indicate he may not have actually entered his team into the American Professional Football Association until 1921, the All-Americans are generally shown as the third-place team in league standings from that year. Patterson held on to the Prospects name and put together a lower quality team that played through 1923, including a 1922 game against the All-Americans themselves.
The NFL
The Buffalo All-Americans had success during its first couple of APFA seasons, posting a 9-1-1 regular season record in 1920 where they became the first professional NFL team to win by margins of 20 or more points in each of its first four games, an asterisked record which was not tied until the 2007 New England Patriots'2007 New England Patriots season
The 2007 New England Patriots season was the 38th season for the team in the National Football League and 48th season overall. They finished with a perfect 16–0 regular season record but lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII....
offense duplicated the feat against other (all) professional and league teams on October 1, 2007; the asterisked record is because in the early NFL, the All-Americans played several non-league opponents in their first four wins in 1920. Like the 1990s-era Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
seven decades later (and the 1960s-era Bills four decades later), the 1918-21 All-Americans team is often considered one of the best professional teams to have never won an NFL championship. Even though they didn't officially win any championships, there are two championships that are disputable, in 1920 and 1921.
The Buffalo-Phoenixville connection
Unique for a professional football team, the All-Americans had a sharing agreement with the Union Club of PhoenixvilleUnion Club of Phoenixville
The Union Club of Phoenixville was a professional football team based in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The team was the result of a 1919 merger between the Phoenixville Union Club and the upstart Phoenix Athletic Club. From 1907 until 1919, the Union Club was considered one of the best football teams...
, a side project managed by All-Americans player Heinie Miller
Heinie Miller
Henry John "Heinie" Miller was a professional football player who played in the early years of the National Football League. He played in the NFL for the Buffalo All-Americans and the Milwaukee Badgers...
. Miller would take himself and seven other All-Americans to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
Phoenixville is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Philadelphia, at the junction of French Creek with the Schuylkill River. The population is 16,440 as of the 2010 Census.- History :...
to play games on Saturdays (Pennsylvania had blue laws
Blue Laws
The Blue Laws of the Colony of Connecticut, as distinct from the generic term "blue law" that refers to any laws regulating activities on Sunday, were the initial statutes set up by the Gov. Theophilus Eaton with the assistance of the Rev. John Cotton in 1655 for the Colony of New Haven, now part...
that prevented play on Sunday), and then return to Buffalo on Sundays. This sharing agreement lasted into 1921 when Miller formed the new Union Quakers of Philadelphia
Union Quakers of Philadelphia
The Union Quakers of Philadelphia were a professional independent football team, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1921. The team evolved from a number of pro players who played with the Union Club of Phoenixville during their 1920 season. During their only season of operation, the club won...
, but All-Americans owner Frank McNeil put a halt to the agreement halfway through the 1921 season after the Quakers played the Canton Bulldogs
Canton Bulldogs
The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and its successor, the National Football League, from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1925 to 1926. The Bulldogs would go on to win the 1917, 1918...
and wore out the All-Americans players. Five All-Americans left the team to play for the Quakers full-time; Buffalo had the pickings of the then-defunct Detroit Tigers
Detroit (1920s NFL teams)
Detroit, Michigan had four early teams in the National Football League before the Detroit Lions. The Heralds played in 1920, and had played as an independent as far back as 1905. The Tigers, a continuation of the Heralds, played in 1921, folding midseason and sending its players to the Buffalo...
to replenish their roster.
First trade in the NFL
In 1920, the Akron ProsAkron Pros
The Akron Pros were a professional football team located played in Akron, Ohio from 1908–1926. The team originated in 1908 as a semi-pro team named the Akron Indians, however name was changed to the Pros in 1920 as the team set out to become a charter member of the American Professional...
held the Buffalo All-Americans to a scoreless tie in front of only 3,000 fans. At the game, Akron owners, Frank Nied
Frank Nied
Francis Theodore Nied was a founder of the American Professional Football Association , as well as the owner of the Akron Pros and, as the team became known as in 1926, the Akron Indians.-Purchasing the Indians:In 1920, Neid was a cigar store owner in Akron...
and Art Ranney
Art Ranney
Arthur F. Ranney was a co-founder of the American Professional Football Association , as an owner of the Akron Pros, one of the league's chater teams...
agreed to sell Bob Nash
Bob Nash (American football)
Robert Arthur "Nasty" Nash was a professional football player who played in the American Professional Football Association for the Akron Pros, Buffalo All-Americans, Rochester Jeffersons and the New York Giants...
to Buffalo for $300 and five per cent of the gate, in the first known player deal between NFL clubs.
1920 Championship issue
Along with the Decatur Staleys and Akron Pros, Buffalo claimed a share of the 1920 league title. That same season the Pros held the best record in the league, and only had to avoid losing a game. Meanwhile Buffalo and the Staleys had to win in order to capture the AFPA Championship. The Pros were able to hold the Staleys to a scoreless tie at Cub ParkWrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
. However the Pros still had to play the All-Americans who were fresh from a 7-3 win over the Canton Bulldogs
Canton Bulldogs
The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and its successor, the National Football League, from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1925 to 1926. The Bulldogs would go on to win the 1917, 1918...
at New York City's Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
. Despite Buffalo's confidence going into the match, the Pros also held the All-Americans to scoreless tie.
Both the All-Americans and the Staleys complained about the championship, arguing that Akron had only tied, but not defeated them. However, Joseph Carr
Joseph Carr
Joseph "Joe" F. Carr was the president of the National Football League from 1921 until his death in 1939. Carr was born in Columbus, Ohio. As a mechanic for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Columbus, he directed the Columbus Panhandles football team in 1907 until 1922...
(then serving only as owner of his Columbus Panhandles team) moved at the league's meeting in April 1921 to give Akron the sole title and the rights to the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup
Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup
Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup was a silver trophy donated to the American Professional Football Association by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, Tire Division....
. The motion was accepted, and Buffalo finished in third place, with Chicago in second place.
According to modern NFL tie-breaking rules, the 1920 Buffalo All-Americans
1920 Buffalo All-Americans season
The 1920 Buffalo All-Americans season was their inaugural season in the league. The team finished 9-1-1, enough for third place in the league. It was one of only four teams to finish the 1920 season....
would be co-champions. They would be tied with the Akron Pros
1920 Akron Pros season
The Akron Pros were an American football team that played in the American Professional Football Association . The team originally formed as the Akron Indians in 1908 in the Ohio League. In their twelfth year in 1920, they became a charter member of the AFPA, which subsequently changed its name to...
in win percentage, 9½ wins to 1½ losses (.864), both teams beating out the Decatur Staleys, who would have a season that counted 11 wins to 2 losses (.846).
"Staley Swindle"
On November 27, 1921, the All-Americans claimed the AFPA title with a record of 9-0-2. However, for reason still unknown, owner Frank McNeil agreed to play two more games. He did tell the Buffalo media that the two games were exhibitions and would have no bearing on the team's claim to the AFPA title. Meanwhile, George HalasGeorge Halas
George Stanley Halas, Sr. , nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears...
and the Chicago Staleys, manage to capture second place in the AFPA in 1921
1921 NFL season
The 1921 APFA season was the 2nd regular season of the National Football League, which was then called the American Professional Football Association....
, with their only loss of the season against Buffalo. Meanwhile McNeil scheduled the two additional games against the Akron Pros and Chicago, in back-to-back games. The first game was scheduled for December 3 against the tough Akron Pros, after which his team would take an all-night train to Chicago to play the Staleys the next day.
The All-Americans defeated the Pros on December 3. They then rode to Chicago, where they disembarked the next day, worn out and in no condition to play the Staleys. The All-Americans then lost to the Staleys, 10-7. Meanwhile McNeil still believed his team was the AFPA's 1921 champion, and even invested in tiny gold footballs for his players to commemorate the achievement. However Halas declared that the title was Chicago's, basing his claim on his belief that the second game of the Buffalo-Chicago series mattered more than the first. He also pointed out that the aggregate score of the two games was 16-14 in favor of the Staleys. McNeil insisted the Buffalo All-Americans were the champions, still maintaining that the last two games his team played were merely exhibitions. It didn't matter. The league awarded the championship by a vote of the Association's executive committee in January 1922 to the Staleys.
This episode is referred to by several sports historians and Buffalo sports fans as the "Staley Swindle." McNeil eventually went to his grave trying to get the league's decision overturned.
In their decision, based on a generally accepted (but now obsolete) rule that if two teams play each other more than once in a season, the second game counts more than the first, the executive committee followed established tradition. Had Buffalo not played the last game (or if it had not been counted as per Buffalo's wishes), they would have had an undefeated season and won the title.
In both the 1920 and 1921 seasons, Buffalo played all of its games at home (the lone exceptions being the two 1921 matches in Chicago and one against the Detroit Tigers).
Buffalo Bisons
Under the leadership of player-coach Tommy HughittTommy Hughitt
Ernest Fredrick Hughitt , was a National Football League utility player and coach. He was also an All-American quarterback for the University of Michigan in 1913....
, the All-Americans, though they never equaled the success of the first two seasons, continued to post winning records in 1922 and 1923. Star running back Ockie Anderson
Ockie Anderson
Oscar Carl "Ockie" Anderson was an All-American football player and coach. In 1916, he was selected as a first-team All-American quarterback while playing for Colgate University...
's knees deteriorated during the 1922 season, forcing his early retirement and beginning the team's decline. In 1924, owner Frank McNeil sold the team back to Hughitt and Warren D. Patterson, who immediately changed the team name to Bisons (a stock name for Buffalo sports teams) and signed several players (Pete Calac
Pete Calac
Pedro "Pete" Calac was a professional football player who played in the Ohio League and during the early years of the National Football League...
, Benny Boynton and Jim Ailinger
Jim Ailinger
Dr. James Joseph Ailinger was an American football player for the Buffalo Bisons of the National Football League. Playing as a reserve on several positions on the offensive line for only one season, 1924, he was, at the time of his death, the oldest surviving NFL player .Ailinger was...
being among them) to make another run at the title. After starting the season 6-2, the team lost their last three to once again end up marginally above .500. Hughitt retired at the end of the season. After Hughitt's retirement at the end of the 1924 season, the team struggled for the rest of its lifespan.
However on October 1, 1925; the Bisons managed to wrestle Jim Kendrick
Jim Kendrick
James Marcellus Kendrick was a professional football player during the early years of the National Football League with the Toledo Maroons, Canton Bulldogs, Louisville Brecks, Chicago Bears, Hammond Pros, Buffalo Bisons, Rochester Jeffersons, Rock Island Independents, Buffalo Rangers and the New...
from his contract with the Hammond Pros
Hammond Pros
The Hammond Pros from Hammond, Indiana played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1926 as a traveling team.-History:The Pros were established by Paul Parduhn and Dr. Alva Young who was a boxing promoter, owner of a racing stable and a doctor and trainer for a semi-pro football team...
and signed him to play for Buffalo. In 1925 the Bisons were led by former Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
star and Buffalo native Walter Koppisch
Walter Koppisch
Walter Frederic "Wally" Koppisch was an American football halfback in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bisons and New York Giants. He attended Columbia University...
. Prior to Kendrick joining the team, the Bisons were already 0-2 on the season. Kendrick's first game with Buffalo came on Sunday, October 4, 1925 against the Rochester Jeffersons
Rochester Jeffersons
The Rochester Jeffersons from Rochester, New York played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1925.Formed as an amateur outfit by a rag-tag group of Rochester-area teenagers after the turn of the century , the team became known as the Jeffersons in reference to the locale of their playing...
. With Kendrick in the line-up, the Bisons managed to tie the Jeffersons and the Akron Pros in their next two games. A week later the Bisons defeated the Columbus Tigers, 17-6. However tragedy struck the team just a few days later when, team captain, Walter Koppisch was injured in a car accident and was advised to sit out a few games to allow his injuries to heal.
A week later, the Bisons were defeated by the Frankford Yellow Jackets
Frankford Yellow Jackets
The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, though its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won the NFL championship in 1926...
12-3. However the team was scheduled to play the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
at the Polo Grounds, a few days later. The game was also going to be the first game back for Koppisch. However the Bisons, despite a strong defensive showing, the Bisons could not generate their offensive potential. This game also end up as Koppisch's last appearance in a Buffalo uniform. The team then lost their final two games of the season to the Providence Steam Roller
Providence Steam Roller
The Providence Steam Roller was a professional American football team based in Providence, Rhode Island in the National Football League from 1925 to 1931. Providence was the first New England team to win an NFL championship...
(10-0) and the Chicago Cardinals (23-6).
In July 1926 it was announced that Walter Koppisch would not be returning to manage the Buffalo Bisons in the upcoming season. Meanwhile Jim Kendrick would announced to be taking over as the team's manager, and serving as a player-coach
Player-coach
A player-coach, in sports, is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. The term can be used to refer to both players who serve as head coaches, or as assistant coaches....
.
Buffalo Rangers
Jim Kendrick announced his "Buffalo Rangers1926 Buffalo Rangers season
The 1926 Buffalo Rangers season was their seventh in the league. The team improved on their previous output of 1-6-2, winning four games. They finished ninth in the league.-Background:...
" experiment, which turned the team into an exhibition from players from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and the Southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
for the 1926 season. The team, while it was made up of players from Texas and Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, would then represent Buffalo in the NFL. Because most of the players were Texans, the team was nicknamed the "Rangers" in reference to the state's legendary peacekeeping force
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
. Along with the West Coast's Los Angeles Buccaneers
Los Angeles Buccaneers
The Los Angeles Buccaneers were a traveling team in the National Football League during their one season 1926, ostensibly representing the city of Los Angeles, California. Like the Los Angeles Wildcats of the first American Football League, the team never actually played a league game in Los...
and the South's Louisville Colonels, it was one of three teams that represented cities outside the NFL's existing footprint (coincidentally, there is a city named Buffalo, Texas
Buffalo, Texas
This article is about the city in Leon County, Texas. A similarly named place exists in Henderson County, Texas, the settlement of John H. Reagan.Buffalo is a city in Leon County, Texas, United States...
). Kendrick believed that if the players have no outside interests or anything to divert their minds from playing football, they can play better. This was an 'experiment' for the new manager, and the season's outcome would determine if his theory was correct.
The Buffalo media alternately referred to them as the "Bison Rangers," combining the old moniker with the new so that fans might more easily identify the team that was on its third name in seven years. The one-year experiment brought a 4-4-2 (.500) season. Buffalo expected Kendrick to return to field the Rangers for the 1927 season
1927 NFL season
The 1927 NFL season was the 8th regular season of the National Football League. Prior to the season, the league decided to eliminate the financially weaker teams. As a result, the league dropped from 22 to 12 teams, and a majority of the remaining teams were centered around the East Coast instead...
, however Kendrick signed with the New York Giants, and most of the remaining players went their separate ways, citing their dislike for Buffalo's cold winters as the primary reason for not sticking around.
Return of the Bisons and closure
Dim BattersonDim Batterson
George Wilder Batterson was a professional football coach with the Buffalo Bisons and Rangers of the early National Football League. He served as an assistant coach in 1925 and 1926, before becoming the team's head coach in 1927. During his NFL coaching career, Batterson posted an 0-5...
, a local high school and college coach and an assistant with the team since 1925, was brought in to coach the 1927 season. After five games (all losses
Imperfect season
An imperfect season is defined as a team losing all of their games. It is the antithesis of a perfect season, and is often referred to as such in a tongue-in-cheek manner...
, all but one being a shutout), the team suspended operations and failed to finish the season. The team did not return to play in 1928, but returned in 1929 with former Oorang Indian
Oorang Indians
The Oorang Indians were a traveling team in the National Football League from LaRue, Ohio . The team was named after the Oorang dog kennels. It was a novelty team put together by the kennels' owner, Walter Lingo, for marketing purposes. All of the players were Native American, with Jim Thorpe as...
Al Jolley
Al Jolley
Alvin Jay Jolley was a professional football player and coach. He played for the Cleveland Tigers, Akron Pros, Dayton Triangles, Oorang Indians, Buffalo Bisons, Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cleveland Indians. He was a coach for the Bisons and the Cincinnati Reds. He also played for the Ironton Tanks of...
as coach. Much like in 1927, the Bisons failed to win a game in their final season until their final game, when in a case of cosmic irony they upset the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
19-7; thus, the very team that had spoiled their lossless season
Perfect Season
A perfect season is any sports season, excluding the playoff portion of a season, in which a team remains undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, and has occurred more commonly at the collegiate level in the United States.A perfect season may...
in 1921 had spoiled their winless season
Imperfect season
An imperfect season is defined as a team losing all of their games. It is the antithesis of a perfect season, and is often referred to as such in a tongue-in-cheek manner...
in 1929. With the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
underway, the Bisons folded, never to return again.
With the exception of the three teams that have direct descendants still in the NFL, the Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals and Dayton Triangles (whose remains reside in the current Indianapolis Colts—or the St. Louis Rams, depending on the perspective), Buffalo was the longest-lived of the league's original teams.
The team has no official relation to future Buffalo pro football franchises: the Buffalo Indians
Buffalo Indians
The Buffalo Indians were a professional American football team that competed in the third American Football League in 1940 and in 1941. The team played its home games in Civic Stadium in Buffalo, New York...
and Tigers
Buffalo Indians
The Buffalo Indians were a professional American football team that competed in the third American Football League in 1940 and in 1941. The team played its home games in Civic Stadium in Buffalo, New York...
of the third American Football League, the Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo Bills (AAFC)
The Buffalo Bills was an American Football team, based in Buffalo, NY, that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. During its first season in 1946, the team was known as the Buffalo Bisons...
of the AAFC
All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations...
, or the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
of today which was one of the new AFL
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
teams (formation announced in 1959) that first played in 1960.
Players of note
As of 2010, no Pro Football Hall of FamePro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
rs played for the All-Americans, Bisons or Rangers.
- Jim AilingerJim AilingerDr. James Joseph Ailinger was an American football player for the Buffalo Bisons of the National Football League. Playing as a reserve on several positions on the offensive line for only one season, 1924, he was, at the time of his death, the oldest surviving NFL player .Ailinger was...
(at the time of his death in 2001, the oldest surviving NFL alumnus) - Ockie AndersonOckie AndersonOscar Carl "Ockie" Anderson was an All-American football player and coach. In 1916, he was selected as a first-team All-American quarterback while playing for Colgate University...
- Benny Boynton
- Pete CalacPete CalacPedro "Pete" Calac was a professional football player who played in the Ohio League and during the early years of the National Football League...
- Tommy HughittTommy HughittErnest Fredrick Hughitt , was a National Football League utility player and coach. He was also an All-American quarterback for the University of Michigan in 1913....
- Heinie MillerHeinie MillerHenry John "Heinie" Miller was a professional football player who played in the early years of the National Football League. He played in the NFL for the Buffalo All-Americans and the Milwaukee Badgers...
- Elmer OliphantElmer OliphantElmer Quillen Oliphant, nicknamed Catchie or Catchy, Olie or Ollie was an American football player.-High school:...
- Paul RobesonPaul RobesonPaul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
- Gus SonnenbergGus SonnenbergGustave Adolph Sonnenberg was an American football player and professional wrestler. As a wrestler, he was National Wrestling Association world heavyweight champion...
- Lud WrayLud WrayJames R. Ludlow "Lud" Wray was a professional American football player, coach, and co-founder, with college teammate Bert Bell, of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He was the first coach of the Boston Braves in 1932 and of the Eagles, 1933-1935...
Season-by-season
| Year | W | L | T | Finish | Coach | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All-Americans | 1920 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 3rd | Tommy Hughitt | Disputed title with Akron Pros Akron Pros The Akron Pros were a professional football team located played in Akron, Ohio from 1908–1926. The team originated in 1908 as a semi-pro team named the Akron Indians, however name was changed to the Pros in 1920 as the team set out to become a charter member of the American Professional... . Would be co-champions by modern tie-breaking rules. |
| 1921 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 2nd | Tommy Hughitt | Lost championship to Chicago Staleys Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... in final game of season. Team disputed title. |
|
| 1922 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 9th | Tommy Hughitt | ||
| 1923 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 9th | Tommy Hughitt | ||
| Bisons | 1924 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 9th | Tommy Hughitt | |
| 1925 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 15th | Walt Koppisch | ||
| Rangers | 1926 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 9th | Jim Kendrick | |
| Bisons | 1927 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 12th | Dim Batterson | |
| 1928 | Suspended Operations | ||||||
| 1929 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 10th | Al Jolley | ||
External links
- Historical Society of the Buffalo All-Americans, Bisons & Rangers
- Buffalo Bills fanclub, which tracks the Football history of Western New York State.