Los Angeles Wildcats
Encyclopedia
The Los Angeles Wildcats (also reported in various media as Pacific Coast Wildcats, Los Angeles Wilson Wildcats and Wilson’s Wildcats) was a traveling team
of the first American Football League that was not based in its nominal home city but in Chicago, Illinois (it trained in Rock Island
). Coached by Jim Clark, the team was designed to be a showcase for University of Washington
star back George “Wildcat” Wilson
. Compared to most traveling teams in professional football
, the Wildcats were successful, compiling a 6-6-2 record in the only season of the team’s – and the league’s – existence.
formation of the American Football League by C. C. Pyle
, a sports agent
who represented star back
Red Grange
. Pyle’s application for a National Football League
franchise in New York
was rejected as Tim Mara
, owner of the New York Giants
objected to Pyle proposed intrusion into the Giants’ territory. Armed with a five-year lease at Yankee Stadium
, Pyle subsequently announced the formation of the American Football League as a showcase for his client.
The league was also a showcase for another Pyle client who was an All-American on the West Coast: Wilson. Because of the limitations of train (or bus) travel, the National Football League extended only from the Atlantic coast westward to Kansas City, Missouri
, and Pyle wanted to tap the talent of college football players along the Pacific. His solution was novel (and one that the more established NFL would copy quickly): establish a traveling team nominally representing Los Angeles
and headed by Wilson. The team would be based in Moline, Illinois
(home of the Rock Island Independents
, which jumped from the NFL to the AFL) and would have no home stadium. Virtually all of the players of the team attended colleges sited west of the Rocky Mountains
.
The team was owned by C. C. Pyle
and Red Grange
, who also owned another AFL team (the New York Yankees
) and had stock in a third (the Chicago Bulls
). The three teams and league champion Philadelphia Quakers
were the only four teams (of the original nine) still in existence at the end of league play on December 12, 1926. Upon the completion of a barnstorming tour, the Wildcats closed up shop after only one year of existence.
for either rushing and receiving duties; ends Ray Flaherty
and Jim Lawson
dutifully caught passes from Wilson, while Duke Morrison
ran when Wilson didn’t take the ball. Furthermore, no fewer than four Wildcats handled the kicking job at one time or another.
Originally scheduled to play only 10 games, the Wildcats played additional contests as last-minute “fill-in” opponents as one team after another in the American Football League folded or otherwise left the league. Immediately after tying the Chicago Bulls in Comiskey Park
, the team trekked to Toronto
’s Maple Leaf Stadium
for a game with the New York Yankees, which also played games on back-to-back days. The Yankees won, 29-0. It was not the first weekend in which the Wildcats played on consecutive days (they actually did so on three other weekends); their Thanksgiving Day contest with the Bulls (a scoreless tie) was their third in a five day stretch.
By the end of October, the Cleveland Panthers
and Newark Bears
have closed up shop; the Brooklyn Horsemen
merged with their NFL cousins, the Brooklyn Lions in early November, and the Boston Shamrocks
, a team that was subsidized by Pyle’s money dropped out. In the four weeks from the departure of Cleveland and the exit of Boston, scheduling “holes” were filled by the two traveling teams of the AFL: the Wildcats and the Rock Island Independents
… that is, until November 21, when the Independents – charter members of both the NFL and the AFL – joined the exodus from the younger league by calling it quits after a 3-0 loss to the Bulls. With only two weeks remaining in the season, the Wildcats, Yankees, and Bulls – three teams owned (or co-owned) by Pyle and Grange – and the Philadelphia Quakers
were the last teams remaining, with only the Quakers reporting a profit.
Only two official AFL games were left to play in December 1926. On the 5th, the Wildcats shut out the Bulls 5-0 on a frozen field in Comiskey Park, while the Bulls hosted the Yankees the following Sunday as the visiting team wrapped up the 1926 season of the American Football League with a 7-3 victory. At the same time, in a snowstorm at the Polo Grounds
, the league champion Quakers were crushed, 31-0, by the New York Giants in a game that marked the end of the American Football League, December 12, 1926.
(a 7-7 draw), Birmingham, Alabama
(a 14-3 Yankees win), Beaumont, Texas
(a 34-0 Wildcats win), and San Antonio
(a 20-14 Yankees win) before traveling to California for games against the independent Hollywood Generals (whom the Wildcats defeated, 26-7, in Wrigley Field of Los Angeles
) and the NFL’s traveling team, the Los Angeles Buccaneers
(the Wildcats won, 17-0, in a game played in San Francisco).
With the dissolution of the American Football League (Pyle’s Yankees were preparing to join the NFL under an arrangement with New York Giants owner Tim Mara, who acquired the assets of the defunct Brooklyn Horsemen
), the Wildcats ceased to exist after the game in San Francisco. Wildcat Wilson joined the Providence Steam Roller
for the 1927 NFL season. Wilson was not the only 1926 Wildcat to join a NFL roster for the 1927 season:
Mal Bross
– Green Bay Packers
Ted Bucklin – Chicago Cardinals
Walden Erickson
– Pottsville Maroons
Ray Flaherty
- New York Yankees
Ted Illman – Chicago Cardinals
Jim Lawson – New York Yankees
Ray Stephens – New York Yankees
John Vesser – Chicago Cardinals
Flaherty continued to play until 1935 (taking 1930 off to teach college football), then became head coach of the Washington Redskins
in 1937. He became a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in 1976.
Traveling team
In professional team sports, a traveling team is a member of a professional league that never or rarely competes in its home arena or stadium. This differs from a barnstorming team in that the latter does not compete within a league or association framework...
of the first American Football League that was not based in its nominal home city but in Chicago, Illinois (it trained in Rock Island
Rock Island, Illinois
Rock Island is the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,884 at the 2010 census. Located on the Mississippi River, it is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring Moline, East Moline, and the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities...
). Coached by Jim Clark, the team was designed to be a showcase for University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
star back George “Wildcat” Wilson
Wildcat Wilson
George "Wildcat" Wilson was an American football player, earning All-American honors as a halfback for the University of Washington Huskies.-Collegiate career:...
. Compared to most traveling teams in professional football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, the Wildcats were successful, compiling a 6-6-2 record in the only season of the team’s – and the league’s – existence.
Origin
The existence of the Wildcats began with the 19261926 American Football League season
The 1926 American Football League season is the only season of the existence of the first American Football League. It started with nine teams, with the initial game of the season being played in front of 22,000 fans in Cleveland, Ohio, but by the end of the season , only four teams were still in...
formation of the American Football League by C. C. Pyle
C. C. Pyle
Charles C. "C. C." Pyle , often called Cash and Carry Pyle, was a Champaign, Illinois theater owner and sports agent who represented American football star Red Grange and French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen...
, a sports agent
Sports agent
A sports agent procures and negotiates employment and endorsement contracts for an athlete.In return, the sports agent generally receives between 4 and 10% of the athlete's playing contract, and 10 to 20% of the athlete's endorsement contract, though these figures vary...
who represented star back
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
Red Grange
Red Grange
Harold Edward "Red" Grange, nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost", was a college and professional American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and for the short-lived New York Yankees. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League...
. Pyle’s application for a 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...
franchise in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
was rejected as Tim Mara
Tim Mara
Timothy James "Tim" Mara was the founder and administrator for the New York Giants of the National Football League. The Giants', under Mara, would win NFL championships in 1934, 1938, and 1956 and divisional titles in 1933, 1939, 1941, 1944, 1946, 1958, 1959.-Early life:Mara was born into poverty...
, owner of 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...
objected to Pyle proposed intrusion into the Giants’ territory. Armed with a five-year lease at Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
, Pyle subsequently announced the formation of the American Football League as a showcase for his client.
The league was also a showcase for another Pyle client who was an All-American on the West Coast: Wilson. Because of the limitations of train (or bus) travel, the National Football League extended only from the Atlantic coast westward to Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, and Pyle wanted to tap the talent of college football players along the Pacific. His solution was novel (and one that the more established NFL would copy quickly): establish a traveling team nominally representing Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
and headed by Wilson. The team would be based in Moline, Illinois
Moline, Illinois
Moline is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States, with a population of 45,792 in 2010. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. The Quad Cities has a population of...
(home of the Rock Island Independents
Rock Island Independents
The Rock Island Independents were a professional American football team based in Rock Island, Illinois. One of the first professional football teams, they were founded in 1907 as an independent club. They later played in what is now the National Football League from 1920 to 1925. They joined the...
, which jumped from the NFL to the AFL) and would have no home stadium. Virtually all of the players of the team attended colleges sited west of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
.
The team was owned by C. C. Pyle
C. C. Pyle
Charles C. "C. C." Pyle , often called Cash and Carry Pyle, was a Champaign, Illinois theater owner and sports agent who represented American football star Red Grange and French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen...
and Red Grange
Red Grange
Harold Edward "Red" Grange, nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost", was a college and professional American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and for the short-lived New York Yankees. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League...
, who also owned another AFL team (the New York Yankees
New York Yankees (NFL)
The New York Yankees were a short-lived professional American football team from 1926 to 1928. The team was a member of the first American Football League in 1926, and later the National Football League from 1927-1928. They played their home games at Yankee Stadium...
) and had stock in a third (the Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls (AFL)
The Chicago Bulls were a professional American football team that competed in the first American Football League in 1926. Owned by Joey Sternaman , the Bulls also had AFL founders C. C. Pyle and Red Grange as shareholders...
). The three teams and league champion Philadelphia Quakers
Philadelphia Quakers (AFL)
Not to be confused with the defunct Philadelphia Quakers team of the National Hockey League, the Philadelphia Quakers baseball team who became the Philadelphia Phillies in 1890 or the University of Pennsylvania athletics teams, the Pennsylvania Quakers....
were the only four teams (of the original nine) still in existence at the end of league play on December 12, 1926. Upon the completion of a barnstorming tour, the Wildcats closed up shop after only one year of existence.
American Football League Play
As the team began league play, it became evident that Wilson was not the only weapon that the Wildcats had. Coach Jim Clark had the versatile Mal BrossMal Bross
Matthew A. "Mal" Bross was a running back in the National Football League.-Career:Bross played with the Green Bay Packers during the 1927 NFL season. Previously he had played with the Los Angeles Wildcats of the American Football League.He played at the collegiate level at Gonzaga...
for either rushing and receiving duties; ends Ray Flaherty
Ray Flaherty
Raymond Paul Flaherty was a professional football player in the National Football League from 1926-1935. He was the head coach of the Boston/Washington Redskins from 1936–1942, where he won four division titles and two NFL Championships . Flaherty served in the United States Navy until 1945...
and Jim Lawson
Jim Lawson
Jim Lawson is an American comic book artist best known for his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Lawson created the Rat King and also co-created the series Planet Racers with Peter Laird. He is also the writer/artist of the black-and white-comic series Paleo: Tales of the Late...
dutifully caught passes from Wilson, while Duke Morrison
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
ran when Wilson didn’t take the ball. Furthermore, no fewer than four Wildcats handled the kicking job at one time or another.
Originally scheduled to play only 10 games, the Wildcats played additional contests as last-minute “fill-in” opponents as one team after another in the American Football League folded or otherwise left the league. Immediately after tying the Chicago Bulls in Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. It was built by Charles Comiskey after a design by Zachary Taylor Davis, and was the site of four World Series and more than 6,000 major league games...
, the team trekked to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
’s Maple Leaf Stadium
Maple Leaf Stadium
Maple Leaf Stadium was a baseball stadium in Toronto built in 1926 by Lol Solman for his Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team of the International League on the site of a stadium that had been built in 1907. It continued to be the home of the Leafs for 42 seasons, until the team left town following...
for a game with the New York Yankees, which also played games on back-to-back days. The Yankees won, 29-0. It was not the first weekend in which the Wildcats played on consecutive days (they actually did so on three other weekends); their Thanksgiving Day contest with the Bulls (a scoreless tie) was their third in a five day stretch.
By the end of October, the Cleveland Panthers
Cleveland Panthers
The Cleveland Panthers were a professional American football team that competed in the first American Football League in 1926. Owned by General C. X. Zimmerman , the Panthers played their home games in Luna Bowl in Luna Park...
and Newark Bears
Newark Bears (AFL)
The Newark Bears were a professional American football team that competed in the first American Football League in 1926. Owned by the New Jersey Athletic Association , the Bears played their home games in Davids' Stadium...
have closed up shop; the Brooklyn Horsemen
Brooklyn Horsemen
The Brooklyn Horsemen was a professional football team that competed in the American Football League during the 1926 season.On November 12, 1926, the team withdrew from the AFL and merged with Brooklyn Lions of the National Football League. The new team created by the merger was initially called...
merged with their NFL cousins, the Brooklyn Lions in early November, and the Boston Shamrocks
Boston Shamrocks (AFL)
The Boston Shamrocks were a professional American football team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The team played in the second American Football League from 1936 to 1937, followed by at least one year as an independent in 1938...
, a team that was subsidized by Pyle’s money dropped out. In the four weeks from the departure of Cleveland and the exit of Boston, scheduling “holes” were filled by the two traveling teams of the AFL: the Wildcats and the Rock Island Independents
Rock Island Independents
The Rock Island Independents were a professional American football team based in Rock Island, Illinois. One of the first professional football teams, they were founded in 1907 as an independent club. They later played in what is now the National Football League from 1920 to 1925. They joined the...
… that is, until November 21, when the Independents – charter members of both the NFL and the AFL – joined the exodus from the younger league by calling it quits after a 3-0 loss to the Bulls. With only two weeks remaining in the season, the Wildcats, Yankees, and Bulls – three teams owned (or co-owned) by Pyle and Grange – and the Philadelphia Quakers
Philadelphia Quakers (AFL)
Not to be confused with the defunct Philadelphia Quakers team of the National Hockey League, the Philadelphia Quakers baseball team who became the Philadelphia Phillies in 1890 or the University of Pennsylvania athletics teams, the Pennsylvania Quakers....
were the last teams remaining, with only the Quakers reporting a profit.
Only two official AFL games were left to play in December 1926. On the 5th, the Wildcats shut out the Bulls 5-0 on a frozen field in Comiskey Park, while the Bulls hosted the Yankees the following Sunday as the visiting team wrapped up the 1926 season of the American Football League with a 7-3 victory. At the same time, in a snowstorm at the 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...
, the league champion Quakers were crushed, 31-0, by the New York Giants in a game that marked the end of the American Football League, December 12, 1926.
| Year | W | L | T | Finish | Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4th | Jim Clark |
After the first AFL
Two days after the end of the 1926 season (and of the AFL), the Wildcats and the New York Yankees started a series of exhibition games as the two Pyle-owned teams went on a barnstorming tour of the American South and West. The two teams competed in AtlantaAtlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
(a 7-7 draw), Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
(a 14-3 Yankees win), Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
(a 34-0 Wildcats win), and San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
(a 20-14 Yankees win) before traveling to California for games against the independent Hollywood Generals (whom the Wildcats defeated, 26-7, in Wrigley Field of Los Angeles
Wrigley Field (Los Angeles)
Wrigley Field was a ballpark in Los Angeles, California which served as host to minor league baseball teams in the region for over 30 years, and was the home park for the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League as well as a current major league team, the later Los Angeles Angels, in their...
) and the NFL’s traveling team, the 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...
(the Wildcats won, 17-0, in a game played in San Francisco).
With the dissolution of the American Football League (Pyle’s Yankees were preparing to join the NFL under an arrangement with New York Giants owner Tim Mara, who acquired the assets of the defunct Brooklyn Horsemen
Brooklyn Horsemen
The Brooklyn Horsemen was a professional football team that competed in the American Football League during the 1926 season.On November 12, 1926, the team withdrew from the AFL and merged with Brooklyn Lions of the National Football League. The new team created by the merger was initially called...
), the Wildcats ceased to exist after the game in San Francisco. Wildcat Wilson joined 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...
for the 1927 NFL season. Wilson was not the only 1926 Wildcat to join a NFL roster for the 1927 season:
Mal Bross
Mal Bross
Matthew A. "Mal" Bross was a running back in the National Football League.-Career:Bross played with the Green Bay Packers during the 1927 NFL season. Previously he had played with the Los Angeles Wildcats of the American Football League.He played at the collegiate level at Gonzaga...
– Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
Ted Bucklin – Chicago Cardinals
Walden Erickson
Walden Erickson
Walden D. Erickson was a professional football player who played in the early National Football League as well as in Red Grange's American Football League. He played only two seasons of professional football....
– Pottsville Maroons
Pottsville Maroons
The Pottsville Maroons were an American football team based in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1920, they went on to play in the National Football League for four seasons, from 1925–1928...
Ray Flaherty
Ray Flaherty
Raymond Paul Flaherty was a professional football player in the National Football League from 1926-1935. He was the head coach of the Boston/Washington Redskins from 1936–1942, where he won four division titles and two NFL Championships . Flaherty served in the United States Navy until 1945...
- New York Yankees
New York Yankees (NFL)
The New York Yankees were a short-lived professional American football team from 1926 to 1928. The team was a member of the first American Football League in 1926, and later the National Football League from 1927-1928. They played their home games at Yankee Stadium...
Ted Illman – Chicago Cardinals
Jim Lawson – New York Yankees
Ray Stephens – New York Yankees
John Vesser – Chicago Cardinals
Flaherty continued to play until 1935 (taking 1930 off to teach college football), then became head coach of the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
in 1937. He became a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro 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...
in 1976.