Mel Doherty
Encyclopedia
Melvin Doherty was a professional American football
player-coach
with the Cincinnati Celts
of the unofficial "Ohio League
" and the American Professional Football Association (renamed the National Football League
in 1922). Doherty coached the Celts throughout their entire existence from 1910 to 1923. The team played only four games in the AFPA, posting a 1–3 record. However prior to joining the league, the Celts flourished in the Ohio League.
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...
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....
with the Cincinnati Celts
Cincinnati Celts
The Cincinnati Celts was the first professional football team to play in Cincinnati, Ohio. The team played in the unofficial "Ohio League" and the American Professional Football Association . The Celts were a traveling team, playing all of their APFA games in other cities' stadia...
of the unofficial "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 the American Professional Football Association (renamed the 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...
in 1922). Doherty coached the Celts throughout their entire existence from 1910 to 1923. The team played only four games in the AFPA, posting a 1–3 record. However prior to joining the league, the Celts flourished in the Ohio League.