1920 Chicago Tigers season

1920 Chicago Tigers season
Head coach Guil Falcon
Home field Cubs Park
Results
Record 2–5–1
1–5–1 APFA
League place T-11th APFA

The 1920 Chicago Tigers season was their sole season in the National Football League. The team finished 2–5–1,[1] tying them for eleventh in the league.

Offseason

The Chicago Tigers were formed in 1920.[2] After the 1919 season, representatives of four Ohio League, a loose organization of professional football teams, teams—the Canton Bulldogs, the Cleveland Tigers, the Dayton Triangles, and the Akron Pros—called a meeting on August 20, 1920, to discuss the formation of a new league. At the meeting, they tentatively agreed on a salary cap and pledged not to sign college players or players already under contract with other teams. They also agreed on a name for the circuit: the American Professional Football Conference.[3][4] They then invited other professional teams to a second meeting on September 17.

At that meeting, held at Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay's Hupmobile showroom in Canton, representatives of the Rock Island Independents, the Muncie Flyers, the Decatur Staleys, the Racine Cardinals, the Massillon Tigers, the Chicago Cardinals, and the Hammond Pros agreed to join the league. Representatives of the Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons could not attend the meeting but sent letters to Hay asking to be included in the league.[5] Team representatives changed the league's name slightly to the American Professional Football Association and elected officers, installing Jim Thorpe as president.[5][6][7] Under the new league structure, teams created their schedules dynamically as the season progressed, so there were no minimum or maximum number of games needed to be played.[8][9] Also, representatives of each team voted to determine the winner of the APFA trophy.[10]

Schedule

1920 Chicago Tigers season[11]
Week Date Opponent Result Venue Attendance Record
1 No game scheduled
2 No game scheduled
3 October 10, 1920 vs. Chicago Cardinals 0–0 T Cubs Park 5,000 0–0–1
4 October 17, 1920 vs. Detroit Heralds 12–0 W Cubs Park 5,000 1–0–1
5 October 24, 1920 vs. Decatur Staleys 10–0 L Cubs Park 5,000 1–1–1
6 October 31, 1920 at Rock Island Independents 20–7 L Douglas Park N/A 1–2–1
7 November 7, 1920 vs. Chicago Cardinals 6–3 L Cubs Park 7,000 1–3–1
8 November 14, 1920 at Canton Bulldogs 21–0 L Lakeside Park 8,000 1–4–1
9 No game scheduled
10 November 25, 1920 vs. Decatur Staleys 6–0 L Cubs Park 8,000 1–5–1
November 28, 1920 vs. Chicago Torn-Tornadoesdagger 27–0 W Cubs Park N/A 2–5–1
11 No game scheduled
12 No game scheduled
13 No game scheduled

Game summaries

Week 6: at Rock Island Independents

1 2 3 4 Total
Tigers 0 7 0 0 7
Independents 6 0 7 7 20

October 31, 1920, at Douglas Park, Rock Island, Illinois

In week six, the Tigers played the Rock Island Independents. The Independents out-gained the Tigers in first downs, 14 to 3.[12] The first score of the game was a 6-yard rushing touchdown by Independents' Fred Chicken; however, the extra point was missed, so the score was only 6–0.[13] The Tigers took the lead in the second quarter after Annan had a 2-yard rushing touchdown.[13] Chicken ended up having two rushing touchdowns, and Wyman had another rushing touchdown, as the Independents beat the Tigers 20–7.[12]

Week 8: at Canton Bulldogs

1 2 3 4 Total
Tigers 0 0 6 0 6
Bulldogs 0 14 7 0 21

November 14, 1920, at Lakeside Park, Canton Ohio

The Tigers' next matchup was against the Canton Bulldogs. Hay cancelled his game against the Hammond Pros and decided to challenge the Tigers instead because he believed the Tigers were a better team.[14] The first scoring came in the second quarter, when the Bulldogs' Bob Higgins recovered a fumble and ran it back for a touchdown.[15] In the same quarter, Henry caught an interception and ran it back 50 yards for a touchdown.[15] Calac then ran for a one-yard touchdown in the third quarter to seal the 21–0 win.[15]

Standings

1920 APFA standings[16]
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
Akron Prosdagger 8 0 3 1.000 6–0–3 151 7 T2
Decatur Staleys 10 1 2 .909 5–1–2 164 21 T1
Buffalo All-Americans 9 1 1 .900 4–1–1 258 32 T1
Chicago Cardinals 6 2 2 .750 3–2–2 101 29 T1
Rock Island Independents 6 2 2 .750 4–2–1 201 49 W1
Dayton Triangles 5 2 2 .714 4–2–2 150 54 L1
Rochester Jeffersons 6 3 2 .667 0–1 156 57 T1
Canton Bulldogs 7 4 2 .636 4–3–1 208 57 W1
Detroit Heralds 2 3 3 .400 1–3 53 82 T2
Cleveland Tigers 2 4 2 .333 1–4–2 28 46 L1
Chicago Tigers 2 5 1 .286 1–5–1 49 63 W1
Hammond Pros 2 5 0 .286 0–3 41 154 L3
Columbus Panhandles 2 6 2 .250 0–4 41 121 W1
Muncie Flyers 0 1 0 .000 0–1 0 45 L1

 dagger  Awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup and named APFA Champions.
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Roster

1920 Chicago Cardinals[17] final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists


Practice squad


Rookies in italics
 23 Active, 0 Inactive, 0 Practice squad

Notes

  1. ↑ 1920 Chicago Tigers
  2. ↑ Quirk & Fort 1997, p. 412
  3. ↑ PFRA Research 1980, pp. 3–4
  4. ↑ Siwoff, Zimmber & Marini 2010, pp. 352–353
  5. 1 2 PFRA Research 1980, p. 4
  6. ↑ "Thorpe Made President" (PDF). The New York Times. September 19, 1920. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Organize Pro Gridders; Choose Thorpe, Prexy". The Milwaukee Journal. September 19, 1920. p. 24. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
  8. ↑ Peterson 1997, p. 74
  9. ↑ Davis 2005, p. 59
  10. ↑ Price, Mark (April 25, 2011). "Searching for Lost Trophy". Akron Beacon-Journal. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
  11. ↑ NFL History 2003, pp. 1–7
  12. 1 2 Herrera, Simon. "Chicago Tigers Prove no Match for Locals". RockIslandIndependents.com. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
  13. 1 2 NFL History 2003, p. 3
  14. ↑ "Forward Into Invisibility" (PDF). Professional Football Researchers Association. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
  15. 1 2 3 NFL History 2003, pp. 4–5
  16. ↑ "NFL – 1920 Regular Season". National Football League. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  17. ↑ "1920 Chicago Tigers (APFA)". The Pro Football Archives. Maher Sports Media. Retrieved December 6, 2012.

References

Akron Buffalo Canton CHI Cardinals
CHI Tigers Cleveland Columbus Dayton
Decatur Detroit Hammond Muncie
Rochester Rock Island
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