The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr

by Chris Willis

  Teams mentioned for the proposed league were from the cities of Chicago, New York, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Columbus. Joe Carr was one of the staunchest supporters of this new proposed league, and with his baseball connection, he probably encouraged the baseball owners to really consider it. But the backing of the baseball owners would have to take a back seat as the owners of Major League Baseball teams had more important things to worry about in the spring of 1917.

  It is quite likely that the pro football team managers would have formed a new football league during the summer of 1917 had the United States not entered World War I on April 6 of that year. The game was ready to take on some structure at least by some of the major teams in the Midwest, but more troubling were the salaries continuing to rise, as more college stars followed Thorpe into the pro ranks. The sport needed a league binding all the major teams together in a way that controlled spending by establishing a salary limit that all teams would abide by and that would, in turn, eliminate players "hopping" from one team to another. But the war would push this idea of a pro football league onto the back burner.

  The war affected Joe Carr immediately as the Ohio State Baseball League (which only played sixty-six games in 1916) ceased operations for good. So to make up for the lost income, Carr took a job with a local auto dealership. The thirty-seven-year-old sports executive had a wife and two young children to think about. Working for dealership owner Thomas E. Curtin, Carr used his experience as a sports promoter and team manager to help sell cars. He was a successful salesman and also got a lot of attention wherever he went. Once the Portsmouth (Ohio) Daily Times reported that Carr was in town under the headline "Joe Carr in City": "Joseph Carr, former president of the Ohio State League, was a business visitor to Portsmouth Wednesday. He represents the Curtin-Williams Automobile Co., of Columbus, and is working on a big order here."2

  Carr continued selling cars for several years and was well-known for his honesty in trying to sell his product. It didn't matter whether it was sports or cars, the little Irish worker from Columbus did it the right way. His father would have been proud of him. As the summer continued Carr's thoughts turned to his football team and how they would stack up against the ever-improving pro football squads in the Midwest. He was also concerned about how the other pro football teams would fill their rosters given that some players joined the war effort. Writing to the Massillon Independent, he hoped the Tigers would be ready for the fall: "I sincerely hope Massillon has a football team this fall. For Massillon without football is like Ohio without a governor."3

  But the war hadn't slowed down the pro football teams; the season would go on. Massillon, Canton, Akron, Detroit, Fort Wayne, Toledo, and the other top squads would play, and the press reported the good news to Ohio football fans: "Pro-Football Grips Ohio. Profesisonal football is again rampant in Eastern Ohio, the war or nothing else being apparently able to stem the popularity of this sport in many of New Castle's neighboring cities. Canton, Akron, Massillon and the Pan Handle club of Columbus already have teams in action, while Youngstown has several teams, including the strong Patrician eleven. Mansfield will likely have her aggregation out soon."4

  Carr was pleased that his team would play games in the fall, but what type of team would he have? After playing their best football over the previous three seasons, the 1917 campaign was a huge letdown for the Panhandles, the beginning of the downfall for pro football's most famous traveling team. The season started out with promise with two early victories, but it was all downhill after that. The team only won one of its last seven games. The railroaders finished with a 3-6-0 record, and all six losses were shutouts. All nine games played were on the road, and for the first time the Panhandles did not play a game in Columbus.

  The losses were bad, but the saddest part was not that the railroaders lost, since they had lost before; the sad thing was the way they lost. They were not just beaten-they were bludgeoned; outscored 157 to 65 all season.

  The 1917 season also saw a change in the philosophy of the Nesser family, as Al Nesser, who played just one game with the Panhandles, and Frank Nesser, who played just two games, decided to take the money and play elsewhere for better-paying teams. Al played for the Akron Pros most of the season, and Frank split his season playing for Akron and the Detroit Heralds.

  Without the two most talented Nessers, the Panhandles' roster was affected all year. Also gone from the 1916 squad was the speedy backfield of Lee Snoots and Emmett Ruh, who would serve in World War I. Both players were lost for the entire season; the railroaders had now lost four key players before the year even started.

  Joe Carr did add two local players. Hal Gaulke, a former star quarterback at Columbus South High School, who was a prep teammate of the Ruh brothers. Gaulke was a solid player and would play five years for the railroaders but did not have the speed of Snoots or Emmett Ruh, and that would be very apparent during the 1917 season. Another addition was Joe Mulbarger, a five feet nine, 221-pound guard-tackle who was a former star at Columbus East High School. Mulbarger was a high school teammate of Chic Harley, the former All-American great at Ohio State University. He would go on to play six years with the Panhandles. The team would also welcome back guard Charlie Dunn to join old pros Homer Ruh, the Kuehner brothers, Hi Brigham, and the other four Nessers.

  Under the guidance of Ted Nesser, the team's first practice took place on September 17. Carr had arranged early games with lightweight teams in Newark and Lancaster to ease the team into their tough part of the schedule. The railroaders traveled the forty miles to Newark with Al Nesser (playing in his only game with his brothers) to take on the Newark Stars. The Panhandles came away with a 14-6 victory behind touchdowns by Ted Nesser and Joe Mulbarger, who played halfback. The final score was closer than the Panhandles expected, but it was a win.

  The following week the railroaders made another short trip, this time to play the Lancaster Independents, who they had defeated 69-0 the year before. This year they took it easy on the Independents and won by a 38-0 score. The Panhandles scored six touchdowns as Frank Nesser and Hal Gaulke led the way with two touchdowns apiece. The Panhandles won their second straight game, and Carr thought his team was looking a lot like the Panhandles of the last couple of seasons, but that was about to change. Next up was the trip to Akron, and the Rubber City was ready to see the famous Nessers. On October 11 the Akron Beacon-Journal welcomed the football playing brothers.

  Nesser Brothers On Opposite Sides In Sunday Grid Battle

  Ted Nesser, the first of the famous family of footballers, and father of a flock of younger Nessers who will keep up the family trait in the next generation, is playing in his last season at the game and will make his final Akron appearance Sunday when the Columbus Panhandles take issue with the Welch- McGuiness outfit of All Stars at Grossvater Park.

  Ted Nesser started chasing the pigskin 20 years ago and has probably played in more contests than any other athlete in the state. Every warrior that was ever tackled by the husky boilermaker remembers well the occasion and every linesman that ever made an effort to down him when in his prime, remembers well when the light went out.

  Jim Thorpe, the Indian athlete, once said that if he ever felt a tackle in his life, Ted Nesser was the man who made him feel it.

  Besides Ted, Frank, Fred and the rest of the Nessers will accompany the Panhandles here. Al Nesser resigned and will play against his brothers with the Akron club.

  "I have a nice little surprise package for the Panhandles," said [Suey] Welch, "and it will also be a big surprise for local fans. We will have a team on the field Sunday that will do credit to Akron."5

  The Panhandles took the field at Grossvater Park, with five Nesser brothers in the lineup, as they battled Akron with little brother Al at left tackle for the Pros. The two teams battled to a scoreless tie well into the third quarter, when an Akron field goal gave the home team a 3-0 lead. The kick was the only score of the game as the Akron Pros handed the railroaders a to
ugh loss. It was an especially sour note for Frank Nesser, as he missed three field goals in the last game he would play with the Panhandles and his brothers in 1917. Big Frank would go on to play the rest of the season mainly with the Detroit Heralds and a few games with the Akron Pros and Massillon Tigers.

  Carr didn't like that he was losing his best player, but what could he do? He couldn't pay him as much as the other pro teams so he let Frank go, but he burned up inside. He knew that if there was a league he could hang on to Al and Frank Nesser and keep them from jumping, but for now he couldn't do anything about it. And he had bigger problems looming. The tough loss to Akron was followed up by a game with the 1916 pro champs-the Canton Bulldogs. Carr was determined to beat his friend Jack Cusack and sent him a wire to let him know, stating that his "team is coming to Canton on Sunday to resort to every method to dislodge the world's champions. It has been our ambition for years of the Columbus aggregation to win from Canton."6

  All the pregame hype was just that-hype-as the Panhandles suffered the worst defeat of their storied history, and to top it off they played before a crowd of just 2,000 fans. The Canton squad, led by Jim Thorpe, scored eight touchdowns and routed the railroaders 54-0. The Canton Repository had nothing but good things to say about the Bulldogs' defense.

  To back up this powerful attack the Bulldogs presented a defense that was really the proverbial stone wall. It would not yield an inch to the determined assaults of the Panhandles, led by the veteran Captain Ted Nesser. Not once did the Panhandles succeed in making a first down. In fact only three Panhandle plays gained any ground at all. Ruh made eight at center in the second period. Mulbarger made five at Fisher's end and Ted [made] five at center in the third quarter. Thirteen Panhandle plays were stopped without an inch of gain. All of which shows the caliber of the Canton defense.7

  The Panhandles were completely dominated by the Bulldogs on both sides of the football. The Thorpe-led Bulldogs would finish the 1917 season at 9-1 and for the second straight year would claim the title of pro champs. The back-to-back losses were bad enough, but the way they lost to the Bulldogs is what sent the team reeling. Joe Carr and Ted Nesser tried to rally the team, but they weren't prepared for what was about to happen in the next two weeks. After hearing about the 54-0 result of the Canton-Columbus game, Youngstown Patrician manager Joe Mullane sent a Western Union telegram questioning the talent on the Panhandles team. Joe Carr wasn't happy about this, and the Youngstown Vindicator reported on the verbal sparring of the two managers.

  The Western Union Telegraph company ought to pay handsome dividends after the immense controversy staged on their lines since Sunday night between Manager Joe Mullane of the Patricians and Joe Carr, manager of the Columbus Panhandles.

  Mullane, after Sunday's game here, got a report of Canton's 54 to 0 victory over the Columbus aggregation, and immediately sent a wire to Carr, telling him that the Pan Handles would have to strengthen or lose their date here next Sunday. The attitude of the local manager was, of course, as a thunderbolt to Carr, but the latter could readily see that the Patricians were not going to be hoodwinked by an inferior club.

  Carr replied at great length-and great expense-that at least three of Canton's touchdowns were of the fluke variety, but that he had already started to pull strings to strengthen for the game here next Sunday. Mullane would take no chances on booking another outfit in here after that horrible nightmare of last Sunday, so he laid the case before Carr without even a bit of regard for telegraph tolls.

  Carr came right back and declared the Pan Handles would beat the Patricians because the score at Canton did not indicate what they had done in the way of offense. The final chapter of the costly controversy was written last night when Mullane declared in a wire to Carr that the Pan Handles were coming here at their own risk unless they displayed some good football. Carr is willing to take the chance.

  This year there are but four of the seven Nesser brothers playing with the Columbus team. Two of them are with the Akron eleven, and one is in the army. Carr has added some high class college talent to take the place of the Nessers and he promises to give the locals a merry argument here. "Don't worry about us; build up your own team if you want to avoid a beating," came back the Columbus boss. The Panhandle aggregation has always been a favorite here s

  Carr always believed in his team, and his words were reiterated a day before the game in the Vindicator.

  Last Sunday the Pan Handles were defeated by Canton 54 to 0 in what the fans thought was an uninteresting one-sided game, and Manager Carr laid the defeat to the fact that his team was due to arrive in Canton about midnight but did not land until morning due to a wreck on the railroad. He says they will take no such chances today.

  Carr also advises that the Patricians are going to get a drubbing, despite the fact that Canton walloped them. He says the locals do not need to think they will have easy picking because Canton defeated them because his men had not the proper rest to enable them to play the football of which they are capable.'

  Regardless of what happened in Canton the Panhandles had traveled on trains for years so getting into a visiting town at a late time had happened before. The logical answer to the bad loss is that they lost to a great team, but Carr wasn't about to have his team questioned. He knew if other teams questioned the talent level of his team that scheduling games against quality opponents might become tougher. This was the first time the Panhandles' talent was being called out; how would they respond?

  But just like the previous week all the pregame hype was nothing but hot air for the Panhandles and Joe Carr. In front of a "large crowd of fans, " the Panhandles lost 30-0 to the much faster Patricians. The railroaders' backfield was missing the speed of Lee Snoots and Emmett Ruh, and despite the presence of the four Nesser brothers it was obvious the team lacked their normal offensive production. After three straight losses, the season was slipping away and things only got tougher with the Massillon Tigers next on the schedule.

  After returning to Columbus, Joe Carr told the Canton Daily News who he thought would win between Canton and Youngstown since his team had just played both.

  Canton is going to win over the Patricians of Youngstown in the Steeltown Saturday in the first hard fight the Bulldogs have been called to make in the defense of the U.S. professional football title.

  This is the word sent here by Joseph Carr, manager of the Panhandles of Columbus who have met the big rivals and who play the Tigers of Massillon at Massillon Sunday.

  Carr's statement comes from Youngstown, Canton downed the "Pans" by a count of 54 to 0: Youngstown held the down staters pointless and succeeded in tolling off 30 points.

  "Columbus believes Canton will defeat Youngstown," said the Columbus mogul after the defeat at Youngstown last Sunday. "The score will be close, but I think the Bulldog eleven is better rounded."10

  This time Carr was right on his predication, as the Canton Bulldogs would go on to defeat the Patricians twice in 1917 (3-0 on November 4 and 13-0 on November 18). Carr was now ready to fix the Panhandles' problems, but he just couldn't get it done. Another small crowd came out (as the war had affected attendance everywhere) the following week as the Panhandles played at Massillon. Columbus played poorly again as the Tigers scored at will and won easily 28-0. The railroaders had now hit rock bottom by losing four straight games without scoring a point. After three successful seasons, Carr's Panhandles were in jeopardy of taking a major step backward.

  Next up was a trip to Toledo to play the Maroons. The press was still kind to the Panhandles despite their 2-4 record. Years of good playing allowed the railroaders a free pass in 1917. On November 8 the Toledo News-Bee previewed the game.

  You always see a football game when the Maroons and the Panhandles of Columbus clash on the gridiron. Every season for several years they have furnished splendid sport, and each battle has been a fight for victory. This fall both teams have been losing games with unaccustomed regularity, but they are still strong and should fur
nish an interesting combat in Sunday afternoon at Swayne Field.

  Joe Carr, manager of the Panhandles, declares that his team is as good as ever, but that the elevens it has faced this fall are much stronger than in other seasons. Carr says that the army camps are full of football players who are able to get Sunday furloughs and to play with the professional teams"

  Pro football continued to have problems with so-called ringers in the game, but the Panhandles still lined up against these teams and played. In talking with sportswriter Dick Meade of the Toledo News-Bee, Carr declared that he still had a great team but "these athletes performing under assumed names are making things hard for the elevens that are going along with their same old squads."" It would be a problem that professional football would have to deal with soon.

  The railroaders turned their attention to the Maroons and got a much needed win, defeating the Toledo squad 13-0. But the winning ways didn't last long. The Panhandles gave up two early touchdowns and lost 13-0 to the Fort Wayne Friars the following week. Despite the nice crowd of 3,500, it was the third consecutive year the Panhandles had lost to the Friars. The railroaders' bad luck continued the following week against the Detroit Heralds, who featured Frank Nesser. On November 25 in Detroit the railroaders were soundly beaten 23-0 on a snow-covered field, behind a touchdown and a field goal by big Frank. The Panhandles' season was officially a disaster with a disappointing 3-6 record.