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

by Chris Willis

  I feel pretty sure that the pro grid game will be revived in Cleveland this coming fall, though we have no idea who will get the franchise. This is too good a sport city to go without pro football and besides it's right in the heart of the region where pro football has its strongest hold on popular favor.

  But you can rest assured of one thing, that the national pro football league will not grant the Cleveland franchise until it is given plenty of assurance that those who get that franchise will put the game on a sound footing here. There will be no experimenting next time and Cleveland will be given a real team that will be right up among the contenders. We all want Cleveland in the league and that makes it pretty certain Cleveland will be in.

  Several parties have taken up with me the situation here and we'll be ready to talk turkey after we thrash the matter out in our coming national annual meeting."

  The summer meeting was held over two days, July 28-29, at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago, and the main topic was money-getting it and saving it. In addition to the guarantee fee, new franchises that applied for a spot in the league had to pay a $500 application fee, just extra money for the league's bank account. St. Louis, Duluth, and the new Cleveland franchise were admitted. Also, teams had to pay $140 to cover the salaries of the NFL president and secretary, to be paid in quarterly installments. This fee was part of a motion by George Halas that would set the president's salary at $1,000 per year and the salary of the secretary at $750. Cardinals' owner Chris O'Brien amended the motion that the salary for each be $1,000 per year. The motion carried.12

  Then the owners declared nominations for the league's executive positions. Carr was once again elected president unanimously, with Dunn (vice president) and Storck (secretary-treasurer) also reelected. This was the first time in the NFL's league minutes that Carr was given a set salary, and showing he had no ego about his salary, he was willing to accept the same yearly contract as the secretary. It was league first for President Carr.

  To end the meeting the owners set the start of the upcoming season for September 30 (but forgot to establish an ending date) and held a lengthy discussion on splitting the gate. Visiting teams were given 40 percent of the gross receipts, minus 15 percent for park rental. The max guarantee to be paid to the visitors for games not played or poorly attended was set at $1,200 plus $100 for traveling and hotel expenses, so long as a team's salaries came to $1,200. This would be the league's attempt to keep each team's salaries down and hopefully to save some money.13

  Before leaving town Carr met with the press to go over the just-ended proceedings, and his regular statement about use of college players took on a different form-not a single complaint about the practice occurred in 1922.

  We have no desire to interfere with college players who cannot play on our teams then go back to their organizations. As it is more than 90 per cent of the college football stars who graduated in 1923 are signed by professional clubs for the coming year. In addition to the forfeit money posted against the securing of amateur players, I have the word of each of the twenty presidents of clubs in the league, who attended today's meeting, that they will not try to steal college players from their college allegiance. It is true that in the past much of this sort of thing has happened, but it has been such a blow to amateur football that we have no desire to continue.14

  Carr couldn't have made a more forceful stance on the use of college players in his league, but this didn't ease the tension between the NFL and college football officials. The issue would soon be thrown back into Carr's lap, and he was ready to defend his league. While Carr returned to Columbus pleased with the summer meeting, Ralph Hay went back to Canton with the Bulldogs still in the NFL and ready to talk price. He eventually unloaded his franchise to a group of local investors who formed the Canton Athletic Company (CAC). The CAC listed eighteen stockholders, including H. H. Timken (owner of Timken Bearing), Guy C. Hiner (Canton Bridge Company), and Ed E. Bender (owner of Bender's restaurant). Guy Chamberlin's coaching ensured the team's success on the field but not off it.

  In four years as owner, Hay brought two national titles (1919, 1922) to Canton, helped organize the NFL, gained a lot of publicity for his Hup mobile business, and lost a ton of money. Four years doesn't sound like a long time, but Ralph Hay, just like his predecessor Jack Cusack, made a vital contribution to the growth of professional football and in turn the NFL. Before he left the scene, Hay got in a few last words of thanks to the city of Canton .15

  The height of my ambition in the five years (1919-1923) that I handled the Canton Bulldogs Pro. Football Team was accomplished by winning the 1922 World's Championship.

  The assistance of my organization, the loyal support of the Canton fans and the wonderful harmony that Coach Chamberlin brought in to the heart of every player who was with this team in 1922 was the fundamental reason for our success.

  I, therefore, wish every member of the new organization worlds of success and trust that in 1923 they will retain the World's Championship Pennant of the National Football League. I am,

  Ralph E. Hay16

  The 1923 season (with twenty NFL teams) would be a very eventful one, except for the championship race, as the Bulldogs would cement their spot as the NFL's first great team. As the season approached, on Thursday, September 27, Joe F. Carr took a short train trip north of Columbus to LaRue to visit Walter Lingo and check in on the Oorang Indians. Talking with Lingo he told the dog kennel king "that the club looked 100 percent better than it did last year." Carr witnessed the Indians practice on what was just an open field, since the small town didn't have a full-length football field .17

  At times the Indians held their practice on the small field at the same time as the high school team, an experience that former LaRue High School player William Guthery remembered. "We didn't really know how to handle the ball or how to catch it. They showed us what to do. The Indians showed us how to tackle, how to straight arm, how to pass and kick. I think the Indians kind of enjoyed helping us out."" Carr enjoyed his visit but was probably still a little unsure that the Indians would go beyond one more year of play. His prediction that the squad looked 100 percent better was way off base, as Jim Thorpe's Indians lost their first ten games (scoring only thirty-one points), before winning the season finale against the equally terrible Louisville Brecks. The Brecks played only three league games and were outscored 83-0.

  Three days after visiting Lingo's Indians, Carr accompanied the Columbus Tigers on their road trip to Dayton to face Carl Storck's Triangles. As the first full weekend of play began (with eight games), Carr was part of a crowd of 5,000 spectators who saw the hometown team pull out a hard-fought 7-6 victory. Upon returning to Columbus Carr wrote in his Gridiron Gossip column that he "was congratulated repeatedly by well known sportsmen over the intensity that players of both teams put into their efforts. It's a fact that there's spirit spread all over the big organization.""

  Carr was very pleased with the start of the new season and worked hard getting the news of the league out in his weekly column that appeared every Friday in the Ohio State journal, as well as in other newspapers. Carr's colorful and expert reporting would give the reader an insight into the league that only a true "insider" could give. He would list the standings and the schedule of games for that Sunday and then usually write three columns about the players in his league that were doing well or poorly, the players who had injuries, the upcoming matchups, and almost anything to do with the NFL.

  October 19-Eyes of the Pro. Football world will center on Cubs' park, Chicago, Sunday, where the Bears and Canton Bulldogs will have it out. Odds favor the Bulldogs as the Bears are not up to snuff behind the line.

  Duke Slater, big colored star, who gained fame at Iowa, is in tip-top shape and he is playing his usual aggressive game when on the defense.

  October 26-[Curly] Lambeau, the Green Bay captain, is continuing his brilliant performances as a forward pass hurler. The air attack is the Packers' best stock in trade due to Lambeau's ability t
o shoot the pigskin like a bullet.

  November 2-[Link] Lyman, the husky Canton tackle, made himself solid with the Bulldog followers when he grabbed a pass in the closing minutes of the Akron game, scoring the touchdown that pulled the argument out of the fire.20

  As the NFL season moved into November, the Canton Bulldogs continued their dominance over the rest of the league. Guy Chamberlin's boys put on a weekly clinic, going unbeaten at 6-0-1 after their first seven games and outscoring their opponents 107-9, not allowing a single touchdown. This was a special team. But just when Carr thought he could relax and enjoy the end of the season, an old foe resurfaced and threw a punch right into the face of the NFL's president.

  Amos Alonzo Stagg, the sixty-one-year-old head coach and athletic director at the University of Chicago, was in the midst of a season where his Maroons would finish with a 7-1 record while playing in the Western Conference. Stagg, who never cared for professional football and was one of the most vocal college football officials expressing his distaste for the postgraduate game, once again tried to bury the sport. In a letter sent to college coaches and athletic directors, Stagg wrote about how "professional football is a menace and I urge you to refrain from in any manner encouraging the professional sport." The Associated Press released the letter on November 1, and almost every newspaper in the country ran an excerpt from it, usually accompanied with a bold headline of "Pro Football is a Menace."

  It seems like a matter of little consequence for one to attend the Sunday professional football games-nothing more than attending any Sunday event-but it has a deeper meaning than you realize, possibly a vital meaning to college football. Intercollegiate football will live only so long as it contributes to the well being of the students, that is, while the influences of the game are predominantly on the side of amateur principles, right ideals, proper standards and wholesome conditions.

  For years the colleges have been waging a bitter warfare against the insidious forces of the gambling public and alumni and against overzealous and short-sighted friends, inside and out, and also not infrequently against crooked coaches and managers who have been anxious to win at any cost, and victory has not been completely won. And now along comes another serious menace, possibly greater than all others, viz. Sunday professional football.

  Under the guise of fair play but countenancing rank dishonesty in playing men under assumed names, scores of professional teams have sprung up within the last two or three years, most of them on a salary basis of some kind. These teams are bidding hard for college players in order to capitalize not only on their ability, but also, and mostly, upon the name of the college they come from and in many cases the noised abroad, mystery of their presence. The well-known Carlinville and Taylorville incident of 1921 is likely to be repeated in essence on different occasions. There is nothing that a bunch of gamblers will not do for their purpose and quite often they carry along with them the support of a thoughtless group of business men and wellmeaning citizens.

  The schools and colleges are struggling to combat the various evils connected with football which when played with the amateur spirit possesses more elements for the development of character and manhood than any other sport I know of.

  To co-operate with Sunday professional football games is to co-operate with forces which are destructive of the finest elements of interscholastic and intercollegiate football and to add to the heavy burden of the schools and colleges in preserving it in its ennobling worth. If you believe in preserving interscholastic and intercollegiate football for the upbuilding of the present and future generations of clean, healthy, right-minded and patriotic citizens, you will not lend your assistance to any of the forces which are helping to destroy it.21

  Stagg's letter brought up on old issue that Carr thought was well under control, especially after the Carlinville-Taylorville incident. Calling the pro game a "menace" and portraying the players of the NFL as unclean, unhealthy, and unpatriotic was so grossly overstated that Carr took immediate action and responded with a punch of his own. Writing with the passion he had in his heart for the sport and the league he was in charge of, he wrote a nine-paragraph press release that rebutted Stagg's comments.

  Speaking for the National Football League, I think that a glance at the personnel of the ownership of the various teams will convince any person that leading men in the various communities, which support the teams, would not lend themselves to any of the things outlined in this overview. In most cases they are prominent business and professional men of their cities and all are either [established] football players or alumni of [pledges] that support teams.

  Increasing attendance of thousands each Sunday also indicates the-ace that the professional game is-king. It is a matter of common knowledge that the National Football League has done more in its few years of existence to purify football generally and make young men walk the straight and narrow path in regard to amateur status than any other agency that has ever tried it.

  Fear that attendance at professional football will be a menace to the development of college football is entirely without foundation, as with the increased numbers attending professional football each week, new followers for the game are developed, with the result that today, with the professional game at its best, colleges are unable to have enclosures that will take care of the crowds. This increase is more notable in the Middle West where the professional game flourishes.

  Another fact that points to the mistaken idea that professional football is a menace is the fact that many of the highest class and most successful college coaches in the country at some time or another have been associated with the professional game.

  Regarding players using assumed names and the participation of a certain Western Conference official under an alias, detection will mean banishment from the National Football League, as our organization will not countenance a thing that savors of deceit in any way.

  Inspection of the constitution and bylaws of the National Football League will convince any open-minded person that there is really no menace to the future of the college elevens, but rather a great help in the provision that any player who violates his college status is forever barred from playing with any club in this organization.

  If space permitted, statements by innumerable former college stars, who are playing to pay off debts contracted while going to college, and others who are using this means to help members of their families in securing educations, would discredit much of the unnecessary criticism that is aimed at the professional game.

  It is hardly fair to cast suspicion on the many creditable men who are backing teams as well as the attempt to discredit the many former college stars of the gridiron, as the pick and flower of the players of the past few years are to be found in the lineups of the various teams now playing post-graduate football.

  It is gratifying to know that the view is not shared by all college men, for there are many who feel that the post-graduate or professional game, when properly conducted is an asset rather than a menace to the college branch of the sport.22

  Carr's statement was precise and effective. He knew he had to respond quickly because the public, the press, and the college football community would be wanting to hear the NFL's response to Stagg's words. Carr was up to the challenge; he did not back down from what he and the NFL were trying to accomplish the past couple of years with their rules and regulations-especially stamping out the practice of using college players. His press release also reinforced to George Halas and the other team owners that Carr was the right man for the job and that he would fight for the honor and integrity of the league.

  Because of Stagg's comments, the sport of football at all levels became more aware of the practice of using college players in professional games. Even a young sophomore from the University of Illinois, who was making a name for himself, was answering questions about playing professional football. Harold "Red" Grange was having a great fall season that would lead him to being named on Walter Camp's All-American team.
He responded to the question about allegedly playing for the Green Bay Packers: "I don't even know where Green Bay is. I never played football anywhere but at Wheaton, Ill. High School and Illinois."23

  Carr's sports-writing experience also shined through in a big way by calming the storm that followed Stagg's comments. He also followed his philosophy that the public and all football fans deserved to know that the NFL and professional football were operating honestly and fairly. In early December as the NFL season was winding down, Carr's Gridiron Gossip revealed that he was definitely looking toward the future as well as seeing the great Canton Bulldogs go for back-to-back NFL titles.

  December 7-Columbus [Tigers] will attempt to put a crimp in the Canton Bulldogs' string of wins in Sunday's game. The Columbus club is playing at top form these days and Chamberlin's aggregation is a mighty tough nut to crack.

  With the close of the season at hand the Pro League magnates are beginning to look forward to another year. Some of the clubs had bad breaks financially but none of the teams are thinking of giving up the ghost.24

  Off the field, Carr's honesty, leadership, and optimism were revealed to the public and the owners of the NFL, while on the field nobody could touch the Canton Bulldogs. The great team from Stark County finished the season at 11-0-1 by winning their last five games. The Bulldogs' defense allowed only nineteen points all season and just one touchdown-against the Cleveland Indians on November 25. The Bulldogs and the city of Canton could now celebrate back-to-back NFL championships.

  Aesthetically the Bulldogs were purebreds, but financially they were once again mutts. The Bulldogs' home attendance was just comparable to smaller cities with less talent. Canton showed in 1920 and 1921 that they wouldn't support an ordinary team. In 1923 they showed they wouldn't support a great one. The Bulldogs were a fine draw on the road-attracting nice crowds in Chicago (6,000 versus the Cardinals), Buffalo (10,000), and a whopping 17,000 fans at League Park in Cleveland-and were always welcomed at rival parks. But few of the important NFL teams (Bears, Cardinals, Packers) would want to travel to Canton for a game where the best they could hope for was the minimum guaranteed percentage of gate sales. Canton was looking at another difficult off-season 25