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

by Chris Willis

  Carr left the meeting and the city of New York with a good feeling that he had the right man to run the New York franchise that the league so desperately needed. After a couple of months of work, Carr had accomplished the task given to him. The press across the country announced the new big-city team that would play in New York. On May 15 the New York Times gave the meeting some big headlines and more than just a mention.

  Another attempt will be made to put professional football on a paying basis in New York next season. After a three-day conference with Joseph F. Carr of Columbus, Ohio, President of the National Football League, Billy Gibson, New York promoter, yesterday announced that he had filed application for a franchise for New York in the organization.

  While all the details have not been definitely settled concerning the New York team and its operations, it is known that Gibson will be at the head of the club and that in all probability at the [Polo] Grounds, although negotiations for a field have not been completed. Gibson said yesterday that he and his associates were seeking a coach of national reputation to run the eleven and that he expected to be able to announce the name of the mentor in a few days. He also said that it is his plan to erect a stadium here if the games prove a success and the team gains a following.

  Professional football has been attempted before in New York, but has never been very popular. However, in other cities, such as Buffalo, Rochester, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago and Milwaukee, the game has been very successful and officials of the National Football League expressed their belief that with such a man as Gibson behind the new project the game also could be made popular in this city.

  No doubt the new organization will make every attempt to obtain the services of prominent college football players after they graduate, and have New York represented by players of national reputation. At least it will be a chance for New York to see many of the gridiron stars in action.13

  Most of the articles mentioned that Billy Gibson would head up the team. This was Carr's idea to keep the "bookie" out of the headlines initially and use Gibson's name to get the team out there to the pubic nationally. Several articles mentioned Dr. March as an associate, but it would be Tim Mara paying all the bills. First up was for the Giants to hire a head coach. March and Mara decided on Bob Folwell, the former head coach of Lafayette University of Pennsylvania and head coach at the U.S. Naval Academy for the past five years. Folwell was excited about joining the Giants and being part of the NFL:

  As for entertaining the public, I am sure professional football can be made to flourish in New York as it has in the West. I know of no greater thrills in professional sport than the sight of twenty-two highly trained experts engaged in a game of football. It is my plan to organize a football machine in New York on the same basis that I would a college team, and when it is realized that instead of having only one or two stars for a nucleus, I will have a skilled man with four years of college training in each position it should mean that the public will see some spectacular football.14

  Mara gave March the go-ahead to start signing players, and he spared no expense. "Get me the best pro football talent in the business. New York likes a winner and we've got to come up with one fast, " Mara told March. Knowing that they would need a big name, the Giants signed Jim Thorpe to a very unique contract. They knew the thirty-seven-year-old probably couldn't play a whole game, so they paid Thorpe $200 per half. They were counting on his name to put a few people in the stands."

  March then went out and spent Mara's money. He signed center Century Milstead (Yale) for $250 a game and continued the spending spree by securing contracts with center Joe Alexander (Syracuse), fullback Jack McBride (Syracuse), offensive tackle Bob "Nasty" Nash (Rutgers), guard Joe Williams (Lafayette), halfback Heinie Benkert (Rutgers), and probably the biggest signing, halfback Hinkey Haines (Penn State). In all the Mara-Gibson partnership would be on the hook for $25,000 with the cost of player's salaries, equipment and uniforms, ball park rental, transportation, and front office operations, even before they played their first game. The Giants were now a very talented squad with a competent head coach. The big-city team was very much looking like it could be big time. Now it was time to officially join the league.

  The NFL's summer meeting took place at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago on August 1-2. Carr called the meeting at 2:00 p.m. on the first day with twenty teams represented. Franchises that dropped out of the league were Racine, Kenosha (Wisconsin), and Minneapolis (Minnesota), and the Canton Bulldogs were reinstated, led by players Pete Henry and Link Lyman. Carr presented the four new applicants to the owners for membership, and all four were approved. Providence (Rhode Island) Steam Roller, Detroit (Michigan) Panthers led by star player Jimmy Conzelmen, Pottsville (Pennsylvania) Maroons, and the New York Giants. Billy Gibson and Dr. Harry March were in town to accept the franchise for Tim Mara.16

  The small-town Maroons were a surprise entry, but owner Dr. John Striegel raised enough funds to get his coal region squad into the NFL. His team would cause Carr some unnecessary headaches at the end of the 1925 season. After awarding the new franchises, the owners heard from the Spalding Company about being the official football supplier. The owners would also hear a proposal from the Wilson Sporting Goods Company. In the end the NFL adopted the Spalding J-5 football that would cost $6.75 per ball and have an NFL stamp placed on it. As determined at the first meeting, the season would start on September 20 and end on December 20. Lastly, Dutch Sternaman made a motion that before six o'clock local time, the home club should send the NFL secretary the result of the game by wire or be fined twenty-five dollars. The motion was carried.'7

  The second day of the meeting saw the owners schedule games and approve an increase in the president's salary to $2,500 a year (effective on August 1). The NFL's owners could see that Carr was getting the job done, and securing a franchise in New York just cemented his commitment to the league. "We knew Mara would tap a rich market and bring the game of professional football to the attention of sportswriters for the New York papers and for the burgeoning news agencies which distrib uted reports to newspapers throughout the league. We all applauded Joe Carr's success," George Halas said in his autobiography. 18

  The raise in salary was unexpected for Carr, and he would earn every penny of it in 1925. Besides running the NFL, Carr was offered another sports executive job to test his abilities. George Preston Marshall, a wealthy entrepreneur who owned a Washington, D.C., business called the Palace Laundry, was also a big sports fan and collaborated with George Halas and Cleveland department store tycoon Max Rosenblum to organize the American Basketball League (ABL). It is regarded as the first national basketball circuit. Halas's team was named the Chicago Bruins and Marshall called his ABL team the Palace Big Five; the league fielded nine teams. The owners asked Carr to be the president and of course he said yes. He was now involved in pro football, minor league baseball, and professional basketball. Carr lasted three years as ABL president (1925-1927). Through his involvement in the ABL, Marshall cultivated a strong relationship with Halas and Carr. This wouldn't be the last time Marshall's name would be heard.

  As the season approached, Tim Mara and Dr. Harry March went about selling the New York Giants to the city of New York. "We mean to give New York a good, clean, hard game of football of the highest type. We are picking up where Charlie Brickley left off four years ago and are confident that after this season professional football will be a permanent institution in this city," Dr. March declared. The team's first two games would be on the road (the baseball Giants were still using the Polo Grounds), and the initial home game in New York was scheduled for October 18 against the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Ticket prices ranged from fifty cents up to $2.75, and the fearsome duo of Mara and March would do anything to get people out to the games in that first year.19

  They handed out free tickets in restaurants, theaters, and subways in hopes of building up crowds that would later pay their way into the Polo Grounds. "I can remember how he used to walk aro
und the streets handing out free tickets and half-price tickets. And if [he] couldn't get half-price, those became free, too," Wellington Mara, son of Tim Mara, remembered. "All he wanted was to get some people in the stands. He had to do that before he could hope to get their money." Mara knew that establishing a fan base would take time and giving out free tickets was just part of the job. "Tickets were a problem. They must have been, because nobody wanted them," Tim Mara would always say 20

  Along with the slow ticket sales, Mara's team on the field got off to a sluggish start, losing their first two games on the road-a 14-0 shutout against Providence and a 5-3 loss in front of 15,000 fans at Frankford on Saturday, October 17, a day before the home opener, which was also against Frankford. The rematch between the two teams took on a bigger meaning because this would be the first time Tim Mara would see his team play in New York City. After attending mass on the morning of the 18th, Wellington Mara heard his father casually say, "I'm gonna try to put pro football over in New York today." As if this was just another day u

  The Giants' first home game in the NFL saw a crowd of 27,000 fans, which was one of the largest crowds to ever witness a league game to that point. How many actually paid nobody knows, but Mara-March did what they wanted to accomplish, and that was to get people in the stands. Most of the New York newspapers led with the attendance figure, the New York Times printing the number twice in its headline of the game, written by well-known sportswriter Allison Danzig. As for the action on the field, the Giants were still a work in progress. The Yellow Jackets, led by player-coach Guy Chamberlin (who had left the Cleveland franchise), scored two touchdowns in the first half and won 14-0. The game left an impression on nine-year-old Wellington Mara. "I recall going to the game and I wanted to sit on the bench. I remember our coach, Bob Folwell, a former Navy coach, turning to one of the players on the bench, his name was Paul Jappe, and saying 'Jappe get in there and give them hell!' I thought, boy, this is really a rough game."22

  The Giants' rough start wouldn't last very long, as the team started to jell. The first thing they did was release Jim Thorpe, as the aging veteran didn't have any skills left, and insert Hinkey Haines at halfback. The high-priced talent then rattled off four wins in a row (all at home) against Cleveland (18,000 fans), Buffalo (20,000), Columbus (4,000), and Rochester (10,000). The Giants were now 4-3, but the attendance figures slowly began to head south with each game. In the middle of November, they got ready to host a very important visitor 21

  On November 15 Joe F. Carr traveled east to see the Giants play the Providence Steam Roller. The Giants' front office brass put out the red carpet for their special guest, and Carr was very impressed with what he saw. At the game Carr saw a beautiful fall day in New York and 20,000 fans in the stands at the Polo Grounds. It was a long way from those early days of the Columbus Panhandles with 2,000 fans lined up on the sidelines or sitting in three rows of a hand-built grandstand. As for the action on the field, Carr saw the Giants pull out an exciting 13-12 victory over the Steam Roller.24

  Before leaving New York, Carr talked to the press about his new idea for the makeup of the NFL and its presence on the East Coast.

  Joseph F. Carr of Columbus, Ohio, President of the national Professional Football League, while attending the victory of the Giants over the Provi dence Steam Rollers at the Polo Grounds yesterday intimated that plans were developing for the formation of the professional league of Eastern elevens.

  Investigations are being conducted relative to placing teams in Brooklyn, Washington, Newark, Atlantic City, Boston and Hartford, Conn. New York State is already represented by the Giants in this city, Buffalo and Rochester 25

  Carr's big plans for the NFL consisted of the league's franchises being in major cities and having an eastern and western division with the winner of each division playing in a championship game-pro football's World Series. The owners had discussed splitting the league into divisions before, and seeing the type of crowds the big cities could generate, Carr used the New York media to reenergize the idea. Carr would have to face two major issues and a near-death illness before tackling his newest plan.

  arold "Red" Grange was a six-foot, 180-pound halfback, who burst onto the sports scene in 1924 with his historic performance against the University of Michigan. Not since Jim Thorpe had there been a football player who gained such national attention for his gridiron exploits. Entering his senior year in the fall of 1925, Grange's every move was closely followed as the press and public couldn't get enough of him.

  On the field Grange would change the game of football. Before he arrived, most of the action on offense would be three yards and a cloud of dust, and if you managed to move the ball downfield you settled for a field goal. If you were extremely effective, you plowed over for a short touchdown. But Grange would bring the "home-run" threat to football. Although there had been plenty of long scoring plays before, nobody did it with the flair of Red Grange.

  At a time when sports fans during the Roaring Twenties were cheering long home runs by Babe Ruth, crushing drives by Bobby Jones, or knockout punches by Jack Dempsey, football fans wanted to see Grange run eighty yards for a touchdown, and usually he delivered. So much so that he earned the nickname "the Galloping Ghost." The image of Grange as an evasive "streak of fire, a breath of flame, . . . a gray ghost thrown into the game, " as famed sportswriter Grantland Rice lyrically described him, captured America's attention. As a senior he was ready to finish his career in style.'

  After a slow start to the season, Grange was presented a perfect opportunity to prove how great he was. On October 31 Illinois traveled east to play the University of Pennsylvania. It was the ideal situation for the Ghost to show the eastern press that the Midwest could play the game that the Ivy League "invented." If he could dominate an eastern powerhouse, then just maybe he could be the greatest player to put on a football uniform. The game was highly anticipated, and the most well-known sportswriters in the country were in attendance to see what Grange would do. Grantland Rice, Laurence Stallings, Paul Gallico, Damon Runyon, and Ford Frick were all in the press box at Franklin Field to witness another remarkable performance by Grange.

  On a sloppy field and in front of a sellout crowd of 65,000 fans, Grange amassed 363 yards rushing and three touchdowns in a stunning 24-2 victory over the Quakers. Grange proved he was the best player in the country. Everybody wanted to know everything about him and what he would do next. Rumors started to fly about the future of Red Grange. There were even a few linking him to professional football for roughly $40,000 a year with the Chicago Bears or the New York Giants. While George Halas was quiet in hearing these rumors, Tim Mara set the record straight with his Giants. "In the first place we are limited under the league rules in the amount of money we can pay a player, and for three games this limit would not reach $1,000, much less $40,000. In the second place we are under agreement not to tamper with football players while they are in college and I believe in the rule."2

  There were other rumors that Grange would become an actor, run for political office, become a writer, or go into coaching. His every move was now being monitored, and it seemed everybody had their own opinion on what he should do:

  George Huff, University of Illinois athletic director-I have no fight with professional football, but I hope Grange never again puts on a suit after he finishes college. It is by no means a crime to play after leaving school but Grange has so many better opportunities before him. After I talked with him for an hour he thanked me for my advice and I believe I convinced him that it would be wise to proceed cautiously.

  Bob Zuppke, University of Illinois head coach-Keep away from professionalism and you'll be another Walter Camp. Football isn't a game to play for money.

  Fielding Yost, University of Michigan head coach-I'd be glad to see Grange do anything else except play professional football.

  Westbrook Pegler, Chicago Tribune writer-To be an imitation writer or a fake movie actor would surely be less virtuous than becoming a
real football player.3

  Of course most of the college coaches and officials wanted to see Grange do anything else but play professional football. After hearing all of this for weeks Grange went to see his father to hear his opinion.

  Every time I read the papers that Harold has accepted a contract from this or that team, it gives me a shock. I sincerely hope that he does not do this, although he has not confided in me what his plans are. I have a notion, however, that he will drop out of school for a while after the football season and accept one of the offers made him.

  I think he's entitled to "cash in" on the long runs his gridiron fame has brought him. It is expensive for me to send Harold and his brother Garland through the university. We are not rolling in wealth and I think the public would approve of anything Harold does.4

  Grange had an idea of what he was going to do, but he was keeping it to himself. The only thing he would say was that he would announce his future plans after his final collegiate game against Ohio State. One thing was for sure-the whole country was watching and everybody wanted to see the Galloping Ghost-even Joe F. Carr. Using his connections, Carr contacted Lynn St. John, the athletic director at Ohio State, and asked his good friend for a favor. Carr wanted a ticket (the hottest ticket in town) to see Grange's collegiate finale against the Buckeyes on November 21. St. John agreed and sent Carr a ticket. Carr now had a front seat to see the famous redhead in action and maybe get a glimpse of the future of professional football.

  After Carr returned from his trip to New York to watch the Steamroller-Giants matchup, he prepared to attend the most talked about game of the year. First he had to answer the rumors of Red Grange signing a contract with one of the teams in the NFL. On Wednesday, November 18, he made a statement to the press on the Grange issue.