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

by Chris Willis

  No college player may participate in any game of the National League while he is still eligible to play on his college team and that he cannot play in the same year in which he finishes his football career, in the event he remains in college.

  Of course if Grange retires from school after Saturday's game he is a free agent and cannot be restrained under the rules of the National League. It would be absurd for the National League or any other organization to try and restrain any athlete from capitalizing on his ability when he is no longer a member of any amateur organization and has retired from college.

  We have done everything possible to keep the college players clean and above board, but, inasmuch as all who would like to see the stars of the gridiron in action and are unable to gain admittance to the big college games, we feel that we are doing a public service when we promote professional football on the high plane we have it, thereby making it possible for the country at large to see the stars in action. This applies not only to Mr. Grange, but to other stars too numerous to mention who elect to enter the professional ranks after they have done their full share for their Alma Mater.

  After careful investigation I am fully convinced that Mr. Grange has not been approached by any club in the National Football League.5

  With this statement, Carr, very uncharacteristically, was giving permission for any NFL club to sign Grange if they wanted to, as long as he dropped out of college. Carr knew this was a unique situation for his league, and he had to act quickly. The NFL might only have one shot at getting Grange to play professional football, and he wanted to give his teams the chance to do it. The specific wording of the rule to not sign players still in college was once again a matter of interpretation.

  The bottom line for Carr was that if Grange dropped out of college, he was fair game and Carr couldn't deny the young man a chance to make a living. In turn Carr and the NFL would get a superstar who would give the organization some publicity, respectability, and media coverage that it had never had before. It was a chance Carr was willing to take. Now it was time to actually see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunately for Carr he never made it to the game. Instead, he almost died.

  On Thursday, a day after writing the press release on Grange, Carr became very ill and showed symptoms of a high fever, nausea, drowsiness, and sudden loss of appetite. Feeling sick he decided to stay home and get some rest, hoping that a day of no stress would allow him to attend the big Illinois-Ohio State matchup on Saturday. Carr's illness became big news in Columbus and in subsequent days the reporting of his health would take on a dramatic play-by-play scenario. The Columbus Citizen reported the story, under the headline "Joe Carr Is Ill": "Joe F. Carr, president of the National Professional Football League, is confined to his home, 39 N. 22nd St., suffering from an attack of acute indigestion. Carr was stricken Thursday. His condition Friday was much improved."6

  But instead of feeling better, Carr suffered a setback. While relaxing at home on Friday night he started having some extreme abdominal pains that would send him to the hospital. The forty-six-year-old Carr suffered a ruptured appendix and went straight to the operating room at Mt. Carmel Hospital. While there his close friend Dr. Bob Drury, as well as his brother-in-law Dr. Frank Sullivan, took care of him. The surgery was performed and the front page of the Ohio State journal told the rest of Columbus the state of Carr's condition.

  Joe Carr Operated on for Appendicitis

  Joe F. Carr, president of the National Football League, is in serious condition as result of an operation yesterday for appendicitis. He is in Mt. Carmel Hospital.

  The sudden illness prevented Carr from carrying out a long cherished desire to see Red Grange in action in his final game.'

  The St. Patrick Church Bulletin encouraged people to say a little prayer for one of their most dedicated church-goers: "Joe Carr is fighting for his life with the help of thousands of friends who are praying for him at Mt. Carmel Hospital. Joe is battling as he has battled for clean, wholesome athletics all his life. Yes, say a prayer that God in His mercy will spare Joe Carr to continue his activities for young men to help them in developing themselves into healthful practical Christian citizens."8

  The whole community in Columbus held their breath that Carr would pull through, and saying a little prayer couldn't hurt. Over the next few days Carr's condition would go from critical, to stable, and back to critical. Monday morning Dr. Drury announced that his good friend was "progressing satisfactorily, but was not yet out of danger." The Portsmouth (Ohio) Times reported that Carr was "seriously ill and in critical condition." Then it looked very bleak for Joe F. Carr when, at the bottom of the front page of the November 25 edition, the Ohio State journal reported on Carr's condition under the headline "Carr Sinking": "Hospital physicians last night said the condition of Joe F. Carr, president of the National Professional Football League, operated on for appendicitis last week, was critical. Doubt was expressed as to his recovery."9

  Less than a week after arriving at Mt. Carmel Hospital, the family of Joe F. Carr had gone through the complete range of emotions. Surrounded by his immediate family, Carr slowly fought to stay alive and eventually showed improvement. He had too much to live for and so much more to accomplish with his family and career. His doctors saw his condition improve and let the Ohio State journal know that he might pull through. Under the headline "Attaboy, Joe!" the journal reported, "Joe F. Carr, is steadily improving in Mt. Carmel Hospital, and physicians said last night his condition is now more favorable than at any time since his recent operation for appendicitis.""

  When the good news spread through Columbus that Carr was getting healthier, the little sports executive was swamped with tons of wellwishes. He received cards and flowers from several NFL people, including his friend Carl Storck, Jim Durfee (an NFL referee), the Frankford Athletic Association, and other Columbus citizens. His former coworker at the Ohio State Journal Clyde Tuttle wrote a special tribute to his friend.

  Test of Popularity

  A fellow never knows how many friends or how few friends he has until he is in trouble.

  We feel that if Joe Carr, president of the National Football League, who is now recovering at Mt. Carmel Hospital from an operation for appendicitis, had been able to be around this office this week, he would know that his friends are legion.

  When Mr. Carr's condition was the worst, when it looked for a time that he might not be able to pull through, calls came to this department by the hundreds, and telegrams and long distance telephone calls came from all over the country.

  People may sometimes be fooled regarding a person, but they are not long fooled, nor are all of them always fooled. A fellow with the sterling characteristics that Joe Carr possesses will never want for friends. And he shouldn't."

  The tremendous show of support really touched Carr, and he became even more determined to make a full recovery. As he started to feel better, he responded to the support he received from his colleagues and friends. If he wasn't in a good mood already, a letter from his boyhood friend Bob Quinn probably sealed it for him.

  Dear Joe-

  The past two weeks have been long ones for me, for like many of your friends we were fearful [that] our Dear Lord would call you home not that we begrudged you the wonderful place we all felt sure God had preferred for you but we were sure that you could do so many things here for his honor and glory and for your family and friends. So you see we were really selfish, and we prayed hard that you be spared to us although we were sure that you yourself would have been happier with our Dear Lord. However we are thankful that you are to remain with us and we shall thank God and His Blessed Mother, also the Little Flower for their kindness. Do not get out too soon and begin to hustle about remember it takes at least six months to get the ether out of you so do not be impatient if you do not feel yourself for sometime. When you are able to write me as I have some things I want to write you about your football league, nothing that will not [keep] just a few ideas that have come to me r
ecently.

  Hoping God will let you soon get home,

  most sincerely yours,

  Bob Quinn"

  Carr was now on his way to a full recovery. While Carr was stricken with his illness and recuperating in the hospital, the circus surrounding Red Grange arrived in Columbus. The game between the two Midwest rivals was secondary to the anticipation of what Grange would decide to do after his college finale-the game Carr would miss. Before the Galloping Ghost played his final game, the rumors of him turning pro intensified. The Champaign News-Gazette interviewed the redhead and accused him of signing to play professional football. Grange recalled, "I replied that I had not affixed my signature to any contract and defied them to produce evidence to the contrary. At this point I put on my hat and walked out."13

  More than 100 newspapers and correspondents arrived at Ohio State's massive stadium, along with over 85,000 excited fans to witness Grange's final college game. The contest was unremarkable. Grange ran for 113 yards to lead his team to a 14-9 victory. After the final gun sounded, Grange was surrounded by reporters, and then he announced that he "would drop of college and play professional football for the Chicago Bears. I have nothing to say right now." Then the Galloping Ghost left in a hurry.14

  After leaving the stadium, Grange hopped on a train and headed for Chicago where he met up with his "agent," Charles C. Pyle, better known as C. C. Pyle, a theater owner who met Grange at a Champaign movie house earlier in the year and laid out a plan for Grange to capitalize on his famous name, by playing professional football. The man who'd tabbed Grange "the Galloping Ghost," Warren Brown of the Chicago Herald-Examiner, cautioned Grange. "People who know C. C. Pyle claim the initials stand for Cash and Carry. Mr. Grange is hereby forewarned." Pyle revealed his plan for Grange to sign with an NFL team and go on a coast-to-coast tour to large crowds and big paydays."

  The previous summer Grange had agreed to let Pyle represent him and shook hands on it, but he didn't sign anything. For Grange a handshake was as good as a signed contract-plus it kept his collegiate eligibility still intact. Despite Pyle's rapacious reputation, Grange was impressed by him. "Pyle was about forty-five when I met him. He was a shade over six feet tall and weighed about 195 pounds. He had gray hair and a neatly trimmed mustache. An immaculate dresser, his clothes were made to order by the most exclusive tailors. He always carried a cane, wore spats, a derby and a diamond stickpin in his tie," Grange wrote in his autobiography. "Pyle came up with more ideas in one day than most men come up with in a lifetime.""

  Grange took the train to the Windy City where Pyle had already worked out an agreement with Bears co-owners George Halas and Dutch Sternaman. Grange had never meet Halas or Sternaman before, and later that day he sat on the Chicago bench in street clothes and watched the Bears trounce the Green Bay Packers, 21-0. The next morning the contract was signed. Halas-Sternaman agreed with Pyle to split the earnings fiftyfifty, with the Bears paying the tour costs, and Pyle would provide Red. The two parties put it in writing. Grange later announced why he chose professional football over all the other offers: "I have received many alluring offers to enter fields of enterprise in which I have no training or experience. I believe the public will be better satisfied with my honesty and good motives if I turn my efforts to that field in which I have been most useful in order to reap a reward which will keep the home fires burning.""

  About the same time as Grange signed his Bears contract, New York Giants owner Tim Mara arrived in Chicago thinking he would have a chance to sign the Galloping Ghost. He got the next best thing. "We got a telegram from my father saying: 'Partially successful. Will arrive on train and explain.' We didn't really know what that meant. We had already heard that he had been unable to sign Red Grange because Red had signed with the Bears. As far as we were concerned, he was totally unsuccessful. But what he meant was that he had booked a game in the Polo Grounds with the Bears and Red Grange," Wellington Mara remembered about his dad trying to sign Grange.18

  After only three days of practice with the Bears, Grange would make his professional debut on Thanksgiving Day against their cross-town rivals, the Cardinals. Interest was so great that 20,000 tickets were printed up and sold in three hours on the Monday after Grange signed. Halas had more printed and a standing-room only crowd of 36,000 jammed Cubs Park-it was the largest crowd ever to see a pro football game anywhere. Too bad Joe F. Carr was laid up in a Columbus hospital struggling for his life.

  The Cardinals held Grange to only thirty-five yards, and the Cards' star player Paddy Driscoll kept punting away from Grange, not giving him a chance for one of his famous long-distance touchdowns. Driscoll later explained, "It was a question of which one of us would look bad-Grange or Driscoll. I decided it wouldn't be Paddy." When the game ended in a scoreless tie, thousands of fans surrounded Grange as he left the field, but the police escorted him to safety. Halas reportedly cried when counting the gate receipts. "There had never been such evidence of public interest since our professional league began in 1920. I knew then and there that pro football was destined to be a big-time sport," Halas recalled.19

  The following Sunday the Bears hosted the Columbus Tigers, and 28,000 fans braved the snow to see Grange play his second game, a 14-13 win. After the Columbus game, Halas signed Earl Britton-former fullback for the University of Illinois-to a pro contract, opening the flood gates for any collegian to sign with a pro team as long as they quit school. Once again, the NFL didn't endear itself to the coaches and athletic directors in college football.

  The Bears then launched the first of two tours that Pyle and HalasSternaman set up. The Bears had NFL games on the road against Frankford (December 5), New York (December 6), Providence (December 9), and Detroit (December 12), as well as a rematch with the Giants in Chicago on December 13. In between, Pyle set up nonleague games in St. Louis (December 2), Washington (December 8), and Pittsburgh (December 10). In just a twelve-day period, the Bears and their star Red Grange would play eight games. A murderous schedule clearly showed that C. C. Pyle didn't know anything about pro football, and it proved that this tour wasn't about winning games or trying to claim an NFL championship. It was about trying to make as much money as possible by exploiting the Grange phenomenon.

  On Wednesday, the Grange-Bears squad played a pickup team in St. Louis before only 8,000 fans as snow fell during the game and the temperature dropped to twelve degrees. On Saturday, a rainstorm hit Philadelphia, but 35,000 came out to Franklin Field to watch Grange score both touchdowns in a 14-0 win over the Frankford Yellow Jackets. After taking a train overnight to New York, the Grange-Bears were prepared to play Tim Maras Giants the following day.

  At this time Mara was facing a financial deficit of about $40,000, and failing to sign Grange as an attraction made the tall Irishman rethink his investment. Even his good friend New York governor Al Smith questioned his decision, "Pro football will never amount to anything, why don't you give it up?" Mara responded, "The boys would run me right out of the house if I did." Mara thought the arrival of Grange would change everything, and he was right 20

  Although attendance figures for that game have varied, based on the gate receipts of $142,000 it seems that about 70,000 spectators filled every seat in the Polo Grounds to watch Grange play. It was the largest ever gathering at a professional football game-topping the previous mark set just ten days earlier in Chicago when Grange made his professional debut. "When I saw that crowd and knew that half the cash in the house was mine, I said to myself, 'Timothy, how long has this gravy train been running,"' recalled Tim Mara. Over 125 newspapermen from across the country covered the game. Damon Runyon described the wonderful scene: "Seventy thousand men, women and children were in the stands, blocking the aisles and runways. Twenty thousand more were perched on Coogan's Bluff and the roofs of apartment houses, content with just an occasional glimpse of the whirling mass of players on the field below and wondering which was Red Grange."2'

  The Bears won 19-7 (although the outcome seemed s
econdary), with Grange scoring the final touchdown on an interception return. Grange made an estimated $30,000 for that game alone. The game likely saved Mara's New York franchise, wiping out Mara's $40,000 debt and giving him a tidy profit of $18,000 for the year. The Grange-Bears tour was mak ing the NFL and professional football more popular than ever and giving the sport the expanded coverage it needed. Some historians credit Grange for saving professional football, but this was not true. Pioneers like Carr, Halas, and Lambeau had already accomplished this; the sport was going to survive with or without Grange. What Grange did was bring the sport, and in turn the NFL, to a mass audience like never before. Halas summed up Grange's debut, "I believe that as a result of our Grange tour, pro football for the first time took on a national stature."22

  Although most NFL teams weren't seeing profits, the publicity generated by Grange in the large eastern cities proved to the league that the future of the young organization would be in the big cities. Carr knew this was going to be the direction his league would be moving in; Grange's arrival just sped up his grand plan. First Carr had to get healthier if he wanted to see his vision of the NFL come true.

  The Grange-Bears tour continued in Washington, then traveled to Boston, where Grange only gained eighteen yards and was booed by the crowd of 25,000. Ford Frick, the newsman who later became baseball commissioner, who was accompanying the tour wrote, "The strain of this tour is starting to show on Grange. He is tremendously human, in his quiet, shy way, and just a little bit nervous and bored by the laudations which suddenly have come his way. And the pace has begun to tell." On Thursday, December 10, against a team of locals in Pittsburgh, Grange was kicked in the arm, tearing a muscle, and a blood clot began to form. The injury forced him out of the game, and the crowd booed again. Grange was diagnosed with a broken blood vessel and was told to rest for at least two weeks. He missed the Detroit and Giants games as the first part of the tour ended 23