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

by Chris Willis

  In the first eight games of the eastern tour, Grange wore down and didn't play at the standard he set in college. The brutal schedule contributed mainly to Grange's physical problems. Guy Chamberlin commented that "Grange broke down mentally and physically, because more was asked of him than any human being could perform. The pro players on other teams were affected by the Grange splurge, and the public disillu- sioned."24 As the public went gaga over Grange, the actual championship race for the 1925 NFL title was being decided. If Carr rejoiced at Grange's arrival from his hospital bed, he probably wanted to remain in the recovery room because of the controversy over the championship.

  The race for the NFL title came down to two teams, the Chicago Cardinals and the surprising small-town Pottsville Maroons. After opening the season with a defeat by Hammond, the Cardinals reeled off eight consecutive wins before battling the Bears to a scoreless tie in Red Grange's professional debut on Thanksgiving Day. At 8-1-1 the Cardinals sat atop of the NFL standings, just a half game ahead of the Maroons, who took advantage of Pennsylvania's famous Blue Laws. Before joining the NFL, the Maroons were members of the "Anthracite League," playing games on Sundays against other mining communities, such as Coaldale, Shenandoah, Gilberton, and Mount Carmel. Lawmakers didn't want to tell the miners-who worked six days a week-that they couldn't play football on their only day off.

  When Carr admitted the Maroons into the NFL, one of the big reasons was that teams traveling east could schedule two games to be played on back-to-back days; Saturdays against the Frankford Yellow Jackets, and Sundays against the Pottsville Maroons. The Maroons took full advantage of this situation by winning six of seven Sunday games when their opponent played the previous day in Frankford. The day after Thanksgiving the Maroons (8-2) were just a half game back of the Cardinals (8-1-1). On November 29 the Cardinals defeated Rock Island (7-0) and the Maroons destroyed the Yellow Jackets (49-0). Cardinals owner Chris O'Brien now wanted a game with the Maroons, but he also wanted another shot at playing against Red Grange for a bigger payday.

  At this time Maroons owner Dr. John Striegel was looking to make some money as well. By joining the NFL, his team's payroll had ballooned in 1925, and the crowds at tiny Minersville Park weren't filling his pocket with dollars. As December approached Striegel had arranged for exhibition games in Atlantic City (December 6), and by virtue of their victory against the Yellow Jackets, a game against the Notre Dame All-Stars (a team made up of former Irish players). But Carr wanted the NFL season concluded before his teams starting playing meaningless games. So he contacted Striegel and recommended his team play the Chicago Cardinals to help decide the NFL championship. In a telegram sent to Striegel, Carr voiced his opinion. "Can't allow your game with Atlantic City until after the regular season. Several clubs [Chicago Cardinals] have kicked to me as they desire your services."25

  On the front page of the December 2 Pottsville journal sports section, the headline read, "President Carr Orders Maroons to Play at Chicago on Dec. 6th."26 Carr knew the game and the much-needed media coverage (along with the ongoing Grange circus), was getting the NFL more publicity than ever before. Reluctantly the Maroons' owner-who seemed more interested in making money than winning a championship-agreed. The Atlantic City game was postponed so that the Maroons-Cardinals could pretty much decide the NFL championship on December 6 in Chicago.

  On an eighteen-degree day at Comiskey Park the Maroons scored two second-quarter touchdowns to take a 14-7 halftime lead. In the second half, the Maroons ground game behind the play of Walter French, controlled the clock, and led the small-town Maroons to a 21-7 victory. Although there were two weeks to go in the season (the season's ending date was December 20), the Maroons claimed to be "NFL champions." For all intents and purposes, it looked like the Maroons would win the title, but in the early days of the NFL nothing was that easy.

  After defeating the Cardinals in Chicago, Dr. Striegel went about organizing his team's exhibition game against the Notre Dame All-Stars. This would be his big payday. This is where Striegel made his big mistake. Instead of trying to finish the season as NFL champion, he went for the money. Although most newspapers around the country declared Pottsville champions, they were a bit premature. The Maroons had merely taken over first place. Before those two critical weeks were over-with President Carr in a hospital bed-the NFL would face another seasonending controversy.

  As Striegel kept his word to play the Notre Dame All-Stars, the Maroons were still scheduled to play the Providence Steam Roller the day after. The Notre Dame game figured to be a big moneymaker, and Striegel wanted to cash in more by playing the game at spacious Shibe Park in Philadelphia. But Striegel forgot one big thing-Shibe Park was inside the protected territory of the Frankford Yellow Jackets. The Yellow Jackets protested to the league office to have the game cancelled. Because of the league's territorial rights rule, the Yellow Jackets were well within their rights to do so.

  A Pottsville trespass might not have seemed so awful had the Yellow Jackets already disbanded for the season, but they actually had a game scheduled against the Cleveland Bulldogs at Frankford Stadium on the same day. In other words, Dr. Striegel had signed a contract to go headto-head against a fellow member of the league. When Carr got word of this, he immediately sent a warning to the Pottsville owner to cancel the game or face suspension from the league. Striegel claimed to the press that he had received permission from the league to play the game. He admitted-while Carr was in the hospital-that he received the go-ahead from the NFL secretary-Jerry Corcoran. The only problem was that the NFL secretary was Carl L. Storck; Corcoran was the manager of the Columbus Tigers and had no power to set league policy. He was probably just helping out Carr with league matters until the president was healthy enough to do it himself.

  Three days before the Pottsville-Notre Dame exhibition game, Carr sent another telegram to warn Striegel about not playing the game. On December 10 the Philadelphia Ledger reported the news under the headline of "Pottsville Club Intends to Fullfill Its Contract": "The Pottsville Maroons, national pro football champions, intend to go through with their contract to play the Four Horsemen at Shibe Park, Philadelphia, on Saturday afternoon, despite threats of President Carr, of the National League, that such a procedure is against his orders and rumors that the Frankford Yellow Jacket management will ask that the Pottsville league charter be revoked."27

  After hearing the second warning, Striegel contacted Carr to ask him if the league would cover the loss if he backed out of his contract with the promoter of the exhibition game. Carr offered all reasonable protection, but the NFL wasn't going to pick up the tab. Striegel had never backed out of a contract and he wasn't going to do it now-conveniently forgetting about his obligation to the NFL. The game would be played.

  In Chicago Chris O'Brien still believed he had a great chance of getting a rematch with the Bears and Red Grange. When the two teams played on Thanksgiving Day in Grange's debut, O'Brien made the mistake of taking the $1,200 dollar guarantee. So O'Brien thought if he could schedule two more league games to leapfrog the Maroons in the standings, he could get the big game against the Bears. Because Grange was the big star at this time, O'Brien wanted to get a second game with the Bears. Thinking Grange and the Bears would only play attractive teams, O'Brien thought he needed his team to keep winning to be an attractive team to schedule the Bears again. A big crowd for a Grange game would make more than the $1,200 guarantee-which he received for the last game against Grange.

  O'Brien set up games with two weaker NFL teams who had basically disbanded for the season. On Thursday, December 10 (two days before the Pottsville-Notre Dame contest), the Cardinals pounded a makeshift Milwaukee Badgers team that was so patched together that O'Brien decided to throw open the gates and forego any admission charge. The Cardinals won easily 59-0. Little did O'Brien know that on the field were four high school kids recruited to play for the Badgers. Then on Sunday (December 12), the Cardinals defeated the Hammond Pros 13-0 to finish the regular
season with an 11-2-1 record. Ironically, the purpose of all O'Brien's maneuvering went down the drain during that same week. Red Grange suffered his arm injury, and the Cardinals didn't get their rematch with the Bears. As far as O'Brien knew, the season was over.

  At this time Maroons' fans had already decided their team was NFL champs. However, those who looked at the NFL schedule realized the season was not yet completed. The Maroons were scheduled to play at Providence on Sunday, December 13, a day after the exhibition game against the Notre Dame All-Stars. But most of Pottsville-as well as owner Dr. Striegel-was interested in the game against the Irish. A victory over the Irish would mean the "world" title-and a lot of money. In the end, Dr. Striegel would overplay his hand. On Saturday, December 12, four things happened:

  1. The Pottsville Maroons defeated the Notre Dame All-Stars, 9-7, on the strength of a Charlie Berry field goal before a disappointing crowd of just 8,000 fans at Shibe Park.

  2. The Cleveland Bulldogs defeated the Frankford Yellow jackets, 3-0, in front of 8,000 fans at Frankford Stadium.

  3. Dr. Striegel received a telegram from NFL president Joe F. Carr stating that the Pottsville Maroons would be suspended by the NFL for playing a game in the territorial rights of the Frankford Yellow Jackets after being warned.

  4. The Providence Steam Roller received word that they were not permitted to play Pottsville (on December 13) the next day.

  After repeated warnings, Carr had nothing else to do but suspend the Pottsville franchise-officially ending the Maroons chances of winning the 1925 NFL championship. At this point, the Maroons were not a member of the NFL and in turn not eligible to win the NFL title. But in the early years of the NFL everything was never that clear. As the NFL season came to a close, events began to unfold that would make the 1925 season the most controversial in history. First, the Cardinals found themselves in trouble when the truth about the December 10 game against the Milwaukee Badgers came out in Chicago. In order for the Badgers to have eleven men on the field, they put four high school boys in uniform. While still in bed at the hospital, Carr received word of the four high school boys, and immediately started an investigation.

  If the reports are well founded both the Chicago and Milwaukee teams will be fined heavily. Our rules prohibit any team playing a man eligible for college football. The fine is $50 to $1,000 with possible expulsion from the league. I will enforce the rules, if the charges are true.

  I can see no reason why either Chris O'Brien, president of the Cardinals or the Milwaukee management would need to call on high school boys. Both teams have plenty of players. This is the first case of flagrant rule violation called to my attention.28

  After quickly gathering the information, President Carr passed down punishment that was swift and harsh. On December 30 the Chicago Tribune reported the penalties:

  1. The Milwaukee team was not suspended; but the owner, Ambrose McGurk, was fined $500 and given ninety days to sell his club.

  2. Art Folz, a Cardinals player who admitted procuring the four high school boys for McGurk, was banned from the NFL for life!

  3. Although everyone agreed that he hadn't known about the arrangement, Cardinals owner Chris O'Brien was still fined $1,000 and placed on probation for one year by Carr.

  4. Following up on the Pottsville resolution, the Maroons, for violating territorial rights in Philadelphia on December 12 after it had been forbidden to by the president, were fined $500 and the club was suspended as a member of the league, which meant forfeiture of its franchise 29

  Carr's quick and rather harsh response to the end of the 1925 season was universally praised across the country. And Carr was still in the hospital recovering from appendicitis. Chris O'Brien readily admitted his mistake:

  No one is as sorry over what happened to those four Englewood high school boys as I am, and I want to give my story to the public and am willing to take my share of the blame, because I will admit selfishness on my part. I was selfish, perhaps, because I wanted another game with the Bears. I hadn't experienced a very good year, I saw the chance of getting even with such a game. I expected to get it by beating Pottsville in our game with them on Dec. 6. But were beaten.

  Just before time to start [game], I learned that there were high school amateurs on the Milwaukee team. Now I know the mistake I made was in not cancelling the game right then. But there were several hundred people out there to see the game. Things were moving fast. I didn't sit down and think it out carefully. Probably thought the best way was to go ahead and play the game, thinking that the high school boys never would be caught. Anyway, I didn't stop it.

  I have written our president, Mr. Carr, in Columbus about it.... I am willing to do anything to save those schoolboys and put professional football in the right light.3o

  The four high school boys were also punished for playing in the game. James Snyder, William Thompson, Jack Daniels, and Charles Richardson were declared ineligible to play any high school activities by participating in a professional sport-although they were not paid to play. As for the NFL, Carr's decisions were solely based on upholding the rules and regulations of his league. For over eighty-five years, the city of Pottsville has claimed to have had the 1925 NFL championship "stolen" from it, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Their owner-Dr. Striegel-broke a league rule and paid the ultimate price.

  For President Carr it was a simple choice to suspend the Maroons and make them ineligible for the 1925 NFL title. It was all about moving the young league forward. In speaking to the press, Carr clarified his stance on all the controversy.

  Rules of our league are going to be enforced as long as I am President. That's the only way professional football can continue to exist and hold popular favor. The violators knew what the rules were when they violated them. Now they'll have to pay the penalty.

  We are trying to build up the National Professional Football League by trying to merit confidence of the public and press through observance of all rules, especially that pertaining to the use of players who still are eligible for college competition. My only regret is that in this instance league rules do not permit more drastic fines and I propose to ask that stringent regulations and much heavier fines be placed in the league rules when the league convenes in its annual meeting next month 31

  fter a tumultuous month and a half, Joe F. Carr was nearly at full .strength and felt physically ready for anything. He announced that the NFL's winter meeting would be held on February 6-7 in Detroit, Michigan. In preparing for the meeting Carr put together an itinerary that was sure to be very eventful, since the owners had several major issues that needed to be resolved. The public and press would watch this meeting more closely than any previous league get-together-something Carr and the other owners were very aware of.

  The most important topic was the NFL's fragile relationship with the colleges and universities around the country. Carr knew he had to regain (or according to some, gain for the first time) the trust of the coaches and athletic directors who ran college football, or life could be very difficult. For the past five years he had fought this issue, stating that his league would do the right thing to protect the eligibility of college players. It was now time to put up or shut up.

  The weeks before the Detroit meeting, Carr had conversations with Tim Mara, Dr. Harry March, and James Dooley (a lawyer and one of the Providence owners) to get their input on writing a new bylaw for the NFL to finally put this issue to rest. It was time to get the "specific wording" correct and ironclad, so there wouldn't be any argument. After getting all the input he needed, Carr came up with the answer he was looking for. He would reveal the new bylaw at the meeting.

  Carr would also address the Pottsville issue and explain for the final time his ruling on the subject. He hoped that issue would be put to rest too. While Carr was very busy in getting ready for the league meeting, Red Grange was wrapping up the second half of his barnstorming tour on January 31. In the end Grange and the Bears played nineteen games in two months
before over 469,000 fans. It is estimated that Grange and Pyle cleared about $250,000 on the second part of the tour (including endorsements). The newspapers and promoters of the two tours tended to overstate attendance, as well as Grange's share of the gate receipts; the actual amount he collected is unknown. The Bears organization netted about $100,000, which George Halas described as "the first financial cushion we'd managed to accumulate." The bottom line for all the parties involved is that they all made money giving professional football a major boost in respectability.'

  During the long trip back, Pyle huddled with Halas and Dutch Sternaman to discuss his plans for the 1926 season and his star player Red Grange. The Bears' owners thought the 1925 deal heavily favored Pyle, but they were willing to accept the same arrangement to keep Grange in a Bears uniform. Pyle was amenable to the fifty-fifty split, but he also asked for one-third ownership of the franchise. Halas and Sternaman said no way, "No, no, no! In no way. No, first, last and always! The matter was not negotiable. A percentage of earnings, yes, that was negotiable, but a share of ownership, no!" Halas said in his autobiography. The GrangePyle team then parted company with the Bears. Pyle then looked to get his own NFL team. He would go to Detroit with his own agenda and was willing to ruffle some feathers to get what he wanted.2

  The Motor City would be the stage for an unexpected battle among two moguls, who suddenly showed a nasty dislike for each other. At 2:00 p.m. on February 6 at the Hotel Statler, President Carr called the league meeting with twenty NFL teams in attendance. Carr opened the session by giving the "President's Report," and it set the tone for the rest of the meeting.

  In making my annual report of the affairs of the National Football League, I feel that the past season has been the most remarkable in many ways of any year in the history of the organization. Attendance at most cities increased many times and the feeling of the Press and public was better than ever before. True, the addition of New York and Providence added much to both the class and prestige of the League, but the outstanding development of the past season was the increased publicity that the organization received on all sides.