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

by Chris Willis

  We're not worried over this new league. If it's successful it will help all of us. Competition's all right. But don't let any one kid you into thinking that any new league, or old league, either, is going to make a million dollars next year. Somebody might lose a half million. Running a football club is the most risky business I know. You stand a chance of injury to your stars and you run the chance of bad weather. Tim Mara went into New York prepared to lose thousands of dollars. It's a great game.12

  Carr and the fellow owners would get in line to support Mara, and the "league first" mentality was taking shape. Cardinals owner Chris O'Brien was next to fall in line and throw his support: "We have most of the high class stars under contract and a war chest on which to draw-and we certainly intend to protect our investment to the best of our financial ability. If the newcomers think they can break in without a fight, they are welcome to try it."13

  As the NFL owners were talking the talk, Pyle began to organize his new league. On February 17-all of eight days after his negotiations with the NFL broke down-Pyle announced that his league would have ten teams and start play that fall. The first four teams were the New York Yankees (Red Grange), Boston, Newark, and Milwaukee. Other possible cities included Chicago (to compete with the Bears and Cardinals), Brooklyn, and a West Coast team to be led by George "Wildcat" Wilson, former All-American halfback at Washington. Pyle also would talk the talk.

  Our league will be limited in the number of clubs. It will follow a schedule that is arranged before the season opens and there will be no deviation from this schedule, no games tossed in, or out, as the race is under way. We intend to have one of the most influential figures in the football world as the head of our league. We will insist that each club given a franchise, put up a substantial sum, which will go into a sinking fund.

  We are not preparing to start a football "war," as has been announced, but if there has to be a "war" our army will be strong enough to win it.14

  There was no doubt professional football was about to see a "war." At this time Carr took a break from all the bickering and trash-talking to help promote the game. In a national article written by Liberty Magazine on Red Grange and the money involved in professional football, Carr selected his NFL All-Star team for 1925. He named the following players on his first team:

  Ends: Lynn Bomar (New York Giants); Paul Goebel (Columbus Tigers)

  Tackles: Ed Healey (Chicago Bears); Link Lyman (Cleveland Bulldogs)

  Guards: Butch Spagna (Frankford Yellow Jackets); John Alexander (New York Giants)

  Center: Herb Stein (Pottsville Maroons)

  Quarterback: Joey Sternaman (Chicago Bears)

  Halfbacks: Red Grange (Chicago Bears); Red Barron (Coral Gables AllStars)

  Fullback: Jack McBride (New York Giants)"

  Carr included stars who played on the Red Grange tour; thus Grange and Barron were selected. In the midst of dealing with the issues facing the NFL, Carr was also asked to be president of the Columbus Senators, the capital city's minor league baseball team, and of course he said yes. But baseball took a back seat to Carr's football duties, and he quickly arranged a meeting with an unlikely source. Dr. John Streigel, the embattled owner of the Pottsville Maroons, made a trip to Columbus to visit with Carr.

  Carr had heard that Streigel was in negotiation with C. C. Pyle to join his new league, which was now being called the American Football League (AFL). Carr might not have wanted to bring the Maroons back into the NFL, but he knew that blocking them from joining the AFL was probably more important. So Carr gave Streigel a second chance by reassuring him that the NFL would readmit his team to the league during their summer meeting. Then Carr struck another blow to Pyle's loop.

  In order to make a big splash, Pyle announced the hiring of William "Big Bill" Edwards-the former Princeton All-American tackle who had held jobs as collector of internal revenues and street cleaning commissioner in New York-to be the president of the AFL. Pyle signed Edwards to a three-year contract at $25,000 per year. Edwards ascended to his office with a ringing speech about preserving "high-class football" and "red-blooded sport." The huge salary made big headlines but it also turned off potential investors."

  After hearing about the big salary that AFL owners would pay Edwards, the owners of the Milwaukee franchise started backing out of joining Pyle's league. Carr stepped in with a compromise join the NFL. Carr was willing to sell the old Milwaukee franchise, which was disposed by Ambrose McGurk for playing the four high school kids, to Johnny Bryan (who had played halfback the last couple of seasons with the Chicago Bears) and his partners. They quickly said yes to Carr. "We were all set to support Pyle when he first started to organize. We attended his meetings and we got our franchise. Things moved along nicely until Pyle gave Edwards a contract of $25,000 a year. Even this might have been all right had Pyle let us in on the secret but he never told us a word about what he intended to ."17 do and we found out only through the papers

  With the potential of ten clubs in his league, Pyle was asking his investors to contribute $2,500 a season up front, just to pay the salary of the league's president. That was a big chunk of change to put up even before an owner tried to sign any players. Pyle was limiting his field of possible owners if he was asking for that type of money, and eventually he had to invest his own money just to get the league off the ground. Plus his way of doing business wasn't what pro football owners were used to, by spending "lots" of money.

  Carr felt good going two for two against Pyle, getting both Pottsville and Milwaukee to join his league. In April Carr sent a letter to all the NFL owners, keeping them updated on the current state of the league-including a bombshell.

  To All Club Owners in the National Football League

  Gentleman: Much publicity has appeared since our meeting at Detroit in connection with Professional football, and especially about the proposed new League. I deem it necessary therefore, to let you know that your President has been attempting to take good care of the interests of the National League; and I am giving you herewith, a brief resume of what has been done.

  Have consummated the transfer of the Milwaukee franchise from Mr. McGurk to Messrs. Bryan and Mulkern. I consider the entrance of these gentlemen into the national League as a distinct asset, as both are highly representative citizens of Milwaukee, and I am sure they will put the team over in a real big way for the National League.

  Was in the East two weeks since we have secured Ebbett's Field in Brooklyn, and just as soon as the personnel of the Officers [are] ready to be announced we will give the news out. We are trying to get a gentleman who will be a real asset to serve as President of the Brooklyn club, but are not ready just at this time to make the announcement.

  Cleveland newspapers carried several stories about attempts being made to interest Cleveland citizens in the proposed new League, but according to last reports, two prominent men who had been approached had turned down the proposition.

  While in the East, I had a conference with a group of business men of Newark, N.J. They are looking over the situation and if they feel Professional Football will be profitable in Newark, they will file an application for membership in the National League.

  Very truly yours,

  Joe F. Carr, Pres.18

  In the end Newark would join Pyle's league, giving Carr his only loss to the new organization. But the intriguing news in the letter was that the NFL would have a franchise in Brooklyn. Tim Mara noticed the need for more teams to compete with Pyle's league so he agreed to allow a team to be placed in the borough across the city. Carr saw the extra franchises coming in as a way of keeping players off AFL teams and fans away from AFL games.

  On June 9 Carr traveled east to Philadelphia to be a guest speaker at a rally for the Frankford Athletic Association. Speaking in front of a few thousands members at the Frankford High School gymnasium, Carr detailed the NFL's activities and the current outlook for the 1926 season. After his speech Carr watched three boxing matches (which were refereed by
Guy Chamberlin), a wrestling exhibition, and a performance by the Yellow Jacket Band. The year 1926 would be a big one for the Yellow Jackets.19

  Carr so enjoyed his visit to the City of Brotherly Love that when he returned to Columbus, he announced that the league's summer scheduling meeting would take place in Philadelphia. So on July 10-11 the NFL met at the Ben Franklin Hotel to discuss league matters. On the first day Carr began the meeting by naming a small committee, which included George Halas and Dr. Harry March, to meet with the Intercollegiate Athletic Union in New York the following week. The owners then approved the use of the Official Collegiate Spalding Football Guide for the upcoming season, as the NFL still followed the rules used by the college game 20

  After a dinner break that saw the Frankford Athletic Association serve lobster, clam chowder, fried potatoes, coffee, pie, and Yellow Jacket cigars, the owners got back to business. The new Brooklyn franchise was accepted and the old Pottsville franchise readmitted. The new additions helped the NFL compete with the upstart AFL, but the war was just beginning. The Rock Island Independents defected to the AFL, and Pyle then tried to woo Chris O'Brien and his Cardinals to the new league. Even though the Cardinals were not a moneymaker, they were the 1925 NFL champions, and their loss would have really hurt the older league. But O'Brien was loyal to the NFL, forcing Pyle to make his arrangement with Joey Sternaman, taking "Little Joey" away from the Chicago Bears, to run the other Chicago franchise. When the AFL Chicago Bulls gained the right to play home games in Comiskey Park and pushed the Cardinals to the smallish Normal Park, O'Brien was in trouble 21

  Carr saw that O'Brien needed help so he quietly rescinded the $1,000 fine levied on him for participating in the "high school" game with Milwaukee. Finally, before the season started, O'Brien was forced to sell his star player, Paddy Driscoll, to the Bears for $3,500 in order to keep his team operating. "His financial outlook was dismal. He had to cut expenses. The most expensive player was Paddy Driscoll, and common sense told Chris that Paddy deserved a raise, not a cut," Halas recalled. Driscoll eventually signed a contract for the year at $10,000. With this golden contract, Driscoll became the first-and maybe only-player to profit from the war between the two leagues.22

  The Cardinals stayed in and Louisville returned, but the Rochester Jeffersons, Cleveland Bulldogs, and Minneapolis Marines begged out for the 1926 season. On the second day of the league's meeting a new traveling team, the Los Angeles Buccaneers, headquartered in Chicago, was accepted and featured mostly West Coast players-the biggest name was two-time All-American end Harold "Brick" Muller. But the most important news from the two-day marathon meeting came from a tiny town in Minnesota.

  For the past three years, the Duluth Kelleys had played winning football (9-7 overall record) in the NFL, but they never played enough games to challenge for any league championship. Plus nobody wanted to travel the great distance to Duluth to play in the league's worst weather conditions. The team seemed to be a financial loser. Four players operated the franchise in 1925, and on two occasions they had to chip in their own money to pay the guarantee for visiting teams. Ole Haugsrud, the club treasurer, was given the franchise in 1926, and to make things legal, he handed the players a dollar bill to complete the transaction.

  Before the summer meeting began, Haugsrud had an idea to make his Duluth team more competitive and profitable. Haugsrud had been a high school teammate of Ernie Nevers in Superior, Wisconsin, and had maintained a friendship with the football star. Nevers had been an AllAmerican running back at Stanford and was second only to Red Grange in star power and ability. Most of the NFL owners thought he would sign with Pyle's AFL, but Haugsrud knew if he could talk to Nevers, he could get him to play for Duluth.

  So Ole hopped on a train and headed to St. Louis to meet with Nevers, who was playing major league baseball with the St. Louis Browns that summer. "Ernie was glad to see me, and I was glad to see him. Ernie showed me a letter he had from C. C. Pyle, and Ernie told me, 'Ole, if you can meet the terms Pyle is offering in this letter, it's okay with me. I'll play for Duluth.' And really, that's all there was to it, " said Ole Haugsrud to author Myron Cope in an interview. "I would have to pay Ernie fifteen thousand dollars, plus a percentage of the larger gates. I had the money to do it. I believe I was only twenty-two or twenty-three years old, but I had various holdings-buildings and things like that. I had inherited a little money."23

  The NFL had outfoxed Pyle once again. Haugsrud then contacted Tim Mara to give him the news.

  I had called Tim Mara and let him know about the contract with Ernie Nevers. He was like a father to me from the beginning, he said "I'll tell you kid. We got to do something here to make this a league. Now we'll go through with the regular meeting and when it gets halfways through and you got two, three ballgames, I will give you the high sign, then you go up to the league president with your option on Nevers." Well, I did as he told me to. I showed the option to Joe Carr and he said, "Gentleman! I got a surprise for you." He read the option paper and some of them out front got up and yelled like a bunch of kids.24

  When the owners heard the NFL had a new attraction who nearly rivaled Grange in appeal, they cheered. Then the other owners scrambled to schedule the Duluth team that was now being called Ernie Nevers (Duluth) Eskimos. Only one game would be played in Duluth as the Eskimos would become a full-time traveling team. "Duluth was greatly handicapped in not having anything like a modern stadium. The games were played in Athletic Park in the west end. Seating arrangements were inadequate and at many of the games even the women patrons had to stand, " said Haugsrud 25

  Nevers signed for $15,000 and a share of the bigger gates, making him the highest paid player in the NFL. Carr's league was now feeling good, boosting its membership to twenty-two teams. The president's strategy was to fight the AFL with numbers-teams in the league, players under contract, and games available to fans. To wrap up the meeting, the owners set an opening date (September 19) and a closing date (December 19). The owners then applauded the Frankford Athletic Association for the banquet dinner and their fine hospitality.26

  Two days after the meeting in Philadelphia, Dr. Harry March, on behalf of the NFL, met with General Palmer A. Pierce, president of the Intercollegiate Athletic Union, in New York to discuss professional football's relationship with the colleges and universities around the country. "Our strong stand in regard to approaching undergraduate athletes in the colleges and the writing into the league constitution forbidding the practice received the hearty approval of General Pierce," March announced after the meeting. Pierce concurred saying the NFL's stance is "in line with what we want."27

  Carr must have felt relieved hearing this news and finally put the issue behind him. But that news was quickly followed by C. C. Pyle's big announcement on the future of his new league. On July 17 Pyle issued a statement saying that his new AFL would have nine teams and would start play on September 26. The league consisted of three teams clustered around New York: Pyle's New York Yankees, featuring Red Grange; the Brooklyn Horsemen, so named because the team signed two members of the famous Four Horsemen of Notre Dame (Elmer Layden and Harry Stuhldreher); and the Newark Bears.

  Other franchises included the Boston Bulldogs (a team mainly of former Ivy Leaguers); the Philadelphia Quakers, owned by Leo Conway; the Cleveland Panthers; the Rock Island Independents (NFL reject); and the Los Angles Wildcats, a traveling team named after their star attraction, George "Wildcat" Wilson.

  The last franchise was the Chicago Bulls, led by quarterback Joey Sternaman, who left the Bears (and his brother Dutch) to run his own team. Supposedly, Pyle was no more than the owner of the New York franchise, but that was just for public consumption. The Wilson Wildcat franchise was definitely his concoction and very likely the Chicago squad was also being funded by "Cash and Carry" Pyle. He probably owned nearly a third of the league; the public thought of the AFL as the Grange League, but in reality it was Pyle's.

  As the summer came to an end, both leagues finally prep
ared to do battle on the field. AFL president Bill Edwards proclaimed the league's slogan as "football for all and all for football."28 Carr ignored the competition when speaking to the press about the NFL's outlook in 1926.

  The National Football League, ready to start the 1926 season, faces the best and brightest prospects in its history. We have 22 teams in our league and every one is backed by good substantial business men. There will be no tampering with players, no contract jumping, no luring away of college stars, nothing but high class sport served in a high class way. Professional sport promotion is always difficult when one starts out to do anything and many evils and many undesirable figures get in before a solid foundation is built. I believe we have eliminated all this by the adoption of stringent rules and a policy of fair dealing with the public.

  College men decry the growth of pro football but I believe their attitude is prompted by selfishness. There is no good reason why pro football should not thrive if conducted along clean, sporting lines.

  Baseball has become successful because of the excellent way in which it is organized and I can honestly say that I believe the National Football League is just as strongly entrenched as any league in baseball. The fly-by-night birds are now on the outside looking in, and we intend to keep them there .21

  Was Carr thinking of Pyle when talking about the "fly-by-night birds"? Who knows, but despite the "war" approaching, Carr always kept a positive spin on the sport he loved. Building that foundation was proving difficult, and this was just another step in the process. The 1926 professional football season would have two leagues, thirty-one teams, and over 600 players; now, would the fans show up?