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

by Chris Willis

  The Carr family also continued to attend services at St. Patrick Church in the Irish neighborhood. Being the head of the family, Joe contributed to St. Patrick by donating five dollars every month. According to the church's Monthly Calendar newsletters, Carr did this throughout the next decade. His name would usually appear as the first name on the donation list. In November of 1929, he donated ten dollars to the annual collection for Dominican Novitiate, showing his love and dedication to the church.'°

  Joe F. Carr did a lot of traveling to help reorganize the NFL, and that put a lot of pressure on Josie. "Well he was gone a lot. He was dedicated to the league. So when you're on a path, on a venture of that sort, you have to devote most of your time to that, to the league and to that goal. So he was gone a lot," says James Carr, grandson of Joe F. Carr. "He did have a good relationship with my father, Joe Carr Jr., and he adored his daughter, my Aunt Mary Carr. I think that the fact that his children idolized him gives a good indication that the time that they did spend together was quality time.""

  "Well, he was the head of the household. There was absolutely no question about that and he adored the both of them [his children]," says Martha Sullivan. "He was very indulgent insofar as he saw that they had most anything they wanted. But he also was very, very strict with them. He had a fantastic sense of right and wrong and there was no in between, and he never mixed them up. He was a very special kind of man. He was strict, kind of stern but he was very warm and caring. You just had the feeling he liked you. He created that kind of atmosphere. 1112

  The family accepted that their father would be traveling for a cause, and they enjoyed any circumstance they could to be together. In the spring of 1927, Josie (age forty-seven), Mary (thirteen), and Joe Jr. (eleven) showed that Carr spirit to see their dad off to work. James Carr says,

  He was on the road quite a bit and going from town to town and for the owners meetings and so on. Most of the major meetings were in Chicago and New York and so forth. But down the street there are some railroad tracks that go along Nelson Road here in Columbus on the west side of Bryden Road. At one point in time the railroad tracks were flush, now they're elevated, but back then they would walk the 150 yards down to the train tracks. My grandmother, my dad, and my aunt would go down to the end of Bryden Road and watch the train. My grandfather would come out on the caboose and wave to them as he went on his trips. They would wave back as he went on his journey to further the business of the NFL.'

  The very close and tight Carr family seemed to understand what Joe F. Carr was trying to accomplish, especially Josie. "She just took it as part of the package. She rolled with the punches," says Martha Sullivan. The whole family supported him and Carr in turn appreciated their encouragement. It was the perfect setup, or was it? Carr didn't want to work away from home if he didn't have too, so besides the new home for his family, he also set out to find a new home for the NFL.14

  Six years after establishing Columbus as the headquarters of the NFL, it was now time to find a permanent home for the league. The president looked toward the city's downtown area, specifically at the busy intersection of Broad and High, just a few blocks from his old stomping grounds at the Ohio State Journal. The very busy corner of Broad and High was the heartbeat and epicenter of the capital city. To the southeast of the corner was the state capital building where the governor of Ohio worked; across from the Statehouse was the Neil House, the city's most popular hotel with its famous restaurants and entertainment venues; just to the south of the hotel was the city's most successful bank, the Huntington Bank; as well as several other businesses, restaurants, and theaters sprinkling the intersection. In 1927 the corner became the official home of the NFL.

  When Carr went looking for an office in the area, he only went to one destination and that was the New Hayden Building. The estate of former Columbus industrialist Peter Hayden hired well-known Chicago architects George Nimmons and William Fellows to design the New Hayden Building, which was built next to the original Hayden Building. Completed in 1901 the thirteen-story steel frame and brick office building was located at 16 East Broad Street in the heart of downtown Columbus.15

  The building faced the north side of Capitol Square across the street from the Ohio Statehouse and was sandwiched between the four-story Hayden Building (built in 1869) at 8 East Broad and the sixteen-story Capital Trust Building (1906). The building's design by Nimmons-Fellows was an example of the commercial style of architecture that was popularized in Chicago's office and mercantile buildings of the 1890's. The interior of the skyscraper was designed around the historic building stairs and three elevator shafts on the first floor.

  When the building was being built, the Ohio State journal described Columbus's newest addition as "truly artistic in design and a monument of good architecture is more than usually important on account of its prominence, as the character of its design will play a large part in fixing the character of commercial architecture in Columbus.... It is of interest to note that the style of design for the building follows the latest designs of the modern office building style, a style that is distinctly American and entirely the outgrowth of the American steel construction.""

  Carr knew the New Hayden Building was a perfect spot to establish a home base for the NFL. He rented two rooms on the eleventh floor and set up shop. After entering through the front door vestibule, Carr could have taken one of the elevators, or if he wanted a little more time to think about his upcoming day, he might have walked up the iron and marble stairs, all the way up to the eleventh floor. Down the hall from his two-room office were the offices of Stalter & Essex Coal Company; Frankfort Lumber Company; and the law firms of Allread-Armstrong and Summers-Poor .17

  The two rooms in the new Hayden Building numbered 1115-1116, the first ever office of the NFL. In 1927 for the first time Carr had the NFL listed in the Columbus City Directories and printed up official NFL stationary with NFL letterhead. The NFL office had a wooden door with a clear glass nameplate that nearly took up half the door. The clear misty glass had the president's name printed on it in black:

  After entering the door, the first room was very small with a desk and office cabinets /supplies for use. The second room was larger than the first but not by that much. It was no bigger than a thirty-by-twenty office space and was a very plain room with light-colored walls. Carr had an eightfoot wooden desk that he always kept very neat and organized, with note pads, daily newspapers, pens, and, of course, an ashtray for his favorite cigars. In the corner of his office were a few file cabinets that contained the league's bylaws, players' contracts, franchise information, and other paperwork. Next to the cabinets was a wooden coat rack for his overcoat and trademark hat. Carr's new office was just three miles away from his new home on Bryden Road. In one off-season Carr had found new homes for both his family and his league.19

  The NFL's second meeting of 1927 occurred on April 23 at the Hotel Statler in Cleveland, and Carr had come up with a six-point plan to reorganize the league. At the meeting were sixteen teams, mostly A teams from the previous meeting. The only representatives from the B teams who bothered to show up at all had some type of league connection-John Dunn (NFL vice president) of Minneapolis; Carl Storck (NFL treasurer) of Dayton; and Aaron Hertzman (committee) of Louisville. Carr started the meeting at 2:00 p.m. and quickly outlined his plan to, according to the league's minutes, "re-organize the League, either to reduce the number of members or to divide it geographically in order to increase the efficiency of the organization." Carr went over the six points and the owners absorbed it.

  1. Each Club which so elects may suspend operation for the season of 1927 without the payment of dues and any club which desires to retire definitely from the League shall upon the surrender of its franchise certificate to the League President be refunded its pro-rata share of any money in the League Treasury at the time said certificate is surrendered.

  A pro rata share of the league treasury, about one-twentieth, would have been a few hundred doll
ars at best-a far cry from the $2,500 the B team owners had asked for in February. It was a clever bylaw to keep the weaker teams from draining the league's funds just to get back at the league for booting them out. The better part of the deal was the chance to remain a member of the league without paying dues. A team could sit out a year for free, hoping for a better situation in 1928.

  2. In the event a club elects to suspend for the season of 1927 . . . the League will give such clubs the privilege and right of selling any player's contract up to and including September 15, 1927, providing they are going to disband their team. If a club elects to withdraw from the League as per the above plan, but elects to operate an independent Club, the League will respect the rights of their player during the entire season of 1927. The above protection and privilege to sell players shall be restricted to such players as are under contract at present or on the reserve list of said club as of April 23, 1927.

  Although it would be a buyer's marker, the B teams could try to sell their players to the A teams before the next season to offset their 1926 losses. Or, if they wanted to continue operating outside the NFL, they'd have a season's grace before their rosters were raided.

  3. In the event a number of clubs elect to accept the above proposal to form a league among themselves, the National Football League agrees to respect their player's contract and territorial rights, and to extend in every manner possible help in the organization and operation of their league, agreeing to play exhibitions games with them whenever possible and extending such other courtesies that may be within its power.

  4. In the event a club elects to suspend as per the foregoing, the League will agree to permit such club to retain its franchise certificate in the National Football League and to dispose of it to any new member that may be voted upon favorably by the League. The League further agrees that no new franchises will be issued until all suspended franchises have been sold or cancelled, and that an applicant for a franchise in the League who may be acted upon favorably by the League President or the Executive Committee will be referred to the clubs holding the suspended franchises certificate to purchase them. However, any such owner of said suspended franchise certificate shall be limited to asking as its purchase price the amount that shall be the application fee for the time said sale or transfer is proposed.

  Point 4 wasn't as good as it sounded. In theory a team could suspend and then sell its franchise for $2,500, and the league had to approve the new buyer. The only problem was the NFL wasn't looking for any new members. The only team that really benefitted by this clause in 1927 was Tim Mara's New York Giants.

  5. All the foregoing agreements which the League makes with any club which elects to avail itself of this voluntary retirement privilege is contingent upon said club refraining from having any connection, association or friendly relation in any way, shape or form with any other Football League, or organization of any kind that does not have the approval or sanction of the National Football League.

  Carr included this based on the demise of the American Football League but he wanted to be sure if the B teams messed around with the likes of C. C. Pyle then all signals were off.

  6. All of the foregoing shall be operative for a period of one year from the date of the schedule meeting of 1927 or until the schedule of 1928, at which time the foregoing agreements may be revised or broadened as the membership of the League decide.20

  Carr made it clear that the B owners needed to take this deal because within a year it would get more difficult to join the league. The next move by the owners was to adopt Carr's plan, and they did with a unanimous vote. Although the next move wasn't part of Carr's plan, it definitely added more incentive for the B teams to drop out of the league. George Halas proposed that the guarantee fee that each club was to deposit at the schedule meeting in July be raised a thousand dollars to $2,500. Storck suggested $5,000, but the league settled on Halas's proposed figure.21

  The one-day meeting ended with the owners agreeing to follow the rule book adopted by the collegiate game. One of the new rules adopted by the collegiate officials in 1927 was to move the goal post to the back of the end zone. Leaving Cleveland, Carr thought his plan to trim the "fat" off the NFL was pretty solid and would eventually stabilize the league for a successful future.

  The summer scheduling meeting was held on July 16-17 in the small town of Green Bay, Wisconsin. This was the first time the "little" city in the north hosted the group of NFL moguls, and the league was now ready to see who was "in" and who was "out." Sixteen teams showed up at the Hotel Northland, with a few other teams represented by Carr, and the first thing they did was take roll call. Each club was asked to come forward and deposit their $2,500 or withdraw from the league.

  Teams that were out included Akron, Columbus (both of the old Ohio League), Detroit, Hammond, Kansas City, the Los Angeles traveling team, Minneapolis, Milwaukee (which operated as an independent team), and Rochester. The Brooklyn franchise was sold to Tim Mara. The teams that plucked down the guarantee fee were Buffalo, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Cleveland, Dayton, Duluth, Frankford, Green Bay, New York Giants, Pottsville, and Providence. These eleven teams would make up the NFL in 192722

  The only surprise was Carl Storck's Dayton Triangles, who were one of the weakest teams in pro football. The Triangles had gone a combined 4-23-3 the previous four seasons and strictly played on the road. But Storck put down his money; football was too close to his heart to give up his team. The second day of the meetings started bright and early at 9:00 a.m., with the owners agreeing to raise the visiting guarantee to $2,500 and then filling out the schedule for the 1927 season. Curly Lambeau raised a motion for the league to use the Spalding J-5 football in games, and it was passed. Finally the owners gave Lambeau and the Packers officials a standing ovation for hosting the meeting.23

  Carr and the owners left the summer meeting thinking their league work was finished for the year, but there was one more item to discuss before the season started-what to do with C. C. Pyle's New York Yankees. After the summer meeting, Tim Mara figured out what to do with his Brooklyn franchise. He'd rent it to Pyle. Mara disliked Pyle intensely, but he was no fool. He knew Pyle still had Red Grange, a football team, and a lease on Yankee Stadium. By taking Pyle into the NFL, Mara could put a leash on him.

  As an outsider Pyle could have scheduled independent teams all season for Yankee Stadium and cut into attendance for Mara's Giants. But once inside the NFL, Pyle was stuck with whatever Mara wanted him to do. In the middle of August, the two groups met at Saratoga Springs Racetrack to discuss the matter. Mara, Pyle, AFL president Bill Edwards, and by request of Joe F. Carr, William Veeck, president of the Chicago Cubs, attended the meeting. The four men hammered out an agreement for Pyle's team to join the NFL 24

  Mara dominated the discussion, and Pyle and Edwards agreed to basically everything he wanted. The Yankees would be kept out of New York and on the road, playing only one game at the same time in New York as the Giants. The Giants and Yankees then would play a home-and-home series on December 4 and December 11. The New York Yankees became the NFL's twelfth team in 1927. Newspaper reports on the agreement called it a "merger" of the NFL and AFL; while technically correct, the only AFL team to join was Pyle's Yankees. Some of the players from the AFL's Chicago Bulls were divided among the Cardinals and Bears. Joey Sternaman returned to the Bears.

  On September 4 in Cleveland, the owners met one last time as President Carr outlined the purpose of the get-together. He explained negotiations had been completed to transfer the Brooklyn franchise to Pyle. Teams then had a chance to schedule the Yankees and Red Grange for the season. Pyle then spoke briefly about his plan for the Yankees and stated that "all past controversies were to be forgotten and he was for the National League, its rules and its members one hundred percent.""

  Other players who joined NFL teams that fall were George "Wildcat" Wilson with Providence; Century Milstead and Al Nesser with the Giants; Bull Behman with Frankford; Grange with t
he New York Yankees; Joey Sternaman and Paddy Driscoll with the Chicago Bears; Wilson and Jimmy Conzelman with Providence; newly signed quarterback Benny Friedman with the Cleveland Bulldogs; and Ernie Nevers still with Duluth. The NFL had assembled the most stars in its history. And with a tighter, twelve-team league to divide the loot, everyone was looking forward to 1927 being the best year ever. But early on one of the league's stars would be crippled.

  "We were playing in a game against, of all teams, the Chicago Bears at Wrigley Field," Red Grange told author Richard Whittingham. "I had my cleats dug into the ground and it was a kind of wet day and somebody fell over my knee. It was nothing deliberate just one of those things. I was hit from the side by somebody [George Trafton] and boom, out went my knee. After the injury I was just another halfback." Grange would miss the 1928 season but come back to play for Halas's Bears in 1929 as one of the league's best defensive backs. But Grange would never again be that impossible-to-stop "Galloping Ghost," and Pyle's Yankees limped to a 4-8-1 record in 1927 26

  While the Yankees struggled, the New York Giants rolled to their first NFL championship. The team Mara put on the Polo Grounds gridiron was a veteran group that included Jack McBride (the NFL's best player in 1927), Hinkey Haines, Century Milstead, Cal Hubbard, Al Nesser, and stout Steve Owen. After their first four games, the team stood at just 2-1-1 with a tie and loss to Benny Friedman's Cleveland squad. But after the October 16 setback to Cleveland, they wouldn't lose another game.

  The Giants then rolled off nine consecutive wins, seven by way of shutouts, as Tim Mara's team finished with a league best 11-1-1 record. In just three seasons Mara had gone from novice NFL owner, to battling C. C. Pyle for New York City, to NFL champion. He also had a decent showing at the gate, as the Giants' eight home games averaged 18,500 fans per game, including a league high 38,000 fans for the November 8 game against Providence 27