The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr
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On December 6 (with the Spartans on a bye week) at Wrigley Field (18,000 fans), the Bears shocked the Packers 7-6, as Red Dunn's missed extra point in the second quarter was the difference. The Packers' loss gave them just a one-game lead going into what the Spartans and their fans thought was the final week of the season and their game against the Pack on December 13.
Packers 12-2
Spartans 11-3
All their Spartans had to do was beat Lambeau's club and they'd tie for the NFL championship in only their second year in the league. Then, the plan went, the Spartans would beat the Packers in a playoff game to win the title. They had it all figured out. So did Curly Lambeau. Before the Bears game, he announced that, should his team lose, it would not play in Portsmouth. Or anywhere else. Should they beat the Bears as expected, of course, they'd probably play the game, but the Pack would not put its championship at risk.
Immediately Spartans president Harry Snyder began lobbying President Carr to get the game played. Here was the problem: at the summer scheduling meeting the two teams said let's make the December 13 contest a "tentative game" because of the prospect of bad weather in December. The Spartans' management put the game on its schedule and had it printed in the Portsmouth Times (remember back in September), but Lambeau and the Packers thought differently; they didn't put it on the original schedule that they released; who suspected the Spartans to be this good?
At first Lambeau declared he wouldn't play the game no matter what Joe F. Carr decided. Later, his sanity restored by the prospect of fines and suspensions, he changed his tune. On the day of the Bears-Packers "miracle" game in Chicago, the parties involved met to discuss the situation. At the meeting was Spartans president Harry Snyder, Packers executives Lee H. Joannes and Dr. W. W. Kelly, and Joe F. Carr. The Packers held firm that the game was just "tentatively" scheduled, and the Spartans contended that the game was agreed upon.
Carr agreed with the Packers, saying that the "Green Bay-Portsmouth arrangement was made after the regular schedule had been drawn up." He also said that "he had no power to force Green Bay to play the game, or that he could not forfeit the game to Portsmouth, if Green Bay did not play."15 Under league rules a game "tentatively scheduled" may be cancelled by either of the clubs involved. Carr was following his own bylaws. After the three-hour meeting it looked like the Packers would not be playing the game in Portsmouth. Snyder sent a telegram back to the Portsmouth Times revealing the bad news: "Just concluded about three hours conference with Green Bay officials and Joe Carr, president of the league. Green Bay refuses to jeopardize its league standing by playing Portsmouth. They would give us no answer until after the Bears game. Continued pressure is being brought by influential parties, however, and they change their decision
Later that day after the meeting, the Packers lost their game to the Bears and with no need to put their title on the line with the Spartans, the Pack told the Spartans they would not be playing in Portsmouth. The Packers were now three-time champs. The press criticized the Packers for not playing the game. Robert Hooey of the Ohio State journal called them the "cheese champions."" A Portsmouth Times editorial took a shot not only at the Packers but at Carr too.
The National Professional Football League will suffer as the result of Green Bay's decision not to come here. What respect can a team, no matter how many championships it claims, expect to gain when it deliberately backs out of an agreement-tentative though it was-and refuses to meet an eleven that has been proved just as good and perhaps better?
In refusing to come to Portsmouth the Green Bay Packers have revealed that they are more anxious about the safety of a paper championship title than they are about the future of the National League. It is as if the Packers said, "What do we care if the future of professional football in Portsmouth is at stake? Why should we worry if Portsmouth loses its professional team?"
Harry Snyder, president of the Spartans, has admitted that the scheduling was tentative, depending on the weather conditions. If that is true, than there is absolutely no reason for Green Bay to back out of the agreement.
It is quite apparent now that Spartan officials should have notified Joe F. Carr of the league about these arrangements. But, tentative or not, the game was on the official schedule sent out by Carr, and it should be played.
The present Portsmouth-Green Bay mixup appears to be an indication of the loose way in which the National League is operated. It has been revealed that any number of Spartan games this season were played without more than a verbal agreement. If that is true then President Carr and other National League officials would do well to put their organization on a business-like basis if they expect it to continue to prosper. And President Carr would do well to take a firmer grasp on his official duties and make the office more than a titled position. There's plenty of work for a National League president."
The Portsmouth editorial made its point (sticking up for its hometown team), but it took a cheap shot at Carr and the other pioneers of the NFL (Halas, Storck, Mara, Lambeau). The writer failed to see that these men were keeping a sport alive, losing a lot of money, and learning on the job. Who knew a small town like Portsmouth would be in the running for an NFL title? Yes, the confusion at the end of the season over whether the game between the Packers and Spartans was officially scheduled was poorly handled, but it didn't mean that Carr and the other NFL officials weren't trying to make the organization a "business-like" success. The league was just twelve years old, and its leaders would learn from their mistakes; just as with the constitution and bylaws, franchise stability, or the Red Grange rule, it was definitely a work in progress.
On December 12 Carr announced that there would be no game between the Packers and Spartans, giving the Green Bay Packers their third straight NFL championship. Carr explained that while the additional game was arranged tentatively, league rules proved that games not on the official schedule may be cancelled at the option of the teams involved. Spartans head coach Potsy Clark didn't care for the ruling by President Carr.
I don't see how a team can claim the pennant when they haven't played all the teams in the league. That is what happened to the Packers. I feel sure and so do the fans in this city and all around the circuit that if the Spartans had played the Packers here and tied them they would have beaten them on neutral soil.
I think Mr. Carr has overstepped his authority in awarding something to a team over which he has no control. The Packers didn't finish the season and if a pennant is to be awarded it should go to the Spartans. I think my boys are entitled to gold footballs and not the Wisconsin eleven.19
Potsy and the city of Portsmouth weren't big fans of the Packers or Carr at this time, but when you lose a championship some people handle the disappointment differently. But Carr was well within his rights to award the Pack the title by following the bylaws, so Potsy couldn't have been more wrong. Carr's word was final. One thing was certain: the relationship between the two franchises, once cordial, now turned sour. The Spartans would look for revenge against their small-town rival.
While the controversy calmed down, the Packers' front office awarded its players a $100 bonus and celebrated the "three-peat." Lambeau described the town of Green Bay "as a community project and a regional religion." Future Hall of Fame tackle Cal Hubbard recalled his time in Green Bay saying, "I think Green Bay is a wonderful town and no doubt about it being the best town in the league to play in."20
Carr put the finishing touches on the 1931 season by talking to the press and saying, "The season as a whole was the best in the history of the organization. The attendance at several places was the best the league has experienced." The NFL saw 606,500 fans attend fifty-nine league games in 1931-an average of 9,727 per game (newspapers reported figures on fifty-three of fifty-nine games). Carr saw an increase of 2,000 fans per game, as well as marked improvement on the field as "the player limit proved its importance in the caliber of play. The play was hard but no player was injured seriously "21 Besides the scheduli
ng issue, the only big negatives were the poor showings of Cleveland, Frankford, and Providence.
While the league continued to look stable and the Packers claimed their new moniker of "Titletown," Joe F. Carr settled down with his family to enjoy the holidays. "That Christmas it wasn't a big group; it was just us visiting. My mother with her three kids and the four of them. So we had eight there for dinner. It was relatively small," says Martha Sullivan, niece of Joe F. Carr. "Well, you know how Christmas dinners are. Wonderful food, all kinds of pie, cakes, just a very bountiful amount of food. We had a nice, long leisurely dinner that would take a couple of hours to eat. Uncle Joe was so relaxed. When I close my eyes I can see him very plainly and he had a wonderful deep laugh. There was no question that it was a sincere thing. Just that real strong sincere laugh. He was a great guy.22
"Mary was about nine years older than I was but whenever we'd visit she would take us upstairs and show us her collection, her vast collection of hats. We really enjoyed seeing that. Joe Carr Jr. was just a typical boy and had a great personality. We called him 'Buddy' to distinguish him from his father. He was just fun to be with," says Sullivan.
Well, Buddy at that stage just started to drive. He just got his driver's license. We had been there at the Carrs' for Christmas dinner and he was going to take us home. This was a big deal because he was a brand new driver. The Carrs lived a few blocks from us so we started home. It was a wretched night. It was still snowing, very slippery and as we went down the block from the home on Bryden Road the car swerved and jammed into the curb. Buddy couldn't get the car started, so he trudged back. We all trudged back to the house. Oh, his father was so annoyed with him and Buddy was just, oh, he was just in terrible shape. He was so upset because I'm sure he had envisioned not being able to drive again, at least for a while. We ended up taking a cab home. All's well that ends well .21
Carr didn't stay angry for long at his only son, who was able to get back into the family car. President Carr saw his son learn from his own mistakes, and he took that philosophy when thinking about his league. He had to learn from his mistakes and in 1931-with the scheduling fiasco-he had a big one to correct. The progress of the young league was increasing, but over the next two years the NFL would change forever.
he Portsmouth Spartans were one game away from tying for the NFL title in 1931, but the outlook for 1932 was bleak. Despite the team's success on the field, Spartans management announced that they were severely in the red, and that it would take about $30,000 to cover the debt. President Joe F. Carr made it a priority to "save the Spartans." Although he knew the future of the league was to establish solid franchises in big cities, he also thought the Spartans were doing all the right things-they had solid ownership, a great coach, and a young, talented team that looked to be on the verge of winning a championship. They just needed more money.'
After the season, the Spartans' organization agreed to take on a few more investors-local prominent businessmen-to help with the growing cost to operate the team. One of those investors was Homer C. Selby, a well-known shoe manufacturer, who was chairman of the board of the Selby Shoe Company. Selby quickly became involved in the affairs of the team, so much so that he made a trip to Columbus to visit Carr to reveal the team's plan to sell stock. The two talked in depth about the state of the team and Carr said he "was anxious for Portsmouth to retain its franchise as the team was now in shape to be more than self sustaining after two years of real experience."2 Carr gave Selby his word that he would attend a pep rally to kick off the stock selling campaign.
The backers of the Spartans brought back Potsy Clark to coach and then made plans to sell stock in the team to raise the money to keep the Spartans in the NFL. The goal was to sell 3,000 shares of stock, which would raise roughly $40,000. Local businessmen purchased 1,200 shares of stock to get the campaign started, with the public sell scheduled to launch on January 12. The day before the sell was to begin the team held a giant "Save the Spartans" pep rally. A parade led by the Portsmouth High School band ended at the Selby gym with a large crowd waiting to hear about the upcoming sell. Speakers included Potsy Clark and Homer C. Selby. Carr kept his word by attending the rally.'
While Carr was in Portsmouth, rumors circulated that other cities were seeking franchises in the NFL and that the small town could be on its way out. Carr said yes, that four other cities had made inquiries, but he reassured the town by saying, "I feel sure that the Spartan drive is going over and have made no other plans relative to shaping up the size of the league next season."4 Always positive, Carr used the press again to make everything in his league appear well and good. But Carr was investigating other potential cities just in case Portsmouth couldn't continue as a franchise. He had his sights on Charleston (West Virginia), Boston, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.
After returning from Portsmouth, Carr received some surprising news from New York. His good friend Dr. Harry March (the man who helped him establish a franchise in New York), had resigned as Giants president. Known as the "father of professional football" in New York, March was replaced by Jack Mara, the twenty-four-year-old son of Giants owner Tim Mara. Just two years before Tim Mara split ownership of the team to his two sons. Jack was now ready to run his father's team, but Wellington (age fourteen) was a few years away from being fully active in the team's front office. March said he was determined to devote his time to the practice of medicine, but he would continue his work on the NFL's executive committee 5
Another good-bye would come from Ernie Nevers, who retired to take a coaching position with Pop Warner at his alma mater, Stanford. On March 1 President Carr returned to Portsmouth to continue his support in helping the city "Save the Spartans." This time his friend Jerry Corcoran accompanied him and he gave a very uplifting speech as the guest of honor:
This is my second visit to your city in two months and I'm not going to bore you with a long, tedious speech. You fans know, as well as I, what National League football has done for your city. It has given it your greatest advertisement. Thousands of people know all about Portsmouth and the Spartans by reason of your great team last year. It would be a pity to lose this team and judging from your enthusiasm here tonight I don't believe you have any ideas of doing this. I want to impress upon you that if Portsmouth gives up its present franchise, no other small city will be admitted into the league.
We have too many big cities knocking on our door and will have some interesting arrangements to make later. Portsmouth is mentioned with New York, Chicago, Brooklyn, Green Bay and other cities in the loop and gives your city real boosting and I believe you could not get it any other way. You have the local foundation for a permanent berth in the league. Green Bay wouldn't take half a million for its franchise.
The pioneering has been done in Portsmouth. The fans have pledged $25,000 for the continuance of football in Portsmouth and I think that is wonderful spirit. I doubt if you can duplicate this spirit in any city anywhere near the size of Portsmouth. I really look for Portsmouth to almost double its crowds next year, I know you drew well last year, I'm banking on the Spartans being retained here and that is why I have refused to give another city a franchise which has raised the money and is crying for it. I stuck to Portsmouth in the Ohio State [baseball] league days and it stuck to me and now I'm going to stick to it again, but this time it is football.'
Carr was given a standing ovation for his support of the Spartans, but his strong words also gave the fans and the team's management a warning that they better get their financial situation straightened out. It also told the rest of the sporting world that this would be the last small-town experience the NFL would try. As much as the league was struggling to get through the Great Depression, with franchises in Cleveland, Frankford, and Providence out of the league for the 1932 season, Carr's vision of a big-city league was the only way the NFL was going to not only survive, but be able to prosper as a profitable business.
The NFL was now entering its thirteenth season and had come a long way f
rom its humble beginnings. But it still had a long way to go. Pro football was still a distant second to the college game in popularity, and football in any form couldn't match baseball's hold on the nation's sports fans. Carr and the other owners had now built a solid foundation, and until the NFL established itself exclusively in major league cities, it was unlikely the league would be considered "major league." The NFL now had just seven franchises:
1. Brooklyn Dodgers
2. Chicago Bears
3. Chicago Cardinals
4. Green Bay Packers
5. New York Giants
6. Portsmouth Spartans
7. Staten Island
Among the potential cities Carr looked at, in order to get the league to an even eight teams, only one stood out-Boston. Just like New York, finding an investor was probably just as important in finding the right city. In looking for the right owner, he contacted an old friend to help. The man had the right financial profile to operate an NFL team and would bring a "genius mind" for promotion that had never been seen before in the NFL. But his rather rough and brash personality would always cause conflict among his fellow owners.
George Preston Marshall was born on October 11, 1896, in the small town of Grafton, West Virginia, as the only child of Thomas Hill Marshall and his wife, Blanche Marshall. While in Grafton, Marshall's father published a local newspaper called the Grafton Leader, until he moved his family to Washington, D.C., to operate a laundry business, located on the corner of 9th and H streets. In the nation's capital, George was exposed to the Friends Select School and then Randolph-Macon University. He also liked acting and became an extra in the stock company shows at the Poli's Theater in Washington.
"Well, he was about six feet two, had blue eyes, black hair, and a very strong face. People thought he was a very good looking guy," says Jordan Wright, granddaughter of George Preston Marshall. "He was a fun-loving guy. He was very sophisticated and urbane and they all thought that he was really something else. By the time he was twenty-one he was going to have made his first million because he never wanted to drive a car. He wanted to be driven around. He always had a car and a driver his entire life. He never had a driver's license. I think that was the motivating factor that drove his ambition to want to be successful. He was very ambitious."'