![]() ![]() ![]() This could have been the first NFL game ever played between two NFL teams, however, NFL historical records don't indicate the kickoff time for this game or the other APFA game played that day between the Dayton Triangles and the Columbus Panhandles in Dayton, Ohio so it is unclear which game started or finished first.ĭespite these two early season shutouts, the Independents finished with a modest 4-2-1 record in league play. There were 3,100 fans in attendance as Arnie Wyman, the former Minnesota Golden Gopher great, made his debut for the Islanders, scoring three touchdowns. ![]() Paul, on October 3, 1920, the Independents defeated the Muncie Flyers 45–0 at Douglas Park in the first fully scheduled week of American Professional Football Association play. A week after the Rock Island eleven dispatched St. The team added future Pro Football Hall of Fame player/coach Jimmy Conzelman to the roster for the 19 seasons. The Rock Island Argus posted an ad on September 18, 1920, that folks could see the new uniforms in a local store window that day after the new APFA formed in Ohio with Rock Island being a charter member. The public relations of Flanigan and his Rock Island machine were pumping hard to get fans in the stadium in between the meeting and the game. The Independents have that historic mark in history as being the first League team to play under the new banner of the APFA. In fact, the first game involving an APFA team took place nine days after the meeting on September 26, 1920, at Douglas Park in Rock Island, Illinois, as the hometown Independents flattened the St. Flannigan in fact helped shape the formation of the League that would eventually be called the NFL at this meeting alongside Thorpe, Halas, Lyons, Storck, and the others. The Independents were indeed one of the eleven teams represented in Hay’s Hupmobile Showroom on September 17, 1920, along with Canton, Massillon, Dayton, Akron, Hammond, Rochester, Muncie, Decatur, the Chicago Cardinals, and Cleveland. In 1920 when it came time to gather the best teams in the country to form a professional football league, Flanigan and the Independents were invited to the party. Even though Canton owner Ralph Hay and his Bulldog team did not play Rock Island that year they did take note. ![]() The popularity and contact with the big pro teams of the era gave them an invitation to join a group of franchises that would make professional football history when they would organize into the precursor of the NFL, the American Professional Football Association. Despite the offer rejection of the Bulldogs, Rock Island team owner Walter Flanigan ever being the great promoter of his team, claimed the Independents to be "Champions of the USA," per a PFRA Coffin Corner article by Bob Carrol and Bob Braunwart. Jim Thorpe, the player/coach of the Canton eleven declined. When we left off in Part 1 if you remember, the Independents had challenged the Canton Bulldogs to a title game at the end of the 1919 campaign. Again we will reference the brilliant and well-done website of. The team was playing some of the top teams of the midwest and Ohio Valley and was very competitive. Nathan Miller, founder and CEO of the communications and public relations firm Miller Ink, said Northwestern communications staff should have checked every detail of the release given the intense scrutiny the university has faced amid hazing allegations on the football team and the firing of longtime head coach Fitzgerald, looming lawsuits and a controversy on the baseball program that led to the dismissal of that team’s first-year head coach Jim Foster.Last week we covered the early years of the Rock Island Independents' football team. Meanwhile, the July 14 news release on Northwestern’s website appears to have been updated to remove the line about Braun’s master’s degree. Kennedy did not respond to a Tribune request to interview Braun for this story. That practice became more common after 2001, when newly hired Notre Dame head football coach George O’Leary resigned days after he was hired following the discovery that his resume included false information about his playing career at the University of New Hampshire and about his earning a master’s from New York University.īraun did not return a phone message Thursday seeking comment, and did not answer when called again Friday. It’s also unclear whether athletics communications staff at Northwestern, or Braun’s other employers, gave him an opportunity to review any news releases or biographical information about him prior to public dissemination. ![]()
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