Maroons Debate Meaningless To NFL
Author, Pro Football Hall Of Fame Offical Debate Pottsville Maroons
Writer David Fleming and NFL Hall of Fame official Joe Horrigan debate Pottsville Maroons being denied 1925 NFL Championship.
Pottsville’s Sovereign Theater was full to capacity on April 18. Most of the sellout crowd bought tickets in advance to watch a debate of the non-political variety.
The town’s crusade to get the Pottsville (Pa.) Maroons named 1925 NFL champions took another chapter when author David Fleming, writer of the book “Breaker Boys” went against Joe Horrigan, an official of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
One of the three judges was Ernie Accorsi, former general manager of the New York Giants.
Of course, Fleming won the debate. His final argument: the NFL didn’t have a written territorial rule in 1925, which was used to justify the Maroons being penalized and allowing the Chicago Cardinals to claim the championship.
Horrigan eventually admitted he couldn’t produce written rules of any sort from 1925.
Story behind the Pottsville Maroons
The NFL contends that the Maroons had no right to the championship in 1925 because the team didn’t complete the season.
The team was suspended from the league after violating an order by commissioner Joe Carr from playing an exhibition game against a Notre Dame alumni team in Philadelphia.
The late season game was held at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Maroons won that game and the win set an historical precedent that professional football was coming of age compared to the superior college game of the day.
By beating Notre Dame, the Maroons essentially won the world championship. The team had beaten the Chicago Cardinals and Frankford Yellow Jackets prior to meeting the Fighting Irish and had the NFL’s best record.
Notre Dame game was meant for Yellow Jackets.
As mentioned in Fleming’s book, Philadelphia’s franchise at the time, the Frankfort Yellow Jackets, complained that the Maroons violated their territory by playing the Notre Dame game.
Fleming alluded to the fact that the exhibition game had actually been set up for the Yellow Jackets to play Notre Dame, assuming of course, that they had the best record in the NFL.
The Maroons embarrassed the Yellow Jackets and beat the Cardinals in games leading up to the exhibition at the 30,000 seat home of baseball’s Philadelphia A’s.
According to NFL.com, the league warned Maroons owner Dr. John Striegel not to play the game. Striegel originally believed he had the league’s blessing and signed contracts. He couldn’t back out without suffering financial ruin.
After the Maroons were suspended, the Cardinals played additional games to finish with the league’s best record and the official title.
The town has been fighting back ever since.
NFL doesn’t have to listen
Fleming won the debate 258-218. But in the end, what does it matter?
The only people who can change the outcome are the current 32 NFL owners and commissioner Roger Goodell.
And Arizona Cardinals owner Bill Bidwell, would also have to have a change of heart. It’s his franchise that would have to give up all or part of the title. All the debates in the world will have a hard time doing that.
