1932 Championship Game
From the NFL Official Encyclopedia - 1989 Edition by Don Smith, Gallery Books
1932 Championship Game - Because tie games did not count in the standings, the Chicago Bears (6-1-6) and Portsmouth Spartans (6-1-4) tied for first place in 1932. A hastily scheduled playoff game, the first ever for the NFL, was played indoors in Chicago Stadium. The field was only 80 yards long and the sidelines were close to the stands.
Out of this game came three significant rules changes that helped to make pro football a more offensive-oriented game. The changes included moving the goal posts to the goal line and the hash-marks 10 yards in-bounds, and making a forward pass legal anywhere behind the line of scrimmage. The NFL owners liked the idea of a season ending championship game, so they split the league into two divisions in 1933, with the two first place teams playing for the NFL championship.
Coach George Halas directed the Bears to a 9-0 victory over the Spartans, and the play of the game was a Bronko Nagurski's pass to Red Grange for a touchdown. Footballhistorian.com Research Dept.
1926 American Football League... Long Forgotten! Football Historian Although there have been four attempts to field American Football League, the first was a dismal failure and lasted only one season, 1926. The original AFL and the final standings: Philadelphia Quakers 7-2..... New York Yankees 9-5..... Cleveland Panthers 3-2..... Los Angeles Wildcats 6-6-2..... Chicago Bulls 5-6-3..... Boston Bulldogs 2-4..... Rock Island Independents 2-5-1.... Brooklyn Horsemen 1-3..... Newark Bears 0-4-2. Outside of New York area - attendance was low - and only three teams remained in business at the end of the season - the Quakers, Yankees and Wildcats, who played all its games on the road. Timothy J. Mara had just purchased a National Football League franchise the year before (1925-New York Giants), and was forced into head-to-head financial competition with the AFL 1926 New York Yankees, who played in Yankee Stadium. Mara had suffered financially during 1926 and at season's end challenged the Yankees to a game. Yanks' owner C. C. Pyle agreed to it at first, but on second thoughts backed down. So, Mara then approached the Philadelphia Quakers, champions of the new American League. The Quakers, anxious to face a NFL team, quickly agreed. The AFL had achieved in one year what other challengers to the NFL could not.
Thus, an inter-league playoff game, often referred to as the football's first 'Super Bowl' was born. However, the fact is the New York Giants finished in seventh place in the established NFL during the regular season. Still, there was a heighten fan interest in an inter-league game that put the game 'under scrutiny.' On the day of the 'big game' (December 12, 1926) a blinding snowstorm engulfed the Giants' Polo Grounds and obliterated the yard lines. And only an estimated 5,000 fans braved the snowstorm, and watched as the Giants creamed the Quakers 31-0. The Quakers managed to collect only one first down in the entire game en-route to their crushing defeat. So, clearly outclassed, the new league's owners folded after only one season. The National Football League granted a franchise license to the New York Yankees for 1927. They remained in the league for two more seasons before going out of business. footballhistorian.com - Archives - Pro Football History copyright 2007 footballhistorian.com
Changing the Rules in Pro Football... Early 1930s
Two men who came into professional football in the early 1930s contributed highly to the game of football.
George Preston Marshall was granted a franchise in Boston in July of 1932 and Bert Bell became a part owner of the Philadelphia Eagles in time for the 1933 season.
Marshall thought up the idea that the league be split into two divisions and the champions of each division would play each other for the World Title. To convince fans that the World Champion was the best team, Marshall insisted that the schedule be set up so each team played the same number of opponents and most important - that they should have the same opponents - something that had never happened in pro football before.
In order to compete with college football - which drew A huge audience - Marshal and Chicago Bears' owner George Halas pioneered two more rule changes:
No. 1 - the goals posts were moved forward to the goal line.
No. 2 - Passing was made legal anywhere behind the line of scrimmage. Bert Bell, who always sounded like he had a sore throat, discovered early-on that it was impossible for the Eagles and other league have-nots to compete with the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers and New York Giants.
The Big Three - Bears, Packers and Giants - had more money than and could afford to pay any college graduate considerably higher salaries. But, they really didn't have to.
'Every kid with talent wanted to play with them,' said Bell later. 'I don't recall offhand any kid with a burning desire to play for the Eagles in those dayws.'
So, Bell proposed the draft and, the league owners went along with it. His' team, the Eagles, finished last in its division, as usual, in 1935, so they got first pick of the graduating seniors in 1936. The Eagles choice Jay Berwanger, a tailback at the University of Chicago, who was considered the finest collegiate defensive/offensive player.
None-the-less, Berwanger could not be persuaded to play professional football - nor could the Bears, to whom he later traded the rights.
So, the first-ever pro football draft was for naught.
However, the draft system certainly proved to be the great equalizer in the years to come and ended the domination of the rich and historic teams over the poor newer clubs.
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