|
The 1920 Rock Island Independents season was the American football franchise's thirteenth season and inaugural season in the American Professional Football Association (APFA). The Independents entered the season coming off a nine-win, one-loss, one-tie (9–1–1) record in 1919 as an independent team, which the team proclaimed to be the "Champions of the USA". After the 1919 season, several representatives from the Ohio League, another American football league, wanted to form a new professional league; thus, the APFA was created. A majority of the team stayed from the 1919 team, including the coaching staff, but Keith Dooley was added to the roster. The Independents opened the season with a win against the St. Paul Ideals, a non-APFA team. This was the first game in the history of the APFA. The team played all but one game at their home field, Douglas Park, and ended the season with a 6–2–2 record, which placed the team tied-for-fourth in the league standings. The sportswriter Bruce Copeland compiled the All-Pro list for the 1920 season. Fred Denfield, Dewey Lyle, and Ed Novak made the first-team; Obe Wenig and Ed Shaw made the second-team; and Walt Buland and Freeman Fitzgerald made the third-team. Of all the players on the roster, only Ed Healey has been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. == Background == The Rock Island Independents finished 9–1–1 in their 1919 season, claiming the National Championship. For the 1920 season, the Independents added multiple players to its roster: Keith Dooley, who previously played from 1912–1916; Fred Denfield, Mark Devlin, and Harry Gunderson, who previously played in 1917; Ed Healey, Polly Koch, George Magerkurth, Ed Shaw, Ben Synhorst, Harry Webber, Obe Wenig, and Arnie Wyman. The team lost Wes Bradshaw, Leland Dempsey, Al Jorgenson, Loyal Robb, Fats Smith, Red Swanson, and co-coach John Roche.〔 After the 1919 season, representatives of the Canton Bulldogs, the Cleveland Tigers, the Dayton Triangles, and the Akron Pros met on August 20, 1920 to discuss the formation of a new league. At the meeting, they tentatively agreed on a salary cap and pledged not to sign college players or players already under contract with other teams. They also agreed on a name for the circuit: the American Professional Football Conference. They then invited other professional teams to a second meeting on September 17. At that meeting, held at Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay's Hupmobile showroom in Canton, representatives of the Rock Island Independents, the Muncie Flyers, the Decatur Staleys, the Racine Cardinals, the Massillon Tigers, the Chicago Cardinals, and the Hammond Pros agreed to join the league. Representatives of the Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons could not attend the meeting, but sent letters to Hay asking to be included in the league. Team representatives changed the league's name slightly to the American Professional Football Association and elected officers, installing Jim Thorpe as president.〔 Under the new league structure, teams created their schedules dynamically as the season progressed, so there were no minimum or maximum number of games needed to be played. Also, representatives of each team voted to determine the winner of the APFA trophy.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1920 Rock Island Independents season」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|