1920_Racine_Cardinals_season
1920 Chicago Cardinals season
American Professional Football Association's Cardinals' inauguration
The 1920 Chicago Cardinals season was the Cardinals' inaugural season in the American Professional Football Association (soon to be the National Football League). The team finished 6–2–1, earning fourth in the league. Their final two games of the season against the Chicago Stayms Foresters were played after the APFA season was officially over and did not count towards the standings.
| 1920 Chicago Cardinals season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Paddy Driscoll |
| Home field | Normal Park |
| Results | |
| Record | 6–2–2 overall 6–2–2 in APFA standings 3–2–1 against APFA teams |
| League place | 4th APFA |
Although the Cardinals' existence traced back as far as 1899, this was their first season as a member of the American Professional Football Association.
The last remaining active member of the 1920 Chicago Cardinals was Paddy Driscoll, who retired after the 1929 season.
The Chicago Cardinals finished 4–3-0 in their 1919 season in the Chicago Football league[1] Following the 1919 season, representatives of four Ohio League teams—the Canton Bulldogs, the Cleveland Tigers, the Dayton Triangles, and the Akron Pros—called a meeting 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.[2][3] Then they contacted other major professional teams and invited them to a meeting for September 17.[4]
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 Massillon Tigers, the 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.[5] Team representatives changed the league's name slightly to the American Professional Football Association and elected officers, installing Jim Thorpe as president.[5][6][7] Under the new league structure, teams created their schedules dynamically as the season progressed,[8][9] and representatives of each team voted to determine the winner of the APFA trophy.[10] After joining the league, manager Chris O'Brien signed halfback John "Paddy" Driscoll for $3,000. One of Driscoll's young running backs was Ralph Horween, who previously played under the name of B. McMahon at Harvard University.[11]
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bye | |||||
| 2 | Bye | |||||
| 3 | October 10 | at Chicago Tigers | T 0–0 | 0–0–1 | Cubs Park | 5,000 |
| 4 | October 17 | Moline Universal Tractors† | W 33–0 | 1–0–1 | St. Rita's Field | – |
| 5 | October 24 | at Rock Island Independents | L 0–7 | 1–1–1 | Douglas Park | 4,000 |
| 6 | October 31 | Detroit Heralds | W 21–0 | 2–1–1 | Cubs Park | 3,000 |
| 7 | November 7 | at Chicago Tigers | W 6–3 | 3–1–1 | Cubs Park | 7,000 |
| 8 | November 14 | vs. Cincinnati Celts† | W 20–0 | 4–1–1 | Normal Park | 5,000 |
| 9 | November 21 | Lansing Oldsmobile† | W 14–0 | 5–1–1 | Normal Park | 3,500 |
| 10 | November 28 | Decatur Staleys | W 7–6 | 6–1–1 | Normal Park | 5,000 |
| 11 | December 5 | Decatur Staleys | L 0–10 | 6–2–1 | Cubs Park | 11,000 |
| 12 | Bye | |||||
| 13 | December 19 | at Chicago Stayms† | T 14–14 | 6–2–2 | Pyott Field | – |
| 14 | January 9, 1921 | vs. Chicago Stayms† | W 6–0 | 7–2–2 | Normal Park | 3,000 |
Week 3: at Chicago Tigers
Week 4: vs. Moline Universal Tractors
Week 5: at Rock Island Independents
Week 6: vs. Detroit Heralds
Week 7: vs. Chicago Tigers
Week 8: vs. Cincinnati Celts
Week 9: vs. Lansing Oldsmobile
Week 10: vs. Decatur Staleys
Week 11: vs. Decatur Staleys
Week 13: at Chicago Stayms
Week 14: vs. Chicago Stayms
| 1920 APFA standings[12] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | DIV | DPCT | PF | PA | STK | |
| Akron Pros† | 8 | 0 | 3 | 1.000 | 6–0–3 | 1.000 | 151 | 7 | T2 |
| Decatur Staleys | 10 | 1 | 2 | .909 | 5–1–2 | .833 | 164 | 21 | T1 |
| Buffalo All-Americans | 9 | 1 | 1 | .900 | 4–1–1 | .800 | 258 | 32 | T1 |
| Chicago Cardinals | 6 | 2 | 2 | .750 | 3–2–2 | .600 | 101 | 29 | T1 |
| Rock Island Independents | 6 | 2 | 2 | .750 | 4–2–1 | .667 | 201 | 49 | W1 |
| Dayton Triangles | 5 | 2 | 2 | .714 | 4–2–2 | .667 | 150 | 54 | L1 |
| Rochester Jeffersons | 6 | 3 | 2 | .667 | 0–1–0 | .000 | 156 | 57 | T1 |
| Canton Bulldogs | 7 | 4 | 2 | .636 | 4–3–1 | .571 | 208 | 57 | W1 |
| Detroit Heralds | 2 | 3 | 3 | .400 | 1–3–0 | .250 | 53 | 82 | T2 |
| Cleveland Tigers | 2 | 4 | 2 | .333 | 1–4–2 | .200 | 28 | 46 | L1 |
| Chicago Tigers | 2 | 5 | 1 | .286 | 1–5–1 | .167 | 49 | 63 | W1 |
| Hammond Pros | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 0–3–0 | .000 | 41 | 154 | L3 |
| Columbus Panhandles | 2 | 6 | 2 | .250 | 0–4–0 | .000 | 41 | 121 | W1 |
| Muncie Flyers | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0–1–0 | .000 | 0 | 45 | L1 |
† Awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup and named APFA Champions.
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
| Chicago Cardinals 1920 final roster | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| |||||||
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- Ziemba 1999, p. 64
- PFRA Research 1980, pp. 3–4
- Siwoff, Zimmber & Marini 2010, pp. 352–353
- PFRA Research 1980, p. 3
- PFRA Research 1980, p. 4
- "Thorpe Made President" (PDF). The New York Times. September 19, 1920.
- "Organize Pro Gridders; Choose Thorpe, Prexy". The Milwaukee Journal. September 19, 1920. p. 24. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012.
- Peterson 1997, p. 74
- Davis 2005, p. 59
- Price, Mark (April 25, 2011). "Searching for Lost Trophy". Akron Beacon-Journal. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
- "Franchise". Arizona Cardinals. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
- "NFL – 1920 Regular Season". National Football League. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
- Davis, Jeff (2005). Papa Bear, The Life and Legacy of George Halas. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-146054-3.
- Peterson, Robert (1997). Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507607-9.
- PFRA Research (1980). "Happy Birthday NFL?" (PDF). The Coffin Corner. 2 (8). Professional Football Researchers Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 17, 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
- Siwoff, Seymour; Zimmber, Jon; Marini, Matt (2010). The Official NFL Record and Fact Book 2010. National Football League. ISBN 978-1-60320-833-8.
- Ziemba, Joe (1999). When Football Was Football: The Chicago Cardinals and the Birth of the NFL. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1572433175.