1920 APFA season

Ralph Hay, one of the founding representatives

Prior to the APFA, there were several other loose, professional organizations; most of the APFA teams were from either the Ohio League or the New York Pro Football League. On August 20, 1920, a meeting attended by representatives of four Ohio League teams—Ralph Hay and Jim Thorpe for the Canton Bulldogs, Jimmy O'Donnell and Stan Cofall for the Cleveland Tigers, Carl Storck for the Dayton Triangles, and Frank Nied and Art Ranney for the Akron Pros[5]—was held. At the meeting, the representatives tentatively agreed to call their new league the American Professional Football Conference, introduce a salary cap for the teams, and not to sign college players nor players under contract with another team.[6][7] According to the Canton Evening Repository, the purpose of the league was to "raise the standard of professional football in every way possible, to eliminate bidding for players between rival clubs and to secure cooperation in the formation of schedules, at least for the bigger teams."[8] The representatives then contacted other major professional teams and invited them to a meeting for September 17.[9]

At that meeting, held at Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay's Hupmobile showroom in Canton, Ohio, representatives of the Rock Island Independents, the Muncie Flyers, the Decatur Staleys, the Racine Cardinals, the Massillon Tigers, the Chicago Tigers, 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.[10] Team representatives changed the league's name slightly to the American Professional Football Association and elected officers, installing Thorpe as president, Cofall as vice-president, Ranney as secretary-treasurer.[5][10][11][12] 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.[13][14] Also, representatives of each team voted to determine the winner of the APFA trophy.[15]

The APFA had 14 teams that played during its inaugural season.

The regular-season schedule was not fixed but was created dynamically by each team as the season progressed.[13][14] The first game involving an APFA team occurred on September 26, when the Rock Island Independents beat the St. Paul Ideals 48–0.

The first official game between APFA (NFL) members occurred on October 3, when the Dayton Triangles beat the Columbus Panhandles 14-0. The Triangles' Lou Partlow scored the league's first touchdown and George "Hobby" Kinderline kicked the first extra point. An historic marker placed by the Ohio Historical Society at Triangle Park in Dayton marks the location of that first ever game.[18]

The final game of the season was a 14–14 tie between the Chicago Cardinals and the non-league Chicago Stayms on December 19, 1920. The Decatur Staleys and the Canton Bulldogs played the most games in the season (13), while the Muncie Flyers played the fewest (1).[19] The Buffalo All-Americans scored the most points all season (258), and the Akron Pros allowed the fewest points (7).[20]

1920 APFA teams' roster photos

Akron Pros

Canton Bulldogs

Chicago Cardinals

Dayton Triangles

Decatur Staleys

 †  Awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup and named APFA Champions.
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Several Pros players celebrating their championship.

As there was no playoff system in the APFA until 1932,[22] a meeting was held to determine the 1920 Champions.[23] Each team that showed up had a vote to determine the champions. Since the Akron Pros never lost a game, the Pros were awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup on April 30, 1921.[24] The trophy was a "silver loving cup", donated by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company.[25] This decision, however, would arise with controversy. The Staleys and the All-Americans each stated that they should win the award because they had more wins and were not beaten by the Akron Pros.[23] Each player from the Pros was also awarded with a golden fob; this was in the shape of a football and inscribed with "1920", "WORLD CHAMPIONS", and each player's first initial and last name.[26] The Pros did not officially celebrate their championship season until the following year. In October 1921, most of the team was invited to the Elks Club of Akron, which was labeled as "a grand homecoming celebration for the world's champions".[15] Fritz Pollard was congratulated during an Akron Merchants Association of Colored Business Men's meeting.[15]

The Pros were the first team in the history of the APFA to complete a non-modern "perfect season". Only four other teams have since accomplished this feat: the 1922 Canton Bulldogs at 10–0–2,[27] the 1923 Canton Bulldogs at 11–0–1,[28] the 1929 Green Bay Packers at 12–0–1,[29] and the 1972 Miami Dolphins at 17–0–0.[30] In 1972, the NFL changed the rules, so ties count as a half-win and a half-loss.[31]

Even though the Pros were given the trophy in 1920, the league lost track of the event, and for a long time published in its own record books that the 1920 championship was undecided.[32] It was not until the 1970s that the NFL discovered this early vote on awarding the Akron Pros the championship.[32]

• Carroll, Bob (1982). "1920 Akron Pros" (PDF). The Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. 4 (12). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 11, 2012.
• Davis, Jeff (2005). Papa Bear, The Life and Legacy of George Halas. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-146054-3.
• Hogrogian, John (1984). "1920 All-Pros" (PDF). The Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. 6 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 11, 2012.
• Peterson, Robert (1997). Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507607-9.
• PFRA Research. "Once More, With Feeling: 1921" (PDF). Professional Football Researchers Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 26, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
• PFRA Research (1980). "Happy Birthday NFL?" (PDF). The Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. 2 (8). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 11, 2012.
• 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. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 1-57243-317-5.