| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | October 1 – December 10, 1922 |
| Champions | Canton Bulldogs |
ProsIndiansThe1922 NFL season was the thirdregular season of what was now called theNational Football League (NFL); the league changed its name from American Professional Football Association (APFA) on June 24, 1922. Unlike the previous two years, when the league had existed as the American Professional Football Association, all teams beginning play in October under the league's banner would survive the season economically without having to terminate play for financial reasons.
A total of 75 games were played by the 18 teams of the league, with a claimed total attendance in excess of 400,000. The league championship was won by theCanton Bulldogs, the first of two back-to back titles.
The year 1922 started sourly for presidentJoe F. Carr and the American Professional Football Association (APFA). Just ahead of the league's winter meeting, scheduled to open January 28 inCanton, Ohio, sensational headlines revealed that several prominent college football players had also played for money on professional teams during the 1921 season.[1] While the nexus of the scandal involved the hiring ofNotre Dame players by the pro team ofTaylorville, Illinois, with their rivals fromCarlinville loading up onUniversity of Illinois ringers as part of a local gambling frenzy, theGreen Bay Packers of the APFA had also been implicated.[1]
Former Notre Dame starCurly Lambeau, player-coach of the Packers, had obtained the services of three Notre Dame stars —Hunk Anderson,Hec Garvey, andOjay Larson — it was charged.[1] College coaches, feeling threatened by the rising professional game, loudly denounced this state of affairs, with head coachFielding Yost of theUniversity of Michigan proclaiming that the menace of professionalism was robbing the collegiate game of "many of the greatest character building qualities, and destroys the ideals of generous service, loyalty, sacrifice, and wholehearted devotion to a cause, which mark the college player."[2] Other coaches followed with public statements in a like vein.
On the evening of 27, 1922, the University of Illinois disqualified nine of its players from future athletic competition — including futureChicago BearsJoey Sternaman andLaurie Walquist — whileKnute Rockne and Notre Dame issued walking papers to eight of their own.[3] Despite APFA president Carr attempts to deflect blame by noting that use of collegiate players was already expressly prohibited by the APFA, the national controversy burned hot with professional football cast in the villain's role.[1]
The flagrant violation of league rules by the Packers would have to be dealt with severely, it was universally believed.[1]
OwnerJohn Clair of the Packers, present in Canton as official representative of the team, chose to fall on the sword for the good of the league. Clair accepted blame for the player scandal and apologized to the other owners for the transgression, asking that Green Bay's withdrawal from the league be accepted.[4] A motion to this effect was made and unanimously carried, allowing President Carr to trumpet a "unanimous vote of directors" that "dropped" the Packers to the press.[5] The Green Bay Packers were out of the league.
As a mechanism to eliminate the possibility of using collegiate ringers, beginning in 1922 the NFL began collecting a $1,000 bond from each team, which would be forfeited in the event college players were employed.[5]
Aside of the emergency business related to allegations of poaching of college athletes, the 18 team representatives assembled in Canton in January 1922 took aim at restructuring and renaming their organization. Instead of the initial model of anNCAA-style supervisory association, a definitive first step was taken towards more compact and closely controlled membership. The $100 franchise fee — never collected from charter members in 1920 — was boosted to $500 at this time.[6]
The organization also broke from the NCAA model in name, rechristening itself as the "National Football League" — a title pulled from theNational League of Professional Baseball Clubs, the oldest and most venerable sports league in America.[7]
New clubs were accepted to league membership, including atraveling team based in tinyLa Rue, Ohio built around former Cleveland Tiger and contemporary sports legendJim Thorpe and a well-organized team sponsored by anAmerican Legion post and funded by amalted milk millionaire fromRacine, Wisconsin.[8] Other new teams for 1922 would include theMilwaukee Badgers and theToledo Maroons. Another new entry from Ohio, theYoungstown Patricians, was also accepted into league membership, but folded before playing a single league game.
A host of financially-troubled teams did not answer the bell for 1922. These included a number of big city clubs, including theCleveland Indians,Cincinnati Celts,Detroit Tigers, and first iteration of theNew York Giants, andWashington Senators, as well as the smallerMuncie Flyers, andTonawanda Kardex.
The league attempted to impose a salary cap, which was $1,200 per game.[9]
The NFL's summer scheduling meeting was slated for the weekend of June 24–25 at the Hollenden Hotel in Cleveland.[8] The January public drama over pro teams raiding collegiate ranks for star players had long since dissipated — and NFL officials sought to quietly slide the fanatical fandom ofGreen Bay, Wisconsin, back into league ranks. On June 9, Green Bay Packer player-coach received a blank franchise application form and cover lever from NFL secretaryCarl Storck formally notifying him of the time and place of the forthcoming owners meeting — an unmistakable hint that all was forgiven, so long as a new $500 franchise fee and the $1,000 performance bond required of all teams was paid.[8]
Lambeau arranged financing and took a train to Cleveland, applying for a "new" team for the 1922 season under the name of the Green Bay Football Club with himself as the "new" registered owner.[10] The team was to play 1922 as the Green Bay "Blues," but there was little successful misdirection accomplished by the subterfuge, with the club generally was referred to as the "Packers" in the national press.[11] The club officially returned to its original name in 1923.
Eighteen teams ultimately competed in the NFL during the 1922 season, down from 21 clubs during the previous season.
| First season in NFL | Team folded this season |
| NFL standings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | |||
| Canton Bulldogs | 10 | 0 | 2 | 1.000 | 184 | 15 | W6 | ||
| Chicago Bears | 9 | 3 | 0 | .750 | 123 | 44 | L1 | ||
| Chicago Cardinals | 8 | 3 | 0 | .727 | 96 | 50 | W1 | ||
| Toledo Maroons | 5 | 2 | 2 | .714 | 94 | 59 | L2 | ||
| Rock Island Independents | 4 | 2 | 1 | .667 | 154 | 27 | L1 | ||
| Racine Legion | 6 | 4 | 1 | .600 | 122 | 56 | L1 | ||
| Dayton Triangles | 4 | 3 | 1 | .571 | 80 | 62 | W1 | ||
| Green Bay Packers | 4 | 3 | 3 | .571 | 70 | 54 | W2 | ||
| Buffalo All-Americans | 5 | 4 | 1 | .556 | 87 | 41 | W2 | ||
| Akron Pros | 3 | 5 | 2 | .375 | 146 | 95 | L3 | ||
| Milwaukee Badgers | 2 | 4 | 3 | .333 | 51 | 71 | L3 | ||
| Oorang Indians | 3 | 6 | 0 | .333 | 69 | 190 | W2 | ||
| Minneapolis Marines | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 19 | 40 | L1 | ||
| Louisville Brecks | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 13 | 140 | W1 | ||
| Evansville Crimson Giants | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 6 | 88 | L3 | ||
| Rochester Jeffersons | 0 | 4 | 1 | .000 | 13 | 76 | L4 | ||
| Hammond Pros | 0 | 5 | 1 | .000 | 0 | 69 | L2 | ||
| Columbus Panhandles | 0 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 24 | 174 | L8 | ||
TheCanton Bulldogs were named the 1922 NFL Champions after ending the season with a 10–0–2 record.
According to league presidentJoe F. Carr, more than 400,000 people attended the 75 games played by the teams of the National Football League in 1922.[12] Unlike previous years, all 18 teams beginning play under the NFL's banner in October 1922 managed to survive the season without having to terminate operations for financial reasons.[13]