| Founded | 1901; 124 years ago (1901) |
|---|---|
| Folded | 1926; 99 years ago (1926) |
| Based in | Columbus, Ohio, United States |
| League | Ohio League (1904–1920) National Football League (1920–1926) |
| Team history | Panhandle railroad team (1901) Columbus Panhandles (1902–1922) Columbus Tigers (1922–1926) |
| Team colors | Burgundy, gold, white (Panhandles) Black, gold, white (Tigers) |
| Nickname(s) | the "Handles" |
| Head coaches | William Butler (1901) Harry Greenwood (1902) E.E. Griest (1903) Joseph Carr (1904–1919) Ted Nesser (1920–1921) Herb Dell (1922) Pete Stinchcomb (1923) Gus Tebell (1923) Red Weaver (1924–1925) Jack Heldt (1926) |
| Owner(s) | Joseph F. Carr (1904, 1907–1922) Various businessmen (1922–1926) |
| Home field(s) | Indianola Park (1909–1915) Traveling team Neil Park |
TheColumbus Panhandles were a professionalAmerican football team based inColumbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at thePanhandle shops of thePennsylvania Railroad. They were a part of theOhio League from 1904 before folding after one season. Three years later, the team tried again, playing in the Ohio League from 1907 to 1919, not winning a championship, before becoming charter members of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) which became theNational Football League (NFL).
The Panhandles are credited with playing in the first NFL game against the Dayton Triangles. They have no NFL championships, butJoseph Carr, the team's owner from 1907 to 1922, is enshrined in thePro Football Hall of Fame for his work as NFL president.[1]
The earliest existence of the Panhandles was in 1900; theColumbus Press-Post reported Jack Walsh creating the "Panhandle railroad team" consisting of "big hardy railroad men."[2] No other articles in 1900 were written about the Panhandles. A game was scheduled for October 19 of next year, however, no source provided an outcome.[3] In 1901, managed by William Butler of the Ohio Medical University, the Panhandles played two games against theColumbus Barracks, a team consisting of local soldiers.[3] The results were split; the first was a 2–6 loss while the second was a 12–6 win.[4]
Butler left the Panhandles for unknown reasons, and the new manager for the 1902 season was Harry Greenwood. Greenwood placed advertisements in every newspaper he could in order to schedule games against local opponents. His ad read "The Panhandle Athletic Club has organized a football team and would like to play any college, high school or manufacturing team on Saturday or Sunday."[5] As a result, the Panhandles scheduled four games in 1902: three against the Columbus Barracks and one against the Dennison Panhandles, and finished with a 0–3–1 record.[6]
Again, the Panhandles got a new manager for the 1903 season, E. E. Griest. Griest needed help with the team, so he hired Ben Chamberlain to coach the team.[7] After an exhibition game against theOhio State Buckeyes, the Panhandles won their first game of the season, a 38–0 victory over Neil Avenue Athletic Club. This victory gave the team some unexpected press; theColumbus Citizen wrote the first article praising the team.[8] The Panhandles 1903 season ended with a 5–3 record.[9]
In 1904,Joseph Carr, who was a sports writer for theOhio State Journal and manager of the railroad'sbaseball team theFamous Panhandle White Sox, took over the football team.[10] However, the Panhandles didn't take off and the team played just two games.[11] Carr tried again three years later in 1907. Carr saw the potential for professional football not only to be a great spectator sport but also to become a successful business venture and envisioned pro football being just as popular asMajor League Baseball.[12]
One of the first things Carr did when he became the owner of the Panhandles was to exploit one of the railroad's policies. Since most of the team's players were employed by the railroad, they could ride the train free of charge.[13] Because of this perk, Carr was able to schedule mostly road games, eliminating the expenses of stadium rental, game promotion, and security for the field.[13] While the team did play the majority of their games on the road as atraveling team, their home games were played atIndianola Park.[13][14]
The Panhandles adopted an amateur sandlot mentality for their playing style.[citation needed] Since the team was composed mainly of railroad workers, the scenario gave the players limited time to practice and prepare for games.[citation needed] The Panhandles did the majority of their preparation during their lunch breaks.[citation needed] Workers had a one-hour break during a normal workday, and the players on the team usually took the first 15 minutes to eat lunch and used the remaining 45 minutes to practice football.[citation needed] An athletic field behind the railroad shops in Columbus became the team's practice field.[citation needed]
However Carr knew that if his team was to succeed, he needed an attraction.[citation needed] Carr built his team around pro football's most famous family theNesser Brothers, who were already drawing crowds throughout the country.[citation needed] Carr used the seven Nesser brothers as the backbone of the Panhandles, and the football-playing family remained in that role for nearly 20 years.[citation needed] None of the Nessers attended college, despite many offers.[15] The seven Nesser brothers, who worked asboilermakers for thePennsylvania Railroad, were exceptionally large and strong for people living in the early 20th century.Frank Nesser was 6-foot 1-inch tall and weighed 235 pounds.[16] They all were exceptionally great athletes for their time.[citation needed] Carr took out ads describing his Panhandles as the toughest professional team in football, led by the famous Nesser brothers.[citation needed] In 1921 the Panhandles line-up includedplayer-coachTed Nesser and his sonCharlie. It is the only time in NFL history a father and son played together on the same team.[13] The Nesser brothers nephew,Ted Hopkins and brother-in-law,John Schneider, also played on the team.[citation needed]
The Panhandles' rosters did not include many former college players orAll-Americans, so the athletic field in the railroad yards was the place where the team found out who could play.[citation needed] The team's "dirty" reputation[by whom?] was learned and developed on the railroad yards, not in college stadiums.[citation needed] The press sometimes criticized the Panhandles for their rough play; but it was a big draw for the fans and a main reason many paid to attend games.[citation needed]
Over a span of 20 years, the Panhandles were considered[by whom?] the best pro team in the city of Columbus.[citation needed] The team compiled a 33–5 record against opponents from Columbus, including a 32–1 record over their last 33 games.[citation needed]
Between 1914 and 1916, which were seen as best years of the franchise, the Nesser-led team went a combined 22–10–1.[citation needed] The majority of the early pro teams would go out of their way to schedule the Panhandles, as they knew it would be easy to advertise a game featuring the famous Nessers.[citation needed] In 1915, The Panhandles were rumored to have played against the legendaryKnute Rockne six times in 1915. According to the team, each time they played Rockne, he was on a different team.[17] This rumor, however, is false; Rockne was too much of a family man to play that much pro football, and Notre Dame had most of its home games during the pro football season.[18]
On August 20, 1920, a meeting attended by representatives of four Ohio League teams—theCanton Bulldogs, theCleveland Tigers, theDayton Triangles, and theAkron Pros—was held. At the meeting, the representatives tentatively agreed to introduce asalary cap for the teams, not to sign college players nor players under contract with another team, and became united as the American Professional Football Conference.[19][20] They then contacted other major professional teams and invited them to a meeting for September 17.[21]
At the meeting in September, held at Ralph Hay'sHupmobile showroom, representatives of theRock Island Independents, theMuncie Flyers, theDecatur Staleys, theMassillon Tigers, theChicago Cardinals, theRochester Jeffersons, and theHammond Pros were present. The following was achieved: the name of American Professional Football Association was chosen; officers of the league were elected withJim Thorpe as president; a membership fee of $100 was set; a committee to draft a constitution was named; the secretary of the league was to receive a list of all players used during the season by January 1, 1921; and the trophy that would be awarded to the league champions.[22][23][24] During this time, the Panhandles were admitted into the league.[13]
The Panhandles may have played in the first game with two APFA opponents. However, due to not having the games start at a standardized time, and the failure of the future NFL to record the start times, historians can not determine for sure which two teams played in the first league match-up. What is known for a fact is that the first contests between teams listed as APFA members occurred on October 3, 1920.[25] On that date, the Panhandles were defeated by the Dayton Triangles, 14–0, atTriangle Park, and theRock Island Independents beat theMuncie Flyers, 45–0, inRock Island.[25]Frank Bacon of the Triangles is credited with the first punt return for a touchdown.[26]
Following the 1921 season, Carr became the league's new president and renamed the APFA, the NFL.[27] He then discontinued the Panhandles after the 1922 season because of cost and salary demands.[28] Following the 1922 season, the Panhandles became the Columbus Tigers.[29] In 1923, the Tigers attained their best ranking in the NFL, finishing eighth.[30] During that season multiple players won awards. Rookie endGus Tebell, who was also the coach, was awarded 1st Team All NFL by theCanton Daily News as well as theGreen Bay Press-Gazette.[31]Gus Sonnenberg,Paul Goebel,Jack Sack, andBob Rapp were all awarded 1st TeamAll-NFL by theCanton Daily News.[31]Pete Stinchcomb was awarded 2nd Team All-NFL byCollyer's Eye.[31] During this time, and at the time of the team folding, Jerry Corcoran was owner of the Tigers.[32][33]
The next season, they finished tenth.[34]Boni Petcoff was awarded 1st Team All-NFL by theGreen Bay Press-Gazette. Petcoff and Paul Goebel were both awarded 2nd Team All NFL by theGreen Bay Press-Gazette, with the latter being awarded 2nd Team All NFL by theCollyer's Eye as well.[35] Then, the Tigers ended their final two seasons 20th and 19th, respectively.[36][37]
| Columbus Panhandles Hall of Famers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Coaches and contributors | |||
| Name | Position | Tenure | Inducted |
| Joseph F. Carr[38] | Head Coach Owner/GM | 1901–1904, 1907–1918 1907–1922 | 1963 |
| Season | Team | League | Regular season | Ref | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | W | L | T | |||||
| Columbus Panhandles | ||||||||
| 1901 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| 1902 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |||||
| 1903 | 5 | 3 | 0 | |||||
| 1904 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 1905 | 1905 | No team | ||||||
| 1906 | 1906 | |||||||
| 1907 | Ohio | 2 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| 1908 | Ohio | 3 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| 1909 | Ohio | 7 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 1910 | Ohio | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 1911 | Ohio | 5 | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 1912 | Ohio | 3 | 5 | 1 | ||||
| 1913 | Ohio | 3 | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 1914 | Ohio | 7 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 1915 | Ohio | 8 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| 1916 | Ohio | 7 | 5 | 0 | ||||
| 1917 | Ohio | 2 | 6 | 0 | ||||
| 1918 | Ohio | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 1919 | Ohio | 3 | 6 | 1 | ||||
| 1920 | 13th | 2 | 6 | 2 | ||||
| 1921 | APFA | 17th | 1 | 8 | 0 | |||
| 1922 | 18th | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||||
| Columbus Tigers | ||||||||
| 1923 | NFL | 8th | 5 | 4 | 1 | |||
| 1924 | NFL | 10th | 4 | 4 | 0 | |||
| 1925 | NFL | 20th | 0 | 9 | 0 | |||
| 1926 | NFL | 19th | 1 | 6 | 0 | |||
