1920 Decatur Staleys season

Team photo of the 1920 Decatur Staleys

The 1920 ^[1]Decatur Staleys season was their inaugural regular season completed in the newly formed American Professional Football Association. The club posted a 10-1-2 record under first year head coach/player George Halas earning them a second place finish in the team standings. The stars of the Staleys were Ed "Dutch" Sternaman, Jimmy Conzelman, and George Halas. Sternaman has a remarkable season with 11 rushing TDs, 1 receiving TDs, 4 field goals, and 3 PATs, totaling 87 points scored out of the Staleys' total of 164. Jimmy Conzelman ran for two scores and threw two more. Halas led the team in receiving scores with 2. In the last league game of the season, the Staleys needed a win versus Akron to have a chance at the title. Akron, predictably, played for a tie, achieved that, and won the first APFA title.

Offseason

The Decatur Staleys finished 6–1 in their 1919 season as an independent team.^[2] On August 20, 1920, a meeting attended by representatives of four Ohio League teams—the Canton Bulldogs, the Cleveland Tigers, the Dayton Triangles, and the Akron Pros—was held. At the meeting, the representatives tentatively agreed to introduce a salary cap for the teams, not to sign college players nor players under contract with another team, and called their new league the American Professional Football Conference.^[3][4] They then contacted other major professional teams and invited them to a meeting for September 17.^[5]

At the meeting in September, held at the Bulldogs' owner Ralph Hay's Hupmobile showroom, representatives of the Rock Island Independents, the Muncie Flyers, the Staleys, the Racine Cardinals, the Massillon Tigers, the Chicago Cardinals, and the Hammond Pros were present. The Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons could not attend the meeting, but sent letters to be in the league.^[6] During the meeting, the name of American Professional Football Association was chosen; officers of the league were elected with Jim Thorpe as president; the trophy that would be awarded to the league champions; as well as other things.^[6][7][8]

Schedule

The table below was compiled using the information from NFL History, which used various contemporary newspapers.^[9] If a team has a dagger (), then that team in a non-APFA team. For the results column, the winning team's score is posted first followed by the result for the Staleys. For the attendance, if a cell is greyed out and has "N/A", then that means there is an unknown figure for that game. The green-colored cells indicates a win; the yellow-colored cells indicates a tie; and the red-colored cells indicate a loss.

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Venue	Attendance	Record
1	No game scheduled
2	October 3, 1920	vs. Moline Universal Tractors	20–0 W	Staley Field	1,500	1–0
3	October 10, 1920	vs. Kewanee Walworths	25–7 W	Staley Field	1,500	2–0
4	October 17, 1920	at Rock Island Independents	7–0 W	Douglas Park	7,000	3–0
5	October 24, 1920	at Chicago Tigers	10–0 W	Cubs Park	5,000	4–0
6	October 31, 1920	at Rockford AC	29–0 W	Kishwaukee Park	N/A	5–0
7	November 7, 1920	at Rock Island Independents	0–0 T	Douglas Park	N/A	5–0–1
8	November 11, 1920	at Champaign Legion	20–0 W	Champaign, IL	N/A	6–0–1
	November 14, 1920	at Minneapolis Marines	3–0 W	Nicollet Park	N/A	7–0–1
9	November 21, 1920	vs. Hammond Pros	28–7 W	Staley Field	3,000	8–0–1
10	November 25, 1920	at Chicago Tigers	6–0 W	Cub Park	8,000	9–0–1
	November 28, 1920	at Chicago Cardinals	7–6 L	Normal Park	5,000	9–1–1
11	December 5, 1920	at Chicago Cardinals	10–0 W	Cub Park	11,000	10–1–1
12	December 12, 1920	vs. Akron Pros	0–0 T	Cub Park	12,000	10–1–2
13	No game scheduled

Game summaries

Week 4: at Rock Island Independents

October 17, 1920 at Douglas Park

After two games against non-APFA teams, the Staleys played against the APFA Rock Island Independents. Late in the first quarter, the Independents' Freeman Fitzgerald had a hard hit against Jimmy Conzelman and jarred the ball loose; Fitzgerald fell on the ball at the 49-yard line. The Independents drove the ball down the field, and the Staleys were tired. They had to call a timeout. With the ball on the 23-yard line, Arnie Wyman broke through for 10 more yards, and the Independents were about to score. The first quarter ended there. Wyman took the next snap and fumbled as he hit the line. George Trafton recovered the ball at the 8-yard line. Later in the quarter, Conzelman scored the only touchdown in the game.^[10]

In the third quarter, Fred Chicken intercepted a Staley pass on his own 28-yard line. Early in the fourth quarter, up 7–0, the Staleys drove to the Independents 14-yard line. Knowing a field goal would put the game away, they lined up for a place kick. The snap was good, and the ball was set at the 25-yard line. Wyman broke though the line and made a game-saving block for the Independents. The Independents moved the ball away from goal and took a shot down field which just missed the outstretched arms of Oak Smith. Wyman punted, and the ball was fielded at the Staleys' 7-yard line. Pearce twisted and dodged his way out to near mid-field. Once again the Independents held as Kuehl intercepted a pass at his own 19-yard line and took it out to his 39. With time running out on third down Wyman pulled up and lofted a beautiful pass 45 yards in the air. The crowd rose as it appeared Kuehl was running under the ball to make a game tying catch. Chamberlain hit Kuehl as he went for the ball and it sailed over both of their heads. The Independents argued interference, but referee Williams stuck with is call and told them to play on. The Independents were exhausted and beaten. The game ended a few minutes later with the Staleys in control of the ball.^[10]

Week 7: at Rock Island Independents

November 7, 1920 at Douglas Park

On a five game winning streak, the Staleys played against the Independents again. The game ended in a 0–0 tie. Several injuries occurred throughout the game for the Independents. Sid Nichols, Fred Chicken, and Oke smith injured their knees on different plays. Harry Gunderson was hit late by George Traften and the former had to get thirteen stitches on his face, and his hand was broken.^[11]

Week 8: at Minneapolis Marines

November 14, 1920 at Nicollet Park

To conclude their six-game road game streak, the Staleys played against the Minneapolis Marines. The Marines were a non-APFA team but joined the league in 1921.^[12] The only score of the game was a 25-yard field goal from Sternaman.^[13]

Week 12: vs. Akron Pros

December 12, 1920 at Cubs Park

The Staleys ended their season in week 12 against he Akron Pros. Prior to the game, Halas moved their home field to the much larger Cubs Park in Chicago and hired Paddy Driscoll from the Cardinals to play on his team in order to help defeat the Pros, which was against league rules at the time.^[14][15] Twelve thousand fans, which was the largest recorded crowd of the season,^[16] showed up to watch the game.^[17] Of the crowd, about 2,000 were from Pollard's hometown.^[18] The Pros almost scored twice, but failed once because of ineligible receiver penalties.^[17] On the other side, Fritz Pollard stopped a Staleys' touchdown against Sternment in the third quarter.^[18] On the same drive, the Staleys missed a 30-yard field goal.^[17] Chamberlin attempted to injure Pollard twice in an attempt to remove him from the game.^[18] The final score ended in a 0–0 tie;^[17][19] however, the Chicago Defender reported that the refereeing was biased towards Decatur.^[18]

Standings

Post season

Since there were no playoff system in the APFA until 1932,^[20] a meeting was held to determine the champions. Each team that showed up had a vote to determine the champions.^[21] The Staleys and the All-Americans each stated they should be the champions because they had more wins and were not beaten by the Akron Pros.^[16] However, since the Akron Pros had a 1.000 winning percentage, the Pros were awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup on April 30, 1921.^[22] Seven players from the Staleys were on the 1920 All-Pro team. Guy Chamberlain, Hugh Blacklock, and George Trafton were on the first team; George Halas was on the second team; and Burt Ingwerson, Ross Petty, and Ed Sternaman were on the third team.^[23]

Legacy

Five players from the 1920 Decatur Staleys roster went on to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Guy Chamberlin was in the class of 1965,^[24] Jimmy Conzelman was in the class of 1964,^[25] Paddy Driscoll was in the class of 1965,^[26] George Halas was in the class of 1963,^[27] and George Trafton was in the class of 1964.^[28] The Pro Football Hall of Fame's selection committee compiled a list of the National Football League 1920s All-Decade Team. Each of the aforementioned Hall-of-Famers are on this team.^[29]

Notes

References

External links

• 1920 Decatur Staleys at Pro-Football-Reference.com