1922 NFL season

• 1. Scandal And League Purge

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  The year 1922 started sourly for president Joe F. Carr and the American Professional Football Association. Just ahead of the league's winter meeting, scheduled to open January 28 in Canton, Ohio, sensational headlines revealed that several prominent college football players had also played for money on professional teams during the 1921 season. The nexus of the scandal involved the hiring of Notre Dame players by the pro team of Taylorville, Illinois, with their rivals from Carlinville loading up on University of Illinois ringers as part of a local gambling frenzy. The Green Bay Packers of the APFA had also been implicated. Former Notre Dame star Curly Lambeau, player-coach of the Packers, had obtained the services of three Notre Dame stars , Hunk Anderson, Hec Garvey, and Ojay Larson. College coaches, feeling threatened by the rising professional game, loudly denounced this state of affairs. Head coach Fielding Yost of the University of Michigan proclaimed that the menace of professionalism was robbing the collegiate game of many of the greatest character building qualities. On the evening of January 20, the University of Illinois disqualified nine of its players from future athletic competition while Knute Rockne and Notre Dame issued walking papers to eight of their own. Owner John Clair of the Packers 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. 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.

• 2. Rebranding The Organization

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  The 18 team representatives assembled in Canton in January 1922 took aim at restructuring and renaming their organization. Instead of the initial model of an NCAA-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. The organization also broke from the NCAA model in name, rechristening itself as the National Football League. This title was pulled from the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, the oldest and most venerable sports league in America. Four decades later, Chicago Bears player-coach-owner George S. Halas claimed paternity of the NFL name in his autobiographical reminiscences. He asserted that National League was chosen as a tip of the hat to his hometown Chicago Cubs. New clubs were accepted to league membership, including a traveling team based in tiny La Rue, Ohio built around former Cleveland Tiger and contemporary sports legend Jim Thorpe. Another new entry from Ohio, the Youngstown 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 such as the Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Celts, Detroit Tigers, and first iteration of the New York Giants.

• 3. Financial Stabilization Efforts

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  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. This amount would be forfeited in the event college players were employed. The league attempted to impose a salary cap which was set at $1,200 per game. Unlike previous years when the league had existed as the American Professional Football Association, all teams beginning play in October under the league's banner survived 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 the Canton Bulldogs after ending the season with a 10, 0, 2 record. According to league president Joe F. Carr, more than 400,000 people attended the 75 games played by the teams of the National Football League in 1922. All 18 teams managed to survive the season without having to terminate operations for financial reasons.

• 4. The Return Of Green Bay

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  The NFL's summer scheduling meeting was slated for the weekend of the 24th of June 25 at the Hollenden Hotel in Cleveland. On June 9, Green Bay Packer player-coach received a blank franchise application form and cover letter from NFL secretary Carl Storck formally notifying him of the time and place of the forthcoming owners meeting. This was 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. 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. The team was to play 1922 as the Green Bay Blues but there was little successful misdirection accomplished by the subterfuge. The club generally was referred to as the Packers in the national press. The club officially returned to its original name in 1923. The league changed its name from American Professional Football Association on the 24th of June 1922.

• 5. Championship Season Overview

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  Eighteen teams ultimately competed in the NFL during the 1922 season down from 21 clubs during the previous season. The Canton Bulldogs were named the 1922 NFL Champions after ending the season with a 10, 0, 2 record. This marked the first of two back-to-back titles for the organization. Teams such as the Akron Pros played at Akron League Park while the Buffalo All-Americans used Buffalo Baseball Park. The Chicago Bears played at Cubs Park and the Columbus Panhandles played at Neil Park. The Dayton Triangles played at Triangle Park and the Evansville Crimson Giants played at Bosse Field. The Hammond Pros operated as a traveling team while the Louisville Brecks played at Eclipse Park. The Milwaukee Badgers played at Athletic Park and the Minneapolis Marines played at Nicollet Park. The Oorang Indians also operated as a traveling team while the Racine Legion played at Horlick Field. The Rochester Jeffersons played at Rochester Baseball Park and the Rock Island Independents played at Douglas Park. The Toledo Maroons played at Swayne Field.