American Association (American football)


The American Association was a professional American football league based in New York City. Founded in 1936 as a minor league with teams in New York and New Jersey, the AA extended its reach to Providence, Rhode Island prior to the onset of World War II. After a four-year hiatus, the league was renamed the American Football League as it expanded to include teams in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1947, the Richmond Rebels of the Dixie League purchased the assets of the defunct AFL Long Island Indians and jumped leagues.
The American Association was the first minor football league with a working arrangement with the National Football League as a system of farm clubs, beginning with the purchase of the Stapleton Buffaloes by New York Giants owner Tim Mara in 1937.
In the late 1930s and 1940s, the league enjoyed popularity comparable to that of the more established National Football League of 1920/1922, despite being in direct competition. In 1949 and 1950, the league was adversely affected by instability of membership. After starting its last season with six teams, only two league members survived to the end of the year.
The Atlantic Coast Football League originally established itself in several former American Association markets and hiring the same president, Joe Rosentover, when it began play in 1962.

Origin of league

The American Association was formed after a proposal by Edwin Simandi, manager of the Orange Tornadoes football team. Members of the defunct Eastern League and Interstate League became charter members of the new AA as the owner of the Passaic Red Devils, Joe Rosentover, became the league’s president. The original lineup consisted of four teams from New York and four from New Jersey. The formation of the league was announced in June 1936.
From 1936 to 1937, there was at least one "groupie" team that never joined the league, but played the bulk of its games against AA franchises: the Harlem Brown Bombers, a barnstorming/traveling team that consisted entirely of black players and was coached by Fritz Pollard, played seven games against AA teams over two years, compiling a 1-4-1 record.

American Association (1936–1941)

1936

While the league did not have official divisions, several sources show the membership divided into a “New York Division” and a “New Jersey Division”. Teams are ranked by win percentage.
TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Paterson Panthers 410.8005913
Brooklyn Bay Parkways 422.6678632
New Rochelle Bulldogs 321.6003040
Mt. Vernon Cardinals 320.6003742
Orange Tornadoes 440.5005455
Passaic Red Devils 350.3753376
White Plains Bears 240.3332740
Stapleton Buffaloes 141.2002654

Playoffs: Brooklyn 18, New Rochelle 0; Paterson 10, Orange 0
Championship: Brooklyn wins title after Paterson withdraws
In the first game of a series between the AA champion and the winners of the Dixie League, the Washington Pros defeated the Brooklyn Bay Parkways 13-6 in Richmond, Virginia, January 1, 1937. It was the last time that an American Association team lost to a team in the Dixie League in a football game.

1937

Passaic dropped out due to stadium issues and was replaced by the Brooklyn Bushwicks and the Danbury Trojans; the Brooklyn Bay Parkways were renamed the Brooklyn Eagles ; the Orange Tornadoes moved to Newark, New Jersey; and the Stapleton Buffaloes officially “moved” to Manhattan to become the New York Tigers, a traveling team that lasted only one game. Although Passaic dropped out, owner Rosentover continued serving as A.A. president, a position he would hold for another 13 years, until the dissolution of the league.
While the league was “unofficially divided” into two divisions in its first year, the realigned American Association was put into two official divisions for 1937: a Northern and a Southern division. For the 1937 season only, standings were based on two points per win and one point per tie.
Point totals do not include 1-0 forfeit scores.

Northern Division

TeamWLTPct.PFPAPts.
White Plains Bears321.60019497
Danbury Trojans310.7505806
New Rochelle Bulldogs360.33362656
Brooklyn Bushwicks141.20017743
Mt. Vernon Cardinals161.14314883

Southern Division

TeamWLTPct.PFPAPts.
Newark Tornadoes613.857963115
Paterson Panthers411.8009579
Brooklyn Eagles431.57135629
New York Tigers010.0000200

Championship: Newark 3, Paterson 3

1938

Gone were Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle, and White Plains; the Clifton Wessingtons received the rights to White Plains’ 1937 team and joined the AA for 1938; and the Brooklyn Bushwicks moved to Union City, New Jersey, and became the Rams. Tim Mara, New York Giants owner, purchased the Stapleton franchise, moved it to Jersey City, New Jersey, and made it the first farm team in professional football. Bill Owen, brother of Steve Owen, managed the team. A number of former New York Giant players were on the New Jersey team, including Ken Strong, who was barred from the NFL club until 1939 after defecting to the New York Yankees of the second American Football League in 1936.
In the lineup of the Brooklyn Eagles was a reserve guard who eventually made his mark as a head coach: Vince Lombardi. The Clifton Wessingtons featured tailback Joe Lillard, the last African American NFL player before the imposition of a color line in 1936.
Down to seven teams, the league decided to scrap the divisional alignment for 1938. In addition, there were no plans for championship playoffs: the championship was determined strictly by winning percentage.
TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Jersey City Giants710.8751337
Danbury Trojans411.8006726
Paterson Panthers630.66711460
Brooklyn Eagles351.3758170
Union City Rams251.28652121
Newark Tornadoes250.28628119
Clifton Wessingtons151.16727199

No playoffs: Jersey City was declared league champions

1939

A year after Tim Mara bought the Jersey City Giants and used it as a farm team for his New York Giants NFL franchise, the AA underwent more change in 1939. Gone was Clifton, but the league returned to a two-division, eight team format as the Wilmington Clippers and the Providence Steamroller joined the AA. Chicago Bears owner George Halas purchased the Newark Tornadoes and renamed them the Bears.

Northern Division

TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Paterson Panthers750.583145115
Providence Steamroller340.4295389
Danbury Trojans051.00026114
Brooklyn Eagles071.00026140

Southern Division

TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Newark Bears621.75012271
Wilmington Clippers931.75015866
Jersey City Giants731.70014852
Union City Rams252.28682113

Championship: Newark 27, Paterson 7

1940

Brooklyn, Danbury, and Union City dropped out in the offseason; the Long Island Indians join the league for the 1940 season... and was promptly raided by members of the new American Football League and lost four starters. The rest of the American Association was similarly hurt by defections to the new league.
Back to only six teams, the AA instituted a Shaughnessy playoff system, with the fourth-place team facing the first-place team and the second- and third-place teams meeting in semifinal matches, with the winners facing each other in a championship game.
TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Jersey City Giants631.66710446
Paterson Panthers640.600106133
Wilmington Clippers541.55613964
Newark Bears551.500136121
Long Island Indians551.50088123
Providence Steamroller280.20041127

Standings include two forfeits by Providence; the point totals do not. Providence dropped out of the league November 12, 1940, but was expected to return for the 1941 season.
Playoffs: Newark and Long Island tied for the last playoff spot. The two teams played to a 0-0 tie on December 1, 1940. A rematch scheduled for December 5 was cancelled due to snow; the league broke the tie with a best three-of-five coin toss, which Newark won to enter the playoffs.
Semifinal games: Jersey City 7, Newark 6; Wilmington 11, Paterson 8
Championship: Jersey City 17, Wilmington 7

1941

While Tim Mara sold the Jersey City Giants, the team was sold to the owners of the N.F.L.'s Cleveland Rams, setting off a sequence of arrangements that tied the membership of the AA with the NFL. The raiding of the AA by the AFL continued, with Wilmington and Providence being particularly hard hit. The Steamroller’s loss of seven players forced the team to drop out of the league. The A.A. found a replacement team with a connection with the AFL: the New York Yankees.
The 1941 New York Yankees was not the same team as the 1940 Yankees. The latter was team of the AFL that was sold to Douglas Hertz in late 1940, but the AFL revoked the franchise in August 1941 in response to a financial controversy on the part of Hertz. The team was then sold to a group headed by William Cox as preparations for the new season had begun. Hertz then formed a new barnstorming team, called it the New York Yankees, and started playing independent teams in the American northeast before accepting the invitation to join the American Association. The team left the League after losing all six of its games and folded after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ushered in the United States’ participation in World War II, December 7th, 1941, and making a question in the future temporarily for all professional sports.
TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Long Island Indians820.80017645
Paterson Panthers622.75014272
Wilmington Clippers432.57112077
Jersey City Giants442.5004799
Newark Bears360.33362105
Providence Steamroller020.000724
New York Yankees060.00013143

Playoffs: Wilmington 33, Paterson 0; Long Island 7, Jersey City 6
Championship: Wilmington 21, Long Island 13

1942

The Hartford Blues were expected to replace the New York Yankees for the 1942 season; the Churchill Pros were enlisted to replace Providence when the team became the new Springfield Steamroller.
American Association president John Rosentover announced in August 1942, that the American Association was following the lead of the third American Football League, in that the league was suspending operations due to World War II. While the member teams played on in an informal assemblage, the A.A. remained officially out of action until the post-war year of 1946.

American Football League (1946–1950)

In the autumn of 1945, after the surrender of Japan in World War II, the American Association returned to business, unlike the third American Football League. John Rosentover remained league president, and the five teams that finished the 1941 AA season returned to the fold, but the two franchises that were supposed to join the league in 1942 did not survive the league's layover.
The third American Football League, which had originally announced intentions of resuming play after the war, didn't survive it either, so the American Association adopted a new name upon resumption of operations: "American Football League". The league renewed its working relationship with the old National Football League, of 1920/1922, considered a "major league" of pro football. A compact with the Dixie League and the far west's Pacific Coast Professional Football League prohibited the participation of players signed to “outlaw leagues”. On March 24, 1946, the formalization of the compact, the Association of Professional Football Leagues as the "Big Three" of the minor leagues of pro football in the United States, was announced by PCPFL president J. Rufus Klawans.

1946

The resurrected league had three new entries for the first post-war season: the Scranton Miners, Newark Bombers, and the Bethlehem Bulldogs. As the games resumed, fan attendance returned to prewar levels.

Eastern Division

TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Jersey City Giants910.90020486
Long Island Indians550.500104124
Newark Bombers271.22299166
Paterson Panthers280.000102195

Western Division

TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Akron Bears820.800263122
Scranton Miners532.625160143
Bethlehem Bulldogs541.556203172
Wilmington Clippers172.12557184

Championship: Jersey City 14, Akron 13

1947

Akron left the AFL in early 1947, leaving Newark as the Chicago Bears’ primary farm team. Newark moved to Bloomfield, New Jersey, and became the Cardinals. Similarly, the Scranton Minors moved to Wilkes-Barre and became the Barons. The league retained its divisional setup despite having only seven teams.

Eastern Division

TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Paterson Panthers820.800152111
Bloomfield Cardinals640.600184134
Jersey City Giants550.500139128
Richmond Rebels331.500112105
Long Island Indians030.0001972

Western Division

TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Bethlehem Bulldogs810.90026473
Wilmington Clippers251.28674147
Wilkes-Barre Barons090.00077251

The Long Island Indians dropped out after three games; they were replaced by the Richmond Rebels, which started the season competing in the Dixie League. The defection reduced the Dixie League to just three members, and another long-standing minor league folded within a week.
Championship: Bethlehem 23, Paterson 7

1948

Bloomfield folded before the start of play in 1948 and the league scrapped its two-division setup for the upcoming season. The Shaughnessy playoff system was reinstated.
Bethlehem was crippled by a pair of events prior to play. First, the Philadelphia Eagles ended their working arrangement with the Bulldogs and worked with Paterson instead; second, the league instituted a new rule limiting salaries to $2000 a game per team. After a 0-4 start blamed in part by salary dissention, owner Bob Sell released seven players. The team barely missed the playoffs despite playing the last six games with a 4-1-1 record.
TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Paterson Panthers712.875224103
Richmond Rebels640.600164142
Wilmington Clippers541.556148137
Jersey City Giants550.500154168
Bethlehem Bulldogs451.444158155
Wilkes-Barre Bullets190.10057200

Playoffs: Wilmington defeated Richmond; Paterson beat Jersey City
Championship: Paterson 24, Wilmington 14

1949

With the dissolution of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League in 1948, the American Football League became the sole remaining prewar minor league. Charter member Paterson had not missed a week of league play, and would not until the end of the league. For the first time since the end of World War II, there were no changes in membership prior to league play in 1949.
TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Richmond Rebels811.88928599
Paterson Panthers631.667192141
Bethlehem Bulldogs640.600154138
Wilmington Clippers550.50093155
Wilkes-Barre Bullets370.30081112
Jersey City Giants190.10068228

Playoffs: Richmond 66, Wilmington 0; Paterson defeated Bethlehem
'''Championship: Richmond 35, Paterson 14
After winning three games in their first four games, Wilkes-Barre was hit by a rash of injuries in their games with Richmond and Paterson. Bob Edgerson, Bullets president, informed the league that the injuries would force him to cancel an upcoming game with Wilmington. Two days later, league president Joe Rosentover revoked the franchise. Rosentover then asked the independent Erie Vets if they could finish the Bullets’ schedule, but the team had disbanded for the season. The last four scheduled Wilkes-Barre games were declared forfeits.
Richmond owner Harry Seibold applied for an expansion franchise in the All-America Football Conference, which had lost a member when the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers merged for the 1949 season. No action was taken on the application as the AAFC merged with the NFL for the 1950 season. Richmond remained in the AFL.

1950

Although the Erie Vets could not complete Wilkes-Barre’s schedule in 1949, they did join the AFL for the 1950 season; in addition, the Wilmington Clippers left the league and were replaced by the Brooklyn Brooks. The league made an unsuccessful overture to the Buffalo Bisons, who had been rejected when the AAFC and the NFL merged, to have the Bisons join the AFL. The league abandoned the Shaughnessy playoff system and opted to have only the top two finishers play for the championship. It turned out that only two teams were still playing at the end of the season.
Bethlehem called it quits in early October, having lost two games ; later that week, the Brooklyn franchise was revoked for failure to pay the entrance fee. After Joe Rosentover announced the revocation, he announced that the games involving the Bulldogs or the Brooks would not count. A new league schedule was drawn up, but in early November, charter member Paterson was forced to close up shop because of a financial dispute.
Later that month, longtime league member Jersey City Giants also called it quits after being crushed by each of the other two remaining teams in the league. Thus after nine weeks, Erie and Richmond were the last teams standing.
TeamWLTPct.PFPA
Richmond Rebels630.667239145
Erie Vets530.625154142
Paterson Panthers440.5009476
Jersey City Giants340.42983137
Brooklyn Brooks020.0002163
Bethlehem Bulldogs020.200735

Includes forfeits by Brooklyn and Bethlehem ; official league records have the games involving Brooklyn and Bethlehem stricken.
Championship: Richmond 35, Erie 7
With only two teams remaining in the league, this American Football League folded after the championship game.