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1921 Buffalo All-Americans season

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1921 Buffalo All-Americans season
Head coachTommy Hughitt
Home fieldCanisius College
Results
Record10–1–2 Overall
9–1–2 APFA
Division place2nd APFA
Playoff finishLost 10–7 to Chicago Staleys

The 1921 Buffalo All-Americans season was their second completed in the young American Professional Football Association (APFA). The team matched their previous output of 9–1–1, going 9–1–2 against league opponents, and losing the league title to the Chicago Staleys in a disputed tiebreaker.[1]

Philadelphia Quakers moonlighting controversy and absorption of Detroit Heralds

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During the 1921 season, several of the Buffalo All-Americans, most notably future Philadelphia Eagles co-founder Lud Wray, also played for the Philadelphia Quakers, an independent club based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since Philadelphia was subject to blue laws in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Quakers had to play their games on Saturdays, as opposed to the Sundays used by the APFA, including Buffalo. The Buffalo players played for Philadelphia on Saturday, then traveled back to Buffalo for Sunday's game. A few days before Buffalo played Canton, the league found out about violation of league policy, and made the players choose which team they wanted to play for. Five, including Wray, chose to stay with the Quakers, blaming the Buffalo management for "blowing the whistle." Buffalo was able to hire players from the Detroit Heralds, who folded midseason, to complete their roster.[2]

De facto championship game

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The Chicago Staleys (to be renamed the Chicago Bears after the end of the season), led by wide receiver George Halas, and the Buffalo All-Americans, led by quarterback Tommy Hughitt and fullback Catchy Oliphant, were the two top teams in the league; each playing all of their games at home, Buffalo and Chicago amassed 6–0 records in league play. On Thanksgiving 1921, Buffalo played one of its only road games of the season, in Chicago, and prevailed 7–6. Chicago demanded a rematch.

The All-Americans agreed to rematch the Staleys on December 4, again in Chicago, on the condition that the game would be considered a "post-season" exhibition game not to be counted in the standings; had it not, Buffalo would have had an undefeated season and won the title. (Buffalo had played, and defeated, the Akron Pros just one day prior.) Chicago defeated Buffalo, who did not have the services of the Heralds players it had borrowed (they were playing against the Detroit Maroons the same day), in the rematch by a score of 10–7. Halas rebutted that the second game was played on December 4 (well before teams typically stopped playing games in those days), and the Staleys played two more games against top opponents, the Canton Bulldogs and Chicago Cardinals after the second Buffalo game (though, at the time of the Buffalo-Chicago matchup, Chicago had played three fewer games than Buffalo).

The league counted the All-Americans game in the standings, against Buffalo's wishes, resulting in Buffalo (9–1–2) and Chicago (9–1–1) being tied atop the standings. The league then implemented the first ever tiebreaker: a rule, now considered archaic and removed from league rulebooks, that states that if two teams play multiple times in a season, the last game between the two teams carries more weight. Thus, the Chicago victory actually counted more in the standings, giving Chicago the championship. Buffalo sports fans have been known to refer to this, justly or unjustly, as the "Staley Swindle," and have cited it as the first evidence of a sports curse[broken anchor] on the city.

Oliphant was the most valuable player for the All-Americans as he led the league in scoring; (47 points), FGs (5) and PATs (26), 1 touchdown; he also led the league in touchdown passes (7).

Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result
September 25, 1921 McKeesport Olympics W 28–0
1 October 2, 1921 Hammond Pros W 17–0
2 October 9, 1921 Columbus Panhandles W 38–0
3 October 16, 1921 New York Brickley Giants W 55–0
4 October 23, 1921 Rochester Jeffersons W 28–0
5 October 30, 1921 at Detroit Tigers W 21–0
6 November 6, 1921 Cleveland Indians W 10–6
7 November 13, 1921 Akron Pros T 0–0
8 November 20, 1921 Canton Bulldogs T 7–7
9 November 24, 1921 at Chicago Staleys W 7–6
10 November 27, 1921 Dayton Triangles W 7–0
11 December 3, 1921 Akron Pros W 14–0
12 December 4, 1921 at Chicago Staleys L 10–7

Game in italics was against a non-NFL team, is therefore not counted in league standings.

Standings

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APFA standings
W L T PCT PF PA STK
Chicago Staleys 9 1 1 .900 128 53 T1
Buffalo All-Americans 9 1 2 .900 211 29 L1
Akron Pros 8 3 1 .727 148 31 W1
Canton Bulldogs 5 2 3 .714 106 55 W1
Rock Island Independents 4 2 1 .667 65 30 L1
Evansville Crimson Giants 3 2 0 .600 89 46 W1
Green Bay Packers 3 2 1 .600 70 55 L1
Dayton Triangles 4 4 1 .500 96 67 L1
Chicago Cardinals 3 3 2 .500 54 53 T1
Rochester Jeffersons 2 3 0 .400 85 76 W2
Cleveland Indians 3 5 0 .375 95 58 L1
Washington Senators 1 2 0 .334 21 43 L1
Cincinnati Celts 1 3 0 .250 14 117 L2
Hammond Pros 1 3 1 .250 17 45 L2
Minneapolis Marines 1 3 0 .250 37 41 L1
Detroit Tigers 1 5 1 .167 19 109 L5
Columbus Panhandles 1 8 0 .111 47 222 W1
Tonawanda Kardex 0 1 0 .000 0 45 L1
Muncie Flyers 0 2 0 .000 0 28 L2
Louisville Brecks 0 2 0 .000 0 27 L2
New York Brickley Giants 0 2 0 .000 0 72 L2

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

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  1. ^ 1921 Buffalo All-Americans
  2. ^ Who Really Won in 1921? Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Bills Backers United.