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1958 Design Changes

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After utilizing their stadium partner’s identity for the past two years, the New York Lions finally got an identity for themselves. After piggy-backing off of the Dutch Lions and getting a run to the championship, owner Peter Stuyvesant wanted to take the Lions in a different direction. Instead of using a dutch lion, he took inspiration from the New York Public Library’s lions, to be fitting for “a team of regal stature in the country’s largest city”. The new primary logo will be the stoic head of one of the lion statues, replacing the heraldic dutch lion that was used in a similar capacity. The Lions also swapped out the tuscan-inspired interlocking N-Y for one that is more blocky, though it will be relegated to secondary use. Their typeset also changes slightly to fit in line with the new secondary. Their uniforms, however, will remain the same, not wanting to change them with a miracle title run this past year. Tri-Cities owner Bob Hester ran into the same issue that Cincinnati had ...
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AFL Spring Meetings 1958

LEAGUE MOVES EXPANSION TO 1960 & 1961 The AFL’s expansion over the past two years can be considered a rousing success. Out of the 4 teams introduced, all but one have made the playoffs (with the Rattlesnakes only missing out by half a game) and all of them have won at least one game in the playoffs. Boston and St Louis look like they will be up there with the “Big Three” teams of Chicago, Cincinnati, and Washington. New York made a miracle run for the title this past year. Philadelphia has some of the largest attendance numbers the league has seen so far. With the sport of football on the up and up in recent years, the league announced that it will move up the second half of the “Manhattan Plan” by one year. Los Angeles and San Francisco are now slated to join for the 1960 season, with two other teams to join a year later in 1961. The two bids from San Francisco, the group that attempted to buy the Knights (Allen Penoyer & Ernest Barlowe) and the other headed by former Kansas C...
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The Wide World of American Football: 1957-58 Edition

MIRACLE TITLE IN THE PAFC OVERSHADOWED BY CHAOS The PAFC has been trying to distance itself from the game-fixing scandal that had made the league seem less legitimate the year prior. League president Virgil Bradshaw had only given the minimal funds necessary to keep several teams afloat, but seemed more interested in propping up the teams he actually cared about. After he sent in union-busters to stop his league’s players from striking, a mass exodus of players left to the ASPFL and AFL for better pay. Only two teams (Baltimore and New Orleans) willingly increased pay before their players went on strike, while the remainder either refused and brought in scabs or relented after play stopped. Milwaukee and Minneapolis were bleeding money after settlements due to their players’ involvement in the match-fixing scandal, and were only able to make it through the first 3 weeks of the season before both ran out of money to pay for their players and their operating costs. Kansas City fared no b...
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1957 AFL Championship

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Temperatures were reaching near 60° right before Christmas in Cincinnati as River Field hosted its second straight championship game. Rivermen fans once again filled the stadium over its capacity, but fell short of following up on last year’s crowd. Many New York fans made the trek over to watch their miracle team make it to the championship game, and if their last two games were any precedent then they’ll make it rough for the home team. Q1 New York wanted to make a statement on their opening drive, opting to start out their first title game with the ball. Having not played all year, the normally stout Rivermen defense could not stop the Lions’ ground game. RB Felix Philipow tore through the Cincinnati front seven, pretty much single-handedly carrying the Lions downfield and right onto the goal line. After a rush by RB Bernard Parks went nowhere, Philipow went right back out and beat the Rivermen secondary to the outside for the first score of the game. The Cincinnati offense seemed a...
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1957 Playoffs: Division Finals

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West Division Final: Detroit Knights @ Cincinnati Rivermen Cincinnati had a relatively perfect December day for playoff football, with both teams’ faithful packing River Field for what many are dubbing the “real championship game”. Both teams were arguably the best in the league, but they both will need to win this game at least to have a shot at winning the title. Detroit is a newcomer to these parts, where a win would take them to their first title game. A win for Cincinnati would take them to their third straight. Q1 Cincinnati decided that they wanted to get a headstart over the Knights and elected to receive the opening kickoff. The Rivs managed to gain some ground and took up a good chunk of the first quarter, but were stopped shortly after crossing midfield. Instead of lining up for a fairly long field goal, Cincinnati punted it off to Detroit to work their way out of being deep in their own territory. The Knights were unable to dig themselves out of that hole, and Cincinnati wa...
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1957 Playoffs: Division Semi-Finals

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West Division Semifinal: St Louis Stallions @ Detroit Knights Kaiser Field welcomed fans for postseason football for the first time since before the second World War, and they showed up in droves to watch their Knights finally play for something. It was just above freezing at gametime, with the grounds crew dealing with the remaining snow as the fans poured in. Although some St Louis fans were found in the grandstands, their cheers were quickly drowned out by a raucous Detroit crowd. Q1 Detroit would get the ball first, and were eager to keep the crowd with a good first outing. Even though QB Mike Major was ready to go back out as the starter, the Knights would continue to ride the hot hand of Mick Casey for their first AFL playoff game. Casey dropped back on the first play of the game, and threw a dart over the middle to WR Pat Kimball, who bounced off two defenders and broke free but got winded and was taken down for a nearly 60 yard reception. The Stallions were clearly rattled by t...
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1957 Season

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East Division As it had been in the past few years, the fight for the East Division title was close the entire season. Boston and Washington were the clear front runners before the season began, and made their cases for a division title clear as the year progressed. Washington QB Johnnie Sellers put up similar numbers to his MVP year in 1953, which might have been the reason why he would take home his second MVP from his performance this year. The usual cast of weapons on offense allowed him to shine, though an injury to WR Darius Sanderson late in the year would not see him return until the second week of the playoffs. Rookie WR Gene Cockburn excelled in his absence, and might be featured extensively once the regular #1 receiver returns to the lineup. Boston’s elite defense caved in a little bit this season, but that was expected after an elite season like last year. What changed was their offense, which finally got going after a key acquisition in the middle of the year. Former Bernh...
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1957 Season Preview

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  1 - Cincinnati Rivermen 1956 Record: 9-3 (1st West) 1956 Result: Lost Championship Highlighted Players: OL Milton McCovery (54) & DL Fergus Prenderghast (99) The Rivermen suffering an embarrassing loss in the championship made them realize something critical. Their core was starting to reach their prime, and they needed to make a push sooner rather than later. That realization resulted in them trading for possibly the league’s best defensive linemen in Fergus Prenderghast from Cleveland. They’ll certainly need him with how the rest of the West Division is beginning to shape up. Their defense is now arguably as good as Chicago’s: Prenderghast and fellow DL JJ Worthington should be a lethal 1-2 combination to terrorize offensive lines, LB Cade Masters has developed into a very solid top option at linebacker, and DB Kerry Lantz proving worthy of his DPOY award a year ago to be one of the corners in the league. Their main issue now is that their key players are starting to get up...
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1957 AFL Draft

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  Round 1 1 - Cleveland - DL Hank Jonas - Western Tennessee - DireBear 2 - Philadelphia - QB Raymond Oram - Nebraska State - DireBear 3 - Pittsburgh - OL Victor Gallagher - Maine State - Darknes 4 - New York - RB Felix Philipow - Michigan A&M - Wallflower 5 - Tri-Cities - OL Jerry Wineberg - McTyeire - Wallflower 6 - Detroit - S Roger Cedrick - Oklahoma - DireBear 7 - Buffalo - RB Duke Cooper - Alabama State - TheEnigmaticOne 8 - Pittsburgh (From CHI) - WR John Waterloo - Georgia A&M - idm 9 - St Louis - DB Julian Morgan - Georgia A&M - Kingsfan11 10 - Boston - DB Chris Hockenson - Ohio - Jayhawk 11 - Cleveland (From CIN) - TE Zebulon Jackson - Central Tennessee - QCS 12 - Washington - RB Rick Goldberg - University of the Bronx - joho42x The draft returned back to Chicago after two years away, and the Cleveland Crows spent almost no time making their selection, taking DL Hank Jonas out of Western Tennessee as the first overall pick. Jonas is expected to fill the shoes o...
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