The Wide World of American Football: 1953-54 Edition
MWFC ADDS THREE TEAMS, GETS NEW NAME After president Virgil Bradshaw promised two new teams for this season, many were surprised when he not only announced that three new teams would join the league for its 1954 season, but the league would be getting a new name. All three teams were in surprising locations for the Midwestern-based league, as Bradshaw announced the addition of the Baltimore Barons, Richmond Patriots, and the Boston Rebels to the newly-named Premier American Football Championship. In the AFL’s push for the east coast, Bradshaw had the revelation that a majority of football talent was in the south, whose professional league was abandoned shortly after the U.S. joined WWII in 1944. The first step was negotiating the return of the Richmond Patriots, the Southern Football League’s most successful and recognizable team, with former owner Beau Tackett back at the helm to run the team once more. The other team that Bradshaw wanted for his “Southern Expansion Plan” that he pers...