The Wide World of American Football - 1952-53 Edition

 

MWFC EXPANDING AGAIN, FOR BETTER OR WORSE?

The move of the Columbus Buckeyes to Washington seemed to have sparked something inside of MWFC president Virgil Bradshaw, as he swiftly announced the addition of a team in Columbus beginning in 1953 as well as two more teams joining the league in 1954. Former owner Randolf Durant had no influence on the new franchise, instead Bradshaw put investment banker Peter Issacs in charge of the new team, named the Columbus Aviators. While he did not say where the two teams would be at, he assured the press that the two new teams would expand the footprint of the league further than it had ever been before. Many guessed that Bradshaw was trying to lure in teams from other leagues like how the AFL did, and many have circulated that these teams could come anywhere from the NYPL to the former teams of the Southern Football League, which folded during the 1944 season. Sports pundits were perplexed at the moves, mainly the expansion back to Columbus. Even Donovan Hasenkamp chimed in on the move, stating “[The Buckeyes] were second fiddle to the University of Ohio in attendance in both of the leagues they were in. What do [Bradshaw and Isaacs] have that will make it any different?” The Buckeyes struggled in attendance ever since their peak in the 1920’s, consistently filling up only 10,000 seats in the 60,000 seat stadium after the war. If the MWFC is trying to establish itself as a mid-major tier football league, then this would be a decent move. However, Bradshaw is still proclaiming the Championship as the best football league in America, so putting a new team in a struggling market is baffling to say the least. As for how the two newest teams in the Championship did, they were awful. Louisville finished dead last in the league, only winning a single game against the other expansion team in Kansas City. KC did slightly better, winning three games but facing some poor play all around. Lack of parity has plagued the MWFC since the 6 founding AFL teams left, with the Chicago Stars, Indianapolis Flames, and Fort Wayne Generals finishing in the top 3 every year since 1950. This included this year, as Bradshaw’s Chicago Stars reclaimed the Bradshaw Cup by manhandling the defending champs in the Indianapolis Flames. Bradshaw rebutted the lack of parity during the awards ceremony, stating “We just lost half of our league to that asinine traitor [Hasenkamp]. Of course the rest of the league blows. We’ll be back up to snuff in a few years.” Many noted the irony of Bradshaw stating that his own league is not great quality-wise while he was standing under a banner proclaiming that the Stars were “World Champions of Football”. Some of the newer teams in the MWFC took great offense to their president calling them bad, and their relationship with Bradshaw might begin to dwindle if he continues to build up the top teams and ignore the middle and bottom of the league. With new teams joining, the MWFC might be expanding faster than the AFL, but it is definitely lacking the quality the latter has gained over the past 3 years. The Championship hopes to regain the glory it once had, and time will tell if they will recapture their old glory or fall into pieces like the other regional leagues.

NYPL ON LAST LEGS

Even with the restructuring down to 6 teams for this year, the NYPL’s future is not looking bright. The Long Island Islanders and Philadelphia Federals have played their last games in the NYPL this year, as the former will fold and the latter will merge into the Philadelphia Americans. The Long Island Islanders had great success in the early years of the NYPL, winning two championships in 1929 and 1931, and staying constantly in the top half of the league during the Great Depression. However, the team fell apart during the war, and was the resident cellar dweller of the league during this time. It was no wonder the NYPL decided to fold the team, fan support was almost non-existent and the team was bleeding money. The Federals were the other team that regularly joined the Islanders in the basement, winning their sole championship in 1938, but never coming close to the point since. The reduction in teams might provide some temporary relief for the downtrodden league, but in the long term it looks far more bleak. The seasons since 1941 have not been great for the league, losing 8 teams in that time span, including Buffalo and Pittsburgh who have been revitalized in the AFL in just 1 season. Commissioner and Bronx Bulldogs owner Luther Cryer is on an incredibly hot seat. New York Dutch Lions owner Peter Stuyvesant was the most vocal about replacing the failing commissioner, who wanted Cryer to do something about the competing MWFC and AFL instead of focusing on just teams in the New York City area. Stuyvesant is the most vocal opposition to Cryer’s leadership, but outside of Newark Tigers owner Robert Ritchie there wasn’t anyone else who was going to oppose the founder of the league. While this power struggle was happening, the Philadelphia Americans were struggling off the field. They did get runner-up this year, but it looks more of a flash in the pan more than anything. The Americans did gain some assets from the Federals to hopefully keep them afloat for a few more years, but the general ignorance from the teams favoring Cryer’s leadership, primarily Bronx Bulldogs and Brooklyn Kings. There have been rumors that the teams opposing Cryer, those being Baltimore, Newark, and New York, are looking for a way out of the NYPL, and will jump at any opportunity to leave the failing league. Representatives from the AFL, MWFC, and NEFL have been rumored to have been around the owners of Baltimore, Newark, and New York, so to see any of them leaving soon might be more likely than not. The NYPL is becoming a trainwreck too horrible not to look away from, and any developments from this will most likely come sooner rather than later.

AFL-NEFL TALKING MERGER

Talks between the AFL and NEFL for a possible merger between the two leagues have stalled over the past year, with Boston Rebels owner Frank Goldstein’s demands that both Boston teams be allowed into the league repeatedly being denied by the AFL and Boston Bards owner Leslie Watson. AFL commissioner Donovan Hasenkamp has been quite firm over the fact that there can be only 1 team from Boston, stemming from a potential reason to bar MWFC president Virgil Bradshaw from attempting to join the AFL with his own Chicago team. However, negotiations have stalled immensely due to Watson’s health. Watson had been bed-ridden most of 1952, leaving most of the Rebels’ day-to-day operations with his son-in-law Robert McNamara. McNamara has the complete opposite view of Frank Goldstein, and is a little more willing to merge the two Boston teams just to join the more prestigious AFL, leaving the two constantly clashing during NEFL league meetings. Watson unfortunately passed away in January of 1953, and control of the Boston Bards passed to McNamara as the new owner. McNamara had gained prominence among the NEFL for his willingness to change, especially in a league as deep in tradition as the NEFL is. An alumnus of the prestigious Armitage University in Boston, where the Boston Bards got their name, his marketing and advertising businesses made him gain good cohorts with the other NEFL owners, even sitting in on several meetings because of the other owner’s respect for him. McNamara sitting in on these meetings made the tensions between him and Frank Goldstein hard to make up, constantly bickering over what the league is to do in the current football landscape. It was also not a surprise that he was almost unanimously elected as the next president of the NEFL, with the only dissenting vote being Goldstein. This puts McNamara in charge of any potential talks the league will have with other leagues. McNamara was in attendance for the AFL Championship game in Buffalo, and loved what he saw out of Buffalo, knowing that a Boston team could have great potential if on the same level as either Buffalo or Pittsburgh were this season. Hasenkamp has invited both Watson and McNamara to join the AFL’s spring meetings to talk further matters about the Boston scenario and what to do with the rest of the NEFL with its two marquee teams gone. The next spring meetings for the AFL will be crucial for the young league’s future, with many saying that whether or not Boston will join the AFL will launch it into stardom or flounder with another rejection. If it’s anyone’s guess, the AFL will announce at least 1 new team that will be entering the league in the near future, but no one is quite sure what will happen between both of the Boston teams and the remaining teams of the NEFL.