The Tri-Cities were a prime football market with local Tri-Cities College becoming a powerhouse on the collegiate level. Thus, the Tri-Cities Black Hawks were formed in 1919 as an inaugural team in the AA, playing their games across the river from Tri-Cities College in Davenport, Iowa. They survived through that catastrophe of a league and independent leagues for another 6 years with relatively poor play, and got invited to the MWFC as charter members. They struggled for a while, and were on the verge of folding when the Depression hit Davenport hard. The team was saved in 1934 by local real estate magnate Bert Hester, who bought the team at the behest of his old friend Donovan Hasenkamp. He made two large changes to the team, the first was the shortening of the name to just the Hawks, and the second was finally bringing the team some sort of success. He brought former Detroit Knights executives to help him scout talent the same way they did it back in the Motor City, and it instantly ...
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...
Unlike their expansion brethren, St. Louis owner Arthur Dixon knew exactly what to name the team. Dixon is a high-ranking executive within Anheuser-Busch, and a good friend of St Louis Brewers owner and lead executive Gussie Busch. The last team that was in town, the St. Louis Arrows, was fairly successful in bringing in fans but the financials were never right, with PAFC president Virgil Bradshaw controversially merging them with the Kansas City team and leaving the city without a pro football team. Busch immediately stepped up to bring the sport back into town, and gave Dixon the funds needed to get an expansion team in the AFL. Busch gave only three requirements, that for Dixon to fully run the team, the team had to represent his company in some way, and that they played in Busch Stadium along with the Brewers. Dixon would then announce to the press the name of the new St. Louis team: the St. Louis Stallions. The team would be named after the Clydesdale horses that would travel arou...
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