American Football League - Fictional History

The spring meetings came back home to Chicago, and the owners had some pressing issues to take on before the start of the 1955 season, as well as planning out events that were coming within the next year. First and foremost, commissioner Donovan Hasenkamp officially introduced the new owners to the rest of the league, as Boston owner Robert McNamara and New York owner Peter Stuyvesant were now official members of the league. Although they were not joining until next year, Philadelphia owner Sy Thompson and St Louis owner Arthur Dixon were welcomed to the meetings, as a majority of the items on the docket had to do with the expansion process. After the fanfare was over, the meetings were now officially underway. LEAGUE REALIGNMENT Boston and New York would have to be placed in the East Division, and some realignment would need to be done to balance out each division at 5. At first, it was proposed that one of either Cleveland or Detroit move from the East to the West to balance out the ...

RICHMOND STUNS PAFC, OWNERS BEGINNING TO RIFT It was expected to be another wash season for the PAFC, which has become a three-headed race between the Chicago Stars, Fort Wayne Generals, and Indianapolis Flames for the title of “World Champion of Football”. However, former Cincinnati Rivermen and Pittsburgh Shamrock QB Clarence Stanley was lured away from the AFL to join the Richmond Patriots, adding the first bit of major AFL talent to leave for the PAFC. Stanley helped the Patriots in their first season to a second-place regular season finish, ready to face the undefeated Chicago Stars in the title game. As for the two other new teams, the Baltimore Barons managed a third place finish with the talent from the 1952 Calvert team, and the Boston Rebels finished dead last, only winning a single game. Boston Rebels owner Frank Goldstein stated that he was not pleased that two teams from “lesser leagues” managed to place better than his supposedly elite Northeastern team. Goldstein receive...

A mild winter evening in Chicago brought out both the best and the worst of Hogs fans, who were as rabid as ever to reach their 4th championship game in 5 years. With one of the most entertaining teams in recent years, Hogs fans have great hope for the future to potentially win even more. Standing in their way are the upstart Cleveland Crows, whose rise mirrored that of the Washington Federals last year. While the team is more offensive focused, their defense will have to step up if the Crows want to match the Hogs blow for blow in what could be an offensive shootout.  Q1 The Hogs would defer possession to the second half, and the Crows would have a chance to start their offensive machine. Cleveland returner Greg Dixon would stun the home crowd, weaving his way through the oncoming Hogs on his way to a 92-yard kick return touchdown, getting his second return touchdown in two weeks. After silencing Union Stadium, Hogs fans got right back to making noise when golden boy Billy Gould s...

West Division Play-Off: Washington Federals @ Chicago Hogs It was a mild Thanksgiving Day at Union Stadium, with light showers sprinkling the field before the game and fog lingering from the earlier storms. The weather didn’t seem to bring the two best offenses in the league to believe they would not perform well, as brown and blue fans alike packed Union Stadium for one of the league’s budding rivalries. It’s a rematch of last year’s West play-off, and Chicago is more than eager to get revenge on the Federals. Q1 The Federals won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball, hoping to get ahead of the Hogs early. Washington HC Irving Berry wanted to control the clock and wear down the Hogs' defense, and he began executing his plan on the first drive. RB Rip Rooney began to power his way through the mighty Chicago defensive line, gaining ground little by little to wear down them early. After taking a few minutes off the clock, QB Johnnie Sellers caught the defense off guard by WR ...

  East Division With two of its top teams having new quarterbacks for this season, there was a power vacuum in the East that had to be filled. And in filling that vacuum, a bloodbath ensued to secure those two coveted playoff spots. Pittsburgh did start off on the right foot, getting revenge on the defending champion Federals by crushing them 30-13 in week 1. The Shamrocks got another win one week later against Cleveland to take the lead in the East. However, they would not win another game in the next 5 weeks, losing all but 1 of their games by 1 possession. QB O.J. DeMille showed off that he could be the Shamrocks’ QB of the future like he had promised, but the offense severely lacked any potent weapons that could make him thrive. RB Marion Waters regressed significantly from his performance last year, barely being able to get past the secondary with a drop in his speed. The receiving core was middling at best, with WR David Rice and TE Harry Worley being good but n...