1920 Rock Island Independents season
After the AFPA had been formed on September 17, 1920, Douglas Park was the venue as the Independents hosted the St. Paul Ideals, winning 48-0 in the new league's first contest.
After the 1919 season, representatives of the Canton Bulldogs, the Cleveland Tigers, the Dayton Triangles, and the Akron Pros met on August 20, 1920, to discuss the formation of a new league.
At that meeting, held at Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay's Hupmobile showroom in Canton, representatives of the Rock Island Independents, the Muncie Flyers, the Decatur Staleys, the Racine Cardinals, the Massillon Tigers, the Chicago Cardinals, and the Hammond Pros agreed to join the league.
Representatives of the Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons could not attend the meeting, but sent letters to Hay asking to be included in the league.
[5] Team representatives changed the league's name slightly to the American Professional Football Association and elected officers, installing Jim Thorpe as president.
[5][6][7] Under the new league structure, teams created their schedules dynamically as the season progressed, so there were no minimum or maximum number of games needed to be played.
[11][12] For the 1920 season, the Independents added multiple players to its roster: Keith Dooley, who previously played from 1912 to 1916; Fred Denfield, Mark Devlin, and Harry Gunderson, who previously played in 1917; Ed Healey, Polly Koch, George Magerkurth, Ed Shaw, Ben Synhorst, Harry Webber, Obe Wenig, and Arnie Wyman.
The team was diminished with the departure of 1919 players Wes Bradshaw, Leland Dempsey, Al Jorgenson, Loyal Robb, Fats Smith, Red Swanson, and co-coach John Roche.
In the evening of December 1, 1920, with the team's final game of the year over and done, a "secret meeting of officials and players" was held at the New Harper Hotel in Rock Island.
[16] The results of a day-long audit of the books by team manager Walter A. Flanigan and treasurer Zwicker were presented, showing total receipts in round figures of $29,000, expenses of $16,000, and a net surplus of $13,000.
[16] The original split was estimated at $660 per player (approximately $11,000 in 2025 dollars); however as a few bills remained outstanding, a portion of this was left by each member of the team until final accounts were settled.
"[16] Members of the club decided to end their season as it stood, without further negotiation for post-season road games, and players began to leave Rock Island for their homes the morning after the disbursement meeting.
[17] Flanigan promised to donate one month of his time at the start of the 1921 season to help the legion post to navigate the difficulties of scheduling and any other problems of initial team organization that should arise.
[17] A four-member committee was appointed by the Legion post to study the matter, with a report due to the organization on December 21, 1920.
September 26, 1920, at Douglas Park, Rock Island, Illinois To start its 1920 season, the Independents played the first game in the history of the league against the non-APFA St. Paul Ideals.
[33] Coach Flanigan had Fred Chicken, Bobby Marshall, and Freeman Fitzgerald—the 1919 Independents' main stars—in reserve in case he needed to play them.
[34] October 3, 1920, at Douglas Park Next up, the Green and White faced the Muncie Flyers — reckoned to be one of the first games featuring two APFA teams.
[39] October 24, 1920, at Douglas Park Coming off their first loss of the season, the Independents played against the Chicago Cardinals in week 5, with 4,000 spectators in attendance.
[43] November 11, 1920, at Monmouth College Athletic Park With Rock Island depleted by injury at the hands of "Staley's butchers," the Independents would have cancelled this first road game of the season had there not been a binding contract in place, according to Argus sportswriter Bruce Copeland.
[27] Instead, a set of "makeshift Independents" took the field in Monmouth, Illinois, to play the Chicago Thorns-Tornadoes in bitterly cold and windy conditions.
[27] In acknowledgement of the miserable weather and the "comparative handful" of the presale of 3,000 tickets that braved the day,[27] the teams decided to have 10-minute quarters.
[30] It was anticipated that new players would be brought in to supplant the team's crippled backfield, with Green and White manager Walter Flanagan reportedly free to borrow stars from the Dayton Triangles and Chicago Tigers for the game.
[46] Finances intervened, however, when on November 19 it was announced that Canton owner Jim Thorpe was canceling the game for economic reasons, despite having been offered a $4,000 guarantee.
[31] The Washington and Jefferson All-Star team had already been signed for an as-yet unannounced December 5 visit to Rock Island to play the Independents.
[31] With that Sunday slot once again open, team manager Flanagan contacted Mulaney and had the game with the collegiate stars moved up one week.
[31] This impromptu assemblage — remembered in historic accounts variously as the "Pittsburgh All-Collegians,"[48] "the Wheeling Collegians,"[49] or the "Washington and Jefferson All-Stars" — proved a chimera.
