Founded in 1936 with teams in New York and New Jersey, the AA extended its reach to Providence, Rhode Island prior to the onset of World War II.
The Atlantic Coast Football League originally established itself in several former American Association markets (reviving some of the team names as well) and hiring the same president, Joe Rosentover, when it began play in 1962.
The American Association was formed after a proposal by Edwin Simandl, manager of the Orange Tornadoes football team.
Although Passaic dropped out, owner Rosentover continued serving as A.A. president, a position he would hold for another 13 years, until the dissolution of the league.
Newark suggested an extra period to end the game, with the blessing of the league commissioner provided that White Plains agreed, but the Bears refused and the title was shared.
In the lineup of the Brooklyn Eagles was a reserve guard who eventually made his mark as a head coach: Vince Lombardi.
The Clifton Wessingtons featured tailback Joe Lillard, the last African American NFL player before the imposition of a color line in 1936.
The rest of the American Association was similarly hurt by defections to the new league (the Boston Shamrocks, champions of the AFL in both 1940 and 1941, got the bulk of its roster by raiding the Indians and the Steamroller).
A rematch scheduled for December 5 was cancelled due to snow; the league broke the tie with a best three-of-five coin toss, which Newark won to enter the playoffs.
The team left the League after losing all six of its games and folded after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ushered in the United States' participation in World War II, December 7th, 1941, and making a question in the future temporarily for all professional sports.
[1] Playoffs: Wilmington 33, Paterson 0; Long Island 7, Jersey City 6 Championship: Wilmington 21, Long Island 13 The Hartford Blues[4] were expected to replace the New York Yankees for the 1942 season; the Churchill Pros[5] (based in Springfield, Massachusetts) were enlisted to replace Providence when the team became the new Springfield Steamroller.
[13] While some member teams kept playing on in an informal assemblage, the Northeast circuit did not return in 1943, and the AA remained officially out of action until the post-war year of 1946.
The resurrected league had three new entries for the first post-war season: the Scranton Miners, Newark Bombers (replacing the Bears, who moved to Akron, Ohio), and the Bethlehem Bulldogs.
[1] The Long Island Indians dropped out after three games; they were replaced by the Richmond Rebels, which started the season competing in the Dixie League.
[1][14] Championship: Bethlehem 23, Paterson 7 Bloomfield folded before the start of play in 1948 and the league scrapped its two-division setup for the upcoming season.
Bob Edgerson, Bullets president, informed the league that the injuries would force him to cancel an upcoming game with Wilmington.
Rosentover then asked the independent Erie Vets if they could finish the Bullets' schedule, but the team had disbanded for the season.
[1] Richmond owner Harry Seibold applied for an expansion franchise in the All-America Football Conference, which had lost a member when the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers merged for the 1949 season.
[1] Although the Erie Vets could not complete Wilkes-Barre's schedule in 1949, they did join the AFL for the 1950 season; in addition, the Wilmington Clippers left the league and were replaced by the Brooklyn Brooks.
Bethlehem called it quits in early October, having lost two games (one by forfeit); later that week, the Brooklyn franchise was revoked for failure to pay the entrance fee.
A new league schedule was drawn up, but in early November, charter member Paterson was forced to close up shop because of a financial dispute.