Bethlehem Bulldogs
[3] The AA changed its name for its post-war restart to the American Football League (AFL) and added new franchises to its six team mix, clubs based in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Akron, Ohio.
In March 1946, Bulldogs owner Bob Sell announced the hiring of former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Enio Conti as head coach of the Bethlehem team.
[6] That the Eagles were relied upon for a player not in their present plans was unsurprising, as the Wilmington AA franchise, from whence the Bethlehem team had sprung, had previously had a major league/minor league relationship with Philadelphia.
[12] According to Scranton Miners officials the reason for this move was financial — "to recoup, to a degree, money lost through poor attendance this season.
[12] An open date on the schedule during the last week of November was filled with an exhibition game against the Washington [DC] Lions — an all-African-American team which had already met the Bulldogs in the preseason, battling to a 7–7 tie in Allentown.
[13] This Saturday night game was played at Cottingham Stadium in the neighboring town of Easton, located about ten miles east of Bethlehem.
[9] Attendance for the Bethlehem team was healthy, averaging about 10,600 fans per game — second highest total in the league, behind only the Eastern Division winners, Jersey City.
[21] The team was bolstered in April by the resigning of star halfback and punter Camille Piccone[22] as well as southpaw quarterback Warren Harris[16] for the 1947 season.
Piccone was secured only after legal wrangling with the Baltimore Colts of the All-America Football Conference, who attempted to lure him away while already under contract to Bethlehem.
[21] The Bulldogs booked an aggressive pre-season schedule for the 1947 campaign, including an August 22 exhibition game against the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers in Erie (a 28–0 loss);[26] a match against the Wilkes-Barre Barons, formerly the Scranton Miners, in Allentown on September 3 (a 34–0 victory);[27] and a test against its own NFL affiliate, the Philadelphia Eagles, at Liberty High School Field in Bethlehem on September 17 (a wild 42–7 loss that saw four players ejected).
[29] The game turned in the third quarter with a three touchdown Bulldog outpouring, marked by reserve halfback Billy Kline breaking off a wild 80-yard run in which he reversed field twice and shook off several tacklers.
[33] Playing their third game in just seven days, a 243-yard passing attack by Bulldog quarterback Warren Harris rocked the visiting Wilmington Clippers 42–0 on October 22.
The Bulldogs got right the next week, blasting the Wilkes-Barre Barons 46 to 0, with Bethlehem's star QB Warren Harris throwing an astounding seven touchdown passes.
[38] Controversy swirled around the location of the league championship game, with AFL Commissioner Joseph Rosentover announcing Paterson, New Jersey, as the site of the contest.
[39] National Football League Commissioner Bert Bell intervened, however, having the final say in matters of dispute under the AFL charter, threatening to revoke the Bethlehem franchise if the game was not played at Paterson as scheduled.
[40] The Paterson crowd was not far short of the pregame estimate, totaling 10,587, packed into Hinchliffe Stadium to watch the home team convincingly defeated by the visitors from Pennsylvanian, 23 to 7.
[43] Promoter of the game, the Albuquerque Co-Op Club, absorbed a substantial loss when only 2,800 fans turned up in the rain to watch the mismatch — for which the Bulldogs collected a $6,500 guarantee and the Sacramento All-Stars another $5,000.
[47] Dini, previously employed as a backup to Warren "TD" Harris, did not play football collegiately but had signed straight out of high school in 1947 to Bethlehem.
[47] That seem month the team added former Bloomfield Cardinals QB Roy Anderson to help fill the gap left by Harris' departure to become a coach at Missouri Valley College.
