The "Dixie League" was a professional American football minor league founded in 1936 originally as the "South Atlantic Football Association", with six charter member teams in the Middle Atlantic states of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Like the American Association (nicknamed the 'A.A.
Unlike most professional football minor leagues, the "Dixie League" had a relative stability in membership during the "Great Depression" in the years prior to World War II, maintaining a five or six-team lineup membership of franchises (and adding a team in North Carolina upon the demise of their Washington team franchise in 1941).
Charter members included the Maryland Athletic Club (which moved to Washington, D.C. in 1936 to become the Washington Pros), the Baltimore Orioles (also known sometimes as the Baltimore Blue Jays, but no relation to the later major league "Orioles" baseball team in the American League, (1954 to present), Norfolk Clancys, Richmond Arrows, Portsmouth Cubs, and the Alexandria Celtics (the last was a "traveling team" with no regular home city).
Richmond manager Blair Meaney, Jr. hired a new head coach (Bob Burdette) and new players (to join the five who didn't strike) to finish the season.
[2] Baltimore's Ted Wright led the scoring, while the Orioles/Blue Jays also featured the League's top passer, Leroy "Sunshine" Campbell.
Until the player strike, back Mush DeLotto provided an explosive running game for the Richmond Arrows.
Fourth-place finisher Portsmouth declined to participate in the playoffs, opting for a game against nearby rival Norfolk.
After being rebuffed, the Rebels tried to compete against the Arrows by forming the "Virginia-Carolina Football League" and then marched through the season undefeated.
Five members of the Washington Presidents (including backfield mates Tom Oliver and Gene Augusterfer) were named to the all league team.
Baltimore's Ted Wright was once again the league's leading scorer while teammate "Sunshine" Campbell dented defenses with his passes.
The DL was forced to play with only five teams after the folding of the Baltimore Blue Jays/Blue Birds, and the Washington Patriots minor league squad became a traveling team (having been upstaged by the NFL's former Boston Braves, later renamed the Boston Redskins later becoming the Washington Redskins and the League's entry into the District of Columbia, the Nation's Capital, the year before) under owner George Preston Marshall.
A. E. Stutz, the founder and owner of the Norfolk Clancys, died in late 1937; in 1938, new owner Harry Howren started stockpiling talent (including back Mush DeLotto, formerly of Richmond), sufficient for the newly renamed the "Shamrocks" to dominate League play that year.
For the last game, the Cubs added Ace Parker (after he finished an All-Pro season with the NFL's team, the Brooklyn Dodgers).
While the team made a successful debut, finishing in second place, the Travelers had the misfortune of having almost half of its season canceled as a result of bad weather.
Two early losses deprived Richmond of a chance for competing for the league title (which was easily won by Portsmouth), but the Arrows entertained the fans by being the first 'D.L.'
Portsmouth's Larry Weldon set a new league record by throwing seven touchdown passes in the span of ten games.
As the United States started preparing for a war with the "Axis Powers", (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan) that appeared to be inevitable in the fall of 1941, the League benefited from the addition of military personnel from bases in the region.
Playing for the Newport News Builders, two such newcomers broke passing and scoring records that were established just the previous year.
George Cafego had eight of his passes go for touchdowns, while Ken Fryer scored 61 points, more than any minor league player in a single season before the entry of the U.S. into World War II.
Charlotte had a successful freshman season in the "Dixie League", scoring 184 points, roughly 30 more than Newport News and Norfolk... and the previous record set in 1940 by Richmond.
[10] The plans were short-lived as Newport News failed to field a team and the other three teams played only a few games before competition was canceled due to lack of spectator interest (or else the extremely high work-load in the numerous local defense plants and shipyards just getting started up to speed in the War's first year).
The Greensboro Patriots moved to Winston-Salem, while the Roanoke Travelers returned to the fold, replacing the defunct Newport News franchise.
The week after the "Opening Day", (October 5, 1947) games, the League suddenly announced that it was suspending operations for the 1947 season.
The team petitioned to join the competing major league, the new "All-America Football Conference" for their fourth 1950 season, but the A.A.F.C.