Duquesne Country and Athletic Club

The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club was a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1895 until 1900.

However, after four games, before playing the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, they began hiring stars and soon became the most professional team in the city.

Then when the war ended in just a few short months and the original players returned home, the Duquesnes suddenly found themselves with a load of expensive stars.

Those players, end Tommy Randolph, tackle Otto Wagonhurst, guard John Wienstein, and back Don McNeil would have been regulars for the rival Pittsburgh Athletic Club.

[1][4] When it became apparent around this time that the Duquesnes could not survive financially while paying its players, William C. Temple, its chairman, took over the team payments becoming the first known individual club owner.

However, in early days of professional football, the public wrongly viewed everyone who was playing for an athletic club, as an amateur.

[3] Meanwhile, Duquesne in 1900 found itself posting a financial loss, resulting in the club to fold its professional football team immediately.