Evansville Crimson Giants
After the initial two victories over modest opponents, the Ex-Collegians bragged of possibly playing the most celebrated pro football team in the nation, the Canton Bulldogs, on Christmas Day, 1920.
[1] The remaining Ex-Collegians, led by their quarterback and captain, Menz Lindsey, at first refused to join Fausch and Ingle.
With Morrison, Fausch arranged for a benefit game that provided funds for the construction of a World War I veterans' memorial.
Bourbon Bondurant, an insurance agent with prior pro football experience with the Fort Wayne Friars; Joe Windbiel, a local high school coach who played professionally with the Detroit Heralds; architect Earl Warweg, who had played semi-pro football for five years in Indianapolis; cigar company traffic manager Clarence Specht; and June Talley, an insurance adjuster also with college football experience, soon joined the team.
Within a week, Lindsey and Clarence Spiegel, two main pillars of the Ex-Collegians' organization, jumped to the Crimson Giants.
The team's first-ever league win came at home on October 2, 1921, as the Crimson Giants defeated the Louisville Brecks, 21–0.
Henderson, a high school football coach, refused and stated that he needed to show his players, who were sitting in the stands watching him, "how tackling was done.
Although Fausch intended to play every game in Evansville, he chose at this point to receive a guaranteed sum from the Packers' organization rather than risk losing more money at Bosse Field, where attendance had been disappointing.
With several players unable to leave Evansville for the weekend, Fausch found replacements, but the revamped Crimson Giants were defeated in Green Bay, 43–6.
However, when faced with poor field conditions and two days of heavy rain, Fausch made a last-minute cancellation.
The Crimson Giants won their sixth game of the season, 48–0; however, the team still took a financial loss due to poor attendance.
The "Committee of Five", led by former Ex-Collegians Menz Lindsey and Clarence Spiegel, forced Fausch to surrender management of the team.
Fausch and his American Football Association corporation lost an estimated $10,000 over the course of the season, despite playing a total of nine games at home and only one on the road.
To combat the "Committee of Five", Fausch asserted publicly that it was he who held the franchise rights in the American Professional Football Association, and thus owned the Crimson Giants.
[1] Fausch attended the APFA's meeting in Columbus, Ohio, and posted a $1,000 bond to secure his claim to the franchise.
Fausch, in the meantime, had hoped that the Evansville Pros would fold in October, so that he could regain the rights to Bosse Field.
The Crimson Giants lost all three of those games, to the Toledo Maroons, Rock Island Independents and Louisville Brecks.
Jimmy Conzelman ran for five touchdowns during that game, setting an NFL record that remained in place until 1929, when Ernie Nevers scored 40 points alone against the Chicago Bears.
[4] Fausch talked briefly about re-organizing a new Crimson Giants club for the 1923 season; however, he never made an effort to restart the team.
When faced with competition from the Giants in 1921, the Ex-Collegians brought in a few outsiders before folding, but generally, semi-pro teams spent little effort on recruiting.
It is believed that the blue collars workers were excluded from football in Evansville due to a lack of leisure time.
