A 1920 Program: Chicago Cardinals v. Rock Island
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 12:55 pm
I stumbled on this 1920 program the other day and thought I would share it with the board. I don't own it, but I was able to check and it sold for about $4100 at auction.
On the Chicago side, we see HoFer Paddy Driscoll, but the RI lineup is more interesting to me. This was a team coming off of a very successful 1919 season in which they claimed the championship (In reality, they didn’t play Canton or Massillon, had a good win over Akron (Pollard was on that team) but lost to Hammond who Canton was 1-0-1 against.
Interestingly, the only known 1920 All-Pro team was picked by a RI sportswriter, so it probably shouldn’t be that surprising that many of their players were selected:
1st
E - Oke Smith
G - Fred Denfield (I don’t see this name on the card)
H - Eddie Novak
2nd
E - Obe Wenig (I don’t see this name on the card)
T - Ed Shaw
3rd
E - Bob Marshall
T - Walt Buland
C - Freeman Fitzgerald
Among names I recognized:
Bobby Marshall is the “other” first black player in the league, but he actually had a much longer pro career than Pollard. It was however mostly on the wrong side of 1920 and not in OH.
Fitzgerald played for Massillon in some big pre-1920 games.
Fred Chicken A challenging player to google as most of the results are for “fried chicken”.
Brickley turns out not to be Harvard’s Charles Brickley.
Rube Ursella An early "all-pro caliber" player by some accounts I’ve read, but like Marshall was on the wrong side of 1920 and didn't play in OH. (Also, he was a back not a lineman so seems to be listed incorrectly here.)
Ed Healy HoF
Can anyone make out what's written at the bottom? "a few of the..."
Unfortunately, there is no date on the program and the back is blank. Even the advertising is odd to me as it lacks a street address. It was sold as "A program from an Oct. 24, 1920, game between the host Rock Island Independents and the Racine Cardinals"
On the Chicago side, we see HoFer Paddy Driscoll, but the RI lineup is more interesting to me. This was a team coming off of a very successful 1919 season in which they claimed the championship (In reality, they didn’t play Canton or Massillon, had a good win over Akron (Pollard was on that team) but lost to Hammond who Canton was 1-0-1 against.
Interestingly, the only known 1920 All-Pro team was picked by a RI sportswriter, so it probably shouldn’t be that surprising that many of their players were selected:
1st
E - Oke Smith
G - Fred Denfield (I don’t see this name on the card)
H - Eddie Novak
2nd
E - Obe Wenig (I don’t see this name on the card)
T - Ed Shaw
3rd
E - Bob Marshall
T - Walt Buland
C - Freeman Fitzgerald
Among names I recognized:
Bobby Marshall is the “other” first black player in the league, but he actually had a much longer pro career than Pollard. It was however mostly on the wrong side of 1920 and not in OH.
Fitzgerald played for Massillon in some big pre-1920 games.
Fred Chicken A challenging player to google as most of the results are for “fried chicken”.
Brickley turns out not to be Harvard’s Charles Brickley.
Rube Ursella An early "all-pro caliber" player by some accounts I’ve read, but like Marshall was on the wrong side of 1920 and didn't play in OH. (Also, he was a back not a lineman so seems to be listed incorrectly here.)
Ed Healy HoF
Can anyone make out what's written at the bottom? "a few of the..."
Unfortunately, there is no date on the program and the back is blank. Even the advertising is odd to me as it lacks a street address. It was sold as "A program from an Oct. 24, 1920, game between the host Rock Island Independents and the Racine Cardinals"
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