Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I was doing some research on the 1919 Taylorville (IL) Independents team, and saw in the the 11/12/1919 edition of the Taylorville and Decatur papers, that both Ted and Frank Nesser played for the Taylorville Independents against the Decatur Staleys on 11/11/1919. I know players bounced around all the time back then...Does anyone have a list of the teams/games that the Nesser brothers played for (except for Akron, Detroit and Columbus)? I know that Jim Thorpe bounced around also, playing for the Pine Village (IN) team back on thanksgiving 1915. Might be a topic for a Coffin Corner article....??? thanks!

no Nesser historians out there????

From my experience, it's a near impossible task. Several times I've submitted articles with lists of teams pre-NFL players played for only to learn later I had missed some. I've written multiple articles about Tony Latone, for example, and if it came out tomorrow he played a game for a team I missed, it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Wikipedia is decent, but can be hit and miss. It doesn't mention the Pittsburgh Lyceum for Frank for example. That was an important one imo, because it showed he was a player even an out of state team would want to recruit as a ringer for a big game. Ted's page looks like a decent starting point to me. I would start with the basic ones and then add in the one-offs like Taylorville as you find them.

P.S. Thorpe is a bit of a counter example here - I think he's well documented enough that no one is finding new teams.

as for Thorpe, i suspect he palyed in more barnstorming games after 1928, probably a game here or there, with Thorpe being the draw...

Syeroy wrote: ↑Thu May 07, 2026 6:24 pm no Nesser historians out there????

Chris Willis wrote this

https://nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com ... esser.html


social media pages FB: The Nesser Brother's IG: @thenesserbrothers this page is run by the Nesser family.