The Brooklyn Lions were a

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

team that played in the 1926 NFL season. The team was formed as the league's counter-move to the first American Football League, which enfranchised a team called the Brooklyn Horsemen, a

professional football In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

team that competed in the 1926 AFL season. In the months before the regular season began, both leagues battled with each other for fan support and the right to play at

Ebbets Field Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. It is mainly known for having been the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team of the National League (1913–1957). It was also home to five pro ...

. The NFL emerged as the winner, as the Lions signed the lease to use the stadium on July 20.David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen, and Rick Korch, ''The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional Football, From 1892 to the Present'' (St. Martin’s Press 1994), On November 12, 1926, the Horsemen withdrew from the AFL and merged with Lions. The new team created by the merger was initially called the Brooklyn Lions and competed in the NFL from November 22, 1926. For the last three games of the 1926, the team used the Horsemen name to finish the season. After three consecutive losses by shutout, the merged team winked out of existence.

Brooklyn Lions (NFL)

Coached by

Punk Berryman Robert Norman "Punk" Berryman (May 18, 1892 – May 18, 1966) was an American football player and coach. He played as a halfback at Pennsylvania State University and was selected as third-team All-American in 1915, his senior year. Berryman se ...

, the Lions featured

Rex Thomas Rex Beauford Thomas (April 16, 1902 – March 28, 1955) was a professional American football player who played wide receiver for five seasons for the Brooklyn Lions, Cleveland Bulldogs, Detroit Wolverines The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th-ce ...

and

Herm Bagby Herman Carlton Bagby (February 21, 1903 – February 29, 1980) was an American football back who played two seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Brooklyn Lions and Cleveland Bulldogs. Professional career Bagby was born on Februa ...

, two members of the

backfield The offensive backfield is the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage. The offensive backfield can also refer to members of offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including any backs on the field, such as the ...

who could play either tailback or wingback. On defense, Thomas also snared four

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s. Unfortunately, the team was only slightly more consistent in its play than the Horsemen, and after the November 7 game against the

Kansas City Cowboys Several sports team in Kansas City, Missouri have used the name Cowboys: *Kansas City Cowboys (Union Association), a baseball team in the Union Association in 1884 *Kansas City Cowboys (National League), a baseball team in the National League in 18 ...

(a 10–9 loss at Ebbets Field), the Lions merged with the Horsemen. At the time of the merger, the Lions had compiled a 2–5 win–loss record. NOTE: Final NFL standings: official franchise won–lost record combines the wins and losses of the Lions with the results of the games played by the merged team, originally named the Brooklyn Lions and later the Brooklyn Horsemen.

Brooklyn Horsemen (AFL)

The Horsemen of the first AFL were owned by boxing promoter

Humbert Fugazy Humbert J. Fugazy (January 28, 1885 – April 7, 1964) was a New York City boxing promoter around the 1930s. The Fugazy Bowl is named after him in his honour. He was also the owner of the Brooklyn Horsemen of the first American Football Leagu ...

and played their home games in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

's Commercial Field."A.F.L. Fields Nine Teams", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', July 17, 1926 Coached by Eddie McNeely, the Horsemen got the team name after McNeely's signing of

Elmer Layden Elmer Francis Layden (May 4, 1903 – June 30, 1973) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame where he starred at full ...

and

Harry Stuhldreher Harry Augustus Stuhldreher (October 14, 1901 – January 26, 1965) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played quarterback at University of Notre Dame from 1922 to 1924, where he was a three-time All-A ...

, two of Notre Dame's

Four Horsemen The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are figures in the Christian scriptures, first appearing in the Book of Revelation, a piece of apocalypse literature written by John of Patmos. Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand tha ...

. While the team's first game was decided by a 60-yard touchdown pass from Stuldreher to Ed Harrison, the team had trouble maintaining a steady offense (and, ultimately maintaining a fan base). After losses to the

Los Angeles Wildcats Los Angeles Wildcats is a name shared by several American football teams from Los Angeles: *Los Angeles Wildcats (AFL) The Los Angeles Wildcats (also reported in various media as Pacific Coast Wildcats, Los Angeles Wilson Wildcats and Wilson's ...

and Boston Bulldogs in front of decreasing crowds, a scheduled game at

against league leader (and eventual champion) Philadelphia Quakers was cancelled due to inclement weather. On November 7, 1926, the Horsemen played their last AFL game, a 21–13 loss to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

, and then merged with their NFL cousins, the Brooklyn Lions, to complete the season in the NFL.

"Horse-Lions": The Brooklyn Horsemen (NFL)

The result of the merger was derisively dubbed the Horse-Lions by the local media, but initially (November 14, 1926) the merged team played under the Brooklyn Lions banner. The new team, with eight members of the now-defunct AFL team, trounced the Canton Bulldogs 19–0 in front of a small crowd in Ebbets Field. In a last-ditch effort to attract paying fans, the Lions then adopted the Horsemen nickname of the old AFL team... and lost the last three games of their existence by shutout.

Horsemen who were also Lions

Eight men played for both the Horsemen in the AFL and the Lions/Horsemen in the NFL: Fullback

Earl Britton Earl Tanner Britton (July 15, 1903 – October 24, 1973) was a professional American football Fullback (American football), fullback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (1926), American Football Leagu ...

End Ted Drews
End Ed Harrison
Guard Red Howard
Center Ted Plumridge
Tailback

Guard

Tarzan Taylor John Lachlan Taylor (January 10, 1895 – May 1, 1971) was a professional football player who played in the National Football League with the Chicago Staleys, Canton Bulldogs, Brooklyn Lions and the Brooklyn Horsemen. Taylor won an American P ...

In addition, guard

Hec Garvey Arthur Aloysius "Hec" Garvey (February 20, 1900 — September 23, 1973) was a professional American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport ...

was on the rosters of no fewer than four teams in the AFL or NFL in 1926: the Hartford Blues (NFL), the Horsemen (AFL), the Lions (NFL), and the

References

{{AFL I American football teams in New York City Defunct National Football League teams Defunct American football teams in New York City American Football League (1926) teams American football teams established in 1926 American football teams disestablished in 1926

Sports in Brooklyn 1926 establishments in New York City 1926 disestablishments in New York (state)