Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

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 ...

Lancaster, New York Lancaster is a town in Erie County, New York, United States, centered 14 miles east of downtown Buffalo. Lancaster is an outer ring suburb of Buffalo. As of the 2020 Census, the town population was 45,106. Located within the town is the villa ...

Rochester Jeffersons The Rochester Jeffersons from Rochester, New York played from 1898 to 1925, including play in the National Football League from 1920 to 1925. History Formed as an amateur outfit by a rag-tag group of Rochester-area teenagers after the turn of t ...

Barney Lepper Howard Emmett Lepper (February 19, 1898 – December 1, 1985)
was a professional barnstorming tour of midwestern pro football teams. In 1918, the city's teams were not allowed to play outside the area because of the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

; Dooley and Lepper discontinued the All-Stars. Shoe salesman Warren D. Patterson, at the same time as this, formed a new team known as the Buffalo Niagaras, signing former

Youngstown Patricians The Youngstown Patricians were a semi-professional football team based in Youngstown, Ohio.McClellan (1998), p. 98. In the 1910s, the team briefly held the professional American football, football championship and established itself as a fierce ...

quarterback Ernest "Tommy" Hughitt as his quarterback. As the Niagaras, the team won a citywide championship in 1918, going undefeated with a 6–0–0 record (including a forfeit), having only one touchdown scored on them in any of their six games. They were one of the few upper-level teams still able to play games that year, with most of the top-level teams (such as the Patricians,

Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Leag ...

and

Massillon Tigers The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the "Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championships ...

) all having suspended operations due to the pandemic and/or

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

player shortages; this allowed Buffalo to get a leg up on its Ohio competition and sign otherwise-unemployed players, setting a course for bringing the region on par with the Ohio League and the ultimate establishment of the NFL. With that, they could have theoretically staked a claim to being the best team in the nation, especially considering how the team would perform over the next three seasons, but the

Professional Football Researchers Association The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by writer/hist ...

is dismissive of any claim that does not come from the

Ohio League The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in Ohio. It is the direct pr ...

, and gives the mythical "national title" to the

Dayton Triangles The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football League (NFL)) in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangl ...

, who also went undefeated that year. When the

New York Pro Football League The New York Pro Football League (NYPFL) was a professional American football league, active in the 1910s, and based in upstate New York, primarily Western New York. Between 1920 and 1921, the league's best teams were absorbed into the National Foo ...

reopened in 1919, the team, now reorganized into a franchise known as the Prospects, defeated the

Rochester Jeffersons The Rochester Jeffersons from Rochester, New York played from 1898 to 1925, including play in the National Football League from 1920 to 1925. History Formed as an amateur outfit by a rag-tag group of Rochester-area teenagers after the turn of t ...

for the league title in a two-game Thanksgiving weekend tournament. The two teams tied the Thanksgiving Day game, but Buffalo handily defeated Rochester 20–0 the following Sunday. Lepper teamed up with Hughitt and Patterson in early 1920 to create the Buffalo All-Americans, then quickly sold the team to Frank McNeil, a somewhat abrasive and aggressive owner who was able to get the team into the National Football League for its first season. However records indicate he may not have actually entered his team into the American Professional Football Association until 1921, the All-Americans are generally shown as the third-place team in league standings from that year (the confusion stems from a statement in the minutes from the league's April 1921 reorganization meeting admitting an unidentified team from Buffalo; this may have instead been the

Tonawanda Kardex Tonawanda may refer to: *Tonawanda (CDP), New York, consisting of the Town of Tonawanda less the Village of Kenmore *Tonawanda (city), New York, officially City of Tonawanda, bordered on three sides by the Town of Tonawanda *Tonawanda (town), New Y ...

, who joined the league in 1921, playing only one game). Patterson held on to the Prospects name and put together a lower quality team that played through 1923, including a 1922 game against the All-Americans themselves.

The NFL

The All-Americans had success during its first couple of APFA seasons, posting a 9–1–1 regular season record in 1920, becoming the first professional NFL team to win by margins of 20 or more points in each of its first four games, an asterisked record which was not tied until the 2007 New England Patriots' offense duplicated the feat; the asterisk is because, in the early NFL, the All-Americans played five of its 11 games against non-league opponents.

The Buffalo-Phoenixville connection

Unique for a professional football team, the All-Americans had a sharing agreement with the

Union Club of Phoenixville The Union Club of Phoenixville was a professional football team based in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The team was the result of a 1919 merger between the Phoenixville Union Club and the upstart Phoenix Athletic Club. From 1907 until 1919, the U ...

, a side project managed by All-Americans player

Heinie Miller Henry John "Heinie" Miller (January 1, 1893 – June 9, 1964) was an American football player and coach from 1920 to 1942. He played in The National Football League (NFL) for the Buffalo All-Americans and the Milwaukee Badgers. Miller also play ...

. Miller would take himself and seven other All-Americans to

Phoenixville, Pennsylvania Phoenixville is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia at the junction of French Creek (Schuylkill River tributary), French Creek and ...

to play games on Saturdays (Pennsylvania had

blue laws Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons ...

that prevented play on Sunday), and then return to Buffalo on Sundays. This sharing agreement lasted into 1921 when Miller formed the new

Union Quakers of Philadelphia The Union Quakers of Philadelphia were a professional independent football team, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1921. The team evolved from a number of pro players who played with the Union Club of Phoenixville during their 1920 season. ...

, but All-Americans owner Frank McNeil put a halt to the agreement halfway through the 1921 season after the Quakers played the

Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Leag ...

and wore out the All-Americans players. Five All-Americans left the team to play for the Quakers full-time; Buffalo had the pickings of the then-defunct

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

to replenish their roster.

First trade in the NFL

In 1920, the

Akron Pros The Akron Pros were a professional football team that played in Akron, Ohio from 1908 to 1926. The team originated in 1908 as a semi-pro team named the Akron Indians, but later became Akron Pros in 1920 as the team set out to become a charter mem ...

held the All-Americans to a scoreless tie in front of only 3,000 fans. At the game, Akron owners

Frank Nied Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curre ...

and

Art Ranney Arthur Fobare Ranney (February 17, 1889 – April 22, 1970) was a co-founder of the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football League in 1922), as an owner of the Akron Pros, one of the league's charter teams. ...

agreed to sell Bob Nash to Buffalo for $300 and five per cent of the gate, in the first known player deal between NFL clubs.

1920 Championship issue

Along with the

Decatur Staleys Decatur may refer to a number of places, streets, military establishments, schools, and others mostly named after Stephen Decatur: Places in the United States * Decatur, Alabama, county seat of Morgan County ** Decatur metropolitan area, Alabam ...

and Akron Pros, Buffalo claimed a share of the 1920 league title. That same season the Pros held the best record in the league, and only had to avoid losing a game. Meanwhile, Buffalo and the Staleys had to win in order to capture the APFA Championship. The Pros were able to hold the Staleys to a scoreless tie at Cub Park. However, the Pros still had to play the All-Americans who were fresh from a 7–3 win over the

Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Leag ...

at New York City's

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...

. Despite Buffalo's confidence going into the match, the Pros also held the All-Americans to scoreless tie. Both the All-Americans and the Staleys complained about the championship, arguing that Akron had only tied, but not defeated them. However, because league president

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...

and vice president

Stan Cofall Stanley Bingham Cofall (May 5, 1894 – September 21, 1961) was an American football player and coach. Early life Cofall was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Fred and Ida Bingham Cofall. In 1910 he played football at East Technical High School. He the ...

were absent from the meeting, Akron's owner Art Ranney was presiding over the meeting.

Joseph Carr Joseph Francis Carr (October 22, 1879 – May 20, 1939) was an American sports executive in American football, baseball, and basketball. He is best known as the president of the National Football League from 1921 until 1939. He was also one of ...

, owner of the

Columbus Panhandles The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before foldi ...

, moved at the league's meeting in April 1921 to give Akron the sole title and the rights to the

Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup was a silver trophy donated to the American Professional Football Association (renamed the National Football League in 1922) by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, Tire Division. History According to the Septembe ...

. Buffalo finished in third place, with Chicago in second place. In a separate motion, Carr would be elected league president. According to modern NFL tie-breaking rules, the 1920

Buffalo All-Americans Buffalo, New York had a turbulent, early-era National Football League team that operated under multiple names and several different owners between the 1910s and 1920s. The early NFL-era franchise was variously called the Buffalo All-Stars from ...

would be co-champions. They would be tied with the

Akron Pros The Akron Pros were a professional football team that played in Akron, Ohio from 1908 to 1926. The team originated in 1908 as a semi-pro team named the Akron Indians, but later became Akron Pros in 1920 as the team set out to become a charter mem ...

in win percentage, wins to losses (.864), both teams beating out the

Decatur Staleys Decatur may refer to a number of places, streets, military establishments, schools, and others mostly named after Stephen Decatur: Places in the United States * Decatur, Alabama, county seat of Morgan County ** Decatur metropolitan area, Alabam ...

, who would have a season that counted 11 wins to 2 losses (.846).

"Staley Swindle"

On November 27, 1921, the All-Americans claimed the APFA title with a record of 9–0–2. However, for reason still unknown, owner Frank McNeil agreed to play two more games. He did tell the Buffalo media that the two games were exhibitions and would have no bearing on the team's claim to the APFA title.

George Halas George Stanley Halas Sr. (; February 2, 1895October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder and owner of the National Football League's Chic ...

and the

Chicago Staleys The Chicago Bears American football franchise is a charter member of the National Football League (NFL), and has played in all of the league's 100 seasons. The team has captured nine NFL championships – eight NFL championships and one Super ...

manage to capture second place in the APFA in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

, with their only loss of the season against Buffalo. McNeil scheduled the two additional games against the Pros and Staleys back-to-back. The first game was scheduled for December 3 against the tough Pros, after which his team would take an all-night train to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to play the Staleys the next day. The All-Americans defeated the Pros, arriving in Chicago worn out and in no condition to play the Staleys, and lost. McNeil still believed his team was the APFA's 1921 champion, and even invested in tiny gold footballs for his players to commemorate the achievement. However Halas declared that the title was Chicago's, basing his claim on his belief that the second game of the Buffalo-Chicago series mattered more than the first. He also pointed out that the aggregate score of the two games was 16–14 in favor of the Staleys. McNeil insisted the Buffalo All-Americans were the champions, still maintaining that the last two games his team played were merely exhibitions. It didn't matter. The league awarded the championship by a vote of the Association's executive committee in January 1922 to the Staleys. This episode is referred to by several sports historians and Buffalo sports fans as the "Staley Swindle." McNeil eventually went to his grave trying to get the league's decision overturned. In their decision, based on a generally accepted (but now obsolete) rule that if two teams play each other more than once in a season, the second game counts more than the first, the executive committee followed established tradition. Had Buffalo not played the last game, they would have had an undefeated season and won the title. In both the 1920 and 1921 seasons, Buffalo played all of its games at home (the lone exceptions being the two 1921 matches in Chicago and one against the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

).

Buffalo Bisons

Under the leadership of player-coach

Tommy Hughitt Tommy Hughitt (born Ernest Fredrick Hughitt; December 27, 1892 – December 27, 1961) was a Canadian-American National Football League utility player, coach, referee and politician. He was also an All-American quarterback for the University ...

, the All-Americans, though they never equaled the success of the first two seasons, continued to post winning records in 1922 and 1923. Star running back

Ockie Anderson Oscar Carl "Ockie" Anderson (October 15, 1894 – January 25, 1962) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at Colgate University was selected as a first-team All-American in 1916 at quarterback. Anderson later p ...

's knees deteriorated during the 1922 season, forcing his early retirement and beginning the team's decline. In 1924, owner Frank McNeil sold the team back to Hughitt and Warren D. Patterson, who immediately changed the team name to ''Bisons'' (a stock name for Buffalo sports teams) and signed several players (

Pete Calac Pedro "Pete" Calac (May 13, 1892 – January 30, 1968) was a professional football player who played in the Ohio League and during the early years of the National Football League. Over the course of his 10-year career he played for the Canton Bull ...

,

Benny Boynton Benjamin Lee Boynton (December 6, 1898 – January 23, 1963), "The Purple Streak", was a professional football player who played during the early years of the National Football League. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1962. ...

and

Jim Ailinger James Joseph Ailinger (July 10, 1901 – March 27, 2001) was a dentist, an American basketball and football player for the University of Buffalo, a football player for the Buffalo Bisons of the National Football League (NFL) and long time colleg ...

being among them) to make another run at the title. After starting the season 6–2, the team lost their last three to once again end up marginally above .500. Hughitt retired at the end of the season. After Hughitt's retirement at the end of the 1924 season, the team struggled for the rest of its lifespan. However, on October 1, 1925, the Bisons managed to wrestle

Jim Kendrick James Marcellus Kendrick (August 22, 1893 – November 17, 1941) was a professional American football player during the early years of the National Football League (NFL) with the Toledo Maroons, Canton Bulldogs, Louisville Brecks, Chicago Bears ...

from his contract with the

Hammond Pros The Hammond Pros from Hammond, Indiana played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1926 as a traveling team. History The Pros were established by local businessman Paul Parduhn and Dr. Alva Young. Young, a boxing promoter and owner of ...

and signed him to play for Buffalo. In 1925 the Bisons were led by former

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

star and Buffalo native

Walter Koppisch Walter Frederic Koppisch (June 6, 1901 – November 5, 1953) was an American football halfback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Buffalo Bisons and New York Giants. He attended Columbia University. At 23 years old, Koppisch, a local ...

, who was expected to return the team to championship contention but never lived up to his billing due to a number of issues with the team surrounding him. Prior to Kendrick joining the team, the Bisons were already 0–2 on the season. Kendrick's first game with Buffalo came on Sunday, October 4, 1925, against the

Rochester Jeffersons The Rochester Jeffersons from Rochester, New York played from 1898 to 1925, including play in the National Football League from 1920 to 1925. History Formed as an amateur outfit by a rag-tag group of Rochester-area teenagers after the turn of t ...

. With Kendrick in the line-up, the Bisons tied the Jeffersons and the Akron Pros in their next two games. A week later the Bisons defeated the

Columbus Tigers The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before fol ...

, 17–6. However tragedy struck the team just a few days later when, team captain Walter Koppisch was injured in a car accident and was advised to sit out a few games to allow his injuries to heal. A week later, the Bisons were defeated by the

Frankford Yellow Jackets The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, although its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won ...

, 12–3. However, the team was scheduled to play the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

at the Polo Grounds, a few days later. The game was also going to be the first game back for Koppisch. However, the Bisons, despite a strong defensive showing, could not generate their offensive potential. This game was Koppisch's last appearance in a Buffalo uniform. The team then lost their final two games of the season to the

Providence Steam Rollers The Providence Steamrollers were a Basketball Association of America team based in Providence, Rhode Island. As of 2022, the Steamrollers were the last professional sports franchise from one of the Major professional sports leagues in the United ...

(10–0) and the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

(23–6). In July 1926 it was announced that Walter Koppisch would not be returning to manage the Buffalo Bisons in the upcoming season. Meanwhile, Jim Kendrick was announced to be taking over as the team's manager, and serving as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

.

Buffalo Rangers

Jim Kendrick announced his " Buffalo Rangers" experiment, fielding an exhibition team of players from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

for the 1926 season. His plan was that this exhibition squad would then represent Buffalo in the NFL. Because most of the players were Texans, the team was nicknamed the "Rangers" in deference to the state's legendary peacekeeping force. Along with the West Coast's

Los Angeles Buccaneers The Los Angeles Buccaneers were a traveling team in the National Football League during the 1926 season, ostensibly representing the city of Los Angeles, California. Like the Los Angeles Wildcats of the first American Football League, the team n ...

and the South's

Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as ...

, it was one of three teams that represented cities outside the NFL's existing footprint. Kendrick believed that if the players have no outside interests or anything to divert their minds from playing football, they can play better. The season's outcome would determine if his theory was correct. The Buffalo media alternately referred to the team as the "Bison Rangers," combining the old name with the new so that fans might more easily identify with the team that was on its third name in seven years. The one-year experiment brought a 4–4–2 (.500) season. Buffalo expected Kendrick to return to field the Rangers for the 1927 season, however he signed with the New York Giants, and most of the remaining players went their separate ways, citing their dislike for Buffalo's cold winters as the primary reason for leaving.

Return of the Bisons and closure

Dim Batterson George Wilder "Dim" Batterson (October 3, 1881 – December 3, 1935) was an American football coach for high school, college and professional teams. Batterson's ability to turn out players of All-American ability and knack of moulding Harvard Cup ...

, a local high school and college coach and an assistant with the team since 1925, was brought in to coach the 1927 season. After five games ( all losses, all but one being a shutout), the team suspended operations and failed to finish the season. The team did not return to play in 1928, but returned in 1929 with former Oorang Indian Al Jolley as coach. Among their players that year was

Jess Rodriguez Ángel Jesús Rodríguez Ávila (August 7, 1901 – October 12, 1983), better known as Jess Rodriguez, was a Spanish-American professional American football player for the Buffalo Bisons of the National Football League (NFL). He and his broth ...

, the first Hispanic-American player in the NFL (the

Frankford Yellow Jackets The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, although its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won ...

had hired Ignacio "Lou" Molinet two years prior, but Molinet was a Cuban national). Much like in 1927, the Bisons failed to win a game until their final game, when in a case of

cosmic irony Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...

they upset the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

19–7; thus, the very team that had spoiled their

undefeated season A perfect season is a sports season, including any requisite playoff portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, and has occurred more commonly at the ...

in 1921 saved them from the indignity of a

winless season A winless season is a regular season in which a sports team fails to win any of its games. The antithesis of a perfect season, this ignominy has been suffered twelve times in professional American football, six times in arena football, three times ...

in 1929. With the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

underway, the Bisons folded, never to return again. During the season, the Bisons set an NFL record of six consecutive games without ever having a lead in regulation play. The record was tied in 2012 by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

. With the exception of the three teams that have direct descendants still in the NFL—the Bears, Arizona Cardinals and Dayton Triangles (whose remains reside in the current

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

), Buffalo was the longest-lived of the league's original 13 teams. At least one further game against an NFL team was played in Buffalo in the wake of the Bisons' failure: the independent Buffalo Bears narrowly lost, 8–6, to the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

in a 1931 contest. Buffalo would become a regular "neutral site" for NFL exhibitions from 1938 to 1958. The team has no official relation to future Buffalo pro football franchises: the

Buffalo Indians The Buffalo Indians were a professional American football team that competed in the third American Football League in 1940 and in 1941. The team played its home games in Civic Stadium in Buffalo, New York. Owned by the Buffalo American Legion, ...

and

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

of the

third American Football League The American Football League, also known retrospectively as the AFL III to distinguish it from earlier organizations of that name, was a professional American football league that operated from 1940–1941. It was created when three teams, the o ...

, the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

of the AAFC, or the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

of today which was one of the new

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

teams (formation announced in 1959) that first played in 1960.

Players of note

As of 2022, no All-Americans, Bisons or Rangers player had been named to the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

. It is currently the longest existing team to have never contributed a player to the Hall, after the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

had their first player

Tony Boselli Don Bosco Anthony Boselli Jr. (born April 17, 1972) is an American former football tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football at USC, where he received th ...

inducted in 2022.

Members of the College Football Hall of Fame

*

Benny Boynton Benjamin Lee Boynton (December 6, 1898 – January 23, 1963), "The Purple Streak", was a professional football player who played during the early years of the National Football League. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1962. ...

*

Eddie Casey Edward Lawrence Casey (May 16, 1894 – July 26, 1966) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at Harvard University and was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968. Casey was MVP of the 1920 Rose Bowl ...

*

Walter Koppisch Walter Frederic Koppisch (June 6, 1901 – November 5, 1953) was an American football halfback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Buffalo Bisons and New York Giants. He attended Columbia University. At 23 years old, Koppisch, a local ...

*

Elmer Oliphant Elmer Quillen "Catchy" or "Ollie" Oliphant (July 9, 1892 – July 3, 1975) was an American football, basketball and track player and coach. He is one of the great scorers in college football history, credited with a total of 435 points in his coll ...

Others

*

Jim Ailinger James Joseph Ailinger (July 10, 1901 – March 27, 2001) was a dentist, an American basketball and football player for the University of Buffalo, a football player for the Buffalo Bisons of the National Football League (NFL) and long time colleg ...

, at the time of his death in 2001, the oldest surviving NFL alumnus. *

Ockie Anderson Oscar Carl "Ockie" Anderson (October 15, 1894 – January 25, 1962) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at Colgate University was selected as a first-team All-American in 1916 at quarterback. Anderson later p ...

, teammate of

Fritz Pollard Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard (January 27, 1894 – May 11, 1986) was an American football player and coach. In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League (NFL). Pollard and Bobby Marshall were the ...

on

Union Club of Phoenixville The Union Club of Phoenixville was a professional football team based in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The team was the result of a 1919 merger between the Phoenixville Union Club and the upstart Phoenix Athletic Club. From 1907 until 1919, the U ...

in 1920 and considered one of the best forward passers of his era, winning a national title at Colgate in 1916. *

Walt Brewster Walt Southgate Brewster (August 16, 1907 – January 30, 1985) was a professional American football player with the National Football League's Buffalo Bisons in 1929. Brewster was the starting right offensive tackle in seven games of the eig ...

*

Pete Calac Pedro "Pete" Calac (May 13, 1892 – January 30, 1968) was a professional football player who played in the Ohio League and during the early years of the National Football League. Over the course of his 10-year career he played for the Canton Bull ...

, teammate of

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...

in 1920. *

Tommy Hughitt Tommy Hughitt (born Ernest Fredrick Hughitt; December 27, 1892 – December 27, 1961) was a Canadian-American National Football League utility player, coach, referee and politician. He was also an All-American quarterback for the University ...

*

Heinie Miller Henry John "Heinie" Miller (January 1, 1893 – June 9, 1964) was an American football player and coach from 1920 to 1942. He played in The National Football League (NFL) for the Buffalo All-Americans and the Milwaukee Badgers. Miller also play ...

*

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

*

Gus Sonnenberg Gustave Adolph Sonnenberg (March 6, 1898 – September 9, 1944) was an American football player and professional wrestler of German descent and World Heavyweight Champion. As a wrestler, he was National Wrestling Association world heavyweight cha ...

*

Lud Wray James R. Ludlow "Lud" Wray (February 7, 1894 – July 24, 1967) was a professional American football player, coach, and co-founder, with college teammate Bert Bell, of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He was the first coac ...

Season records

External links

Historical Society of the Buffalo All-Americans, Bisons & Rangers

Buffalo Bills fanclub
which tracks the Football history of Western

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffalo (1920s Nfl Teams) New York Pro Football League teams American football teams established in 1915 American football teams disestablished in 1929 Defunct National Football League teams American football in Buffalo, New York Buffalo Bills Defunct American football teams in New York (state)

History

Prior to the NFL

The NFL

The Buffalo-Phoenixville connection

First trade in the NFL

1920 Championship issue

"Staley Swindle"

Buffalo Bisons

Buffalo Rangers

Return of the Bisons and closure

Players of note

Members of the College Football Hall of Fame

Others

Season records

External links

References