The Cleveland Tigers were the first

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

team franchise in what became the

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 ...

(NFL). The Tigers played in 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 ...

" before joining the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football League in 1922) during the 1920 and 1921 seasons.

History

The Cleveland Indians football team was originally established in 1916 and played in the Ohio League. The team was formed after the

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 ...

raided the

Akron Indians 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 ...

roster in 1915 and took away many of their star players. That year

Peggy Parratt George Watson "Peggy" Parratt (March 21, 1883 – January 3, 1959) was a professional football player who played in the "Ohio League" prior to it becoming a part of the National Football League. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Parratt played quarterb ...

, the Akron Indians

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 ...

formed the Cleveland Indians with several former ex-Akron Indians players and a few new ex-college players. Despite a winning record, the 1916 Indians season was disappointing, losing twice to 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 ...

, who were led by

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 splitting a pair of games with 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 ...

. In 1920, when owners of professional teams organized a more structured league,

Jimmy O'Donnell James M. O'Donnell (November 3, 1872 - October 1, 1947) was the owner and co-founder of the first National Football League (then called the American Professional Football Association) franchise in Cleveland, called the Cleveland Tigers. He was a ...

, a local sports promoter, obtained the Cleveland franchise. O'Donnell, also the owner of a

semi-pro ''Semi-Pro'' is a 2008 American sports comedy film. The film was directed by Kent Alterman in his directorial debut, written by Scot Armstrong, and produced by Jimmy Miller. It stars Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin and Maura Tier ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team called the Tigers, was aided in his football venture by

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 ...

, a football star at Notre Dame from 1914 to 1916, and with the Massillon Tigers. Cofall helped re-organize the Cleveland team in 1919 and, along with O'Donnell attended the September 1920 meeting in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

that founded the American Professional Football Association, which became the NFL the following year. For the first half of the 1920 season, Cofall was the Tigers' player-coach; he was also elected vice-president of the new league. In their first season, the Cleveland Tigers scored only 2 touchdowns and lost 3 games by 7–0 scores, compiling a record of 1–4–2. For the 1921 season, the name of the team was changed to the Indians, partly because it was a stock name in Cleveland (a

baseball team Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding te ...

had also used the name since 1915) but more because three Native Americans were signed away from the

. In 1921 the Tigers returned with two future Hall of Famers,

Joe Guyon Joseph Napoleon "Big Chief" Guyon (Anishinaabe: ''O-Gee-Chidah'', translated as "Big Brave"; November 26, 1892 – November 27, 1971) was an American Indian from the Ojibwa tribe (Chippewa) who was an American football and baseball player and co ...

and player-coach Jim Thorpe. The team won its first two games. However, during the team's second game, Thorpe injured his ribs and was lost for the season. The Tigers then narrowly lost the next four games. When Thorpe returned to action in a postseason game against the

New York Brickley Giants The New York Giants (informally known as Brickley's Giants and Brickley's New York Giants) were a professional American football team with the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football League) whose only season played ...

in December, the Tigers were again victorious. Early in 1922, O'Donnell received league permission to suspend operations for a year, but when he could not post the $1,000 annual guarantee the NFL required, his franchise was canceled. Guyon and Thorpe went off to

LaRue, Ohio LaRue is a village in Marion County, Ohio, United States. The population was 747 at the 2010 census. The village is served by Elgin Local School District. LaRue has a public library, a branch of Marion Public Library. Geography LaRue is located ...

to form the

Oorang Indians The Oorang Indians () were a traveling team in the National Football League from LaRue, Ohio (near Marion). The franchise was a novelty team put together by Walter Lingo to market his Oorang dog kennels. All of the Indians players were Native Am ...

. A new Indians franchise was later purchased by

Samuel Deutsch Samuel H. Deutsch (April 2, 1892 - September 4, 1958) was a prominent sports franchise owner and jeweler. He is best known as being the owner of the National Football League's Cleveland Indians, formerly the Cleveland Tigers, in 1923 as well as fo ...

who operated the team in 1923. He then relocated the Canton Bulldogs to Cleveland in 1924 and merged them with his Indians team. A third, unrelated Indians team also played in the NFL in 1931.

Pro Football Hall of Famers

Season-by-season

External links

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cleveland Tigers (Nfl) American football teams established in 1916 American football teams disestablished in 1921 Defunct National Football League teams Ohio League teams Early professional American football teams in Ohio American football teams in Cleveland Defunct American football teams in Ohio 1916 establishments in Ohio 1921 disestablishments in Ohio