George F. Mulligan (1880–1955) was the leading sports promoter in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

during the early 1900s. He was also the founder and owner of the

Hartford Blues The Hartford Blues of the National Football League played only in the 1926 NFL season, with a record of 3–7. The team was based in Hartford, Connecticut but played at the East Hartford Velodrome. Hall of Famers Season-by-season Reference ...

of 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 ...

. The Blues, which were referred to as the Waterbury Blues, began as 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 ...

football team in 1924, before joining the early NFL in 1926.

Boxing

Mulligan operated professional boxing clubs in

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

and

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

. He promoted three world championship boxing matches. The first was the Joe Lynch–

Pete Herman Pete Herman (February 12, 1896 – April 13, 1973) was one of the all-time great bantamweight world champions. An American of Italian heritage and descent, Herman was born Peter Gulotta in New Orleans, Louisiana, and fought from 1912 until 1927. ...

bantamweight championship bout in 1919 in Waterbury. The second was the 1925 featherweight championship match between

Kid Kaplan Louis "Kid" Kaplan (born October 15, 1901 in Kyiv, Ukraine – October 26, 1970) was a professional boxer and a 1925 world featherweight champion. Early life Kaplan and his family emigrated to the United States from the Kyiv when he was five ...

and

Babe Herman Floyd Caves "Babe" Herman (June 26, 1903 – November 27, 1987) was an American professional baseball player and scout. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right fielder between and , most prominently as a member of the Brooklyn Dodg ...

in Waterbury. The final bout occurred in 1926 in Hartford between Kaplan and Bobby Garcia for the featherweight title.

Football

In 1925, Mulligan signed

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 ...

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 ...

as the first national star to ever play pro football in Connecticut. Mulligans offer to Stuhldreher play for the Blues was for $7,500, plus a $500 bonus. In 1925, he moved the Blues to Hartford and into

Clarkin Field Morgan G. Bulkeley Stadium was a sporting event stadium located in Hartford, Connecticut and the site of Babe Ruth's final exhibition baseball game. The facility was home to the Eastern League's Hartford Senators, the Hartford Blues of the Nati ...

. In 1926 the NFL accepted Mulligan's Blues as one of its 22 franchises. The Blues finished the season with a 3-7-0 NFL record and 13th place. However, after the Blues' 1926 season, the NFL's owners voted to streamline the league and cut back from 22 to 12 teams. Red Grange's

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 ...

, from the first American Football League were also to be included as one of the 12 teams. As a result, half of the 1926 NFL teams were scrapped, including the Hartford Blues. In 1927, he ran the Hartford Giants, a semi-pro team with many of the players from the Blues, however that team folded after the season.

Death

Mulligan died on July 27, 1955, at the age of 74.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mulligan, George 1880 births 1955 deaths American boxing promoters Hartford Blues National Football League owners British emigrants to the United States