The Gilberton Catamounts, sometimes called the Gilberton Cadamounts and the Gilberton Duck Streeters, were a 1920s-era professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team based in Gilberton,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. However, the team played many of its home games in nearby

Mahanoy City Mahanoy City (pronounced MAHA-noy, also MA-noy locally) is a borough located southwest of Wilkes-Barre and 13 miles southwest of Hazleton, in northern Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Coal Region of Pennsylvania and is located e ...

because Gilberton's home field, Stoddard Field, was usually flooded. The borough got its "Ducktown" nickname mainly because of persistent flooding.

Big money

The team played independently against other teams from Pennsylvania's "coal country". During the 1920s the teams based here paid large amounts of money to talented pro football players. Many players from 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 ...

came to play football in this region because of the amount of money paid out. In 1924 Gilberton, under the managership of Joe Keating and James Rafferty, Gilberton acquired three new star players just days before their season opener. The team signed Ben Shaw,

Cecil Grigg Cecil Burkett "Tex" Grigg (February 15, 1891 – September 5, 1968) was an American football player and coach. He played running back for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Canton Bulldogs, the Rochester Jeffersons, the ...

, and

Lou Smyth Louie Lehman Smyth (March 19, 1898 – September 11, 1964) was a professional football player for the Canton Bulldogs from 1920 until 1923. Smyth won two NFL championships with the Bulldogs in 1922 and 1923 and another with the Yellow Jackets ...

. All three players were members of 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 ...

of the NFL. Ironically in 1924 the team played in the

Anthracite League The Anthracite League, also referred to as the Anthracite Association, was a short-lived American football minor league comprising teams based in coal-mining towns in eastern Pennsylvania (hence the league name's reference to anthracite coal). Th ...

, which was formed to combat the out-of-control hiring of top professional football talent. It is no wonder that league folded after the 1924 season. The team later played in the

Eastern League of Professional Football The Eastern League of Professional Football was an american football minor league formed in 1926 by independent clubs from Pennsylvania and New Jersey (separate from the ''" Eastern Pennsylvania Football League"'' which played in the late 1930s a ...

from 1926 until the league folded in 1927.

Fritz Pollard

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 ...

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 ...

played with the team in 1923 and 1924. Coach Charlie Copley, a former teammate of Pollard's 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 ...

and the

Milwaukee Badgers The Milwaukee Badgers was a professional American football team, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that played in the National Football League from 1922 to 1926. The team played its home games at Athletic Park, later known as Borchert Field, on Mi ...

, recruited Pollard to play for the Catamounts. He became the first African-American to play football in the coal region.

Hall of Famers

References

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Notes

{{Defunct Pennsylvania sports teams Defunct American football teams in Pennsylvania History of Pennsylvania Anthracite League teams Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania 1920s establishments in Pennsylvania 1920s disestablishments in Pennsylvania Sports clubs and teams established in the 1920s