Jack Cusack (November 17, 1890 – 1973) was one of the prominent early figures in 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 ...
in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. At the age of twenty-one, Cusack became the manager and owner 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 ...
, one of the leading teams of the day. During his six years with the Canton Bulldogs, Cusack led the team to
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 ...
championships, in 1916 and 1917, and was responsible for bringing
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 ...
into professional football. Cusack also is responsible for helping revive the Bulldogs following the
Canton Bulldogs-Massillon Tigers Betting Scandal
Canton may refer to:
Administrative division terminology
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and ente ...
, which eroded public support for the game from 1906 until 1911. He also ensured that the Bulldogs had a sturdy financial foundation for when they would later enter 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 ...
. In 1918, Cusack left football to enter the
oil and gasoline business in
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. He later worked as an independent oil operator in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
.
Early life and the Bulldogs betting scandal
Cusack developed a love for professional football during the early days of the Canton Bulldogs franchise, then headed up by
Blondy Wallace
Charles Edgar "Blondy" Wallace (died March 5, 1937) was an early professional football player and later convicted criminal during the Prohibition Era. He was a 240-pound, former Walter Camp second-team All-American tackle from the University o ...
. In 1906 though the Bulldogs were accused of throwing a game to rival
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 ...
. Making one of the earliest accusations was Victor Kaufmann, who had lost a heavy bet on the disputed contest. Right after the Bulldogs returned to Canton, the day of the 13-6 loss to Massillion, Kaufmann and Cusack went to the Courtland Hotel Bar, where most of the Bulldogs had congregated to post-mortem the game. There a fight broke out after Kaufman accused the Bulldogs of throwing the game. The fight engulfed the whole bar and police had to be called in. Kauffman and Cusack escaped the bar, before the police showed up. In his book, "A Pioneer in Pro Football", Cusack still believed, years later, that the Bulldogs and Wallace threw the game.
Pro football
A Canton team was organized in 1912, with all games held at
League Park
League Park was a baseball park located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was situated at the northeast corner of Dunham Street (now known as East 66th Street) and Lexington Avenue in the Hough, Cleveland, Hough neighborhood. It was built ...
, owned by Ed Piero and Dr. Lothamer. The new organization was called the Canton Professionals for fears that the old Bulldog name would bring back memories of the 1906 scandal. In 1912 this time, at the age of 21, Cusack became the team's secretary-treasurer, at no cost to the team, as a favor to Roscoe Oberlin. However Cusack was disliked by the current Professionals manager
H.H. Halter. Cusack later went behind Halter's back to sign a contract with
Peggy Parrett's 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 ...
, concerning conditions for a match between the two squads, something Halter was unable to do. When Jack's actions were discovered by Halter, he tried to dispose of Jack's services through a team meeting. However during the meeting the team sided Cusack, after discovering that he had secured a 5-year lease on League Park for the Pros. The result was Halter being removed from the team, and Jack being named the team's new manager.
As manager of the Pros, Cusack slowly added star college players to his roster along with the local sandlotters who constituted the bulk of the team. To make the team more profitable he had 1,500 seats added to League Park. Also Jack felt that the Pros had to live down the 1906 scandal and gain the public's confidence in the honesty of the game. It was his theory that if he could stop players from jumping from one team to another, it would be a first step in the right direction. Therefore, the managers made a verbal agreement that once a player signed with a team he was that team's property as long as he played, or until he was released by management. Finally Cusack revived the Canton-Massillon rivalry in 1915. With the rivalry, fans began referring to Canton as the "Bulldogs" again. Soon afterwards Cusack reinstated the team's former name.
Signing Thorpe
Just before Canton's first game with the newly revived Massillon Tigers, Cusack signing the Jim Thorpe, the
Sac and Fox
The Sac and Fox Nation ( ''Mesquakie'' language: ''Othâkîwaki / Thakiwaki'' or ''Sa ki wa ki'') is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sauk and Meskwaki (Fox) Indian peoples. Originally from the Lake Huron and Lake Michigan ...
Indian from
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
who was then rated as the world's greatest football player, and all-around athlete. He had Thorpe under contract to play for Canton for $250 a game. Thorpe ended up being a huge draw for Canton bringing record numbers of fans to the games. Canton lost the first game to the Tigers 16-0, however they won the second game 6-0.
Under Cusack the Bulldogs won the 1916 and 1917 Ohio League Championships. Even with
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 ...
taking place, Canton still had a tough team. However with more players going into the armed forces, football came to a halt until after the Armistice, in November 1918.
Oil Business
After leaving high school in 1907, Jack went to work as an office employee for the East Ohio Gas Company, a subsidiary of the
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
. When professional football took a hiatus for World War I. Jack returned to the oil business in Oklahoma. In the spring of 1919 he received a letter from
Ralph Hay
Ralph Edward Hay (January 12, 1891July 29, 1944) was the owner of the Canton Bulldogs from 1918 through the 1922 season. However, he is mostly recognized for organizing the first meeting of teams that would later form the American Professional Fo ...
stating that he would like to carry on with the team if he was not returning. Ralph, who was a very good friend of both Thorpe and Jack, was acquainted with most of our 1916 and 1917 players, and therefore was in position to organize a team from that foundation. Jack decided to let Hay go ahead rather than withdraw from his oil operations. he transferred the lease on League Park to Hay.
Back to football
In 1921, Cusack left
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
, after contracting
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
, for Canton. There met up with Thorpe, who was now playing for the
Cleveland Tigers. He hired Cusack to look after his personnel affairs as he felt that he was not receiving his full amount of gate money owed to him. He later found out that when Cleveland played in a baseball venue, the stadium personnel would take a larger cut for themselves and leave the rest for the players. He also found out that over 800-900 complimentary tickets were given out per contest, far above the allowable amount. Cusack soon found himself collecting all of the monies due to every Tigers player. Even when the treasurer of the Tigers tried to run off with over $3,750 owed to the team, Cusack and Thorpe tracked him down and returned the money to the players. He soon became the manager for the Tigers for two games before quitting in 1922. Cusack later became an independent oil operator living in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
.
References
Pioneer in Pro Football by Jack CusackPigskin: The Early Years of Pro FootballThe Ohio League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cusack, Jack
1890 births
1973 deaths
Sportspeople from Canton, Ohio
Coaches of American football from Ohio
Canton Bulldogs head coaches
Cleveland Tigers-Indians coaches
National Football League owners