The New York Yankees of the second American Football League was the second professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team competing under that name. It is unrelated to the

Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

of the first AFL (and 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 majo ...

), the

of the third AFL, the

of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

(then also called the American Football League) and the (later)

of the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

. The Yankees played their home games in

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

and

Triborough Stadium Downing Stadium, previously known as Triborough Stadium and Randall's Island Stadium, was a 22,000-seat stadium in New York City. It was renamed Downing Stadium in 1955 after John J. Downing, a director at the New York City Department of Parks an ...

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Jack McBride was the team’s head coach throughout its existence; Yankees' president James Bush served as president of the second American Football League in 1936. Formed by signing

players, primarily New York Giants, the 1936 Yankees (including back

Elmer Strong Elmer Kenneth Strong (April 21, 1906 – October 5, 1979) was an American football halfback and fullback who also played minor league baseball. Considered one of the greatest all-around players in the early decades of the game, he was inducted ...

and tackle

Jess Quatse Jesse A. Quatse (April 4, 1908 – December 26, 1977) was an American football offensive tackle in the National Football League for the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the New York Giants. In 1927, he coached the Pittsburgh American ...

) battled the Boston Shamrocks and the

Cleveland Rams The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team that played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937 to 19 ...

for the league title (which Boston won). New York Giants-turned-Yankees also included end Les Borden and back

Stu Clancy Stuart Joseph Clancy (June 6, 1906 – September 24, 1965) was a quarterback who played in the NFL for the New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants co ...

.George Gipe, ''The Great American Sports Book'' (Doubleday 1978) The 1937 edition of the Yankees was never truly in the running as league newcomers Los Angeles Bulldogs were the only AFL team with a winning record as Los Angeles dominated the league with an unbeaten, untied 8-0-0 record (the Yankees finished in third place for the second straight year, this time with 2-3-1). While there was no "official" all-AFL team declared for the 1936 season, guard

Alex Drobnitch Alex Lewis Drobnitch (November 25, 1913 – June 6, 1960) was an American football player. Drobntich was raised on a farm near Eaton, Colorado. He played college football for the Denver Pioneers football team and was selected by the Newspaper E ...

was the sole Yankee to be named to the All-League team in 1937. Other Yankees stars include

Dean Nesmith Dean Nesmith was a professional football player and athletic trainer in the United States. He played professionally for the New York "Football" Yankees and was a three-year letterman for the Kansas Jayhawks, where he would return as athletic tra ...

Charlie Segal Charlie may refer to: Characters * "Charlie," the head of the Townsend Agency', from the ''Charlie's Angels'' franchise * Charlie, a character on signs for the CharlieCard, a smart card issued by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority * ...

Al Rose AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

, and Irv "King Kong" Klein. The complete domination of the AFL by the Bulldogs decimated attendance in

as LA played the second half of its season on the

American West Coast The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S. ...

(while the Yankees averaged roughly 14,000 in attendance in 1936, the number was cut to about 5000 in 1937). With all the AFL clubs (except Los Angeles) deeply in the red, the second American Football League – and the Yankees – closed up shop at the end of the 1937 season.Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman, David Neft, and John Thorn, ''Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League'' (HarperCollins 1999)

Link to AFL III Yankees?

Some sources indicate the Yankees of the third American Football League (1940) a continuation of the 1936-1937 Yankees, citing a common head coach ( Jack McBride) and the continuing existences of two other AFL II teams, the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

(which also competed in the third AFL) and the Los Angeles Bulldogs (which became a founding member of the

Pacific Coast Professional Football League The Pacific Coast Professional Football League (PCPFL), also known as the Pacific Coast Football League (PCFL) and Pacific Coast League (PCL) was a professional American football minor league based in California. It operated from 1940 through 194 ...

in 1940 – after competing with Cincinnati in the

American Professional Football League The American Professional Football League (APFL) was an indoor football league that was founded in 2003. After the 2012 season, most of the teams left to start the Champions Professional Indoor Football League. The league consisted of profes ...

, which ironically called itself the American Football League in 1938). While circumstantial evidence hints at the Yankees having a similar continuation, there is no record of any Yankees games played in 1938 and 1939, and the 1940 Yankees team had different ownership/management from its 1937 namesakes, aside from their common head coach. They had a center, Henry Bogacki who played on the team.

References

{{AFL II American Football League (1936) teams American football teams in New York City American football teams established in 1936 American football teams disestablished in 1937 1936 establishments in New York City 1937 disestablishments in New York (state)