The 1935 NFL Championship game was the third

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 ...

(NFL) title game, held December 15 at

University of Detroit Stadium University of Detroit Stadium, also known as U of D Stadium, Titan Stadium, or Dinan Field, was an outdoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located on the campus of the University of Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. The stadium ...

(Titan Stadium) in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. The

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

champion of the Western Division was the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

(7–3–2) and the champion of the Eastern Division was the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

(9–3). The Giants, coached by Steve Owen, were in their third straight title game and were defending champions, while the Lions (coached by George "Potsy" Clark) were in their first title game, three years removed from their nailbiting loss in the indoor

1932 NFL Playoff Game The 1932 NFL Playoff Game was an extra game held to break a tie in the season's final standings in the National Football League. It matched the host Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans. Because of snowfall and anticipated extremely cold te ...

as the

Portsmouth Spartans The professional American football team now known as the Detroit Lions previously played in Portsmouth, Ohio, as the Portsmouth Spartans, from its founding in 1928 to its relocation to Detroit in 1934. Originally drawing players from defunct indepe ...

. At 15,000 attendance, it was the least attended peacetime championship game in league history.

Game summary

The weather in Detroit for the game was gray, wet, and windy, and the field at the University of Detroit's Titan Stadium was sloppy. The Lions took the opening kickoff and drove down the field for a touchdown. They were helped by two long passing plays, including one from

Ace Gutowsky LeRoy Erwin "Ace" Gutowsky (August 2, 1909 – December 4, 1976) was a Russian-American professional American football fullback. He played professional football for eight years from 1932 to 1939 and set the NFL career rushing record in Octo ...

that hit

Ed Danowski Edward Frank Danowski (September 30, 1911 – February 1, 1997) was an American football player who played quarterback and halfback in the National Football League (NFL). He grew up in Aquebogue, his father, Anton, was a Polish immigrant. Foo ...

, playing defense, in the chest and was caught by end

Ed Klewicki Edward Leonard Klewicki (May 6, 1912 – July 20, 1997) was an American football player. Of Polish descent, he is in the National Polish-American Hall of Fame. Klewicki was born in Pittsburgh and moved to Hamtramck, Michigan with his family at ...

. Gutowsky capped the 61-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run and Glenn Presnell kicked the extra point for the 7-0 lead. After the Lions scored another touchdown on a twisting 40 yard run by

Dutch Clark Earl Harry "Dutch" Clark (October 11, 1906 – August 5, 1978), sometimes also known as the "Flying Dutchman" and the "Old Master", was an American football player and coach, basketball player and coach, and university athletic director. He gaine ...

, Detroit had a 13-0 lead, but the Giants cut the lead to 6 by halftime on a long pass from Danowski to

Ken 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 ...

. However, two touchdowns in the fourth quarter by

Ernie Caddel Ernest Wiley Caddel (March 12, 1911 – March 28, 1992) was an American football running back. He played college football for Glenn "Pop" Warner at Stanford University from 1930 to 1932 and later played six seasons in the National Football ...

and future Lions coach

Buddy Parker Raymond Klein "Buddy" Parker (December 16, 1913 – March 22, 1982) was an American football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL), who served as head coach for the Chicago Cardinals, Detroit Lions, and Pittsburgh Steelers. Park ...

sealed the 26-7 victory, and their first NFL Championship, for the Lions.

Scoring summary

''Sunday, December 15, 1935''
Kickoff: 2 p.m. EST *First quarter **DET –

2-yard run ( Glenn Presnell kick) 7–0 DET **DET –

40-yard run (kick failed) 13–0 DET *Second quarter **NYG –

42-yard pass from

(Strong kick) 13–7 DET *Third quarter **''no scoring'' *Fourth quarter **DET –

4-yard run (Clark kick) 20–7 DET **DET –

4-yard run (kick failed) 26–7 DET

Officials

*Referee:

Tommy Hughitt Tommy Hughitt (born Ernest Fredrick Hughitt; December 27, 1892 – December 27, 1961) was a Canadian-American National Football League utility player, coach, referee and politician. He was also an All-American quarterback for the University ...

*Umpire: Bobby Cahn *Head Linesman: Maurice J. Meyer *Field Judge: Harry Robb The NFL had only four game officials in ; the back judge was added in , the line judge in , and the side judge in .

Legacy

When asked about the game over 70 years later, Glenn Presnell (who was also the last surviving member of the Detroit Lions inaugural

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

team) said this about the game: "I remember that it was a snowy day, very cold, and there were far less fans there than the ’34 Thanksgiving Day game. In those days, people didn’t go very often when it wasn’t nice weather. "I was the starting quarterback that game and for most of the season. Potsy liked to start me and see what was going on before sending in Dutch Clark. The one thing that stands out to me is that we scored in the first two minutes. I had thrown a flat pass to our blocking back on a fake for a 60-yard play to about their four-yard line. Ace Gutowsky punched it over for the score and I kicked the extra point. If we celebrated when we made a touchdown like the way they do today we would have been hooted off the field. "For winning the championship, we each received $300. We never got a championship ring like they do now, but it was certainly one of my proudest moments. Remember, professional football was not nearly as popular as college football and baseball. It was much more exciting to play college football at Nebraska in front of 40,000 people. It was a way to make a living during the Depression.

Detroit: "City of Champions"

When the Lions won the 1935 NFL Championship, the city of Detroit was mired in the Great Depression, which had hit Detroit and its industries particularly hard. But with the success of the Lions and other Detroit teams and athletes in 1935–1936, their luck appeared to be changing, as the city was dubbed the " Champions day#City of Champions, City of Champions." The

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

started the winning streak by capturing the

1935 World Series The 1935 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1935 season. The 32nd edition of the World Series, it matched the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs. The Tigers won in six games for their first championship i ...

. The Lions continued the streak by winning the 1935 NFL Championship. They were followed by the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference, and are ...

winning the 1935–36 Stanley Cup. With the Stanley Cup win on April 11, 1936, Detroit reigned as triple major league champions for nearly six months, until the Yankees clinched the

1936 World Series The 1936 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1936 season. The 33rd edition of the World Series, it matched the New York Yankees against the New York Giants, with the Yankees winning in six games to earn t ...

on October 6. No city has ruled as champions of three major sports simultaneously since.The closest any city has come since then was New York; the Jets won Super Bowl III in January 1969 and the Mets took the World Series that October. The Knicks added an NBA crown in May 1970, but by that point the Jets had been dethroned by Kansas City's victory in Super Bowl IV. But the Tigers, Lions and Wings were not the Motor City's only champions: Detroit's "Brown Bomber,"

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He re ...

, was the heavyweight boxing titlist; Detroiter

Gar Wood Garfield Arthur "Gar" Wood (December 4, 1880 – June 19, 1971) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and championship motorboat builder and racer who held the world water speed record on several occasions. He was the first man to trave ...

, the first man to go 100 miles per hour on water, reigned as the world's top unlimited powerboat racer; and black Detroiter Eddie "the Midnight Express" Tolan had won gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter races at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

References

External links

blog.detroitathletic.com
{{NFL pre-sb Detroit Lions postseason 1935 NFL Championship Game New York Giants postseason Championship Game

NFL Championship Game Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

American football in Detroit Sports competitions in Detroit