The New York Yankees of the third American Football League was the third 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 wit ...

team competing under that name. It is unrelated to the Yankees of the first AFL (and the National Football League), the Yankees of the second AFL, and the (later) Yankees 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 Downing Stadium in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. After finishing fourth in the AFL’s season of 1940, the Yankees were sold to agent and promoter Douglas Hertz. By the summer of 1941, the team’s AFL franchise was revoked in light of a scandal involving the new owner, and a group headed by William Cox assumed control of the team by the beginning of the new season. The newly renamed New York Americans were competitive, finishing one-half game behind league champions Columbus Bullies. While the Americans were making plans for a 1942 AFL season, the league suspended operations in the wake of the entry of the United States into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and the Americans followed suit. The league did not return to business after the end of the war, and neither did the New York Americans.

1940 New York Yankees

The Yankees were one of three charter members of the third AFL (along with the Boston Bears and Buffalo Indians) that were formed with the expressed purpose of competing in a major professional football league to compete with the established National Football League. The new league became official after 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 ...

, Columbus Bullies and a newly minted Milwaukee Chiefs defected from the American Professional Football Association. The roster for the 1940 season had five players who competed in the NFL in 1939. Head coach Jack McBride was also the coach of the New York Yankees of the second American Football League (1936–1937).

1941 New York Americans

In January 1941, the Yankees were sold to agent and promoter Douglas Hertz. After questions arose about the finances of the new owner arose, the AFL revoked the franchise and transferred ownership to a syndicate headed by William Cox (later the owner of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team) in August. Shortly afterward, the team’s name was changed to the New York Americans. Unlike the 1940 Yankees, the Americans had a flair for publicity, having signed college star running back John Kimbrough for $37,500 on a personal services contract that required personal appearances on behalf of the team. Well into the season, the Americans announced the signing of

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

winner

Tom Harmon Thomas Dudley Harmon (September 28, 1919 – March 15, 1990), known as Tom Harmon, as well as by the nickname "Old 98", was an American football player, military pilot, actor, and sports broadcaster. Harmon grew up in Gary, Indiana, and play ...

(who had begun a career in broadcasting University of Michigan football games) for the game between the Americans and league leader Columbus. Harmon threw two

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s while Hutchinson was similarly ineffective. In the second half, the New York fans shouted “We want ill/nowiki> Hutchinson,” the Americans’ regular rusher. The game ended in a 0–0 tie. A loss to the Milwaukee Chiefs the following week (the last game of the season) cost the Americans the AFL championship.

1941 New York Yankees

The 1941 New York Yankees, the fourth New York professional football team with the name, was a team formed and owned by Douglas Hertz after the third American Football League revoked his ownership of a franchise that was later renamed the New York Americans in August 1941. Initially an independent team, the Yankees joined the American Association in October to replace the Providence Steamroller, which dropped out of the league after only two games. Having four members of the 1940 Yankees, the 1941 edition lost all six of its American Association games (as a

traveling team Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel can ...

) and folded soon afterward.Nothing Minor About It: The American Association/AFL of 1936-50
– Bob Gill, Professional Football Researchers Association (1990) Note: won-lost record includes American Association league games only

References

Defunct American football teams in New York City American football teams in New York City American Football League (1940) teams American football teams established in 1940 1940 establishments in New York (state) Sports clubs disestablished in 1941 1941 disestablishments in New York (state) {{AFL III