A comprehensive examination of the tumultuous 1925 NFL season reveals a labyrinth of controversy and drama that continues to resonate within the annals of football history. Despite the Chicago Cardinals being officially recognized as the champions of that year, many factors contributed to a significant debate regarding the legitimacy of their title. The Pottsville Maroons, with whom the Cardinals shared a fierce rivalry, contend that their earlier victory against the Cardinals should have awarded them the championship title. This episode delves into the intricate details of the season, highlighting the absence of a formal postseason structure and the resulting discrepancies in team records. It further explores the decisions made by the league's officials that ultimately led to Pottsville's expulsion from the NFL, an act scrutinized for its fairness and implications for the teams involved. As we navigate through the narrative, we encounter pivotal characters and events that shaped this controversial season, including the questionable recruitment practices that emerged when the Cardinals faced disbanded teams, thus raising ethical concerns about the integrity of the sport during its formative years.

Want to catch up on our series of posts and podcasts on Pre-Super Bowl NFL Champions? Check it out here NFL Champs.

The episode not only recounts the events leading to the Cardinals’ championship claim but also reflects on the broader implications of this controversy on the league's development. It emphasizes the need for a structured postseason and the evolution of the championship model we recognize today. Through engaging dialogue with historians and experts, we gain insights into how this pivotal season influenced the NFL's regulations and the eventual establishment of a clearer championship framework. The narrative is enriched by anecdotes and historical references, providing listeners with a profound understanding of the dynamics that characterized early professional football and the legacy of the 1925 season, which remains a subject of fascination and debate among historians and fans alike.

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Time to sit right back and get comfy, put your headphones on and kick your feet back because we're going to talk about some great National Football League history.

This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of American football events throughout history on a day to day basis.

Your host, Darrin Hayes is podcasting from America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at a time.

So as we come out of the tunnel of the Sports History Network, let's take the field and go no huddle through the portal of positive gridiron history with pigskindispatch.com.

This podcast is part of the Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sport.

You can Learn more at sportshistorynetwork.com hello my football friends.

This is Darren Hees of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history.

And it is time to keep talking about championship games, the NFL championship games in particular.

And one of the inspirations is the season we're going to talk about tonight.

Possibly the most controversial and most dramatic season of the NFL and its championships ever in the history of 104 years.

Now.

But this gets kind of interesting and it's good.

Great topic for a book.

As a matter of fact, I'm co writing a book with Jeff Payne on this very subject.

We'll get to that in a second.

But first I want to let you know something that I have a big discovery here this week I've got my hands on thanks to Rod Lovin over at Sterling Soap Company, the Sterling Roastery.

He sent me some samples and I got some of their houseblend Sterling Roastery coffee.

And I'll tell you what, this is what's powering the Pig Pen people.

This is, what's, this is good stuff.

You know, the house blend coffee has really got a great flavor to it.

It really gives you a nice kick in the pants to get you going when you want to and just enjoy the nice flavor and a savory hot beverage on these cold winter nights like we have here in Northwest Pennsylvania.

So you can get your own coffee of this house blend or they have some other flavors there too, and they have it in different varieties.

It's sterlingroastery.com make sure you check out that and get yourself a good brew of java from Rod.

They did not have a postseason.

It was the team with the best record in the National Football League would be the champs.

There was no divisions, there's no conferences.

It's just all these teams, whatever number of teams there were each year playing out this schedule and whoever had the best record and they didn't even play the same amount of games.

But there was some controversy and like I said, we're gonna have a book coming out in March.

Jeffrey Payne and myself, we wrote a book.

Here's Joe.

And the controversy there was with the Cardinals were the Pottsville Maroons the real championship.

And it's such a huge controversy, you need a book about it and books have been written about it.

The Cardinals ended up with a better record because they had a better record.

But they scheduled two games at the end of the season against teams that were disbanded and those wins were never taken off the record books.

On the other hand, Hutsville played the Notre Dame All Stars and the NFL under commissioner president Joe Carr said that they're not allowed to play that team and if they did, they would be in danger.

So the contention is by Pottsville supporters that they should have been the champions because they beat the Cardinals earlier in December, which is true.

And a lot of newspapers said that this was for the championship of the league, which it wasn't because the the league ran until December 21, not December 1.

So a lot of controversy there.

He never paid it, by the way, and was awarded the championship, although he declined it at the meeting.

So that's the long story made short, and I don't think there's ever going to be an end to it.

He was fined because what happened, also a huge scandal, was that in order for the Cardinals to play a couple teams, and specifically the Milwaukee Badgers, who had disbanded, showed up for the game, didn't have enough players.

And so one of the Cardinals quarterbacks who was from the neighborhood was searching for some folks.

Again, the NFL wasn't that greatly organized at the time.

He was searching for players that could play for Milwaukee so the Cardinals could get two more wins.

They played Hammond a couple days later, which would enable them to have a better record than Pottsville.

But he recruited three players from four players from Englewood High School, where he went to school, which is fairly close to Comiskey park, and they played for Milwaukee.

So O'Brien was fine because one of his players recruited high school kids to play for Milwaukee.

And this is the big game in question because the league was supposed to have dropped that verdict, that win from the Cardinals record, it never did.

So Chris O'Brien, even though it's likely he had no idea they were high school players, he knew that Milwaukee was using players who weren't on their roster, which is what the NFL was trying to do, is have consistent rosters in those early years.

So that was pretty much why he was fine.

And Art Foles was banned from the league.

That again was later rescinded, although Art Foles never did return to the National Football League.

So a lot of controversy.

The owner of Milwaukee was kicked out of the league and had to give up this franchise.

So some pretty stiff penalties.

That one did stick.

And part of the irony is Pottsville of course, wanted to play the Notre Dame All Stars, which is the Four Horsemen from the season before, which is a graded big gate attraction, and they ended up not really making money on that game as well, but lost their franchise.

So a big mess.

But some will say maybe we should go back and change history, which I guess is possible.

But it is what it is right now, according to the record books.

Really like to thank Joe Ziemba from Winfootball Football podcast here on Sports History Network.

You can listen to Joe by looking up him on sportshistorynetwork.com or at your favorite podcast provider.

Joe's won some awards with that show and it's a great program and great way to look back at some football history from the Chicago area, in particular the Chicago Cardinals.

You know, Joe brings up some good points in there and we have a lot of this history and even more and some real great details with some great images from Jeff Payne's collection coming out in our book Marooned.

It's gonna be coming out sometime in March and we'll have some more announcements on that as it go.

And like I said, it was very historic, just like you heard from Joe, and pretty dramatic and controversial as it always is.

And there's going to be sometimes we'll run a couple times a week, but we're going to get all of those championship games in pre super bowl before the end of the year.

So I think you have that to look forward to along with our regular programming.

So appreciate you coming on today and listening here to the podcast.

Check out tomorrow.

Tune back in tomorrow for some more great NFL history.

Until then, have a great gridiron day.

Peeking up at the clock, the time's running down we're going to go into victory formation Take a knee and let this baby run out.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you back tomorrow.

For the next podcast.

We invite you to check out our website pickskindispatch.com not only to see the daily football history, but to experience positive football with our many articles on the good people of the game as well as our own football comic strip, clete marks comics, pigskindispatch.com is also on social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and don't forget the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel to get all of your positive football news and history.

A special thanks to the talents of Mike and Gene Monroe, as well as Jason Neff for letting us use their music during our podcast.

This podcast is part of the Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sport.

You can learn more@sportshistorynetwork.com.