It is the time of the year when sports pundits tell us about this team or that team being the greatest ever – like the New England Patriots or the Green Bay Packers. This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart.
I do not read as many books as I should. I always said that when I retired I was going to read more books – but other chores and things to do around town eat up my days. But I just read a fantastic book about the greatest football team ever – so you will have to suffer through my review.
David Fleming is a senior writer for ESPN’s – The Magazine. He also covered the NFL for 6 years for Sports Illustrated. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and daughter. He has recently started a crusade to right a wrong that has lingered in sports history for 82 years. In 1925 – a young upstart team won the NFL championship. A few weeks after they won the title – they were accused of breaking an NFL rule – and the league took the title away. The team has faded into obscurity.
Fleming’s book is called “Breaker Boys.” It is published by ESPN Books. It can be purchased at amazon.com for $16.47 with free shipping. It is a fantastic Christmas gift for a husband or boyfriend that loves football and history – especially for the guy that does not read many books. I guarantee that he won’t put it down until he has read the entire thing. There is just enough romance and tragedy to keep even the most uninterested football widow turning pages.
The title comes from a term used in coal country to describe boys that were hired to work in the breaker – a building used to break coal into various grades. It was the job of the breaker boys – underaged workers – to pick slate out of the coal as it passed between their legs in chutes. Many times older men would return to being a “breaker boy” after spending 40 years working in the deep, dark, damp coal mines. This is where the saying, “once a man, twice a boy,” got its beginning.
Lulu bought the book for me and I loved it. I am a bit prejudiced. You re-call I grew up in a little coal mining town in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. That county still boasts the world’s largest supply of clean burning Anthracite coal – the fuel that fueled the Industrial Revolution. As I was growing up – there was always this myth that at one time we had a National Football League team. One never knew for sure if it really existed. Fleming’s book collects all the facts and presents the story in a simple manner that even the most naive “coal cracker” could understand.
In 1925 – Dr. John Streigel paid a franchise fee of $1500 to buy a team in the fledgling NFL. This was when Jim Thorpe was president of the league. Stars of the time were Bronco Nagurski and Red Grange. The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame were dominating the golden years of college football. The NCAA overshadowed this upstart professional league considered by many to be a gathering of thugs.
The NFL’s greatest team was The Pottsville Maroons. I spent my “wonder years” in Tamaqua – a small coal mining and railroad town about 12 miles east of Pottsville. All roads and buses went to Pottsville. In the 60s - we actually thought The Monkees were singing, “Take the Last Train to Pottsville.”
The team was made up of an odd collection of coal miners and college “has beens.” Many of them worked in the deep Anthracite mines during the week and strapped on their leather helmets to battle on the weekend in the NFL.
During that season for the ages – Pottsville defeated teams from Buffalo, Canton, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, Columbus, and Providence. They even traveled on overnight train to Lambeau Field in Green Bay to trounce Curley Lambeau and the Packers – 31-0. After beating the Chicago Cardinals – 21-7 – for the title – they beat Notre Dame in an exhibition game in Philadelphia. Many historians claim that beating of college national power Notre Dame that day – 9-7 – gave the NFL the credibility that launched it into being the national pastime that it is today. Many headline writers called that game in Shibe Park in Philadelphia – the Greatest Football Game Ever Seen.
At the end of the 1954 football season – Red Grange was speaker at a sports banquet near his hometown. He was asked, “What was the greatest team and who was the greatest player?” The folks expected him to cite himself and his Chicago Bears.
The Galloping Ghost told of a day in Pottsville, PA – when he was playing an exhibition game for $500. This was when a new car could be purchased for $700. On the first play he was welcomed to coal country by being knocked cold.
Fleming writes, “The crowd went silent. This is the man that attracted 70,000 to the Polo Grounds. While playing for the University of Illinois he had run for touchdowns of 95, 67, 56, and 45 yards against the University of Michigan.” He was out cold.
Although dazed on the first play – he put his leather helmet back on and lined up for the next play. Again the coal miners knocked him out. An eyewitness claimed when Grange was revived he said, “The hell with the $500 – it ain’t worth it,” as he walked off the field.
Today when we award athletes millions of dollars for playing a game and then have to put them in prison for “hanging dogs” – “murdering girlfriends” – “and taking drugs to break records” – it is fun to romance about a time when common everyday men played the game for fun.
The people of Pennsylvania are currently petitioning the NFL to return the 1925 championship to the team that won it on the field. The Pennsylvania Legislature just passed an appeal to have the title returned to Pottsville.
The Trailing Spouse and former coal cracker presents to you the greatest football team ever – the 1925 Pottsville Maroons of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
TO SEE THE BOOK - CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE
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