Highlighted Year: Paddy Driscoll, 1922

Back, Chicago Cardinals

Age: 27

4^th season in pro football, 3^rd in APFA/NFL & with Cardinals (2^nd complete)

College: Northwestern

Height: 5’11” Weight: 160

Prelude:

Driscoll played football and baseball in college, briefly spending time with the Chicago Cubs in 1917. While in the military during World War I, he was with the Great Lakes Naval Station team that won the 1919 Rose Bowl. Driscoll joined the Hammond Pros in 1919 and moved on to the Chicago Cardinals of the new American Professional Football Association (later renamed NFL) in ’20. Deceptively mild-mannered and small in stature, he was an outstanding all-around player who was an elusive halfback and kick returner, precision punter, and outstanding drop-kicker. He was a first-team All-APFA selection by the Rock Island Argus in 1920 and scored 25 points in 1921. He also coached the Cardinals in each of those seasons, compiling a 9-5-4 record. Driscoll continued as a player-coach in 1922.

1922 Season Summary

Appeared in all 11 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]

Scoring

Rushing TDs – 0

Receiving TDs – 2 [1, tied with Dunc Annan, Charlie Mathys & Scotty Bierce]

Other TDs – 0

Total TDs – 2

Field Goals – 8 [1]

Extra Points – 4 [8, tied with Hank Gillo & Pete Henry]

Points – 40 [5]

Awards & Honors:

1^st team All-NFL: George Halas, Canton Daily News

Cardinals went 8-3 to finish third in the NFL.

Aftermath:

In six seasons with the Cardinals (three of which he was also the coach), Driscoll scored 17 touchdowns and kicked 37 field goals, leading the league three times, and 31 PATs for a total of 244 points, topping the NFL with 78 in 1923. He received first-team All-NFL recognition after four of those seasons. Following the 1925 season, in which the team won the NFL title, the financially-strapped Cardinals sold Driscoll’s contract to the Bears. Driscoll spent three more seasons with the Bears, scoring 43 points and again receiving consensus first-team All-NFL honors in 1927. Overall for his career, he scored 31 touchdowns and kicked 63 extra points and 51 field goals for a total of 402 points. Driscoll’s scoring total was the NFL record until 1942 and his field goal total the league standard until 1952, with his single-season record of 12 in 1926 not exceeded until 1950. Driscoll received at least some first-team All-NFL recognition after seven seasons and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1965. He later became a long-time assistant coach for the Bears and was head coach in 1956 and ’57.

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Highlighted Years features players who were consensus first-team All-League* selections or league* or conference** leaders in the following statistical categories:

Rushing: Yards, TDs (min. 10)

Passing: Yards, Completion Pct., Yards per Attempt, TDs, Rating

Receiving: Catches, Yards, TDs (min. 10)

Scoring: TDs, Points, Field Goals (min. 5)

All-Purpose: Total Yards

Defense: Interceptions, Sacks

Kickoff Returns: Average

Punt Returns: Average

Punting: Average

*Leagues include NFL (1920 to date), AFL (1926), AFL (1936-37), AAFC (1946-49), AFL (1960-69), WFL (1974-75), USFL (1983-85)

**NFC/AFC since 1970

Highlighted Year: Hank Gillo, 1922

Fullback/Tailback, Racine Legion

 Age: 28 (Oct. 5)

3^rd season in pro football, 1^st with Legion

College: Colgate

Height: 5’10” Weight: 195

Prelude:

Gillo’s fine college career was interrupted by military service in World War I. He spent 1920 and ’21 with the Hammond Pros and also coached the club in ‘20. The power-running fullback called “Line-Plunging” Gillo signed with the Legion for 1922.

  

1922 Season Summary

Appeared in all 11 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]

Scoring

Rushing TDs – 5 [4]

Receiving TDs – 0

Other TDs – 0

Total TDs – 5 [5, tied with four others]

Field Goals – 6 [2, tied with Dutch Sternaman]

Extra Points – 4 [8, tied with Paddy Driscoll & Pete Henry]

Points – 52 [1]

Legion went 6-4-1 to finish sixth in the NFL.

Aftermath:

Gillo followed up with 44 points in 1923 and received first-team All-NFL honors from Collyers Eye. In 1924, Gillo had a successful 50-yard drop-kick for a field goal against the Milwaukee Badgers, the first of that length in pro football history, on his way to 48 points in his last year with Racine. Over the course of three seasons with the Legion, Gillo produced 10 TDs, 18 PATs, and 22 field goals (21 of which were drop-kicked) for a total of 144 points.  He played for the Milwaukee Badgers in 1925 and the Racine Tornadoes in 1926, which was his last season. He accounted for no more scoring after 1924.

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Highlighted Years features players who were consensus first-team All-League* selections or league* or conference** leaders in the following statistical categories:

Rushing: Yards, TDs (min. 10)

Passing: Yards, Completion Pct., Yards per Attempt, TDs, Rating

Receiving: Catches, Yards, TDs (min. 10)

Scoring: TDs, Points, Field Goals (min. 5)

All-Purpose: Total Yards

Defense: Interceptions, Sacks

Kickoff Returns: Average

Punt Returns: Average

Punting: Average

*Leagues include NFL (1920 to date), AFL (1926), AFL (1936-37), AAFC (1946-49), AFL (1960-69), WFL (1974-75), USFL (1983-85)

**NFC/AFC since 1970

Highlighted Year: Jimmy Conzelman, 1922

Back, Rock Island Independents/Milwaukee Badgers

Age: 24

3^rd season in pro football, 2^nd with Independents

College: Washington (MO)

Height: 6’0”   Weight: 175

Prelude:

Conzelman spent two years in the Navy during World War I and was a member of the Great Lakes Navy team that won the 1919 Rose Bowl. He returned to Washington Univ. in St. Louis, where he had started out prior to the war, for the 1919 season and joined his Great Lakes teammate George Halas with his newly-organized Decatur Staleys team in the fledgling NFL (then the APFA) for 1920. A natural leader, Conzelman became player-coach of the Rock Island Independents during the 1921 season and, while he stayed on in ’22, he joined the Milwaukee Badgers after Rock Island had played out its schedule, also serving as player/coach.

1922 Season Summary

Appeared in 7 games with Rock Island, 3 with Milwaukee

[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]

Passing

TDs – 3 [1]

Scoring

Rushing TDs – 7 [1]

Receiving TDs – 0

Other TDs – 0

Total TDs – 7 [1, tied with Guy Chamberlin]

Field Goals – 2 [6, tied with four others]

Extra Points – 0

Points – 48 [2]

Independents went 4-2-1 to finish fifth in the NFL while leading the league in rushing TDs (19, tied with Canton) and ranking second in total TDs (22) and scoring (154 points).

Badgers went 2-4-3 to finish eleventh in the NFL.

Aftermath:

Conzelman spent another season with the Badgers in 1923, who finished in fourth place. He received first-team All-NFL honors from the Canton Daily News and was a second-team choice of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Conzelman was a player only in ’24 and became owner of his own franchise, the Detroit Panthers, in 1925. Conzelman sold the Panthers and became player/coach of the Providence Steam Roller in ’27, leading them to the NFL Championship in 1928. A knee injury curtailed his playing time and his playing career ended in 1929. As a player, he appeared in 104 games, scored 26 touchdowns, and kicked three field goals and four PATs for a total of 169 points. Conzelman coached at the minor league and college level until returning to the NFL as head coach of the Chicago Cardinals in 1940. He left after three seasons to work for major league baseball’s St. Louis Browns, but returned to the Cards and led them to two Western Division titles and the 1947 NFL Championship. His NFL coaching record was 87-63-17 and his teams won two league titles. Conzelman was a multi-talented individual who at various times was an actor, author, songwriter, sportswriter, playwright, orator, and baseball player and executive. For his pro football exploits, most notably his coaching, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1964.

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Highlighted Years features players who were consensus first-team All-League* selections or league* or conference** leaders in the following statistical categories:

Rushing: Yards, TDs (min. 10)

Passing: Yards, Completion Pct., Yards per Attempt, TDs, Rating

Receiving: Catches, Yards, TDs (min. 10)

Scoring: TDs, Points, Field Goals (min. 5)

All-Purpose: Total Yards

Defense: Interceptions, Sacks

Kickoff Returns: Average

Punt Returns: Average

Punting: Average

*Leagues include NFL (1920 to date), AFL (1926), AFL (1936-37), AAFC (1946-49), AFL (1960-69), WFL (1974-75), USFL (1983-85)

**NFC/AFC since 1970

Highlighted Year: Guy Chamberlin, 1922

End, Canton Bulldogs

Age: 28

4^th season in pro football, 3^rd in APFA/NFL & 2^nd with Bulldogs

College: Nebraska

Height: 6’2”   Weight: 192

Prelude:

Chamberlin transferred from Nebraska Wesleyan to the Univ. of Nebraska and was a consensus first-team All-American end in 1915. Following military service from 1917 to ’19, he joined Canton in 1919, when it was still part of the informal Ohio League, and moved on to the Decatur Staleys of the new NFL (then called American Professional Football Association) in ’20. Tall and fast, and outstanding on both offense and defense, Chamberlin received first-team All-League honors from The Rock Island Argus. The club shifted to Chicago in 1921 (and was rechristened the Bears the next year) and won the NFL Championship. Chamberlin returned to Canton as player/coach in 1922.

1922 Season Summary

Appeared in 12 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]

Scoring

Rushing TDs – 3 [10, tied with ten others]

Receiving TDs – 1 [5, tied with twenty-two others]

Interception TDs – 2 [1]

Misc. TDs – 1 [1, tied with Norb Sacksteder, Curly Lambeau & Al Nesser]

Total TDs – 7 [1, tied with Jimmy Conzelman]

Points – 42 [3]

Awards & Honors:

1^st team All-NFL: George Halas

Bulldogs went 10-0-2 to finish first in the NFL while leading the league in touchdowns (26) and scoring (184 points).

Aftermath:

The Bulldogs went undefeated in 1923 to again top the NFL with an 11-0-1 record under Chamberlin’s guidance, and as a player he received first-team All-NFL honors from Collyers Eye and second-team recognition from the Green Bay Press-Gazette. The franchise was effectively shifted to Cleveland in 1924 and won another title. Chamberlin received first-team All-NFL honors from Collyers Eye. He moved on to become player/coach of the Frankford Yellow Jackets in 1925 and, after a sixth-place finish that year, they topped the NFL with a 14-1-2 record in ’26. Chamberlin ended up as both a player and coach with the Chicago Cardinals in 1927, who placed ninth with the only losing record of any team that he played for or coached. Overall, as a player Chamberlin played in 92 games and scored 17 touchdowns, and received at least some first-team All-League recognition four times. As a coach, his teams went 58-16-7, including 21-0-3 in two seasons with Canton, and won a total of four NFL Championships. Chamberlin was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1965.

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Highlighted Years features players who were first-team All-League* selections or league* or conference** leaders in the following statistical categories:

Rushing: Yards, TDs (min. 10)

Passing: Yards, Completion Pct., Yards per Attempt, TDs, Rating

Receiving: Catches, Yards, TDs (min. 10)

Scoring: TDs, Points, Field Goals (min. 5)

All-Purpose: Total Yards

Defense: Interceptions, Sacks

Kickoff Returns: Average

Punt Returns: Average

Punting: Average

*Leagues include NFL (1920 to date), AFL (1926), AFL (1936-37), AAFC (1946-49), AFL (1960-69), WFL (1974-75), USFL (1983-85)

**NFC/AFC since 1970

1922: Robeson Scores 2 TDs as Milwaukee Defeats Oorang

Before he achieved international notoriety as a singer, actor, and political activist, Paul Robeson was a pro football player. An All-American end at Rutgers (named twice by Frank Menke in 1917 and ’18 and by Walter Camp in 1918), Robeson played two years in the fledgling NFL while earning his law degree at Columbia University. One of a very few African-Americans in the league, he had good size for the time at 6’3” and 219 pounds, and was considered to be outstanding both on offense and defense. On November 19, 1922 he was the key player in a game between the Milwaukee Badgers and Oorang Indians.

Robeson had joined the Badgers, who were new to the NFL (as the former American Professional Football Association had just been renamed). Much was expected of the club that also signed Fritz Pollard, another pioneering African-American player who was a star back and coach with Akron. Alvin “Bo” McMillin, All-American tailback out of Centre College, was just joining the team that had a disappointing 1-1-3 record and played to scoreless ties in its last two contests.

The Oorang Indians were an oddity, even in the somewhat freewheeling world of the early NFL. The roster was composed entirely of Native Americans and the legendary Jim Thorpe served as player/coach. The team’s name came from the Oorang Dog Kennels in little LaRue, Ohio, the business of team owner Walter Lingo. The franchise operated as a traveling team and, while it boasted colorfully-named players and rather elaborate halftime shows that utilized the kennel’s dogs, it also had a woeful 1-5 record.

There were 6500 fans in attendance for the Sunday game at Athletic Park in Milwaukee. Much of the contest’s attraction was the matchup of the two star backs, Thorpe and McMillin. The first score came early in the game, after an initial exchange of punts. The Indians had possession at their own 12 when HB Eagle Feather fumbled and, following a mad scramble for the loose ball, Robeson scooped it up near the goal line and rolled into the end zone for a touchdown. Charlie Copley’s extra point attempt failed, but the Badgers held a 6-0 lead.

Oorang didn’t threaten to score during the first half until the offense came alive late in the second quarter and the Indians drove to the Milwaukee eight before time expired.

The teams again traded punts to start the second half. Starting at their own 25, the Badgers kept the ball on the ground to reach midfield before back Mike Purdy threw to wingback Al Greene, playing his first game with the Badgers, for 12 yards. After a two-yard carry by McMillin, the second Milwaukee TD came on a pass by Purdy to Robeson. The big end caught the ball in the midst of several Oorang defenders and ran 20 yards for a TD. Along the way, Greene made a great block on Eagle Feather at the 10 to remove the final hurdle to Robeson’s scoring jaunt. Copley was successful this time in adding the extra point.

That was it for the scoring, although McMillin made an exciting play in the fourth quarter when, in punt formation, he ran to his left, cut back across the field, and retreated back some 20 yards while dodging tacklers before throwing to Robeson for a gain of five yards. Milwaukee won by a final score of 13-0.

Bo McMillin had a good debut for the Badgers, directing the offense effectively both on the ground and through the air. Paul Robeson was the game’s top lineman as well as scorer of the only touchdowns and Fritz Pollard ran effectively.

Jim Thorpe played the entire game for the Indians. At age 35, he was past his prime but still an effective player. He had several long runs on offense and especially distinguished himself on defense, where he was in on many of the tackles.

The Badgers didn’t win again – and in fact scored only six more points – in finishing at 2-4-3 and eleventh in the 18-team NFL. The Indians, on the other hand, won their last two contests to end up at 3-6 and right behind Milwaukee in the standings.

Paul Robeson’s 1922 season was his last as a pro football player. He graduated law school, although he didn’t stay in the legal field for long and rapidly moved into the world of music and the theater. But he made a brief imprint as an early pro football player, especially with his outstanding performance against Oorang.