American Football League (1940)

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American Football League

sport American football
abbreviation AFL III
League foundation 1940
League dissolution 1941
Teams 6th
Country countries United StatesUnited States United States
Record champions Columbus Bullies (2)

The American Football League (AFL III) was a professional league for American football in the United States that operated from 1940 to 1941 .

history

The American Football League was founded in 1940. In contrast to the AFL II , in which the Cincinnati Bengals also played, the AFL III did not succeed in attracting well-known players. In the first season, the race for the championship was mostly a duel between the Columbus Bullies and the Milwaukee Chiefs . After the Chiefs started with seven wins in a row, they lost their last two games and in the end gave the championship to the Bullies. Bottom of the table were the Bengals. After the first season, the Boston Bears had to stop playing and the Buffalo Indians could only be saved through a sale. Nevertheless, there were applications for their own team from Philadelphia , Detroit and Baltimore, among others , but these were rejected by the league because their league was not yet stabilized.

Before the second season, the league held an entry draft with 50 well-known young players, but in contrast to the NFL draft, the players were allowed to choose the teams themselves instead of the other way around . Nevertheless, the AFL did not succeed through the draft to achieve significant new signings. However, the New York Yankees were later able to commit the running back and All-American John Kimbrough . After the suspension of Yankees owner Douglas Hertz , the team was sold to William Cox , who renamed the team New York Americans . In October 1941 the same team was also able to sign the former Heisman winner Tom Harmon . The following game of the Americans against the defending champion could then win over 25,000 spectators. The game ended in a 7-7 draw. However, Harmon left the league again after the game, as he was drafted into the military because of the Second World War . In the end, the Bullies won the championship again, ahead of the Chiefs and Americans.

The League had been established after the season and wanted a 1942 even expansion dare to Detroit. Due to the Second World War, the teams lost more and more players. On September 2, 1942, Commissioner Cox finally stated that the league would temporarily suspend play due to a lack of players, and stressed that there were no financial problems with the teams. The league was never revived.

Tables

1940

team S. N U SQ P + P-
Columbus Bullies 8th 1 1 .889 134 69
Milwaukee Chiefs 7th 2 0 .778 180 59
Boston Bears 5 4th 1 .556 120 79
New York Yankees 4th 5 0 .444 138 138
Buffalo Indians 2 8th 0 .200 45 138
Cincinnati Bengals 1 7th 0 .125 53 187

1941

team S. N U SQ P + P-
Columbus Bullies 5 1 2 .833 142 55
New York Americans 5 2 1 .714 116 73
Milwaukee Chiefs 4th 3 1 .571 105 84
Buffalo Tigers 2 6th 0 .250 72 172
Cincinnati Bengals 1 5 2 .167 69 120

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Dieter Hoch and Stefan Thoben: From AFL to NFL Europe . Huddle Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811390-3-7 , pp. 149 .
  2. ^ A b Dieter Hoch and Stefan Thoben: From AFL to NFL Europe . Huddle Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811390-3-7 , pp. 150 .