Hartford Blues
The Hartford Blues were an American football team that played in the National Football League (NFL).
history
prehistory
The Blues were originally founded as Waterbury Blues in 1924 and were not part of any league at the time. The team was initially based in Waterbury , Connecticut . The team was made up of former college football players who were resident in the area. Training was only done once a week - on the Sunday before the game. Players were paid per game. After a year with seven wins, two losses and four draws, the Blues won the 1924 state championship. However, the title was only given unofficially.
From 1925 the team took on professional features. First Harry Stuhldreher could be hired . Stuhldreher previously studied at the University of Notre Dame and was a member of the Four Horsemen , the legendary offensive backfield of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish . Stuhldreher received an annual salary of $ 7,500 and a bonus of $ 500. Other former college football stars could be signed by the team. After the first victorious designed game of the season, the former teammate of Stuhldreher Jim Crowley also found his way to the blues. But he only played in one game for the team. The game against the NFL team Rochester Jeffersons could win the Blues with 9: 7.
In November 1925, the team moved to East Hartford , Connecticut and was renamed Hartford Blues. They played in Hartford in a stadium with a capacity of 8,000. Other players such as Don Miller or Steve Owen strengthened the squad. The team remained victorious and secured the second national championship. However, this "win" was not undisputed. Instead of ending the season, the owner of the Blues decided to play a lucrative game against an NFL team. He managed to get all four former Four Horsemen under contract. But this move was not successful. The Blues lost to the Cleveland Bulldogs 13-6 , with former Four Horsemen Elmer Layden being the only touchdown for the Blues. The Blues season ended with ten wins and two losses.
The Hartford Blues in the NFL
In 1926, the Blues joined the National Football League. Your star players had meanwhile left the club. The season was not very successful. Only three out of eleven games were won. They lost the first four games without scoring a point. Due to the poor performance of the team, the audience stayed away. Due to the weather, the team was unable to finish the season.
The 1926 NFL season was the first and final season of the Blues in the NFL. The league was financially poor. In 1926, the American Football League, co-founded by Red Grange , went bankrupt and two teams in that league were accepted into the NFL. The NFL team owners decided to limit the number of teams to 12 teams, all of which were based in major cities. The blues were excluded. As an independent team, they continued to play for a year under the name Hartford Giants , but then stopped playing.
Players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Web links
- Hartford Blues stats
- Hartford Blues 1926 ( Memento from May 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- THE HARTFORD BLUES (Part 1) ( Memento from April 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 33 kB)
- THE HARTFORD BLUES (Part 2) ( Memento from September 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 45 kB)