They Didn't Grow Up to be Cowboys!
(Speech 31 - ATM Storytelling - “Bringing History to Life”)

 

Today, fellow Toastmasters (and guests) I have a story within a story to tell you. The broader story is about a hapless Pro Football Team that languished in the NFL for 9 years before finding a good home.  The narrower story is about one game this team played in 1952 that is one of the most unusual games ever played in terms of circumstances and outcome.

 

After two years of no pro football in the early 1940's because of WW2 a new team entered the league in 1944 called the Boston Yanks.  This team was moved to New York in 1949 and renamed the Bulldogs, then moved again to the Bronx in 1950 and renamed the Yanks once again.  Finally this team with a history of losing lots of games and money was moved to Dallas and renamed the Texans.   They were the first NFL team in the state of Texas.

 

This team consisted of a lot of hapless also-rans in the world of pro football.  Talent-wise they lacked much and really was not prepared to compete in the league.  (Although interestingly a few future Hall-of-Famers, early in their careers,  were on this team, including Art Donovan who you may have seen on the Tonight Show or David Letterman)

 

After opening with 18,000 fans at their first home game in Dallas, attendance dropped rapidly as the team fell to the bottom of the standing while losing their first 9 games.  The team had three games left when they went bankrupt.  Players were advised to cash their checks before they bounced.  The team was taken over by the league and moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania - the location of NFL League Headquarters. 

 

The Texans first game after going bankrupt is the story-within-the-story today.  They faced the mighty Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day in of all places - Akron, Ohio???  This was considered to be a neutral field about halfway between Chicago and Hershey where the two teams were headquartered.  The teams were coached by two distinct personalities.  The Bears, by George "Papa Bear" Halas, who coached the team for 40 years and is considered to be a legend  in Pro Football History.  He was a no-nonsense guy who ran a tight ship.  Players had to meet curfew and adhere to a myriad of team rules.  Former players say he ruled with an iron fist. His teams were very successful, having won a number of championships. 

 

The Texans were coached by Jimmy Phelan - a man who had formerly coached at the College Level and is best known for taking  a  team from small St. Mary's College in California and incredibly taking them to the 1945 Sugar Bowl.  Phelan was a stocky guy with a square jaw who was rarely seen without a cigar.  He spoke seldom, but when he did speak he was quite witty.  With the 1952 Texans, he practically abandoned all team rules and former players describe wild late-night parties in Hershey and 30 minute practices.  He was a man who had given up on the Texans when Thanksgiving Day came about.

 

Game Day saw the end to a recent warm spell that had seen temps in the 60's in NE Ohio. That Thanksgiving Day saw dry weather and temperatures near 40 degrees at game time.  Not a bad day for a football game.  However the lack of local fan interest led to a paltry attendance of less than 2,000 fans.  Similar to a crowd we might see here in Milton Frank for a local High School game.

 

Jimmy Phelon addressed his team before the game and had the following comments: "All the teams who have won have not had the privilege of what we can experience today...(The team listened intently with anticipation)...instead of introducing the players on the field, go in the stands and introduce yourselves to the fans individually."

 

That team hit the field with a wreckless abandon that had been missing all season. The Bears played like they didn't want to be there and quickly found themselves trailing the woeful Texans by the score of 20-2.  Starting Dallas quarterback, Bob Celeri, connected once on a play that had become his trademark.  Finding himself being chased by Bear defenders, he blindly heaved a pass into the end zone and one of his receivers happened to be in the right place to score a touchdown.  The Bears fought back and made the game close in the end, but when the game was over, the Texans tasted victory for the only time in 12 games that season.

 

Following the game, the Texans celebrated, but the Bears were verbally mauled by coach Halas who cursed them out at length for "losing those bunch of bums". 

 

At the end of the season however, Pro Football and the NFL were out of Texas for 8 years.   Jimmy Phelan later remarked.  We caught a lot of breaks, but they were all bad.”

 

Friends, this hapless team that was a ward of the NFL in 1952, surprisingly was purchased in 1953 by Carroll Rosenbloom and moved to Baltimore, Maryland and renamed the Colts.  Six seasons later, they won the NFL Championship in the first overtime game in history - a game that opened the door for Nationwide TV exposure of the league.  No, this team did not grow up to be the Dallas Cowboys, but instead what we now know as the Indianapolis Colts, quarterbacked by Univ. of Tennessee legend, Peyton Manning….