1925 Milwaukee Badgers season

1925 Milwaukee Badgers season
Head coach Johnny Bryan
Home field Athletic Park
Results
Record 0–7 Overall
0–6 NFL
League place T-16th in NFL

The 1925 Milwaukee Badgers season was their fourth in the National Football League. The team failed to improve on their previous league record of 5–8, losing all their games.[1] They tied for sixteenth place in the league.[2]

The end of the Badgers season was centered on a team scandal with the Chicago Cardinals. The scandal involved a Chicago player, Art Folz, hiring a group of high school football players to play for the Milwaukee Badgers, against the Cardinals. This would ensure an inferior opponent for Chicago. The game was used to help prop up their win-loss percentage and as a chance of wrestling away the 1925 Championship away from the first place Pottsville Maroons. When NFL President Joseph Carr learned high school players had been used in a league game, he told reporters the 59–0 Cardinals win would be stricken from the record. However, the league had never got around to removing it and the game is still a part of the NFL records. Cardinals' owner Chris O'Brien was also fined $1,000 by Carr for allowing his team play a game against high schoolers, even though O'Brien claimed that he was unaware of the players' status. Finally Badgers' owner, Ambrose McGuirk, was ordered to sell his Milwaukee franchise within 90 days. Folz, for his role, was barred from football for life.

However by the summer of 1926, the $1,000 fine against O'Brien was rescinded, probably since the amount would have put the Cardinals out of business. McGuirk though had already sold his Badgers franchise to Johnny Bryan, a fullback with the Chicago Bears. Two of the high school football players used in scandal even earned high school all-star recognition at the end of their season. Art Folz reportedly told the high schoolers that the game was a "practice game" and would in no part affect their amateur status.[3][4]

The scandal did have implications for the 1925 NFL Championship, when the Pottsville Maroons had their title removed by the NFL for playing in an unsanctioned game against the Notre Dame All-Stars. To this day, Pottsville residents and supporters still demand to know why Chicago was awarded the title even though they too were found by Carr to have violated the NFL's rules.[5]

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result
1 October 4, 1925 at Chicago Cardinals L 34–0
2 October 11, 1925 at Green Bay Packers L 31–0
October 11, 1925 at Toronto Tigers L 13–7
3 November 1, 1925 Green Bay Packers L 6–0
4 November 8, 1925 at Detroit Panthers L 21–0
5 November 22, 1925 at Rock Island Independents L 40–7
6 December 10, 1925 Chicago Cardinals L 59–0

Standings

NFL standings
W L T PCT PF PA STK
Chicago Cardinals * 11 2 1 .846 230 65 W2
Pottsville Maroons * 10 2 0 .833 270 45 W5
Detroit Panthers 8 2 2 .800 129 39 W1
New York Giants 8 4 0 .667 122 67 W1
Akron Pros 4 2 2 .667 65 51 L2
Frankford Yellow Jackets 13 7 0 .650 190 169 W2
Chicago Bears 9 5 3 .643 158 96 W3
Rock Island Independents 5 3 3 .625 99 58 L1
Green Bay Packers 8 5 0 .615 151 110 W1
Providence Steam Roller 6 5 1 .545 111 101 L1
Canton Bulldogs 4 4 0 .500 50 73 L1
Cleveland Bulldogs 5 8 1 .385 75 135 L1
Kansas City Cowboys 2 5 1 .286 65 97 W1
Hammond Pros 1 4 0 .200 23 87 L3
Buffalo Bisons 1 6 2 .143 33 113 L4
Rochester Jeffersons 0 6 1 .000 26 111 L5
Dayton Triangles 0 7 1 .000 3 84 L7
Duluth Kelleys 0 3 0 .000 6 25 L3
Milwaukee Badgers 0 6 0 .000 7 191 L6
Columbus Tigers 0 9 0 .000 28 124 L9

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
* The Pottsville Maroons were suspended from the league in December, resulting in the Chicago Cardinals being named the NFL champions.

References

  1. 1925 Milwaukee Badgers
  2. Pro Football Archives: 1925 Milwaukee Badgers
  3. Joe Horrigan (1984). "Joe Carr" (PDF). Coffin Corner (Professional Football Researchers Association) 6 (5–6): 1–4. Archived from the original on August 16, 2009. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
  4. Chris Willis (2003). "Joe Carr VisionU" (PDF). Coffin Corner (Professional Football Researchers Association) 25 (5): 1–3.
  5. Fleming, David (2007). Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship. ESPN. ISBN 1-933060-35-2.
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