1920 Rochester Jeffersons season

The 1920 Rochester Jeffersons season was the franchise's inaugural season in the American Professional Football Association (APFA) and thirteenth as an American football team. The Jeffersons entered 1920 coming off a six-win, two-loss, two-tie (6–2–2) record in the New York Pro Football League (NYPFL) where it lost the championship game to the Buffalo Prospects. Several representatives from another professional football league, the Ohio League, wanted to form a new national league, and thus the APFA was created.

1920 Rochester Jeffersons season
Head coachJack Forsyth
General managerLeo Lyons[1]
OwnerLeo Lyons[2]
Home fieldBaseball Park
Results
Record6–3–2
League place6th in APFA

Ownership, roster, and coaching nearly stayed the same for the 1920 season. The team opened the season with a 10–0 victory over the non-APFA All-Buffalo. The only time the Jeffersons played a game against an APFA team was week six, when they lost to the Buffalo All-Americans. The team ended with a 6–3–2 record, which was good enough for them to finish sixth place in the final standings. The sportswriter Bruce Copeland compiled the 1920 All-Pro list, but no players from the Jeffersonss were on it. As of 2012, no player from the 1920 Rochester Jeffersons has been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Offseason

The Rochester Jeffersons finished 6–2–1 in their 1919 season.[3] It lost the NYPFL championship to the Buffalo All-Americans.[4] After the 1919 season, representatives of four Ohio League teams—the Canton Bulldogs, the Cleveland Tigers, the Dayton Triangles, and the Akron Pros—called a meeting on August 20, 1920, to discuss the formation of a new league. At the meeting, they tentatively agreed on a salary cap and pledged not to sign college players or players already under contract with other teams. They also agreed on a name for the circuit: the American Professional Football Conference.[5][6] They then invited other professional teams to a second meeting on September 17.

At that meeting, held at Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay's Hupmobile showroom in Canton, representatives of the Rock Island Independents, the Muncie Flyers, the Decatur Staleys, the Racine Cardinals, the Massillon Tigers, the Chicago Cardinals, and the Hammond Pros agreed to join the league. Representatives of the All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons could not attend the meeting, but sent letters to Hay asking to be included in the league.[7] Team representatives changed the league's name slightly to the American Professional Football Association and elected officers, installing Jim Thorpe as president.[7][8][9] Under the new league structure, teams created their schedules dynamically as the season progressed, so there were no minimum or maximum number of games needed to be played.[10][11] Also, representatives of each team voted to determine the winner of the APFA trophy.[12]

Schedule
1920 Rochester Jeffersons schedule[13]
WeekDateOpponentResultVenueAttendanceRecord
1 No game scheduled
2 October 3, 1920vs. All-Buffalo10–0 WBaseball Park2,0001–0
3 October 10, 1920vs. Fort Porter66–0 WBaseball ParkN/A2–0
4 October 17, 1920vs. Utica Knights of Columbus0–0 TBaseball Park/Canisius Field[A]N/A2–0–1
5 October 24, 1920vs. Syracuse Stars21–7 WBaseball ParkN/A3–0–1
6 October 31, 1920at Buffalo All-Americans17–6 LCanisius Field7,5003–1–1
7 November 7, 1920vs. Utica Knights of Columbus27–7 WBaseball ParkN/A4–1–1
8 November 14, 1920vs. All-Tonawanda Lumberjacks6–0 LBaseball ParkN/A4–2–1
9 November 21, 1920vs. Rochester Scalpers16–0 WBaseball ParkN/A5–2–1
10 November 25, 1920vs. All-Tonawanda Lumberjacks14–3 LBaseball Park2,5005–3–1
November 28, 1920vs. Rochester Scalpers7–6 WBaseball ParkN/A6–3–1
11 December 5, 1920vs. Rochester Scalpers0–0 TExposition ParkN/A6–3–2
12 No game scheduled
13 No game scheduled
A dagger () indicates teams not affiliated with the APFA.

Standings
1920 APFA standings[14]
W L T PCT DIV DPCT PF PA STK
Akron Pros 8 0 3 1.000 6–0–3 1.000 151 7 T2
Decatur Staleys 10 1 2 .909 5–1–2 .833 164 21 T1
Buffalo All-Americans 9 1 1 .900 4–1–1 .800 258 32 T1
Chicago Cardinals 6 2 2 .750 3–2–2 .600 101 29 T1
Rock Island Independents 6 2 2 .750 4–2–1 .667 201 49 W1
Dayton Triangles 5 2 2 .714 4–2–2 .667 150 54 L1
Rochester Jeffersons 6 3 2 .667 0-1-0 .000 156 57 T1
Canton Bulldogs 7 4 2 .636 4–3–1 .571 208 57 W1
Detroit Heralds 2 3 3 .400 1-3-0 .250 53 82 T2
Cleveland Tigers 2 4 2 .333 1–4–2 .200 28 46 L1
Chicago Tigers 2 5 1 .286 1–5–1 .167 49 63 W1
Hammond Pros 2 5 0 .286 0-3-0 .000 41 154 L3
Columbus Panhandles 2 6 2 .250 0-4-0 .000 41 121 W1
Muncie Flyers 0 1 0 .000 0-1-0 .000 0 45 L1

   Awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup and named APFA Champions.
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Notes
  1. Western New York Committee 2007, p. 1
  2. Quirk & Fort 1997, p. 430
  3. "1919 Rochester Jeffersons". The Pro Football Archives. Maher Sports Media. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  4. Crippen 2001, p. 3
  5. PFRA Research 1980, pp. 3–4
  6. Siwoff, Zimmber & Marini 2010, pp. 352–353
  7. PFRA Research 1980, p. 4
  8. "Thorpe Made President" (PDF). The New York Times. September 19, 1920.
  9. "Organize Pro Gridders; Choose Thorpe, Prexy". The Milwaukee Journal. September 19, 1920. p. 24.
  10. Peterson 1997, p. 74
  11. Davis 2005, p. 59
  12. Price, Mark (April 25, 2011). "Searching for Lost Trophy". Akron Beacon-Journal. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
  13. Western New York Committee 2007, pp. 2–9
  14. "NFL – 1920 Regular Season". National Football League. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
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References
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