| 1920 Columbus Panhandles season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Ted Nesser |
| Home field | Traveling team |
| Results | |
| Record | 2-7-2 Overall 0-5 APFA |
| Division Place | 14th APFA |
| Playoff finish | No playoffs until 1932 |
| Timeline | |
| Previous season | Next season |
| 1919 | 1921 |
The 1920 Columbus Panhandles season was their inaugural season in the National Football League. The team finished 2-7-2,[1] earning them fourteenth place in the league.
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The Columbus Panhandles finished their 1919 season with a 3–6–1 record in the Ohio League.[2] On August 20, 1920, a meeting was held at Ralph Hay's automobile attended by representatives of four Ohio League teams: the Canton Bulldogs, the Cleveland Tigers, the Dayton Triangles, and the Akron Pros. At the meeting, they tentatively agreed to introduce a salary cap for the teams, not to sign college players nor players under contract with another team, and became united as the American Professional Football Conference.[3] They then contacted other major professional teams and invited them to a meeting for September 17.[4]
At the meeting in September, representatives of the Rock Island Independents, the Muncie Flyers, the Decatur Staleys, the Racine Cardinals, the Massillon Tigers, the Chicago Cardinals, the Rochester Jeffersons, and the Hammond Pros. The following was achieved during the September 17 meeting: the name of American Professional Football Association was chosen; officers of the league were elected with Jim Thorpe as president; a membership fee of $100 was set; a committee to draft a constitution was named; the secretary of the league was to receive a list of all players used during the season by January 1, 1921; and the trophy that would be awarded to the league champions.[4][5][6] Ranney wrote all the information from these meetings on stationary and thus was promoted to secretary of the league.[7]
| Player | Position |
|---|---|
| John Beckwith | B |
| Hi Brigham | G |
| John Davis | B |
| Charlie Essman | G |
| Jim Flower | T/E |
| Hal Gaulke | B/E |
| Babe Houck | G |
| Oscar Kuehner | T/G |
| Frank Lone Star | G/T |
| Wilkie Moody | B/T |
| Joe Mulbarger | T/G |
| Frank Nesser | B/G |
| Phil Nesser | G/T |
| Ted Nesser | C/T |
| Dwight Peabody | E |
| Homer Ruh | E/B |
| John Schneider | B |
| Lee Snoots | B |
| Will Waite | G/C |
| Oscar Wolford | G/C |
| Howard Yerges | B |
Source: "Columbus Panhandles (1920-22)/Columbus Tigers (1923-26)". Rutgers University. July 18, 2007. http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~maxymuk/home/ongoing/columbus.html. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
| Regular season | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Venue | Attendance | Record | ||
| 1 | Bye week | |||||||
| 2 | October 3, 1920 | at Dayton Triangles | 14–0 | 0–1 | ||||
| 3 | October 10, 1920 | at Akron Pros | 37–0 | League Park | 1,500 | 0–2 | ||
| 4 | October 17, 1920 | at Fort Wayne Friars | 14–0 | 5,000 | 0–3 | |||
| 5 | October 24, 1920 | at Detroit Heralds | 6–0 | 0–4 | ||||
| 6 | October 31, 1920 | at Cleveland Tigers | 7–0 | 3,000 | 0–5 | |||
| 7 | November 7, 1920 | at Zanesville Mark Greys | 10–0 | 1–5 | ||||
| 8 | November 14, 1920 | at Buffalo All-Americans | 43–7 | 9,000 | 1–6 | |||
| 9 | November 21, 1920 | at Zanesville Mark Greys | 0–0 | 1–6–1 | ||||
| 10 | November 25, 1920 | at Elyria Athletics | 0–0 | 1–6–2 | ||||
| November 28, 1920 | at Youngstown Patricians | 0–2 | 1–7–2 | |||||
| 11 | December 5, 1920 | at Columbus Wagner Pirates | 24–0 | 2,000 | 2–7–2 | |||
Week 2
Columbus Panhandles (0-0-0) at Dayton Triangles (0-0-0) - Triangle Park
Dayton defeated Columbus 14-0 in the first game between two APFA teams. Lou Partlow scored the first TD in a game between two league teams on a 7 yard run in the 3rd quarter. Mid way thru the 4th quarter Francis Bacon returned a punt 60 yards for the 2nd TD.[8][9]
Week 3
Columbus Panhandles (0-1-0) at Akron Pros (1-0-0) - Akron League Park
Wingback Frank McCormick ran for two early touchdowns to give Akron a 14-0 lead. Bob "Nasty" Nash later recovered a fumble in the end zone (the first fumble recovery for a touchdown in a game of two league teams) and the defense added the leagues first safety to give the Akron Pros a 37-0 victory over the Columbus Panhandles.[10][11]
| 1920 APFA standings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | |||
| Akron Pros | 8 | 0 | 3 | 1.000 | 151 | 7 | T2 | ||
| Decatur Staleys | 10 | 1 | 2 | .909 | 164 | 21 | T1 | ||
| Buffalo All-Americans | 9 | 1 | 1 | .900 | 258 | 32 | T1 | ||
| Chicago Cardinals | 6 | 2 | 2 | .750 | 101 | 29 | L1 | ||
| Rock Island Independents | 6 | 2 | 2 | .750 | 201 | 49 | W1 | ||
| Dayton Triangles | 5 | 2 | 2 | .714 | 150 | 54 | L1 | ||
| Rochester Jeffersons | 6 | 3 | 2 | .667 | 156 | 57 | T1 | ||
| Canton Bulldogs | 7 | 4 | 2 | .636 | 208 | 57 | W1 | ||
| Detroit Heralds | 2 | 3 | 3 | .400 | 53 | 82 | T2 | ||
| Cleveland Tigers | 2 | 4 | 2 | .333 | 28 | 46 | L1 | ||
| Chicago Tigers | 2 | 5 | 1 | .286 | 49 | 63 | W1 | ||
| Hammond Pros | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 41 | 154 | L3 | ||
| Columbus Panhandles | 2 | 6 | 2 | .250 | 41 | 121 | W1 | ||
| Muncie Flyers | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 45 | L1 | ||
| Akron | Buffalo | Canton | Chicago Cardinals | Chicago Tigers | Cleveland |
| Columbus | Dayton | Decatur | Detroit | Hammond | Muncie |
| Rochester | Rock Island | ||||
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