The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-01-06
LEAGUE FOOTBALL
Professional GridirOn Sport Is
Sure to Have Its Day.
DIR. Kennedy Tells of Time
When 1t FIOurished in East.


of national proportions to operate in
the big league parks after the close of
the baseball season until winter wealth
er makes it too cold for playing is
looked upon as impractical BILE by many
leading football authorities because
they do not believe sufficient rivalry
can be aroused between big cities sit
uated at a great distance from each
other in the short period of time allot-
ted to the football season.
Many also believe that the rivalry of
the college and university teams which
already have large followings Will
prove too keen, and they point out that
professional football, even in its spas
modic flourishes, has only been a sue
cess in sections where collegiate foot
ball was weak. on the other hand,
however. there are many who believe
that if the big league baseball mag
mates would get behind it with their
smooth running organizations ana
their big bank rolls they would be able
to make a huge success of it and that
professional football would only tend
to increase interest in the collegiate
game.
DIR. Kennedy a Pioneer.
The experiment of making profess
siOnal football a sideIine of organized
baseball has been tried before ana II
was more or less of flnanclal SUE
cess during the days when the Amerl-
tionaI league Connie Mack daboIeu
in the gridiron game for few years
and his bitter rival of those days, Johh
I Rogers. owner of the Ph1llIeS. mace
things interesting for him IN ana
around Philadelphia.
DR.. A. r. Kennedy. football coach AT
washburn college. who had Just I'm
ished his collegiate football career d.
the University of PENNSYLVANIA at that
time was one of the principal promo
tiers of professional football ana va
associated with John l. rogers III INC
running of his teams
noctor Kennedy's accounts OF pro-
fessional football in Philadelphla anu
PENNSYLVANIA during the years OF 1suu'
1aO1 and 1902 are extremely interest
ing. ~
.ew + Shettsline afterwards presl-
don't of the Philadelphia National
Iaaoue club. was the manager OF the
first big team we had in Philadel phia,
Doctor Kennedy said In reInlhiStI
1--WE made money the first year anu
John I Rogers backed US he also
,9ada rnonev-more than we did in
fact. In 1901, I was coach, manager
and captain of a team backed by Ros-
ers and We certainly played some
games We had regular scheuuie
and the rivalry between our team anu
one that Connie Mack was promoting
was very intense
After telling how Connie Mack tried
TO bust up the Philadelphia Natonai
league team by getting its players 10
iun1p. lust as he had gotten its base
ball players to jump the summer De
fore. and telling how when Mack
came to him and made him PROPOSE
tion he refused to go to his club but
told Mack to take one of his best men,
the veteran football mentor related
his dealings with David Fultz- presl-
NJ, for
was then manager of professional
football team. .,
''Fultz 1 remember very distinctly,
he said. managed Il team known as
the Homesteads. This team was
hacked by a groupe of coal barons and
at one time it had five of Walter
Camps all-American players on IL
This team was a member of the Big
Four of Allegheny county and 1t
played some high class football"
Doctor Kennedy also told of game
his Philadelphia club played at Madi-
son Square garden with a New York
team, the arena of the garden having
been covered with turf a foot thick
all over the floor especially for the
occasion. This was one of the first
indoor football games ever played in
the United States he said. land l dc
not believe anything like it has ever
been attempted on such a large scale
since"
In the days when football flourished
in a professional way in Pennsylvania
the best players received from fifty to
one hundred dollars a game, and the
crowds were large enough to justify
this expense.
During the last year attended the
University of Pennsylvania DIR. Ken
needy asserted, II used to go out ev-
cry Saturday and make a hundred
dollars. Some players even got more
than this
Got Married and Quit.
The Washburn mentor says thai
rnatrimony took him out of the profes-
sional game as a player and caused
him to take up coaching. After mar
rying he tried to play one season, bu'
every time he got a little bump his
wife insisted on running out to the
field to see if he was hurt and she
finally made him give it up.
professional football continued tt
flourish for a year or two after 1 Wen
west" Kennedy said. but after the
PbiIlies and Athletics got on speaking
terms with each other the rivalry IL
hiIadeIphia died down. and as Pitts
burg university and other colleges be
gan to develop strong teams interes
waned and the professional game
moved over into Ohio where it ha'
been nurtured along until the presen
DR. kennedy says that from thu
standpoint of a college coach M
would welcome the return of the pro
fassIonaI game, because he says h'
yo1IId rather watch straight profes
sional perform than a crooked anna
4a,,,. anv dav in the week. but he doe
not believe it can be brought back II
a big way because he thinks town nv
alrv is necessary to its success
Future Possibilities.
1yo,,-e1,ar the very fact that approx
5r,a+eIv seven million people paid t.
1--s+cb college and high school game
during the 1915 season shows that IN
nirskin sport has a tremendous Iol
lowing in the United states ana INA
turn out high class teams is sure to b
richly rewarded