The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-12-30
llVDEPEA|D ! /
Vim nAJORll
Of eRDG|lhe


oer most promising circumstanc I.
Enthusiasm was fairly sixxlt1
when candidates gathered in -.
tember at camp on Rock rive, =,
begin training grind. The cam. ~
self was IN innovation. MANY ~
players. men Of recognized sbilils
Joined the cream Of talent selscAsS.
from the 1921 squad. The une1
tatnty Of the calibsr OF the -
was removed by the fact that op,s'
those players known to be vorthss
Of . place were permitted to -.
at the outset
Tho Independents engaged -
eight games. winning I'VE, loei,i
two and tying one. This inciudes
2 practice game played WITH ~
Moline Indians on Sept. Is. ~
two defeats were administered s.
the Chicago Bears Green BAY NJ
able to play the Independents "a
scoreless tie in the second a. -
games with the locals. The vlctfms
OF the islanders included, beiadea
Moline, Green Bay, Eysnsvilla
Giants, Rochester Jeffs and paytnn
Triangles.
Great Scoring Machine
The Independents had the MOI
powerful scoring machine in tn
National Football league, but onh
made use of it ON occasions. 1t fall
ed to function against the Beara
and once against Green Bay. But
all other contests found the ma-
chinery we'll oiled. In the eight
games the Independents rolled up
$50 points against q for opponents
Green Bay and the Bears were the
only teams able to cross the goal
line Of the Islanders. The most
decisive victory was scored against
the Dayton Triangles. the countbe-
ing 43 to 0. This is said regardless
Of the fact that Rock Island trim
med the Evansville Giants, 60 10 0.
Dayton, 1t must be remembered, was
one Of the ranking teams OF the
league. and the size of the score
against such formidable competition
set a record. Green Bay held the
Islanders to the lowest margin IN
the games that were won. This
was 10 to Il contest played u
the start of the season.
The season was formally launch.
ed on Sept Is, with the Moline In.
dams as oppe6ents. The day was
warm and the Independents were
only beginning their real training,
The Indians played a scrappy game
and held the score to rs to 0. III
Green Bay First.
The. first real test for the indie
pendents came on Oct. /, with Green
Bay at Douglas park. The Inde-
nendents readily ran up 10 points
on the nOrtherners, then Jagged.
The Bays played brilliant ball In
the last half, scoring two touch
downs on forward passes.
On Oct. s the Chicago BeIe n
vaded Douglas park. The Independ-
ents were doped to win. The Bears
played desperately. Pete S.inch~
comb checked up a touchdown In
the last few seconds of play i taa
first half by a brilliant 37-yard run.
The Independents came back de-
terminedly in the third quarter,
scored a touchdown by great line
smashing, and failed to kick goal
A goal kick in the final quarter
brought the Bears margin to four
points.
Evansville was next on the indie
pendents' list Of home games. The
Giants came here on Oct. Is with a
team which hardly could have
shown TO advantage against the
Moline Indians. Result, a lopsid-
ed victory for the locals, 60 to b.
The highly reputed Rochester
Jeffs, after two great games against
Akron and the Bears, came Oct %
The game was played In rain and
mud. The Independents surprised
even themselves by running up a
IS to score.
On Oct. 20 the first road jaunt Of
the season was undertaken. A re-
turn game was played At Green
Bay. The Islanders, over confident.
were held scoreless by the sghting
Bays.
The next sad reverse for The In
dependents occurred at Milwaukee.
After training there, for week,
Sunday. Nov 5, brought heavy rain.
and the Milwaukee management
was not sport enough to go through
with the game. Tie financial loss
bore heavily on the Independents.
Dayton Beaten.
The Independents got back home
to play Dayton on Nov. II. Every
one expected the Triangles to give
the Independents tough argument.
But look what happened. Playing
again in mud and rain the Island
ers ran wild through the Ohioans,
winning 43 to 0.
Next on the list was the teii-tale
contest with the Chicago Bears at
Chicago. But why dwell on that?
Everyone knows that the islanders
could have won if the game had
been played right. The score was
3 to 0,sthe result of place-kiek BY
Dutch" Sternaman in the closing
seconds of play.
The defeat by the Bears brought
the growing discord and discomfort
among the players to the crisis.
There was an open break before
the team had left the dressing
room OF Cubs park. Captain Jimmy
Councilman remained In Chicago.
FLORISTS LIBRARY