American Association ( football ) The American Association ( AA ) was a professional American football league based in New York City . Founded in 1936 as a minor league with teams in New York and New Jersey , the AA extended its reach to Providence , Rhode Island prior to the onset of World War II . After a four year hiatus , the league was renamed American Football League as it expanded to include teams in Ohio and Pennsylvania . In 1947 , the Richmond Rebels of the Dixie League purchased the assets of the defunct AFL Long Island Islands … and jumped leagues ( causing the demise of the DL ) . The American Association was the first minor football league with a working arrangement with the National Football League as a system of farm club s , beginning with the purchase of the Stapleton Buffaloes ( which played one game as the New York Tigers ) by New York Giants owner Tim Mara in 1937 . In the late 1930s and 1940s , the league enjoyed popularity comparable to that of the more established NFL , despite being in direct competition . In 1949 and 1950 , the league was adversely affected by instability of membership . After starting its last season with six teams , only two league members were surviving at the end of the year . Origin of league . The American Association was formed after a proposal by Edwin Simandi , manager of the Orange Tornadoes football team . Members of the defunct Eastern League ( 1932 ) and Interstate League ( 1933 ) became charter members of the new AA as the owner of the Passaic Red Devils , Joe Rosentover , became the league ’ s president . The original lineup consisted of four teams from New York ( Mt . Vernon Cardinals , Brooklyn Bay Parkways , New Rochelle Bulldogs , and White Plains Bears ) and four from New Jersey ( Orange Tornadoes , Paterson Panthers , Passaic Red Devils , and Stapleton Buffaloes , the last of which consisted mostly of the remains of the defunct Staten Island Stapletons ) . The formation of the league was announced in June 1936 . From 1936 to 1937 , there was at least one " groupie " team that never joined the league , but played the bulk of its games against AA franchises : the Harlem Brown Bombers , a barnstorming / traveling team that consisted entirely of black players and was coached by Fritz Pollard , played seven games against AA teams over two years , compiling a 1 - 4 - 1 record . American Association ( 1936 - 1941 ) . 1936 . While the league did not have official divisions , several sources show the membership divided into a “ New York Division ” ( NY ) and a “ New Jersey Division ” ( NJ ) . Teams are ranked by win percentage . Playoffs : Brooklyn 18 , New Rochelle 0 ; Paterson 10 , Orange 0 ( Mt . Vernon declined to participate in playoffs ) Championship : Brooklyn wins title after Paterson withdraws ( Paterson stays in the league ) In the first game of a series between the AA champion and the winners of the Dixie League , the Washington Pros ( Dixie League ) defeated the Brooklyn Bay Parkways ( American Association ) 13 - 6 in Richmond , Virginia , January 1 , 1937 . It was the last time that an American Association team lost to a team in the Dixie League in a football game . 1937 . Passaic dropped out ( stadium issues ) and was replaced by the Brooklyn Bushwicks and the Danbury Trojans ; the Brooklyn Bay Parkways were renamed the Brooklyn Eagles ; the Orange Tornadoes moved to Newark , New Jersey ; and the Stapleton Buffaloes officially “ moved ” to Manhattan to become the New York Tigers , a traveling team that lasted only one game . Although Passaic dropped out , owner Rosentover continued serving as AA president , a position he would hold for another 13 years , until the dissolution of the league . While the league was “ unofficially divided ” into two divisions in its first year , the realigned American Association was put into two official divisions for 1937 : a Northern and a Southern division . For the 1937 season only , standings were based on two points per win and one point per tie . Point totals do not include 1 - 0 forfeit scores . Southern Division . Championship : Newark 3 , Paterson 3 ( co - champions declared when Paterson refused to play an overtime period ) 1938 . Gone were Mt . Vernon , New Rochelle , and White Plains ; the Clifton Wessingtons received the rights to White Plains ’ 1937 team and joined the AA for 1938 ; and the Brooklyn Bushwicks moved to Union City , New Jersey , and became the Rams . Tim Mara , New York Giants owner , purchased the Stapleton franchise , moved it to Jersey City , New Jersey , and made it the first farm team in professional football – Bill Owen ( brother of Steve Owen ) managed the team . A number of former New York Giant players were on the New Jersey team , including Ken Strong , who was barred from the NFL club until 1939 after defecting to the New York Yankees of the second American Football League in 1936 . In the lineup of the Brooklyn Eagles was a reserve guard who eventually made his mark as a head coach : Vince Lombardi . The Clifton Wessingtons featured tailback Joe Liliard , the last African American NFL player before the imposition of a color line in 1936 . Down to seven teams , the league decided to scrap the divisional alignment for 1938 . In addition , there were no plans for championship playoffs : the championship was determined strictly by winning percentage ( ignoring tie games ) . No playoffs : Jersey City was declared league champions 1939 . A year after Tim Mara bought the Jersey City Giants and used it as a farm team for his New York Giants NFL franchise , the AA underwent more change in 1939 . Gone was Clifton , but the league returned to a two - division , eight team format as the Wilmington Clippers and the Providence Steamroller ( independent teams in 1937 and 1938 ) joined the AA . Chicago Bears owner George Halas purchased the Newark Tornadoes and renamed them the Bears ( Wilmington protested the Bears ’ use of Sid Luckman in a playoff game , which the Bears won , 13 - 6 , to win the Southern Division title ) . Southern Division . Championship : Newark 27 , Paterson 7 1940 . Brooklyn , Danbury , and Union City dropped out in the offseason ; the Long Island Indians join the league for the 1940 season … and was promptly raided by members of the new American Football League and lost four starters . The rest of the American Association was similarly hurt by defections to the new league ( the Boston Shamrocks , champions of the AFL in both 1940 and 1941 , got the bulk of its roster by raiding the Indians and the Steamroller ) . Back to only six teams , the AA instituted a Shaughnessy playoff system , with the fourth - place team facing the first - place team and the second - and third - place teams meeting in semifinal matches , with the winners facing each other in a championship game . Standings include two forfeits by Providence ; the point totals do not . Providence dropped out of the league November 12 , 1940 , but was expected to return for the 1941 season . Playoffs : Newark and Long Island tied for the last playoff spot . The two teams played to a 0 - 0 tie on December 1 , 1940 . A rematch scheduled for December 5 was cancelled due to snow ; the league broke the tie with a best three - of - five coin toss , which Newark won to enter the playoffs . Semifinal games : Jersey City 7 , Newark 6 ; Wilmington 11 , Paterson 8 Championship : Jersey City 17 , Wilmington 7 1941 . While Tim Mara sold the New Jersey Giants , the team was sold to the owners of the Cleveland Rams , setting off a sequence of arrangements that tied the membership of the AA ( except Providence ) with the NFL . The raiding of the AA by the AFL continued , with Wilmington and Providence being particularly hard hit . The Steamroller ’ s losing seven players forced the team to drop out of the league . The AA found a replacement team with a connection with the AFL : the New York Yankees . The 1941 New York Yankees was not the same team as the 1940 Yankees . The latter was team of the AFL that was sold to Douglas Hertz in late 1940 , but the AFL revoked the franchise in August 1941 in response to a financial controversy on the part of Hertz . The team was then sold to a group headed by William Cox ( who later became the president of the AFL ) as preparations for the new season had begun ( under the new regime , the name of the team was changed to the New York Americans ) . Hertz then formed a new barnstorming team , called it the New York Yankees , and started playing independent teams in the American northeast before accepting the invitation to join the American Association . The team left the league after losing all six of their games … and folded after the attack on Pearl Harbor ushering in the United States ’ participation in World War II . Playoffs : Wilmington 33 , Paterson 0 ; Long Island 7 , Jersey City 6 Championship : Wilmington 21 , Long Island 13 1942 . The Hartford Blues were expected to replace the New York Yankees for the 1942 season ; the Churchill Pros ( based in Springfield , Massachusetts ) were enlisted to replace Providence when the team became the new Springfield Steamroller . American Association president John Rosentover announced in August 1942 that the American Association was following the lead of the third American Football League , that the league was suspending operations due to World War II . While the member teams played on in an informal assemblage , the AA remained officially out of action until 1946 . American Football League ( 1946 - 1950 ) . In the autumn of 1945 , after the surrender of Japan in World War II , the American Association returned to business , unlike the third American Football League . John Rosentover remained league president , the five teams that finished the 1941 AA season ( Jersey City , Long Island , Newark , Paterson , and Wilmington ) returned to the fold , but the two franchises that were supposed to join the league in 1942 ( Hartford and Springfield ) did not survive the league ' s layover . Neither did the third American Football League , which had originally announced intentions of resuming play after the war . So the American Association adopted a new name upon resumption of operations : American Football League . The league renewed its working relationship with the National Football League , with whom a compact with the Dixie League and the Pacific Coast Professional Football League prohibited the participation of players signed to “ outlaw leagues ” ( originally directed toward the third AFL , but , starting 1946 , applied to the newly - formed All - America Football Conference ) . On March 24 , 1946 , the formalization of the compact , the Association of Professional Football Leagues was announced by PCPFL president ( and Association chairman ) J . Rufus Klawans . 1946 . The resurrected league had three new entries for the first post - war season : the Scranton Miners , Newark Bombers ( replacing the Bears , which moved to Akron , Ohio ) , and the Bethlehem Bulldogs . As the games resumed , fan attendance returned to pre - war levels . Western Division . Championship : Jersey City 14 , Akron 13 1947 . Akron left the AFL in early 1947 , leaving Newark as the Chicago Bears ’ primary farm team . Newark moved to Bloomfield , New Jersey , and became the Cardinals . Similarly , the Scranton Minors moved to Wilkes - Barre and became the Barons . The league retained its divisional setup despite having only seven teams . Western Division . The Long Island Indians dropped out after three games ; they were replaced by the Richmond Rebels , which started the season competing in the Dixie League . The defection reduced the Dixie League to just three members , and another long - standing minor league ( founded 1936 ) folded within a week . Championship : Bethlehem 23 , Paterson 7 1948 . Bloomfield folded before the start of play in 1948 and the league scrapped its two - division setup for the upcoming season . The Shaughnessy playoff system was reinstated . Bethlehem was crippled by a pair of events prior to play . First , the Philadelphia Eagles ended their working arrangement with the Bulldogs and worked with Paterson instead ; second , the league instituted a new rule limiting salaries to $ 2000 a game per team ( in 1947 , the Bulldogs averaged $ 5500 a week ) . After a 0 - 4 start blamed in part by salary dissention , owner Bob Sell released seven players . The team barely missed the playoffs despite playing the last six games with a 4 - 1 - 1 record . Won - lost records include four Wilkes - Barre forfeit losses ; point totals do not include them . Playoffs : Wilmington defeated Richmond ; Paterson beat Jersey City Championship : Paterson 24 , Wilmington 14 1949 . With the dissolution of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League in 1948 , the American Football League ( formed as the American Association in 1936 ) became the sole remaining prewar minor league . Charter member Paterson had not missed a week of league play ( except refusing to play the 1936 league championship game ) , and would not until the end of the league . For the first time since the end of World War II , there were no changes in membership prior to league play in 1949 . Playoffs : Richmond 66 , Wilmington 0 ; Paterson defeated Bethlehem Championship : Richmond 35 , Paterson 14 After winning three games in their first four games , Wilkes - Barre was hit by a rash of injuries in their games with Richmond and Paterson . Bob Edgerson , Bullets president , informed the league that the injuries would force him to cancel an upcoming game with Wilmington . Two days later , league president Joe Rosentover revoked the franchise . Rosentover then asked the independent Erie Vets if they could finish the Bullets ’ schedule , but the team had disbanded for the season . The last four scheduled Wilkes - Barre games were declared forfeits . Richmond owner Harry Seibold applied for an expansion franchise in the All - America Football Conference , which had lost a member when the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers merged for the 1949 season . No action was taken on the application as the AAFC merged with the NFL for the 1950 season . Richmond remained in the AFL . 1950 . Although the Erie Vets could not complete Wilkes - Barre ’ s schedule in 1949 , they did join the AFL for the 1950 season ; in addition , the Wilmington Clippers left the league and were replaced by the Brooklyn Brooks . The league made an unsuccessful overture to the AAFC ' s Buffalo Bills , who had been rejected when the AAFC and the NFL merged , to have the Bills join the AFL . The league abandoned the Shaughnessy playoff system and opted to have only the top two finishers play for the championship . It turned out that only two teams were still playing at the end of the season . Bethlehem called it quits in early October , having lost two games ( one by forfeit ) ; later that week , the Brooklyn franchise was revoked for failure to pay the entrance fee . After Joe Rosentover announced the revocation , he announced that none of the games involving the Bulldogs or the Brooks would not count ( they are included below ) . A new league schedule was drawn up , but in early November , charter member Paterson was forced to close up shop because of a financial dispute . Later that month , longtime league member Jersey City Giants ( who entered the league in 1938 after its owners purchased the assets of charter member Stapleton Buffaloes ) also called it quits after being crushed by each of the other two remaining teams in the league . Thus after nine weeks , Erie and Richmond were the last teams standing . Includes forfeits by Brooklyn and Bethlehem ( point totals exclude them ) ; official league records officially have the games involving Brooklyn and Bethlehem stricken . Championship : Richmond 35 , Erie 7 With only two teams remaining in the league , the American Football League folded after the championship game .