Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team , based in Canton , Ohio . They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919 , and its successor , the National Football League , from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1925 to 1926 . The Bulldogs would go on to win the 1917 , 1918 and 1919 Ohio League championships . They were the in 1922 and 1923 . In 1921 – 1923 , the Bulldogs played 25 straight games without a defeat ( including 3 ties ) , which as of 2010 remains an NFL record . As a result of the Bulldogs ' early success along with the league being founded in the city , the Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton . Jim Thorpe , who was considered the best all - around athlete of his era , was Canton ' s most - recognized player . In 1924 , Sam Deutsch , the owner of the NFL ' s Cleveland Indians , bought the Canton Bulldogs and took the Bulldogs name and its players to Cleveland and named his franchise the Cleveland Bulldogs . He then offered to sell the Canton franchise back to the city of Canton to play in the 1924 season , however there were no buyers interested in the team , so he " mothballed " the Canton club . The Canton Bulldogs were however re - established in 1925 , and the NFL considers the 1925 – 1926 Canton Bulldogs to be the same team as the 1920 – 1923 incarnation . An unrelated " Canton Bulldogs " team played in the United Football League in 1964 ; the team ' s name was somewhat coincidental , as it had moved from Cleveland and kept its original nickname ; that team moved to Philadelphia and became the " Philadelphia Bulldogs . " All in all , this version of the Cleveland - Canton - Philadelphia Bulldogs played from 1961 to 1966 , its last two years in Philadelphia as a member of the Continental Football League . History . Origin . Prior to the debut of professional football in the city , an amateur team from Canton was mentioned as being a superior team in Stark County , Ohio . Until about 1902 , this team competed with the Akron East Ends for the Ohio Independent Championship . When the Massillon Tigers arrived on the scene and went professional , Canton , as an amateur team , was no longer competitive . The Canton Bulldogs were officially established on November 15 , 1904 as the Canton Athletic Club , a club designed to operate baseball and football teams . The statement stated that the football team was to be a " professional organization , " complete with a " professional coach . " Blondy Wallace era . The team was given the goal of beating the rival Massillon Tigers , who had won the Ohio League championship in 1903 and 1904 . To do this , Canton went out and offer money to the best players on all the other Ohio League teams . Bill Laub , who was team captain and coach of the Akron East Ends , was then named as the team ' s first - ever coach . The team began its 1905 season , with a 7 - 0 record . The Bulldogs then traveled to Latrobe , Pennsylvania to play the Latrobe Athletic Association , led by quarterback John Brallier . Latrobe was not only the current Pennsylvania champions , but were undefeated for the last three seasons . They were also considered the only pro team capable of competing with Canton and Massillon . Canton would go on to lose their 1905 game to Latrobe , 6 - 0 . However the worst part of the loss came when coach Bill Laub became injured and was unable to finish the season . Blondy Wallace , a former All - American for the Penn Quakers , was then named as Laub ' s successor and team captain . Two weeks later , the team would lose the Ohio League championship game to the Massillon Tigers , 14 - 4 . Sometime during the 1906 season , the Canton team became known as the " Bulldogs " although no one is quite sure how it came to be affixed to the Canton team . They weren ' t called that in 1905 nor through most of the 1906 season . As late as November 4 , R . C . Johnson , an editorial cartoonist with the " Canton Repository " , was only able to picture the Canton team as only a man with a club lying in wait for the Massillon Tiger . Most references to the team called it " Canton A . C . , " " C . A . C . , " " Canton eleven . " " the Red and White " or " Wallace ' s Men . " Suddenly , almost overnight , they became the " Bulldogs . " Blondy Wallace began the 1906 season by signing Jack Lang , Jack Hayden , Herman Kerchoff , and Clark Schrontz away from the Tigers and improving Canton ' s chances for 1906 championship . Due to the money that was being spent by Canton and Massillon on professional players , both teams ended up with a spending deficit that had to be shouldered by local businessmen . That year the Bulldogs won their first game against the Tigers , at Canton , but lost the second game at Massillon . Due to rules of the championship series , the win in the second game allowed Massillon to claim the Ohio championship . Shortly after that second game , a Massillon newspaper charged Canton coach Blondy Wallace with throwing the 1906 championship game . Canton denied the charges , maintaining that Massillon only wanted to ruin the club ' s reputation before their final game with Latrobe . Although Massillon could not prove that Canton had thrown the game , the accusation so tarnished Canton ' s name that virtually no one attended the Latrobe game . The scandal ruined professional football in Ohio until the mid 1910s . Other sports pundits argue that the expense of placing all - star teams on the field each week hampered on the sport . The Canton Morning News put a $ 20 , 000 price tag on the Massillon Tigers 1906 team , while many speculate that the Bulldogs probably cost even more . Stiil others contend that the games involving top teams like Canton and Massilon were too one - sided and lacked excitement . While Massillon was still able to field a local team in 1907 and still win the Ohio League championship , the Canton team folded . Blondy Wallace may have lost more than money . His libel suit never came to trial . The reason was probably that he settled out of court , rather than that Massillon had some sort of secret evidence . This leaves the scandal still disputed by historians and football fans alike . Because Wallace settled out of court , we have only charges and countercharges instead of a real end to the fix scandal . Jim Thorpe era . In 1911 , Canton fielded a new team , called the Canton Professionals . The team was made up entirely of local players and the pay was undoubtedly small . In 1915 , Massillon and Canton began hiring several players away from the Akron Pros . Jack Cusack , who had become manager of the Canton team , restored the old Bulldog name . As the first of two Canton - Massillon games approached , Cusack signed Jim Thorpe for $ 250 a game . Thorpe did not play much in the Bulldogs first game , at Massillon which the Tigers won 16 - 0 . In second game , Thorpe took over as the team ' s coach played the entire game . He kicked two field goals in a 6 - 0 Canton win . In 1916 , the Bulldogs went undefeated , beat Massillon 24 - 0 , and were generally recognized as the professional champions , not only of Ohio , but also of the country . Because Thorpe was able to draw big crowds to Canton for games , Cusack was able to put together a financially stable squad that included several former All - Americans . The average attendance for a game prior to Thorpe ' s signing was 1 , 500 . That soon rose to 6 , 000 and eventually reached 8 , 000 spectators , which was the capacity of Canton ' s League Park . Thorpe would remain the chief attendance draw in professional football until Red Grange entered the game in 1925 . In 1917 , the Bulldogs won their first eight games to claim the 1917 league championship . Neither Canton nor Massillon played during the 1918 season because of World War I and the influenza epidemic . Cusack left the team that year to start up an oil business in Oklahoma and Ralph Hay , a successful auto dealer , took over managing the team . Hay kept Cusack ' s team pretty much intact in 1919 and the Bulldogs won their third league championship in four years . They played the Hammond Pros , twice in Chicago at Cubs Park , now Wrigley Field , in front of crowds of 10 , 000 fans . NFL . While the Bulldogs were selling out stadiums and promoting professional football in America , many teams were in serious financial trouble . These teams , who were trying to compete with the Bulldogs , were spending more money than they could afford and were stealing players from one another , which drove salaries even higher . In 1920 at Hay ' s auto showroom , known for Hupmobiles , the American Professional Football Association was organized . Thorpe was named the APFA ' s first permanent president , solely because he was the best - known name in the game . After scheduling a showcase game between Canton and the Buffalo All - Americans in New York City in December 1920 , Thorpe left the Bulldogs at the end of the 1920 season . In the APFA , the Bulldogs found the competition somewhat tougher than expected . Canton had a respectable 9 - 5 - 4 record over the next two seasons . The APFA became the National Football League in 1922 and Hay hired Guy Chamberlin as Canton ' s player - coach . Chamberlin rebuilt the Bulldogs into a championship team . He kept just five players from the 1921 squad . As a player Chamberlin led his team past the Chicago Cardinals in 1922 by blocking a punt that set up a touchdown , and running back two interception s for touchdowns to beat the Cards ' 20 - 3 . The Bulldogs went on to win back - to - back NFL championships in 1922 and 1923 . Things began to unravel for Canton in 1923 . First Hay announced that he did not care to manage the Bulldogs anymore . His asking price for the team was $ 1 , 500 , which was decided to be about $ 500 more than the 1922 champions were worth . Things were still up in the air when Hay and Chamberlin left for Chicago to represent the Bulldogs at the league ' s summer meeting . When Ralph Hay returned to Canton , he unloaded the Bulldogs on a group of local businessmen who formed the Canton Athletic Company to run the team . Chamberlin stayed on as coach , assuring the team of success on the field . Success at the gate was not nearly so likely . Cleveland Bulldogs . As the payroll for Canton players became too expensive , the team lost about $ 13 , 000 in 1923 and the Canton Athletic Company sold the franchise in August for $ 2 , 500 to Cleveland promoter Samuel Deutsch , owner of the NFL ' s Cleveland Indians . He added seven players from Canton , renamed his team the Cleveland Bulldogs , and they won the 1924 NFL championship . Chamberlin also served as a player - coach of the Cleveland Bulldogs . He became the first to coach NFL champions in three consecutive years . Deutsch then sold the franchise back to a group of Canton investors for $ 3 , 000 and the Canton Bulldogs were back in the NFL , along with the Cleveland Bulldogs . Canton had an overall record of 4 - 4 - 0 in 1925 and 1 - 9 - 3 in 1926 . Before the 1927 season , the league decided to purge itself of some of the weaker franchise . Twelve teams were jettisoned , including the Bulldogs and three other charter members of the APFA .