Frankford Yellowjackets The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team , part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931 , though its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association . The Yellow Jackets won the NFL championship in 1926 . The team played its home games from 1923 in Frankford Stadium ( also called Yellow Jacket Field ) in Frankford , a section in the northeastern part of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , noted for the subway - elevated transit line that terminates there . Origin . Frankford Athletic Association . The Frankford Athletic Association was organized in May 1899 in the parlor of the Suburban Club . The cost of purchasing a share in the association , was $ 10 . However there were also contributing memberships , ranging from $ 1 to $ 2 . 50 , made available to the general public . The Association was a community - based non - profit organization of local residents and businesses . In keeping with its charter , which stated that " all profits shall be donated to charity " . All of the team ' s excess income was donated to local charitable institutions . The beneficiaries of this generosity included Frankford Hospital , the Frankford Day Nursery , the local Boy Scouts and the local American Legion Post 211 . The officers of the Association never received a salary nor compensation for their work on behalf of the team . The association ' s clubhouse was originally located at the current site of Frankford High School . The field at this site , known as Wistar Field , became the first official home of the Yellow Jackets . Several years later , when the construction of the current high school was proposed , the team moved to Brown ' s Field . The Association initially fielded a baseball team , however soccer and football clubs also formed . The Association ' s football team , played several games in 1899 , including victorious contests against the Pioneer Athletic Association , Jefferson Medical College , the Philadelphia Athletic Club and a team from Atlantic City . The original Frankford Athletic Association apparently disbanded prior to the 1909 football season . Several of the original players from the 1899 football team kept the team together , and they became known as Loyola Athletic Association . In keeping with Yellow Jackets tradition , they carried the " Frankford " name again in 1912 , to become the Frankford Athletic Association . Yellow Jackets and the NFL . In the early 1920s the Frankford Athletic Association ' s Yellow Jackets gained the reputation as being one of the best independent football teams in the nation . In 1922 , Frankford absorbed the Philadelphia City Champion the Union Quakers of Philadelphia . That year Frankford captured the unofficial championship of Philadelphia . During the 1922 and 1923 seasons the Yellow Jackets comprised a 6 - 2 - 1 record against teams from the National Football League . This led to the Frankford Athletic Association being granted an NFL franchise in 1924 . 1924 season . The Yellow Jackets assembled in September 1924 under coach Punk Berryman to begin preparing for the upcoming season . The team included Yellow Jackets ' Harry Dayhoff , Russ Stein , Joe Spagna , Whitey Thomas , Al Bedner and Bob Jamison . The team often played 15 to 20 games a season . Frequently , they would schedule two games on the same weekend , typically one at home on Saturday and , because of Pennsylvania ' s blue law s , an away game on Sunday . In their very first game as a member of the NFL , the Yellow Jackets defeated the Rochester Jeffersons 21 - 0 . Frankford finished the season with an overall record of 17 - 3 - 1 , and 11 - 2 - 1 record in league play . They finished third in league standings only behind the Cleveland Bulldogs and Chicago Bears . 1925 season . In 1925 the Frankford Athletic Association enlisted the services of Guy Chamberlin , who served as a player - coach for NFL championship teams such as the 1922 and 1923 Canton Bulldogs and the 1924 Cleveland Bulldogs . After 9 - 0 - 1 start , Frankford lost several key players , including Chamberlin , to injuries . After a 49 - 0 defeat to the Pottsville Maroons , Frankford ' s captain Bull Behman was suspended indefinitely from the team for indifferent play . He was accused of not giving his best during the past few weeks because of some dissension with other players . The move helped improve the team , which posted a 13 - 7 record in league play . 1925 NFL Championship controversy . The Yellow Jackets had a hand in the 1925 NFL Championship controversy . A dispute arose over a game that the nearby Pottsville Maroons had played against the Notre Dame All - Stars in Philadelphia ; the Yellow Jackets asserted that their nearby rivals had infringed on their territorial rights by playing the game against a non - league opponent in Philadelphia . The league agreed and suspended the Maroons , allowing the Chicago Cardinals to win the 1925 title . However the NFL reinstated the Maroons the following year after fears that the team would join Red Grange ' s upstart American Football League , which posed a threat to the league . 1926 Championship season . The Yellow Jackets began the 1926 season with an exhibition game against the Atlantic City Roses . Frankford won the game 45 - 0 . Their NFL campaign started just six days later , in a disappointing 6 - 6 tie at home against the Akron Pros . The first weekend in October saw the club post two solid victories over the Hartford Blues . They then played a two game series against the Buffalo Rangers . During the Saturday game , the Yellow Jackets defeated the Rangers 30 - 0 victory in Frankford . The Yellow Jackets then headed to Buffalo for the Sunday game . However the Rangers , cancelled due to " wet grounds " . The Yellow Jackets prepared for another two game set , this time against the New York Giants , resulting in a pair of 6 - 0 Frankford victories . The Canton Bulldogs were next on the schedule . Frankford won the first game 10 - 0 while the second game was canceled due to rain . After a win over the Chicago Bears , the Yellow Jackets played a second two game series against the Providence Steamroller . Frankford would go on to defeat Providence in 24 - 0 . The second game of the series was cancelled due to heavy snow . Frankford then had to play their final game of the season against the Pottsville Maroons , who were still upset after their NFL championship title was stripped from them dur to complaints from Frankford . The game resulted in a scoreless tie . However a 14 - 1 - 2 final record left the Frankford Yellow Jackets alone atop the NFL standings . However since a Championship Game would not exist in the NFL until 1933 , the team with the best regular season record was named the NFL Champion . This gave the Yellow Jackets an undisputed claim to the league crown . The Jackets ' 14 wins during the 1926 championship season set an NFL record for regular season victories that stood until 1984 , when it was broken by the 15 - 1 - 0 San Francisco 49ers . One day after capturing the title , however , Theodore " Thee " Holden and Guy Chamberlin stepped down as the president and coach of the Frankford Athletic Association . 1927 - 1929 seasons . James Adams took over as president of the Frankford Athletic Association in 1927 . He hired Charley Moran as the team ' s new coach . However Moran ' s son , Tom , briefly served as the teams interim coach that year after Charley took a leave of absence to officiate the 1927 World Series , between the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates . The Jackets ' suffered as a result of these changes and held a 2 - 5 - 1 record after eight league games . This led to Ed Weir , becoming the team ' s player - coach . Weir had fellow players Russ Daugherty , Charlie Rogers and Swede Youngstrom serve as assistant coaches . Under Weir ' s leadership the team finished with a 6 - 9 - 3 record in 1927 . The Jackets ' rebounded in 1928 with a 11 - 3 - 2 league record , behind only the Providence Steam Roller . In 1929 , Bull Behman became the coach of the Yellow Jackets . The team finished with a 9 - 4 - 5 record for third place in league standings . Decline . 1930 season . The Yellow Jackets began to decline mainly because of financial hardships brought on by the Great Depression in 1930 . Shep Royle , president of the Franklin Athletic Association , arranged for coaches Bull Behman and Wally Diehl to attend a coaching clinic in Chicago run by Glenn " Pop " Warner and Dick Hanley , in the hopes that it would improve their coaching techniques and develop a way to better utilize their players . At the same time , however , the Association ' s management decided to retain only a few veteran players , replacing most of the squad with rookies direct from college . This resulted in a string of ten consecutive losses ; the worst losing streak in Yellow Jackets ' history . To end the streak , Frankford purchased eleven players from the Minneapolis Red Jackets , and George Gibson took over the team ' s coaching duties from Behman . The Legion Post also tried to rally to the Yellow Jackets , pledging its support . However the effects of the economic depression and poor performance on the field combined to reduce the team ' s fan base . The season finally ended with a 6 - 13 - 1 overall record and 4 - 13 - 1 record in league play . Final season . Before the start of the 1931 season , Frankford Stadium was severely damaged by a fire , forcing the club to find another location for its home games . However most facilities suitable for professional football were already booked . The Yellow Jackets had to overcome this scheduling problem by playing at three different locations around the city of Philadelphia : Frankford High School ' s Community Memorial Stadium , Philadelphia Municipal Stadium and Shibe Park . Philadelphia Municipal Stadium and Shibe Park were located outside of the Frankford area , making attendance difficult for local fans . The team had hoped to draw broader support from Philadelphia at large . Herb Joesting took over the team ' s coaching duties in 1931 . However the team was in terrible shape . Some members of the press began referring to the team as the Philadelphia Yellow Jackets , in an attempt to increase fan support . However that support never materialized . By October NFL President Joe Carr , after witnessing the poor attendance at Frankford home loss to the Portsmouth Spartans , approved a plan for the Yellow Jackets to finish the season as a traveling team . Carr hoped that this move would allow the team to curb spending and rebound financially . The Yellow Jackets failed to complete the 1931 season . On October 26 , 1931 , the franchise suspended operations the day after the team defeated the Chicago Bears , 13 - 12 , at Wrigley Field . This game marked the last time a Philadelphia - based NFL team would win an away game over the Bears until October 17 , 1999 , when the Eagles defeated the Bears 20 - 16 at Soldier Field . The 1928 Yellow Jackets win over the Packers marked the last time in 51 years a Philadelphia NFL team won a road victory over the Packers . The Eagles ' 1979 win at Green Bay finally ended that streak . Legacy . The Frankford Athletic Association not only fielded the Yellow Jackets football team , but also the Yellow Jackets ' Band and the Frankford Legion Post 211 Drum & Bugle Corps . The Association also sponsored bus and train trips for fans to travel along to games in such places as Pottsville and New York City , where even the host teams ' sportswriters took notice of their enthusiasm . The club occasionally sponsored half - time exhibitions by the Frankford Midgets , as well as a women ' s football team . During their time in the NFL , Frankford ' s Ignacio Molinet became the league ' s first Latino player . Today the Philadelphia Fire Department ' s Engine 14 , stationed in Frankford , have adopted the Yellow Jackets moniker on their fire trucks . Philadelphia Eagles . The NFL spent two years searching for a new team to operate in Philadelphia . Finally , on July 9 , 1933 , the NFL granted an expansion franchise to Bert Bell and Lud Wray , and awarded them the remains of the Yellow Jackets organization . Bell and Wray named their team the Philadelphia Eagles , after the symbol of Franklin Roosevelt ' s New Deal . Some people assume that the Yellow Jackets and the Eagles are the same franchise ; however , that is not the case . Bell and Wray did not buy the Yellow Jackets team , but rather the rights to an NFL team in the Philadelphia area that formerly had belonged to the Frankford Athletic Association . The Yellow Jackets franchise had been revoked by the league in 1931 . Due to the two - year period of dormancy , the Eagles do not claim the Yellow Jackets ' history as their own , and the NFL considers the Eagles a 1933 expansion team for record - keeping purposes . Additionally , Bell and Wray assembled an almost entirely new team ; almost no players from the 1931 Yellow Jackets ended up with the 1933 Eagles . For the first few years of the Eagles ' existence , however , they wore powder blue and yellow uniforms similar to those worn by the Yellow Jackets . Replicas were later worn as 1934 throwbacks in a game against the Detroit Lions on September 23 , 2007 as part of the team ' s 75th anniversary season . Many members of the media mistakenly stated that the Eagles were still known as the Yellow Jackets that year .