Louisville Tanks The Louisville Tanks were a minor league professional American football team that existed from 1935 to 1940 . The team formed in the wake of the dissolution of the Louisville Bourbons of the short - lived American Football League of 1934 . Organized and owned by American Standard , Inc . , the team was coached by AS plant manager H . M . " Harry " Reed ; its name and colors ( green and gold ) come from one of the products sold by American Standard . The Tanks played their home games at Parkway Field in Louisville , Kentucky , USA . A charter member of the Midwest Football League ( 1935 – 1940 ) ( which evolved into the American Football League of 1938 , the Tanks ' first four seasons ended with league championships . In 1939 , after the AFL added the Cincinnati Bengals , Los Angeles Bulldogs ( both formerly of the second major American Football League ) , and the Columbus Bullies ( an independent team ) , the Tanks had the only losing season in their existence ( 1939 ) , finishing in last place in the newly renamed American Professional Football Association . The APFA announced its intention to become a major league in early 1940 and added a team from Milwaukee , but its ambitious plans crumbled in July , when Cincinnati , Columbus , and the new Milwaukee team defected to a new major American Football League . The APFA was mortally wounded as Louisville and the Dayton Bombers announced that they would not field teams for the 1940 season . The Tanks , the Bombers , and the APFA did not return to the field . Origin , the Midwest Football League , and the American Football League . Formed to fill the vacuum formed by the departure of the Louisville Bourbons , the Tanks wasted no time in becoming a charter member of the Midwest Football League in 1935 . The Tanks shared the 1935 championship with the Cincinnati Models and the Indianapolis Indians , two teams that disappeared within the next couple of years . Louisville then dominated the league in 1936 and 1937 , winning the championship title outright in both seasons . The time between the end of the 1937 and beginning of the 1938 campaign saw much change involving the Tanks . The second major league AFL disbanded , and the freshly - expanded Midwest League quickly adopted the name of the recently - deceased league . While the new AFL was still asserting that it was strictly a midwestern league with no major league ambition , its footprint expanded to include Chicago and Nashville . While the Tanks finished the regular season in third place with a four - win , three - loss record ( behind the Chicago Indians and the newly reformed St . Louis Gunners ( four years after the latter playing in the National Football League ) , the Tanks won the championship in the first system of playoffs in a minor professional football league . In a Shaughnessy playoff , the Tanks beat Chicago 13 - 0 and St . Louis 3 - 0 to claim the team ' s fourth title in its fourth year of existence . American Professional Football Association and demise . The year 1939 was the fifth year of the Tanks ' existence , still with their original owners and their original ( head ) coach , and still in the league which they helped form in their first days of their existence . The former Midwest Football League , on the other hand , changed its name for the second consecutive year ( to the American Professional Football Association ) as it hinted at being more than a midwestern minor league as it added the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Bulldogs of the second major AFL and a powerful independent team that would later dominate another pro football league : the Columbus Bullies . The Tanks ' string of winning seasons - and league championships - ended at four as they finished in last place with a 2 - 9 record . The three newcomers finished in the top three positions . The following year started with both optimism and surprise for the APFA membership . The Columbus Bullies were declared the champions with a 9 - 4 record despite the Los Angeles Bulldogs ' losing only a single game ( 7 wins , 1 loss ) and the Cincinnati Bengals ' having a 6 - 2 record . Milwaukee was admitted as the replacement for the Bulldogs , who left to form the Pacific Coast Professional Football League . . . and the league admitted to its having major league aspirations as the Green Bay Packers protested the APFA ' s intrusion into its territory . By July , it was all over as Cincinnati , Columbus , and Milwaukee left the loop to become the charter members of a new American Football League . Louisville and the Dayton Bombers announced that they were not fielding teams for 1940 . . . and the APFA folded . The Tanks and the Bombers never returned to the gridiron .