Pittsburgh Stars The Pittsburgh Stars were a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania in 1902 . The team was member of what was referred to as the first National Football League , which has no connection with the National Football League of today . The whole league was a curious mixture of baseball and football . The Stars were managed and funded , on paper , by Dave Berry , the manager of the professional Latrobe Athletic Association . However the team was suspected of being secretly financed by the Pittsburgh Pirates . During the league ' s only year in existence , the Stars won the NFL ' s championship , beating out two teams that were financed by the owners of baseball ' s Philadelphia Athletics and the Philadelphia Phillies . History . Team origin . The Stars , and the league , began as a part of the baseball wars between the National League and the newly formed American League , which began in . Across the state in Philadlephia , two major league teams fought for control of the city ' s baseball market . These teams were the Athletics , which were represented in the American League and the Phillies of the National League . The interleague fighting began when the Athletics lured several of the Phillies ' players from their contracts , only to lose them again through court actions . In 1902 , Phillies owner John Rogers decided to start a football team , he therefore took control of the " Philadelphia Football Club " team and renamed them the Philadelphia Phillies . The Athletics owner , Ben Shibe , followed suit and fielded , named a team named Philadelphia Athletics , which was made - up of several baseball players as well as some local football players . He appointed his baseball manager Connie Mack as the team ' s general manager and named former Penn player , Charles " Blondy " Wallace as the team ' s coach . However both Rogers and Shibe knew that in order to lay claim to a " World Championship " , they needed to have a team from Pittsburgh , which was the focal point of football at the time , in the new league . They called on pro football promoter Dave Berry , the former manager of football ' s first fully professional team , the Latrobe Athletic Association , to raise a Pittsburgh - based team for the two Philadelphia teams to face . Berry met with the two Philadelphia owners and agreed to establish a team . Due to the animosity between Rodgers and Shibe , Berry was then elected as league president . Fielding the team . Berry constructed his team from many of the key players that played for the Homestead Library & Athletic Club , on their professional football championship teams in 1900 and 1901 . He then became the team ' s owner and manager . However , Berry ' s modest income showed that he couldn ' t possibly have the money to cover the salaries of the top pros the team employed , all by himself . Suspicion fell on William Chase Temple , the steelman who ' d formerly backed the Homestead Library & Athletic Club and who was still an officer with the Pirates , and Barney Dreyfuss , the Pirates ' owner . Both denied any connection to the team ' s finances , and Berry insisted he was the team ' s sole owner . No one believed them then , nor do any sports historians believe them now . Regardless of who the team ' s owner was , Berry still made all the management decisions . And right away he alienated many potential fans in Pittsburgh when he decided to have his team train in Greensburg , 40 miles away . Berry stated that Greensburg ' s Natatorium provided better facilities than what could be found in Pittsburgh , but the public outrage continued . Even the benefits of breathing Greensburg ' s clear , country air failed to impress Pittsburghers who were used to constantly breathing highly polluted air in city during the early 1900s . Wrote one historian : " As far as the fans were concerned , Berry had deserted Pittsburgh and deprived them of the fun of watching practices for free . " Berry then added another error by announcing that his team would play a couple of games in Greensburg , coming to Pittsburgh itself only for " big - money " games . As a result , the " Pittsburgh Press " took to calling them " the Greensburg team " . However Berry did build a top - notch team . As a player - coach he hired , a former Brown University All - American , Willis Richardson at quarterback . Richardson had quarterbacked the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in 1901 . Having Richardson and the team ' s coach and quarterback , helped gain the respect of other former Homestead players , many of whom signed up immediately . The amount of players , who were considered the stars of football during the early 1900s , led to the team being named " The Stars " . Howevet , like the Athletics and Phillies , the Stars had a few baseball players in their line - up . New York Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson became the team ' s fullback . He , along with Pittsburgh ' s Honus Wagner , would be one of the first five inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame . Also Fred Crolius , who played several games for the Pirates ' in 1902 , lined - up in the Stars backfield . With all the baseball involvement , training didn ' t get underway for the football teams until September 29 , 1902 with the season was scheduled to open a week later on October 4 . However , most of the players were already in shape . Besides the baseball players , many of the others had jobs that kept them in good condition . For example , Pittsburgh halfback Artie Miller joined the team after working as a lumberjack in Wisconsin that summer . To make the preseason even less stressful , the average football team in 1902 only used about six plays which were all standard . 1902 season . The league played all of its games on Saturdays , since there were no Sunday sports events , in 1902 , according to Pennsylvania ' s blue laws . The Stars played their home games at the Pittsburgh Coliseum , which was owned by William Chase Temple . However he continued to deny he had any part in the Stars . Meanwhile those individuals who suspected Dreyfuss as being on of the team ' s backers , were surprised that the team hadn ' t scheduled its games at Exposition Park , the Pirates ' home . The Stars first game , played at the Pittsburgh Coliseum was rained out . The Stars played many independent teams as well as the two Philadelphia teams that made up the NFL . The very next week , the Stars defeated the Pennsylvania Railroad Y . M . C . A . 30 - 0 . In 1902 , a regulation football field was 110 yards long with the midpoint falling at the 55 - yard line . This length still used in the Canadian Football League . Because the Coliseum had been formatted for bicycle racing with a wooden track that completely encircled the field and cut off the ends , the Stars played on an " undersized " 100 - yard field . As the season progressed , Pittsburghers began to take interest in the Stars . In their first six games , the gave up no touchdowns . Meanwhile , the team never scored fewer than three touchdowns in any game . Sometimes they played local semi - pros like the Cottage and East End Athletic Clubs , while sometimes they played colleges , which was not uncommon in this era . The Stars won their game against Bucknell , Christy Mathewson ' s alma mater 24 - 0 . Finally on November 4 , in front of nearly 4 , 000 fans , the Stars beat the Philadelphia Phillies , 18 - 0 at the Coliseum . However , the team ' s fortunes took a hit when Mathewson disappeared from the team . Some historians speculate that the Giants discovered that their star pitcher was risking his baseball career with the Stars and ordered him to stop . While other historians feel that coach Richardson got rid of Mathewson because he felt that since the fullback ' s punting skills were hardly used , he could replace him with local resident Shirley Ellis . However while Ellis , was a strong runner that was hard to knock down , he lacked Mathewson ' s punting skills . That factor cost Pittsburgh a game when the Stars went to Philadelphia to play against the Athletics . In the first half , Pittsburgh scored two touchdowns but failed to cash either extra point . The Athletics also got a touchdown and added the point . Up until 1912 a touchdown counted for only five points , so the score at the half stood 10 - 6 . In the second half , the Athletics added a field goal to the score , which also counted as five points in 1902 . Under modern scoring , the game would have been a 12 - 10 Pittsburgh victory . However in 1902 scoring rules , the game was it was 11 - 10 , Philadelphia victory . If the Stars had scored either extra point , they could have avoided defeat . Local fans were shocked at the Stars ' loss . It was unheard of that a champion Pittsburgh pro team should ever lose . However just two weeks later , the Stars went back to Philadelphia and lost to the Phillies , 11 - 0 . Berry needed to book a Thanksgiving Day football game , which usually drew many fans . After a game against Washington & Jefferson team fell through , Berry guaranteed Connie Mack $ 2 , 000 if the Athletis would come to Pittsburgh and play the Stars . Berry billed a game between the Stars and the Athletics as being for the championship of the National Football League . The Athletics had split on the season with the Phillies , as had Pittsburgh . However the team did defeat Pittsburgh 11 - 10 earlier in the season . A Philadelphia victory on Thanksgiving would give the A ' s the championship , but a win by the Stars would tie the race for the league title tighter . Mack agreed to the game , however he refused to play until his team was paid their guarantee of $ 2 , 000 . With attendance at around 1 , 800 fans , it looked as if the game wouldn ' t be played . However Mack soon after received a check for $ 2 , 000 from William Corey , the head of Carnegie Steel who impatiently wanted to see the game . The Athletics and Stars played to a scoreless tie , meaning that Dave Berry ' s " championship game " hadn ' t decided anything . 1902 championship . Another championship game was soon planned to take place two days later by Berry and Mack . But due to a lack of funds Berry almost ended up cancelling the game . He met with his players and explained that he couldn ' t pay them because William Temple had all of the team ' s money . However , promised the players , they would all share equally in Saturday ' s game , which would be a sell - out . After some complaints were addressed , the players reluctantly agreed . The crowd in Pittsburgh was a little better on Saturday , but not by much . About 2 , 000 fans showed up , and the Pittsburgh players knew before the game began that the gate receipts were going to come up shorter than what was promised . The game looked like it might once again end in a tie . However a late touchdown by Shirley Ellis and another by Artie Miller , led Pittsburgh to an 11 - 0 win over the Athletics . However the Athletics players decided to call the Stars ' win an exhibition , and declared themselves the champs . It should be pointed out though , that the team had agreed to that season - ending championship game against Pittsburgh two days after Thanksgiving , and they had lost it . This was recognized by all parties at the time as the championship game . Each team also carried a record of 2 - 2 for league play . However Pittsburgh had , by far , the best point ratio , scoring 39 points to their opponents ' 22 . Both the Athletics and the Phillies gave up more points than they scored in their league games . Finally , Dave Berry used his power as league president and name his Stars the 1902 champions . Legacy . Not many fans noticed the championship win . The Pittsburgh players were too busy suing William Temple for money that was owed to them fortheir Thanksgiving Day game to celebrate their victory , and the story disappeared from the newspapers before the suit was settled . In 1903 the war between American and National Leagues ended and the baseball - sponsored football teams disappeared , leaving many of the best pro players without teams . Most of the players played again with other teams such as the Franklin Athletic Club , the Canton Bulldogs and the Massillon Tigers over the next few years . The Philadelphia Athletics went home and defeated the Phillies to wrap up second place . The win gave them only the city championship since the season was won by Pittsburgh the week before . The Stars ' did mark the end of Pittsburgh glory years as the cradle of pro football .