1925 Chicago Cardinals – Milwaukee Badgers scandal The 1925 Chicago Cardinals – Milwaukee Badgers scandal was a scandal centered around a 1925 game between the Chicago Cardinals and the Milwaukee Badgers of the National Football League . The scandal involved a Chicago player , Art Folz , hiring a group of high school football players to play for the Milwaukee Badgers , against the Cardinals . This would ensure an inferior opponent for Chicago . The game was used to help prop up their win - loss percentage and as a chance of wresting away the 1925 Championship away from the first place Pottsville Maroons . The scandal . In 1925 , the Chicago Cardinals were in the running to win the NFL championship with the Pottsville Maroons . The Maroons had beaten the Cardinals 21 - 7 earlier in the season at Comiskey Park . This loss gave Pottsville a half game lead in the standings . However , the Cardinals felt that they could make up for the loss . Many professional football teams during the first decade of the NFL would schedule some easy extra games to pad their record and place in the standing . The Cardinals had hoped that the move would help bump the team to a first place finish over Pottsville . Prior to 1933 , the team with the best record in the standings at the end of the season was named the season ' s NFL Champions . The two extra games were scheduled against the inferior Milwaukee Badgers and Hammond Pros , both of which were NFL members but had disbanded for the year . The Badgers , owned by Ambrose McGuirk , agreed to a game against the Cardinals . However , McGuirk lived in Chicago , which put him at a disadvantage in getting his team back together to play the Cardinals . Art Folz , a substitute quarterback for the Cardinals , convinced four players from Englewood High School , located in Chicago , into joining the Badgers for the game under assumed names , thereby ensuring that the Cardinals ' opponent was not a pro caliber club . It also should be noted that Folz himself was an Englewood High School graduate . Meanwhile the Cardinals ' owner , Chris O ' Brien , unaware of the roster tampering , but still sensing a mismatch , didn ' t even charge attendance to the few scattered spectators who turned up for the December 10 , 1925 game . However , the second game on December 12 , against Hammond proved to be much closer in score with 13 - 0 Cardinals win over the Pros . Outcome . Initial . A few weeks later , when NFL President Joseph Carr learned high school players had been used , he told reporters the 59 - 0 Cardinals win would be stricken from the record . However , the league had never got around to removing it . The game is still a part of the NFL records . Chris O ' Brien was also fined $ 1 , 000 by Carr for allowing his team play a game against high schoolers , even though he claimed that he was unaware of the players ' status . Ambrose McGuirk was ordered to sell his Milwaukee franchise within 90 days . Folz , for his role , was barred from football for life . 1926 . By the summer of 1926 , Carr toned down his punishment for each party involved in the scandal . Folz ' s lifetime ban was lifted , probably to prevent him from going the first American Football League , however he chose not to return to pro football . The $ 1 , 000 fine against O ' Brien was rescinded , probably since the amount would have put the Cardinals out of business . McGuirk though had already sold his Badgers franchise to Johnny Bryan , a fullback with the Chicago Bears . The Englewood players were also forgiven , and two of them , William Thompson and Charles Richardson , earned high school all - star recognition at the end of the season . Folz reportedly told the high schoolers that the game was a " practice game " and would in no part affect their amateur status . Role in the 1925 NFL championship dispute . In early December 1925 , the Maroons , with a 9 - 2 record , were just a half - game behind the Cardinals , who were 9 - 1 - 1 . At the same time as the Hammond - Chicago game , the Maroons scheduled a game against a team of Notre Dame all - stars that included the famed Four Horsemen . Due to the public interest of the game , it was played in a larger venue , Philadelphia ' s Shibe Park , not Pottsville ' s Minersville Park , which was mainly a high school stadium . By playing in Philadelphia , the Maroons were violating territory agreements drawn up by the NFL . Philadelphia was within the boundaries already claimed as the home by the Frankford Yellow Jackets . The Yellow Jackets , after hearing of the planned Notre Dame contest , filed a protest with the NFL . Pottsville ' s owner said all along that the game was sanctioned by the NFL and that he had received permission to play in Philadelphia from an NFL secretary . However , Carr had the final say and on several occasions , he threatened the Pottsville team with suspension from the league if the game took place . Pottsville played the game anyway and won , 9 - 7 , on a last - minute field goal . The Maroons were fined , tossed from the league , and stripped of their title . They ' d also have to cancel the remaining game on their schedule , against the Providence Steam Roller . The team also was ruled ineligible for the league title , which was eventually awarded to the Cardinals . However , the Pottsville fans still demand to know why Cardinals was awarded the title even though they too were found by Carr to have violated the NFL ' s rules . According to Bob Carroll of the Professional Football Researchers Association , " The Cardinals didn ' t defy the league , " Carroll said . " Pottsville did . It was a great team , but the owner made a mistake . " However , it is still not entirely known if O ' Brien knew of the high school players on the Badgers team . The Pottsville team was reinstated by the NFL in July 1926 , mainly because the NFL didn ' t want to lose Pottsville ' s skilled group of players to the upstart American Football League . Even though the Cardinals were awarded the 1925 Championship , O ' Brien refused to accept it , stating that he didn ' t want to win the title " that way " . However in 1933 , as Charles Bidwell took over as the owner of the Cardinals , he began to claim the 1925 title belonged to the Cardinals , overturning O ' Brien earlier decision . It is also believed that a Cardinals Football Curse was put upon the Cardinals and Bidwell because of the events surrounding the 1925 Championship . The Cardinals did however , win the NFL Championship in 1947 .