Hartford Blues Hartford Blues of the National Football League played only in the 1926 NFL season . They had a record of 3 - 7 . The team was based in Hartford , Connecticut but played at the East Hartford Velodrome , a bicycle track just across the Connecticut River in East Hartford that had recently been built . The Velodrome was an oval with about 8 , 000 seats around the banked wooden track . There was enough room inside the track to lay out a football field . History . Origins . The Blues began as the Waterbury Blues and were owned by George Mulligan , the leading sports promoter in Connecticut during the 1920s . He hired local men , both former college players and walk - ons , at a per game wage . The players practiced once a week , on Sunday morning , just before each game . In 1925 Mulligan set his sights on signing Harry Stuhldreher , the quarterback of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame . He immediately accepted Mulligan ' s offer to play for the Blues for $ 7 , 500 , plus a $ 500 bonus . Waterbury ' s other top backs at the start of the 1925 season were Ken Simendinger , from Holy Cross , and Dutch Forst , from Villanova . The line featured two other Notre Dame alumni . Ed Hunsinger played with the Four Horsemen in 1924 and rejoined Stuhldreher as an end in Waterbury . Art Garvey , a brawny tackle , had played pro ball for several years since leaving Notre Dame in 1922 . He had received some All - League mention as a Chicago Bear in 1923 . Another lineman , Dick McGrath , doubled as captain and coach . 1925 season . The Blues opened their season on September 27 by whipping a team from Yonkers , New York 32 - 0 . Soon after Mulligan signed Jim Crowley , another ex - Horseman , to join Stuhldreher in the backfield against Adams , Massachusetts . Crowley ' s regular job was assistant coach at the University of Georgia . The Blues put on a good show by driving to a 34 - 0 triumph , with Crowley scoring three touchdowns and Stuhldreher booting two field goals and three extra points . Crowley picked up his check after the game and left the team . In their only NFL contest of 1925 , the Blues beat the Rochester Jeffersons 7 - 6 . Soon after the Blues closest rival in Connecticut , the West Siders franchise soon folded and George Mulligan immediately picked up the lease on Clarkin Field and renamed his team the Hartford Blues . According to the Hartford Courant , Waterbury ' s poor support of the team prompted the move . The same article reported that Mulligan had already posted entrance money with the NFL , and that Hartford would have a place in the league in 1926 . The new Hartford Blues debued on November 8 , 1925 by beating the Rochester Jeffersons , 8 - 6 , in a rematch . Stuhldreher suffered a mild concussion during the game , held in bad weather before a disappointing crowd of 2 , 000 . On Thanksgiving Day however , the Blues didn ' t schedule a game because a number of key players , including Stuhldreher , had to be elsewhere coaching college or high school teams . So to beef up the Blues , Mulligan signed five new players : back Obie Bristow and guard Steve Owen from the Kansas City Cowboys which ended its season in Hartford ; fullback Roy Mackert from the Rochester Jeffersons ; end Herb Kopf , and , most newsworthy , halfback Don Miller , became the third Horsemen to sign a contract with Mulligan . The reinforced Blues dominated the circuit ensure its claim on the state championship . However , instead of ending the season George Mulligan had other plans . He booked a game for December 6 at Clarkin Field against Pere Marquette , probably the strongest pro team in Boston . Of the new recruits , Bristow , Owen , and Miller were still in the line - up , and Mulligan added another new man in end Grattan O ' Connell , a Bristol , Connecticut , native who had just finished his senior season at Boston College and turned pro immediately . The Blues beat Pere Marquette , 12 - 0 . Mulligan had attempted to schedule the Blues against Red Grange and the Chicago Bears . However , the Bears had already booked a game against the Providence Steam Roller . However , shortly after Mulligan booked a final season game at Clarkin Field . He brought in the Cleveland Bulldogs as opponents , and he signed all four Horsemen to play in the Hartford backfield . The Hartford Courant speculated that Mulligan might be paying $ 5 , 000 for the one - day services of Stuhldreher , Miller , Crowley and Elmer Layden . However the Bulldogs won the game 13 - 6 . 1926 season . Layden and Stuhldreher left to join the Brooklyn Horsemen of the American Football League . The Blues began the 1926 NFL season disappointingly with a 21 - 0 loss to the New York Giants . The team later added two losses in back - to - back games against the Frankford Yellow Jackets and a loss 6 - 0 loss to the Brooklyn Lions , at Ebbets Field . The team would go on to only win three games during the season , against the Brooklyn Lions 16 - 6 , the Dayton Triangles 16 - 0 , and the Canton Bulldogs 16 - 7 in a game that ended early due to darkness and a lack of field lights . The remaining four games were losses to the Kansas City Cowboys , the Buffalo Bisons , the Duluth Eskimos and the non - league All - New Britain team . The remaining games were cancelled due to scheduling conflicts or weather conditions . The Blues ended their stint in the NFL after the season and returned to being an independent for 1927 , playing one season as the Hartford Giants before folding .