Haven - Villa of Winter Haven The Haven - Villa of Winter Haven was a professional football team based in Winter Haven , Florida in 1926 . While the team originated as a successful local team . However the team was taken over by members of the Tampa Cardinals , featuring Jim Thorpe , and later the Millville Big Blue , a pro club from Millville , New Jersey , when the teams played a series of exhibition games in the winter of 1926 . Cardinals . When Milleville first came to Florida , it had scheduled a game against Haven - Villa . However the day of the game , Thorpe and several of the other Cardinals , fresh off of a loss against Red Grange and the Chicago Bears of the National Football League , showed up in the Haven - Villa line - up . The game resulted in a lopsided 28 - 6 victory for Millville . The win , however , proved costly , as Gyp Downey , the team ' s star kicker , suffered a fractured collar bone , ending his season . The Millville newspapers reported prior to the game that Red Grange would be officiating the game , however there were no reports of Grange doing so . Jim Thorpe also did not play in the game , probably due to his age and health issues , however several of his old teammates from the NFL did play . Those players include Pete Calac , Joe Little Twig and Rube Ursella . Big Blue . Shortly after the game it was announced that the Millville squad would , for the remainder of its stay in Florida , play under the Haven - Villa name . Art Bulger , a member of the old Haven - Villa lineup , was added to roster . Bob Daley took over as the team ' s manager . On January 11 , the Haven - Villas headed to Palm Beach to square - off against a local club known as the Palm Beach Evergladers led by Jim Kendrick , a regular with the NFL ' s Buffalo All - Americans . Prior to the game , Palm Beach was reportedly undefeated in seven previous outings and touted as the Southern professional champions . However , Winter Haven still rolled to a 16 - 0 victory . Two days later the Villas were on the road for the first in a two game series with the Tampa Cardinals , now called the St . Petersburg Cardinals . The team featured the same lineup as the “ Tampa ” Cardinals team that had originally been organized to play a New Years Day exhibition against Grange and the Bears . After a slow start both teams picked up the pace throughout the second half however those still the game ended a scoreless draw . The two teams faced each other again just a few days later , on the grounds of the high school at Winter Haven . Although the Cards , started strong , neither team managed to put any points on the board during the first two quarters . However after in the third quarter , Ginny Gooch broke free on an end - around and quickly covered the sixty yards to the end - zone . That touchdown initiated a landslide of Haven - Villa scoring , as the team went on to a 38 - 0 win . The very next day the two teams met for a third contest , this time at Adair Park . The Cardinals were now playing under the banner of " Lena Vista , " while the Millville - Haven - Villa team was billed as the " Eastern States All - Stars . " The game was not much different than the previous afternoon ' s game . The Cardinals were clearly overmatched , as the All - Stars ran up 24 unanswered points en route to their second shutout victory in as many days . Following the game , everyone agreed that , that a break was needed from football after a long season that began in September 1925 . The decision was made to disband the team and head home . Most of the players caught the train back to Philadelphia the following evening , although a few extended their stay to pursue some real estate investment opportunities . Legacy . The Big Blue - Cardinals post - season swing through Florida had mixed results . The Big Blue certainly met with great success on the field , going 5 - 0 - 1 in postseason play under a variety of banners ( two victories as Millville , a pair of victories and a tie as Haven - Villa , and another victory as the Eastern States All - Stars ) . However there was a lack of fan interest , as the final games between the Cardinals and Big Blue drew small crowds of only a few hundred spectators .