Auction Item Details
Lot 74
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Lot Number: 74
Description: 1924 Pottsville Maroons panoramic photograph. When Dr. John G. Striegel became the owner of the Pottsville Maroons, he vowed to join and dominate the National Football League. To show NFL president Joe Carr that the Maroons could deliver a large audience, Doc Striegel and thousands of Pottsville fans traveled to watch the team defeat the Atlantic City Roses in 1924. This 10"x43" panoramic photo captures the throngs of staunch Maroons fans stacked up in the stands behind the team with Striegel seated in the foreground wearing a black hat. Text printed in the lower right area of the photo reads, Fandom of Pottsville, Pa. at the A.C. Roses-Pottsville Maroons Football Game: Atlantic City, N.J. November 9th, 1924 Score-Pottsville 22 - A.C. 0. StiegelÆs plan worked, and in 1925, Pottsville, a small coal-mining town 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia, not only joined the NFL, but accomplished the unthinkable, dominating the NFL in its inaugural season. At the time, the Philadelphia Inquirer called the Maroons "The Perfect Football Machine." On Dec. 6, 1925, the Pottsville Maroons beat the runner-up Chicago Cardinals at Comiskey Park 21-7 in what was widely believed to be the NFL championship game. At the time, the NFL was struggling to survive while college football was king. Pottsville then played the Notre Dame Four Horsemen in an exhibition game in Philadelphia. Experts believed the fledgling NFL was still decades away from competing with college football, but on a last-second field goal the Maroons beat Notre Dame 9-7. Although Pottsville's victory over Notre Dame legitimized the NFL, it destroyed the town and the team which made it all possible. Claiming the Maroons had violated the territory of another franchise by playing Notre Dame, the NFL suspended Pottsville and awarded the 1925 Championship to the Cardinals. For more than 80 years, fans of the Pottsville Maroons have fought to have the 1925 title returned to them. The story of this team and its struggle has been told in a recently published book titled "Breaker Boys" by author David Fleming (copy included), which features this panoramic photograph. The offered photo retains excellent clarity and contrast with only a few scattered light wrinkles and a couple of small border tears. A 1 1/2÷ inch section of the photo is missing from the bottom left border. Framed: VG-EX
Estimated Price: ($1,000.00-$1,500.00)
