Team Origin
The L.A. Bulldogs were formed in 1936 with the expressed intention of joining the National Football League. In the wake of failed professional football leagues on the American West Coast (the first two Pacific Coast Leagues in 1926 and in 1934, the American Legion Pro Football League in 1935), the Los Angeles American Legion hired Harry Myers and budgeted $10,000 in payroll money to put together a team after being granted a “probationary franchise” by the NFL. Myers' first hire was Gus Henderson as the team's first head coach; both started to sign players with NFL experience (lineman Ray Richards (formerly of the Chicago Bears) and end Ike Frankian of the New York Giants) and University of Tulsa alumni Roy Berry, Hal Wickersham, Frank Greene, and Homer Reynolds, all of whom played for Henderson.
In the premier season of 1936, superlatives came early for the new team. Gil Lefebvre established himself as a punt return threat (years later, he would set a NFL record with a 98 yarder), and both Berry and Ed Stark electrified crowds with their long runs.
While professional football leagues often had traveling teams, the Bulldogs played all their games of the 1936 in 18,000-seat Gilmore Stadium. Six of the contests involved NFL teams – the Bulldogs beat the Chicago Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Eagles and tied the Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) before being shut out by the Chicago Bears and NFL champion Green Bay Packers to conclude a 6-3-1 inaugural campaign by the Bulldogs. The team had averaged 9400 fans in the stands for the season, and over 12,000 per game in the second half.
At the 1936 NFL owners' meeting, Myers joined representatives from Houston and Cleveland to pitch their teams for possible expansion. While Myers had a “probationary franchise” and an implied promise that the team would join the league, the NFL owners chose Homer Marshman's Cleveland Rams, second place finishers in the second AFL in 1936. Soon afterward, the Bulldogs opted to take the Rams’ place in the AFL.
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Famous quotes containing the words team and/or origin:
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—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
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—Robert Frost (1874–1963)