In 1922, a football team formed in Duluth officially named the Kelley Duluths after their namesake sponsor, the Kelley-Duluth Hardware Store.
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That same year the conference was renamed the American Professional Football Association, and again in 1922 when it was renamed the National Football League.Ī young Ernie Nevers // Photo courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society and Pro Football Hall of Fame
In 1920, an organizational meeting led to the formation of the American Professional Football Conference in the hopes that a single league with a uniform set of rules would stabilize the sport. According to the NFL, in 1920 pro football was in a state of confusion from the dramatically rising salaries of players, players who were jumping from team to team seeking the highest offers, and from the use of college players still enrolled in school. The early years of professional football were rough-and-tumble and complicated. One hundred fifty miles north of Metropolitan stadium, another team was competing on the gridiron in the National Football League from 1923 to 1927: the Duluth Eskimos. But the Minnesota Vikings are not the only team to have represented the North Star State in the NFL. For most of the state’s fans, the mention of pro football immediately conjures images of the icy breaths of the Purple People Eaters suspended in the chilly Metropolitan Stadium air, of Randall Cunningham firing off 60-yard touchdown passes, of missed kicks and four Superbowls.
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Minnesota has a long and rich history of professional football. Employment opportunities at Duluth Eskimos jersey from 1926, which is on display now at the Minnesota History Center’s Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame // Photo by Kevin Kramer Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information are applicable to this site. Season preview: Answering 2000's questionsĬopyright ©2001 ESPN Internet Group.
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Jack Arute writes a weekly column on Mondays for ABC Sports Bowl Championship Series Online Don't take my word for it? Coaching staffs across the country have enlisted walk-on chipheads to run the numbers week-in and week-out to see where their teams will fall. The gridiron wars get serious in the weeks leading up to the all-important unveiling of the first BCS rankings. So go ahead and read the preseason polls, but remember that they are for entertainment purposes only. The next 30 days will define the 2000 college football season. I wonder what their expectations will be by midseason. But folks in Oklahoma can't wait for the season to start. In Big XII country, it's the same old song: Nebraska, Kansas State and Texas. A Ron Dayne-less Wisconsin Badgers team will make the Big Ten a fascinating conference. Look for the unveiling of an Air Henson attack. Michigan, picked to win the Big Ten title, will not be your father's Michigan in 2000. What they don't know about is Frank Beamer's kicking game and defense. A big difference this season is that people know about Michael Vick. Virginia Tech finds itself in the same situation it faced a year ago. Wasn't it just 12 months ago that head coach Mike DuBose was in danger of losing his job? If there is a positive side to preseason polls, it is that some teams get recognition and, like a Top 40 record rating in Billboard Magazine, have a bullet affixed to their ranking. 1 in preseason and gone on to win the national championship. Now, he must switch gears and remind his players that Nebraska has never been ranked No. Bobby Bowden would have liked nothing better than to use a No. The Florida State Seminoles are smarting from what they deem is a snub by both writers and coaches. The preseason polls do create situations that coaching staffs must deal with. At least with the BCS coming out in the third week of October, there is time for the polls to level off and get real.īobby Bowden is shooting for his third Sears Trophy, and second in a row. Seldom, if ever, has an unranked team marched through a college football season to win a then-mythical national championship. Before the Bowl Championship Series, that would have spelled disaster. The downside is that a team that is poised to have a breakout season may find itself either mired deep in the standings or not on the board at all. The early-season polls are simply a reward for past performances. (I know folks who follow Notre Dame would agree, even though I don't see the Irish being in a poll come October, November or December.) This season, the campaign should be mounted to abolish polls until October. In past years, the computer rankings in the BCS have been the subject of much criticism. Players have hardly put the pads on for preseason practice. The first two polls are out, which simply reinforces my longstanding position that polls before the first weekend are October is useless.
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