The Fort Wayne Friars were an early professional football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...

. The team, which was also known as the Friars Athletic Association, consistently fielded good and noteworthy teams. Because Fort Wayne is situated near the Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 border, the Friars often played Ohio teams as well as those from Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

.

Amateur origins

From their conception in 1909, the Friars began as a purely amateur team. However by 1913, as was the custom in those days, Fort Wayne would on occasion employ a "ringer” or two who usually turned out to be a current star college

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 player. Knute Rockne

Knute Rockne

Knute Kenneth Rockne was an American football player and coach. He is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history...

 played for the Friars in 1913 under the alias, "Jones". By 1914, the Friars relied on graduated stars for its roster when needed.

Professional team

In 1915 Friars coach Samuel Byroades brought together a line-up that consisted of at least 5 players who had previously played for Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...

, 3 players from University of Indiana and D.C. Smith from Purdue

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

. The 1915 Friars went 7-1-1, losing only to the Evanston North Ends and tying the Wabash Athletic Association. The final game of the 1915 saw the Friars shut out the Columbus Panhandles, featuring six of the infamous Nesser Brothers

Nesser Brothers

The Nesser Brothers were a group of football playing brothers who helped make up the most famous football family in the United States from 1907 until the mid-1920s...

. A year later the Friars posted a 8-1-1 record, losing again only to Wabash. That season the Friars employed 9 Notre Dame players. Rockne and Gus Dorais

Gus Dorais

Charles Emile "Gus" Dorais was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of Notre Dame, where he was an All-American in 1913, and then professionally with the Fort Wayne Friars and Massillon Tigers...

 both played for the Friars that season.

World War I

The manning shortages associated with World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 caught up with the Friars in 1917. Some playesr left the team for better pay elsewhere, while some played only on a week-by-week basis for the highest bidder for their services. The Friars folded and would not return to play until 1920.

Return and closure

In 1920, the Friars Athletic Association decided to file a team and recapture some of the glory of its past. The new Friars signed several players from the Fort Wayne local teams. They also as held tryouts for other players. Because of inflation, the Friars played all of their games at home in 1920. The Friars based their financial strategy on the projection that they could draw at least 2,000 fans per game by playing at home. The first game of the season resulted in a 6-0 loss to the Cincinnati Celts

Cincinnati Celts

The Cincinnati Celts was the first professional football team to play in Cincinnati, Ohio. The team played in the unofficial "Ohio League" and the American Professional Football Association . The Celts were a traveling team, playing all of their APFA games in other cities' stadia...

. During the inaugural season of the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 (then called the American Professional Football Association), the Friars defeated the league's Columbus Panhandles 14-0. For this game, the Friars employed Bob Peck and Ken Huffine

Ken Huffine

Kenneth Wilbur Huffine was a professional football player-coach who played in the National Football League from 1920 until 1925. During that time, he played for the Muncie Flyers, Chicago Staleys and the Dayton Triangles. He was a member of the Staleys' 1921 Championship team. The Staleys were...

. Then after a series of scheduling missteps, that resulted in "no shows" by their opponents, the Friars beat the Pitcairn Quakers

Pitcairn Quakers

The Pitcairn Quakers were a professional football team from Pitcairn, Pennsylvania. The team played as an independent from 1904 until 1920 and featured the best players in the community as well as some famous college-level players. A few of those players, were college All-Americans. At one time the...

, 7-0, on a touchdown

Touchdown

A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

 that was set up by an interference penalty. The Friars then held another AFPA team, the Detroit Heralds, to a scoreless tie.

The 1920 season ended with a exhibition game against the Notre Dame freshman team. The game took place on a Saturday, when most Friars fans were at work. Therefore it can be assumed that the Friars were lucky to break even for that game. The Friars lost a couple of players as a result of the previously unplayed "no show" games and later folded.