Los Angeles Bulldogs
Encyclopedia
The Los Angeles Bulldogs were a professional American football
team that competed from 1936 to 1948 (the last year as the Long Beach Bulldogs). Formed with the intention of joining the National Football League
in 1937 (and turned down in favor of the Cleveland Rams
), the Bulldogs were the first Los Angeles
football team on the major league
level to play its home games on the American West Coast
(the NFL's Los Angeles Buccaneers
and the first AFL's Wildcats
of 1926 were actually traveling team
s based in the state of Illinois
).
The 1937 Bulldogs are one of four pro football teams that have gone undefeated and untied during a season, joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins (17-0-0, NFL), the 1948 Calgary Stampeders (14-0-0, CFL), and the 1948 Cleveland Browns (15-0-0, AAFC). The Bulldogs hold the distinction of being the first.
The Bulldogs joined the second American Football League, in 1937 and proceeded to become the first professional football team to win a league championship with a perfect record (no losses or ties), having won all eight of its league games that season (counting all exhibition games, they won all 18 of their 1937 contests). After the dissolution of the second AFL after the 1937 season, they returned to independent football for 1938, having a 2-1-2 record against NFL teams that season.
For the 1939 season, the Bulldogs joined fellow second AFL franchise Cincinnati Bengals
in joining another American Football League
just before the league changed its name to the American Professional Football League. The two newcomers dominated their new league, finishing with the two greatest winning percentages, but at the league meetings, the Columbus Bullies
were announced as the league champions. Shortly afterward, the Bulldogs announced their intention to leave the AFL to become a charter member of a new Pacific Coast Professional Football League
(the AFL soon dissipated when three more member teams defected to a new league, which soon became the “third American Football League”).
Winning PCPFL championships in 1940 and 1946, the Bulldogs were the only team to compete in the league in every year of its existence (1940-1948). With the establishment of the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL and Los Angeles Dons
in the All America Football Conference in 1946, the popularity of the Bulldogs diminished to the point of moving their home games from Gilmore Stadium
to Veterans Memorial Stadium
in 1948, and when the attendance dropped below 1000 people per game, the Bulldogs – and the PCPFL – folded.
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 team
s, 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.
In the NFL team owners meeting, representatives of Houston, Cleveland, and Los Angeles were invited to pitch their teams for possible expansion. While the Myers had the “probationary franchise” and an implied promise that the team would join the league, the NFL owners chose Homer Marshman's Cleveland Rams
team, second place finishers in the second AFL
in 1936. Soon afterward, the Bulldogs opted to take the Rams’ place in the AFL.
joined the team. Back Bill Howard led the league in scoring as the Bulldogs marched through the American Football League’s schedule, being the first professional football team to win all their contests and win the league championship in the same season.
The scheduling plan adopted by the AFL and the Bulldogs as a cost containment measure helped the league inch toward its demise as the Bulldogs overwhelmed the rest of the league in the first half of the season and completed its perfect season at home in the second half. The Shamrocks and Yankees, both of which averaging over 10,000 attendance in home games in the 1936 season
, totaled 4500 people in their home games against the Bulldogs in 1937. On the other hand, the Bulldogs drew 15,000 in each of their AFL home games and became the only AFL team to make a profit in the 1937 season. The league folded in 1938.
owner Paul Schissler to join his new California League as a rival to his team, but Myers declined the offer, dooming the league.
The Bulldogs followed their perfect season with a 10-2-2 campaign, including a 2-1-2 record in games against NFL teams (the Chicago teams in Charleston, West Virginia
, the Pittsburgh Pirates in Colorado Springs, Colorado
, and home games against the Pirates and the Rams). LA’s other loss was to the Bengals, which also had success against the NFL teams after the dissolution of the second AFL.
The following year featured several changes for the Bulldogs, most notably a new owner (Jerry Corcoran), a new league (another American Football League
, soon to change its name to the American Professional Football Association), and a new head coach (Ike Frankian
replacing Gus Henderson). Kicker George Karamatic
was signed from the Washington Redskins
, and they lost their star of their backfield Bill Howard.
After losing their opening game to the Redskins and being shut out in their opening APFA game by the Columbus Bullies
, the Bulldogs found their stride in the new league, including beating their old nemesis Cincinnati Bengals once and Columbus thrice. As the season progressed, their offense strengthened as they beat the Dayton Bombers 65-0 on Thanksgiving
weekend and the St. Louis Gunners
56-14 in mid-December. As the season ended, the Bulldogs’ 7-1 (.875) record had them placed atop the league standings, ahead of Cincinnati’s 6-2 (.750) and Columbus’ 9-4 (.692). Yet in a league meeting on January 7, 1940, Columbus was declared the league champion, with a 9-2 (.818) record.
Shortly afterward, Jerry Corcoran and Paul Schlissler announced the formation of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League
as the APFA announced its intentions to become a major professional football league. With the departure of the Bulldogs to the new PCPFL and the defection of Cincinnati, Columbus, and a new Milwaukee AFPA team to a new East Coast-based league, the old AFL was fatally split and dissipated as two other AFPA teams’ applications to the new American Football League
were eventually turned down.
players. While the Bears featured the talents of Kenny Washington
, Woody Strode
, and Kink Richards
, the Bulldogs relied upon local talent as well (including, briefly, in 1941, a UCLA Bruin who lettered in four sports: Jackie Robinson
). The availability of Washington to the Bears determined the league championship in 1940 and 1941 as he was injured for a Bruins-Bulldogs game that resulted in Los Angeles winning the championship with a 7-2-1 record; a healthy Washington powered Hollywood’s undefeated romp through the schedule the following year (including three defeats of the Bulldogs as LA finished in second place with a 4-4 record). It did not matter at the time that the league would end the 1941 season two weeks early because of the attack on Pearl Harbor
and the U. S. military
’s ongoing fear of a possible Japanese attack on the American West Coast.
Unlike the Dixie League
, the American Association
, and the third American Football League, the PCPFL joined the NFL in continuing its competition in the World War II
years of 1941-1945. The league schedule was pared as Paul Schissler entered military service and wound up coaching the Santa Ana Flyers, a service team coached by former Bulldog Garrett Arbelbide competed against the PCPFL teams in addition to March Field, another service team. Schissler’s Bears, handicapped by the absence of their owner-coach and the unavailability of Kenny Washington, went winless in league play under interim player-coach Kink Richards
. The Bulldogs didn’t fare much better, finishing third in the four-team league at 2-2, behind the 4-1 of charter members San Diego Bombers and the 2-1 of the San Francisco Bay Bombers. While the Bombers officially won the 1942 league championship, they lost two games to the March Field Flyers, who were undefeated in five games against league membership.
While the league membership profited at the box office with the games with the service academies, the owners decided that it would be in the league’s best interests not to be overshadowed by the military teams; so the games with March Field and Santa Ana were dropped. It was first of several changes of the PCPFL for 1943, some involving the Los Angeles Bulldogs.
Almost immediately after being granted an expansion franchise for the Los Angeles Mustangs, owner Bill Freelove surprised the league membership by signing virtually the entire roster of the 1942 Los Angeles Bulldogs. Bulldogs owner Jerry Corcoran was contemplating the suspension of the team for 1943 when the league gave a “leave of absence” to the Hollywood Bears, whose owner and star were both unavailable for competition. As a result, Corcoran was able to sign most of the Bears (including Kink Richards), and the Bulldogs had the manpower to participate in the 1943 PCPFL season. The reconstituted team finished in fifth place with a 3-4 record, one win behind Freelove’s Mustangs (4-4), which finished in a tie for second with Oakland. The San Diego Bombers won its second consecutive league title with a 7-1 record.
After the end of the 1943 season, the off-the-field fireworks continued. The league ownership registered their disapproval of Bill Freelove’s raiding of the Bulldogs by refusing to renew his league membership. Freelove responded with the formation of a new American Football League
with eight teams from Seattle and Portland
to San Diego
. As a result, there were an unprecedented five Los Angeles professional football teams operating simultaneously. With the leagues’ talent pool greatly diluted, the Bulldogs struggled to a 2-5 record, good for sixth place in the PCPFL (and only better than the new Hollywood Wolves) as the San Diego Bombers won their third straight league title.
On December 21, 1944, the AFL merged with the PCPFL, with the AFL’s first and second place teams (Hollywood Rangers and San Francisco Clippers) replacing the Wolves and the Packers for the 1945 season. Freelove’s Mustangs were not permitted to join the reformed league and had a short, futile “life” as an independent team. With the return of Paul Schissler and Kenny Washington, the Bears were back, but the Rangers quit the league rather than join forces with the other team from Hollywood (tailback Dean McAdams left the Rangers and signed with the Bulldogs soon afterward). Helped by the defection, the Bulldogs improved to 5-5-1 with the help of a newly-signed quarterback, Frankie Albert
. The Bulldogs finished in third place, behind a resuscitated Hollywood Bears team (8-2-1) and the Oakland Giants (7-2) led by league MVP
Mel Reid, another victim of the NFL color line.
Seven years after playing in front of crowds of 15,000 people as they marched through a perfect season in the major league American Football League, the Bulldogs were averaging less than 10,000 per game in Gilmore Stadium
in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League’s last season as the highest level league on the West Coast. While the Bulldogs have one more league championship in the post-World War II years, the anticipated arrival of the Cleveland Rams
into Los Angeles heralded seismic changes in the professional football landscape in California.
of the new All America Football Conference, the Bulldogs suddenly found themselves third in the Los Angeles pecking order as both the Rams and the Dons started to draw upwards of 40,000 people in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
.
While the PCPFL was suddenly diminished in stature with the incursion of the two major leagues into California, the six-year-old league underwent a few changes as it expanded to nine teams and divided into two divisions. Teams based in Honolulu, Salt Lake City, Sacramento
, and Tacoma, Washington
. Team rosters were limited to 25 players, and, for the first time, all league games were to be played on Sunday. The league - along with the Dixie League
and the newly resuscitated American Association
(which changed its name to the American Football League for the 1946 season) - entered into a working arrangement with the NFL, agreeing to being, in essence, a farm league to the “big boys” and not allowing any participants in “any outlaw league” (specifically the AAFC) to be a member of any PCPFL team.
The 1946 Bulldogs had 11 players on its roster who had NFL experience., including former Detroit Lions
halfback Joe Margucci, lineman Forrest McPherson
, and wingback Elvin Hutchison
. While the Bulldogs won the Southern Division handily (the Bulldogs’ 9-2-1 vs. the second place Hawaiian Warriors’ 8-4), the Northern Division title was decided by a forfeit in the last game of the season, ironically one involving the Bulldogs.
The San Francisco Clippers apparently defeated Los Angeles by a score of 24-19 and claimed the top spot in the North. When Clippers owner Frank Ciraolo entered his team’s locker room to participate in the victory celebration, he noticed that John Woudenberg
, tackle for the AAFC’s San Francisco 49ers
, was wearing a uniform that was assigned to the Clippers’ Courtney Thorell. After the “discrepancy” was reported to league officials, the game was declared a 1-0 forfeit to the Bulldogs. As a result, the Northern Division champions were the Tacoma Indians.
The Bulldogs defeated Tacoma in the league championship game, 38-7, on January 19, 1947. The game was played in Gilmore Stadium in front of only 5200 fans. It was the last game of the Indians’ existence, and an indication of the decline of the Bulldogs as a box office draw in Los Angeles.
While it did not involve the Bulldogs, a gambling scandal involving the Hawaiians further reduced whatever fan interest remained for the PCPFL. Fourteen Hawaiian Warriors were suspended, either “permanently” or “indefinitely,” for their part in the scandal. With the departure of Salt Lake and Sacramento after the end of the 1947, the viability of the league was in doubt as only three teams remained.
Former Bulldogs owner Jerry Corcoran, who co-founded the league in 1940, managed a revived Hollywood Bears team in 1948. The Bears, charter members of the PCPFL, rejoined the league as a traveling team
. The Bulldogs, under new management, moved their home games to Long Beach
's Veterans Memorial Stadium
. After playing all of their scheduled road games and one home game, the Bulldogs were one game behind the Hawaiians, who clinched a tie for the league title with a 5-1 record. The Bulldogs had a 3-1 record and could tie the Warriors if they beat San Francisco and Hollywood in Long Beach, but after drawing only 850 in their first home game, the Bulldogs did not try to play the two rescheduled games, cancelling them instead. The existence of the Bulldogs came to an end; the PCPFL succumbed before the beginning of the 1949 season.
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 that competed from 1936 to 1948 (the last year as the Long Beach Bulldogs). Formed with the intention of joining 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...
in 1937 (and turned down in favor of the Cleveland Rams
Cleveland Rams
The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio.The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland, Ohio. The NFL considers the franchise as a second incarnation of the previous Cleveland Rams team that was a charter member of the second American Football League...
), the Bulldogs were the first Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
football team on the major league
Major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada
The major professional sports leagues, or simply major leagues, in the United States and Canada are the highest professional competitions in team sports...
level to play its home games on the American West Coast
Pacific Coast
A country's Pacific coast is the part of its coast bordering the Pacific Ocean.-The Americas:Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western border.* Geography of Canada* Geography of Chile* Geography of Colombia...
(the NFL's Los Angeles Buccaneers
Los Angeles Buccaneers
The Los Angeles Buccaneers were a traveling team in the National Football League during their one season 1926, ostensibly representing the city of Los Angeles, California. Like the Los Angeles Wildcats of the first American Football League, the team never actually played a league game in Los...
and the first AFL's Wildcats
Los Angeles Wildcats
The Los Angeles Wildcats was a traveling team of the first American Football League that was not based in its nominal home city but in Chicago, Illinois...
of 1926 were actually traveling team
Traveling team
In professional team sports, a traveling team is a member of a professional league that never or rarely competes in its home arena or stadium. This differs from a barnstorming team in that the latter does not compete within a league or association framework...
s based in the state of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
).
The 1937 Bulldogs are one of four pro football teams that have gone undefeated and untied during a season, joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins (17-0-0, NFL), the 1948 Calgary Stampeders (14-0-0, CFL), and the 1948 Cleveland Browns (15-0-0, AAFC). The Bulldogs hold the distinction of being the first.
The Bulldogs joined the second American Football League, in 1937 and proceeded to become the first professional football team to win a league championship with a perfect record (no losses or ties), having won all eight of its league games that season (counting all exhibition games, they won all 18 of their 1937 contests). After the dissolution of the second AFL after the 1937 season, they returned to independent football for 1938, having a 2-1-2 record against NFL teams that season.
For the 1939 season, the Bulldogs joined fellow second AFL franchise Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati Bengals (AFL)
Cincinnati Bengals was the name of a short-lived professional football team that played in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is unrelated to the current Cincinnati Bengals. Originated by Hal Pennington , the team was formed as a member of the second American Football League in the 1937 season...
in joining another American Football League
American Football League (1938)
The Midwest Football League was a minor professional American football league that existed from 1935 to 1940. Originally comprising teams from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, the league eventually expanded its reach to include teams from Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and California to...
just before the league changed its name to the American Professional Football League. The two newcomers dominated their new league, finishing with the two greatest winning percentages, but at the league meetings, the Columbus Bullies
Columbus Bullies
The Columbus Bullies were a professional football team founded by Phil H. Bucklew in Columbus, Ohio in 1938. The Bullies started out as a member of the American Professional Football Association in 1939. Later, in 1940, the Bullies joined the Cincinnati Bengals and Milwaukee Chiefs in leaving the...
were announced as the league champions. Shortly afterward, the Bulldogs announced their intention to leave the AFL to become a charter member of a new Pacific Coast Professional Football League
Pacific Coast Professional Football League
The Pacific Coast Professional Football League , also known as the Pacific Coast Football League and Pacific Coast League was a professional American football league based in California, USA, and competed from 1940 through 1948 in sports...
(the AFL soon dissipated when three more member teams defected to a new league, which soon became the “third American Football League”).
Winning PCPFL championships in 1940 and 1946, the Bulldogs were the only team to compete in the league in every year of its existence (1940-1948). With the establishment of the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL and Los Angeles Dons
Los Angeles Dons
The Los Angeles Dons were an American football team in the now defunct All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949 that played in the Los Angeles Coliseum....
in the All America Football Conference in 1946, the popularity of the Bulldogs diminished to the point of moving their home games from Gilmore Stadium
Gilmore Stadium
Gilmore Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Los Angeles, California. It was opened in May 1934 and demolished in 1952, when the land was used to build CBS Television City. The stadium held 18,000. It was located next to Gilmore Field...
to Veterans Memorial Stadium
Veterans Memorial Stadium (Long Beach)
Veterans Memorial Stadium is a stadium located south of the Liberal Arts Campus of Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California. It is the home stadium to a number of local area high school football teams, as well as Long Beach City College's football team...
in 1948, and when the attendance dropped below 1000 people per game, the Bulldogs – and the PCPFL – folded.
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 AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
hired Harry Myers
Harry Myers
Harry C. Myers , sometimes credited as Henry Myers, was an American film actor and director. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and died in Hollywood, California from pneumonia...
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
Gus Henderson
Elmer Clinton "Gloomy Gus" Henderson was an American football coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Southern California , the University of Tulsa , and Occidental College , compiling a career college football record of 126–42–7...
as the team's first head coach; both started to sign players with NFL experience (lineman Ray Richards
Ray Richards
Raymond W. Richards was an American football player and coach on both the collegiate and professional levels, including head coach for the National Football League's Chicago Cardinals....
(formerly of the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
) and end Ike Frankian
Ike Frankian
Malcolm John Frankian was an American football end in the National Football League for the Boston Redskins and the New York Giants. He attended Saint Mary's College of California....
of the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
) and University of Tulsa
University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa is a private university awarding bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. It is currently ranked 75th among doctoral degree granting universities in the nation by US News and World Report and is listed as one of the "Best 366 Colleges" by...
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
Gil Lefebvre
Gilbert Lefebvre was an American football player. He played professional football for the Cincinnati Reds from 1933 to 1934. In December 1933, he set an NFL record with a 98-yard punt return that was not broken until 1994. In 1935, he appeared in one game for the 1935 Detroit Lions team that won...
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 team
Traveling team
In professional team sports, a traveling team is a member of a professional league that never or rarely competes in its home arena or stadium. This differs from a barnstorming team in that the latter does not compete within a league or association framework...
s, the Bulldogs played all their games of the 1936 in 18,000-seat Gilmore Stadium
Gilmore Stadium
Gilmore Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Los Angeles, California. It was opened in May 1934 and demolished in 1952, when the land was used to build CBS Television City. The stadium held 18,000. It was located next to Gilmore Field...
. Six of the contests involved NFL teams – the Bulldogs beat the Chicago Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and tied the Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)
Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)
The Brooklyn Dodgers were an American football team that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943, and in 1944 as the Brooklyn Tigers. The team played its home games at Ebbets Field. In 1945, because of financial difficulties, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks...
before being shut out by the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and NFL champion Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
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.
In the NFL team owners meeting, representatives of Houston, Cleveland, and Los Angeles were invited to pitch their teams for possible expansion. While the Myers had the “probationary franchise” and an implied promise that the team would join the league, the NFL owners chose Homer Marshman's Cleveland Rams
Cleveland Rams
The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio.The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland, Ohio. The NFL considers the franchise as a second incarnation of the previous Cleveland Rams team that was a charter member of the second American Football League...
team, second place finishers in the second AFL
American Football League (1936)
Sometimes called AFL II, the second American Football League was a professional American football league that operated in 1936 and 1937. The AFL operated in direct competition with the more established National Football League throughout its existence...
in 1936. Soon afterward, the Bulldogs opted to take the Rams’ place in the AFL.
1937 in the American Football League
Despite the new league, the Los Angeles Bulldogs' roster stayed relatively constant. Former Chicago Cardinals back Al NicheliniAl Nichelini
Allen James Nichelini is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League from 1935 to 1936 for the Chicago Cardinals. Nichelini posted 423 rushing yards and 133 receiving yards in his two seasons. In 1935, he scored four rushing touchdowns, tied for second in the...
joined the team. Back Bill Howard led the league in scoring as the Bulldogs marched through the American Football League’s schedule, being the first professional football team to win all their contests and win the league championship in the same season.
The perfect season: 1937 (8-0-0 AFL, 16-0-0 total)
Home games are in CAPITAL letters; AFL games are in bold print| Date | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 10 | Pittsburgh Americans Pittsburgh Americans The Pittsburgh Americans were a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1936 until 1937. The team was a member of the major-league American Football League. When plans for the league were announced on November 15, 1935, fifteen cities bid for charter franchises... |
21-0 |
| Sept. 22 | New York Yankees New York Yankees (1936 AFL) The New York Yankees of the second American Football League was the second professional American football team competing under that name. It is unrelated to the Yankees of the first AFL , the Yankees of the third AFL, the Yankees of the American Association and the Yankees of the All America... |
27-6 |
| Oct. 3 | Rochester Tigers Rochester Tigers The Rochester Tigers were a professional American football team that competed in the second American Football League in 1936 and 1937. Owned by Mike Palm and Harry Newman, the Tigers were originally awarded to Rochester as a charter member of the AFL, but were shifted to Brooklyn two weeks... |
20-9 |
| Oct. 13 | Boston Shamrocks Boston Shamrocks (AFL) The Boston Shamrocks were a professional American football team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The team played in the second American Football League from 1936 to 1937, followed by at least one year as an independent in 1938... |
14-0 |
| Oct. 14 | Providence Steam Roller Providence Steam Roller The Providence Steam Roller was a professional American football team based in Providence, Rhode Island in the National Football League from 1925 to 1931. Providence was the first New England team to win an NFL championship... |
13-7 |
| Oct. 17 | Bristol West Ends | 28-7 |
| Oct. 24 | Cincinnati Bengals Cincinnati Bengals (AFL) Cincinnati Bengals was the name of a short-lived professional football team that played in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is unrelated to the current Cincinnati Bengals. Originated by Hal Pennington , the team was formed as a member of the second American Football League in the 1937 season... |
17-7 |
| Nov. 7 | SALINAS PACKERS | 13-0 |
| Nov. 14 | ROCHESTER TIGERS | 48-21 |
| Nov. 21 | BOSTON SHAMROCKS | 45-26 |
| Nov. 25 | NEW YORK YANKEES | 27-0 |
| Dec. 5 | Salinas Packers | 17-14 |
| Dec. 12 | CINCINNATI BENGALS | 14-3 |
| Dec. 19 | SALINAS PACKERS | 21-3 |
| Dec. 26 | COAST ALL-STARS | 7-3 |
| Jan. 2 | COAST ALL-STARS | 13-10 |
The scheduling plan adopted by the AFL and the Bulldogs as a cost containment measure helped the league inch toward its demise as the Bulldogs overwhelmed the rest of the league in the first half of the season and completed its perfect season at home in the second half. The Shamrocks and Yankees, both of which averaging over 10,000 attendance in home games in the 1936 season
1936 American Football League season
The 1936 American Football League season is the first season of the second American Football League, the formation of which was announced by Harry March, former personnel director of the NFL's New York Giants, on December 15, 1935...
, totaled 4500 people in their home games against the Bulldogs in 1937. On the other hand, the Bulldogs drew 15,000 in each of their AFL home games and became the only AFL team to make a profit in the 1937 season. The league folded in 1938.
1938 and 1939
With the collapse of the second American Football League, playing games against NFL teams became an option for the Bulldogs again for 1938 as they returned to independent status. The season featured games against the Pittsburgh Pirates, both Chicago NFL teams, and the Cleveland Rams, plus two games against former AFL franchise Cincinnati. The Bulldogs were asked by Hollywood StarsHollywood Stars
The Hollywood Stars were a minor league baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League during the early and mid 20th century. They were the arch-rivals of the other Los Angeles based PCL team, the Los Angeles Angels.-Hollywood Stars :...
owner Paul Schissler to join his new California League as a rival to his team, but Myers declined the offer, dooming the league.
The Bulldogs followed their perfect season with a 10-2-2 campaign, including a 2-1-2 record in games against NFL teams (the Chicago teams in Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...
, the Pittsburgh Pirates in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...
, and home games against the Pirates and the Rams). LA’s other loss was to the Bengals, which also had success against the NFL teams after the dissolution of the second AFL.
The following year featured several changes for the Bulldogs, most notably a new owner (Jerry Corcoran), a new league (another American Football League
American Football League (1938)
The Midwest Football League was a minor professional American football league that existed from 1935 to 1940. Originally comprising teams from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, the league eventually expanded its reach to include teams from Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and California to...
, soon to change its name to the American Professional Football Association), and a new head coach (Ike Frankian
Ike Frankian
Malcolm John Frankian was an American football end in the National Football League for the Boston Redskins and the New York Giants. He attended Saint Mary's College of California....
replacing Gus Henderson). Kicker George Karamatic
George Karamatic
George Karamatic, Jr. was an American football running back in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins. He played college football at Gonzaga University and was drafted in the first round of the 1938 NFL Draft by the New York Giants...
was signed from the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
, and they lost their star of their backfield Bill Howard.
After losing their opening game to the Redskins and being shut out in their opening APFA game by the Columbus Bullies
Columbus Bullies
The Columbus Bullies were a professional football team founded by Phil H. Bucklew in Columbus, Ohio in 1938. The Bullies started out as a member of the American Professional Football Association in 1939. Later, in 1940, the Bullies joined the Cincinnati Bengals and Milwaukee Chiefs in leaving the...
, the Bulldogs found their stride in the new league, including beating their old nemesis Cincinnati Bengals once and Columbus thrice. As the season progressed, their offense strengthened as they beat the Dayton Bombers 65-0 on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
weekend and the St. Louis Gunners
St. Louis Gunners
The St. Louis Gunners, were an independent professional football team based in St. Louis, Missouri, who played the last three games of the 1934 National Football League season, replacing the Cincinnati Reds on the league schedule after the Reds' league membership was suspended...
56-14 in mid-December. As the season ended, the Bulldogs’ 7-1 (.875) record had them placed atop the league standings, ahead of Cincinnati’s 6-2 (.750) and Columbus’ 9-4 (.692). Yet in a league meeting on January 7, 1940, Columbus was declared the league champion, with a 9-2 (.818) record.
Shortly afterward, Jerry Corcoran and Paul Schlissler announced the formation of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League
Pacific Coast Professional Football League
The Pacific Coast Professional Football League , also known as the Pacific Coast Football League and Pacific Coast League was a professional American football league based in California, USA, and competed from 1940 through 1948 in sports...
as the APFA announced its intentions to become a major professional football league. With the departure of the Bulldogs to the new PCPFL and the defection of Cincinnati, Columbus, and a new Milwaukee AFPA team to a new East Coast-based league, the old AFL was fatally split and dissipated as two other AFPA teams’ applications to the new American Football League
American Football League (1940)
American Football League, also known as the AFL III to distinguish it from earlier organizations of that name, was a major professional American football league that operated from 1940-1941...
were eventually turned down.
1940-1942
From the beginning, the PCPFL became a showcase for the Bulldogs and Schissler’s (newly-renamed) Hollywood Bears as the league did something that the NFL did not do at the time: employ African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
players. While the Bears featured the talents of Kenny Washington
Kenny Washington (American football)
Kenneth S. "Kingfish" Washington was a professional football player who was the first African-American to sign a contract with a National Football League team in the modern era.-UCLA Bruins:...
, Woody Strode
Woody Strode
Woodrow Wilson Woolwine "Woody" Strode was a decathlete and football star who went on to become a pioneering black American film actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor for his role in Spartacus in 1960...
, and Kink Richards
Kink Richards
Elvin C. "Kink" Richards was an American football running back in the National Football League for the New York Giants. He played college football at Des Moines University....
, the Bulldogs relied upon local talent as well (including, briefly, in 1941, a UCLA Bruin who lettered in four sports: Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
). The availability of Washington to the Bears determined the league championship in 1940 and 1941 as he was injured for a Bruins-Bulldogs game that resulted in Los Angeles winning the championship with a 7-2-1 record; a healthy Washington powered Hollywood’s undefeated romp through the schedule the following year (including three defeats of the Bulldogs as LA finished in second place with a 4-4 record). It did not matter at the time that the league would end the 1941 season two weeks early because of the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
and the U. S. military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
’s ongoing fear of a possible Japanese attack on the American West Coast.
Unlike the Dixie League
Dixie League (football)
The Dixie League was a professional American football league founded in 1936 as the South Atlantic Football Association, with six charter member teams in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D. C.. Like the American Association , its popularity rivaled that of the established National Football League...
, the American Association
American Association (football)
The American Association was a professional American football league based in New York City. Founded in 1936 as a minor league with teams in New York and New Jersey, the AA extended its reach to Providence, Rhode Island prior to the onset of World War II...
, and the third American Football League, the PCPFL joined the NFL in continuing its competition in the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
years of 1941-1945. The league schedule was pared as Paul Schissler entered military service and wound up coaching the Santa Ana Flyers, a service team coached by former Bulldog Garrett Arbelbide competed against the PCPFL teams in addition to March Field, another service team. Schissler’s Bears, handicapped by the absence of their owner-coach and the unavailability of Kenny Washington, went winless in league play under interim player-coach Kink Richards
Kink Richards
Elvin C. "Kink" Richards was an American football running back in the National Football League for the New York Giants. He played college football at Des Moines University....
. The Bulldogs didn’t fare much better, finishing third in the four-team league at 2-2, behind the 4-1 of charter members San Diego Bombers and the 2-1 of the San Francisco Bay Bombers. While the Bombers officially won the 1942 league championship, they lost two games to the March Field Flyers, who were undefeated in five games against league membership.
While the league membership profited at the box office with the games with the service academies, the owners decided that it would be in the league’s best interests not to be overshadowed by the military teams; so the games with March Field and Santa Ana were dropped. It was first of several changes of the PCPFL for 1943, some involving the Los Angeles Bulldogs.
1943-1945
The league expanded from four to eight teams, with the return of the Oakland Giants after a two-season absence, and the addition of the Richmond Boilermakers (who dropped out midway through league play), the Alameda Mustangs (who moved to San Jose in 1944), and the Los Angeles Mustangs resulted in the league having four Los Angeles teams for competition, with one in particular creating controversy and bitter feelings for succeeding years.Almost immediately after being granted an expansion franchise for the Los Angeles Mustangs, owner Bill Freelove surprised the league membership by signing virtually the entire roster of the 1942 Los Angeles Bulldogs. Bulldogs owner Jerry Corcoran was contemplating the suspension of the team for 1943 when the league gave a “leave of absence” to the Hollywood Bears, whose owner and star were both unavailable for competition. As a result, Corcoran was able to sign most of the Bears (including Kink Richards), and the Bulldogs had the manpower to participate in the 1943 PCPFL season. The reconstituted team finished in fifth place with a 3-4 record, one win behind Freelove’s Mustangs (4-4), which finished in a tie for second with Oakland. The San Diego Bombers won its second consecutive league title with a 7-1 record.
After the end of the 1943 season, the off-the-field fireworks continued. The league ownership registered their disapproval of Bill Freelove’s raiding of the Bulldogs by refusing to renew his league membership. Freelove responded with the formation of a new American Football League
American Football League (1944)
The Northwest War Industries League, later renamed the American Football League, was a professional football league based on the West Coast of the United States that played for two nonconsecutive seasons during World War II....
with eight teams from Seattle and Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
to San Diego
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. As a result, there were an unprecedented five Los Angeles professional football teams operating simultaneously. With the leagues’ talent pool greatly diluted, the Bulldogs struggled to a 2-5 record, good for sixth place in the PCPFL (and only better than the new Hollywood Wolves) as the San Diego Bombers won their third straight league title.
On December 21, 1944, the AFL merged with the PCPFL, with the AFL’s first and second place teams (Hollywood Rangers and San Francisco Clippers) replacing the Wolves and the Packers for the 1945 season. Freelove’s Mustangs were not permitted to join the reformed league and had a short, futile “life” as an independent team. With the return of Paul Schissler and Kenny Washington, the Bears were back, but the Rangers quit the league rather than join forces with the other team from Hollywood (tailback Dean McAdams left the Rangers and signed with the Bulldogs soon afterward). Helped by the defection, the Bulldogs improved to 5-5-1 with the help of a newly-signed quarterback, Frankie Albert
Frankie Albert
Frank Cullen "Frankie" Albert was an American football player. He played as a quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League...
. The Bulldogs finished in third place, behind a resuscitated Hollywood Bears team (8-2-1) and the Oakland Giants (7-2) led by league MVP
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
Mel Reid, another victim of the NFL color line.
Seven years after playing in front of crowds of 15,000 people as they marched through a perfect season in the major league American Football League, the Bulldogs were averaging less than 10,000 per game in Gilmore Stadium
Gilmore Stadium
Gilmore Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Los Angeles, California. It was opened in May 1934 and demolished in 1952, when the land was used to build CBS Television City. The stadium held 18,000. It was located next to Gilmore Field...
in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League’s last season as the highest level league on the West Coast. While the Bulldogs have one more league championship in the post-World War II years, the anticipated arrival of the Cleveland Rams
Cleveland Rams
The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio.The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland, Ohio. The NFL considers the franchise as a second incarnation of the previous Cleveland Rams team that was a charter member of the second American Football League...
into Los Angeles heralded seismic changes in the professional football landscape in California.
1946
In 1946, the Bulldogs, which were founded with the intention of joining the National Football League, found themselves competing against the team that entered the NFL in their stead in 1937 – and with the formation of the Los Angeles DonsLos Angeles Dons
The Los Angeles Dons were an American football team in the now defunct All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949 that played in the Los Angeles Coliseum....
of the new All America Football Conference, the Bulldogs suddenly found themselves third in the Los Angeles pecking order as both the Rams and the Dons started to draw upwards of 40,000 people in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...
.
While the PCPFL was suddenly diminished in stature with the incursion of the two major leagues into California, the six-year-old league underwent a few changes as it expanded to nine teams and divided into two divisions. Teams based in Honolulu, Salt Lake City, Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, and Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
. Team rosters were limited to 25 players, and, for the first time, all league games were to be played on Sunday. The league - along with the Dixie League
Dixie League (football)
The Dixie League was a professional American football league founded in 1936 as the South Atlantic Football Association, with six charter member teams in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D. C.. Like the American Association , its popularity rivaled that of the established National Football League...
and the newly resuscitated American Association
American Association (football)
The American Association was a professional American football league based in New York City. Founded in 1936 as a minor league with teams in New York and New Jersey, the AA extended its reach to Providence, Rhode Island prior to the onset of World War II...
(which changed its name to the American Football League for the 1946 season) - entered into a working arrangement with the NFL, agreeing to being, in essence, a farm league to the “big boys” and not allowing any participants in “any outlaw league” (specifically the AAFC) to be a member of any PCPFL team.
The 1946 Bulldogs had 11 players on its roster who had NFL experience., including former Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
halfback Joe Margucci, lineman Forrest McPherson
Forrest McPherson
Forrest W. McPherson was an American football player , once considered the strongest man in pro football.McPherson was born on October 22, 1911 in Fairbury, Nebraska. He attended the University of Nebraska and made his professional debut in the NFL in 1935 with the Chicago Bears until he was traded...
, and wingback Elvin Hutchison
Elvin Hutchison
Elvin Hutchison was an American football player and official.-Early life and education:Elvin Clarence Hutchison was born October 14, 1912, in Guthrie Center, Iowa. He graduated from Red Oak High School in Red Oak, Iowa and went on to Whittier College, where he was known as the "Red Oak Express" on...
. While the Bulldogs won the Southern Division handily (the Bulldogs’ 9-2-1 vs. the second place Hawaiian Warriors’ 8-4), the Northern Division title was decided by a forfeit in the last game of the season, ironically one involving the Bulldogs.
The San Francisco Clippers apparently defeated Los Angeles by a score of 24-19 and claimed the top spot in the North. When Clippers owner Frank Ciraolo entered his team’s locker room to participate in the victory celebration, he noticed that John Woudenberg
John Woudenberg
John William "Dutch" Woudenberg, Jr. was a professional American football offensive and defensive lineman in the National Football League and the All-America Football Conference ....
, tackle for the AAFC’s San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
, was wearing a uniform that was assigned to the Clippers’ Courtney Thorell. After the “discrepancy” was reported to league officials, the game was declared a 1-0 forfeit to the Bulldogs. As a result, the Northern Division champions were the Tacoma Indians.
The Bulldogs defeated Tacoma in the league championship game, 38-7, on January 19, 1947. The game was played in Gilmore Stadium in front of only 5200 fans. It was the last game of the Indians’ existence, and an indication of the decline of the Bulldogs as a box office draw in Los Angeles.
1947-1948
As the Bulldogs prepared to defend their second PCPFL title (their first since 1940), the league was starting to come apart at the seams in 1947. The runner-ups of 1946 (Tacoma) was gone, as were longtime league members Hollywood, San Diego, and Oakland. The emerging Hawaiian Warriors played all their games in Honolulu, depriving the mainlanders an opportunity of playing them in front of a home crowd, and competition from the Dons and the Rams are proving too much for owner Jerry Corcoran, who eventually sold the Bulldogs as he was drowning in red ink. After LA’s 35-34 victory over the Warriors put the two teams in a virtual tie for first place, the Hawaiians won the rematch (and the league championship) 7-6 later in the week.While it did not involve the Bulldogs, a gambling scandal involving the Hawaiians further reduced whatever fan interest remained for the PCPFL. Fourteen Hawaiian Warriors were suspended, either “permanently” or “indefinitely,” for their part in the scandal. With the departure of Salt Lake and Sacramento after the end of the 1947, the viability of the league was in doubt as only three teams remained.
Former Bulldogs owner Jerry Corcoran, who co-founded the league in 1940, managed a revived Hollywood Bears team in 1948. The Bears, charter members of the PCPFL, rejoined the league as a traveling team
Traveling team
In professional team sports, a traveling team is a member of a professional league that never or rarely competes in its home arena or stadium. This differs from a barnstorming team in that the latter does not compete within a league or association framework...
. The Bulldogs, under new management, moved their home games to Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
's Veterans Memorial Stadium
Veterans Memorial Stadium (Long Beach)
Veterans Memorial Stadium is a stadium located south of the Liberal Arts Campus of Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California. It is the home stadium to a number of local area high school football teams, as well as Long Beach City College's football team...
. After playing all of their scheduled road games and one home game, the Bulldogs were one game behind the Hawaiians, who clinched a tie for the league title with a 5-1 record. The Bulldogs had a 3-1 record and could tie the Warriors if they beat San Francisco and Hollywood in Long Beach, but after drawing only 850 in their first home game, the Bulldogs did not try to play the two rescheduled games, cancelling them instead. The existence of the Bulldogs came to an end; the PCPFL succumbed before the beginning of the 1949 season.
LA Bulldogs season by season
| Year | W | L | T | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | 6 | 3 | 1 | Independent |
| 1937 1937 American Football League season The 1937 American Football League season is the second season of the second edition of the AFL. After the folding of the Syracuse/Rochester Braves in the 1936 season and the departure of the Cleveland Rams for the National Football League, the league added the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles... |
8 | 0 | 0 | 1st (AFL) |
| 1938 | 10 | 2 | 2 | Independent |
| 1939 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1st (APFA American Football League (1938) The Midwest Football League was a minor professional American football league that existed from 1935 to 1940. Originally comprising teams from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, the league eventually expanded its reach to include teams from Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and California to... ) |
| 1940 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1st (PCPFL) |
| 1941 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2nd (PCPFL) |
| 1942 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3rd (PCPFL) |
| 1943 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5th (PCPFL) |
| 1944 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 5th (PCPFL) |
| 1945 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3rd (PCPFL) |
| 1946 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1st (PCPFL South) - PCPFL champions |
| 1947 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2nd (PCPFL) |
| 1948 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2nd (PCPFL) – as Long Beach Bulldogs |