The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. It is the direct predecessor to the modern

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL). A proposal to add teams from outside Ohio, such as the Latrobe Athletic Association, to form a formal league known as the "Football Association" fell through prior to the 1904 season. Though a

champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

was declared by the group throughout its existence, a formal league was not founded until 1920, when several Ohio League teams added clubs from other states to form the

American Professional Football Association The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

. In 1922, the APFA became the National Football League. All but one of the remaining Ohio League teams left the NFL after the 1926 season, with the sole remaining team, the

Dayton Triangles The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football League (NFL)) in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangl ...

, surviving until 1929, before moving several times and eventually ending up in Dallas, after which they were officially cancelled by the NFL, who sold the players and assets to Carroll Rosenbloom in Baltimore, where they were re-named the Colts. The team moved again in 1984 and the descendant of the Triangles franchise is ostensibly now in Indianapolis, just 117 miles to the west of their origin.

Championships

Other teams

Akron Pros The Akron Pros were a professional football team that played in Akron, Ohio from 1908 to 1926. The team originated in 1908 as a semi-pro team named the Akron Indians, but later became Akron Pros in 1920 as the team set out to become a charter ...

Cincinnati Celts The Cincinnati Celts (pronounced with a hard C) 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 (renamed the National Footb ...

* Cleveland Panthers (debuted 1919, mainly played non-Ohio teams) * Cleveland Tigers * Coleman Athletic Club *

Columbus Panhandles The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before fold ...

* Franklin Athletic Club of Cleveland * Ironton Tanks (merger of Irish Town Rags and the Lombards) * Lancaster Anchors * Portsmouth Spartans (moved to Detroit in 1933, now known as the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

) * Shelby Tigers (merged with Shelby Blues in 1911) *

Toledo Maroons The Toledo Maroons were a professional American football team based in Toledo, Ohio in the National Football League in 1922 and 1923. Prior to joining the NFL, the Maroons played in the unofficial " Ohio League" from 1902 until 1921. History O ...

* Youngstown Patricians *

Zanesville Mark Greys The Zanesville Mark Grays were an Ohio League and Independent football team that existed for seven seasons. They played in 4 Ohio League seasons. Ohio League Their first season was in 1916. They played two games against the same team, the "Newar ...

Further, the Detroit Heralds, though based in Michigan, played many of its games against Ohio teams.

Successor leagues

Ohio Valley League (1925-1929)

Some of the better teams of the 1920s, who did not join the NFL existed in the

Ohio Valley The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illin ...

, and would form an unofficial but recognized circuit - The Ohio Valley League - which resembled the old Ohio League. The "league" collapsed at the beginning of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

.Bob Gill, with Tod Maher. ''Outsiders II: Minor League And Independent Football, 1951-1985'', St. Johann Press, 2010. The two stronger teams in the league were the Portsmouth Spartans and the Ironton Tanks, that in the year after the circuit died (1930) beat the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

and

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

, while the Spartans would join the NFL and would later become the

. Two other noteworthy teams were the Armco Corporation employees teams - Ashland Armco Yellowjackets (Kentucky) and Middletown Armco Blues (Ohio), who featured many former college All-Americans, including Red Roberts.

Champions

1925 Ironton Tanks (9-1-2)
1926 Ironton Tanks (11-1-1)
1927 Ashland Armco Yellowjackets (7-1-3)
1928 Ironton Tanks (7-1-3)
1929 Portsmouth Spartans (12-2-1)

Ohio Professional Football League (1941)

In 1941, there was a resurgence in pro football in Ohio, as local teams tried to form a new professional league called The Ohio Professional Football League (also known as ''Ohio Valley League''). Six teams came together in an attempt to restore the region's former old glory: The Dayton Dakotas, Dayton Merchants, Cincinnati Pepsi-Colas, Columbus Avondales, Middletown Merchants, and another

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

team the Thomas Athletic Club from

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...

, but they withdrew from the league before the season started. The circuit operated on a much smaller scale from previous leagues, and did not return for a second season.

Notes

* * NFL.com history pages
1869-1910
an
1911-1920
* Sye, Roy

(Sye is Vice-President of the

Professional Football Researchers Association The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by writer/hist ...

committee in charge of researching professional football prior to 1920.)

References

{{Professional gridiron football leagues in North America American football in Ohio Sports organizations established in 1902 1902 establishments in Ohio 1919 disestablishments in Ohio Defunct professional sports leagues in the United States