The Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit was a 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 that operated from 1890 to approximately 1940. Originally amateur,

professionalism A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

was introduced to the circuit in 1892; cost pressures pushed the circuit to

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a conside ...

status from about 1920 through the rest of its existence. Existing in some form for 48 years, it was one of the longest-lived paying football loops to operate outside the auspices of the

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 ...

. The football clubs of the 1880s and 1890s were amateur teams. They were under the membership of an athletic club, which provided both sports and the ability to wager money on the sports. However, the prestige and increased membership that could come from a successful team, led these clubs to begin secretly hiring talented players. The amateur athletics that these clubs engaged in were policed by the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU). By the mid-1890s allegations of professionalism became known to the AAU. The Allegheny Athletic Association was found guilty of paying cash to players and was permanently barred from any kind of competition with other AAU members. This punishment would end a team, because their opponents, whether other pros, amateur associations, or colleges, would have simply stopped playing them. Allegheny then defied the AAU in 1896 and created an entirely open professional team. A year later, the

Latrobe Athletic Association The Latrobe Athletic Association was a professional football team located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, from 1895 until 1909. A member of the unofficial Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit, the team is best known for being the first f ...

, went entirely professional.Riffenburgh and Carroll pg. 5 The misconception that these were amateur athletic club were held to in public, even when newspapers wrote openly of players being under contract. To get around this, the circuit teams played for local or regional championships, with the only generally recognized national champion being the best

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

team. However, the winner of the circuit was usually able to lay claim to a national, but professional, football title from 1890-1903. By 1904, the exodus of pro football talent to the "

Ohio League The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football 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. It is the direct pr ...

", diminished the region's level of play and the national professional champions, were usually then claimed by the teams from Ohio. 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 media, fans and clubs throughout this period, a formal league was not founded until 1920, when several teams from the "Ohio League" and the New York Pro Football League formed 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. The circuit did not immediately die out and in fact experienced a slight renaissance in the 1920s as the ''Western Pennsylvania Senior Independent Football Conference''. 1920s era

blue law Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons ...

s in the state of Pennsylvania meant that while the NFL played its games on Sunday, Pennsylvania teams would have to play on Saturday; while this prevented the state's teams from joining the NFL until 1924, Pennsylvania teams could thus schedule

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

s against NFL teams on either one's day off (other circuits such as the eastern Pennsylvania circuit and the Eastern/

Anthracite League The Anthracite League, also referred to as the Anthracite Association, was a short-lived American football minor league comprising teams based in coal-mining towns in eastern Pennsylvania (hence the league name's reference to anthracite coal). Th ...

s also thrived in the 1920s) The

J.P. Rooneys The J.P. Rooneys (or formally the James P. Rooneys) were an independent semi-professional American football team, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team was founded by Art Rooney, who is best known for being the founder of the Pittsburgh St ...

were founded in 1921; it later joined the NFL in 1933 as the Pittsburgh Pirates (now the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

). Records of the Pirates playing other Western Pennsylvania teams (including the

McKeesport Olympics The McKeesport Olympics were a professional football team from McKeesport, Pennsylvania from 1896 until around 1940. The Olympics were considered one of the top football teams in Pennsylvania from 1910 until 1919. The Olympics played against ma ...

) continue up to at least 1940, after which point most teams dissolved due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

; the Pirates (by now renamed the Steelers) then shifted its exhibition schedule to other minor league teams.

Circuit "championships"

Other circuit teams

* Erie Veterans * Glassport Odds * Jeannette Athletic Club *

(a.k.a. “Hope-Harveys” and “Majestic Radios”) *

* Oil City Athletic Club *

Pitcairn Quakers The Pitcairn Quakers were a professional American football team from Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, United States. 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 ...

Pittsburgh Lyceum The Pittsburgh Lyceum Club, or Pittsburgh Lyceum, was a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was a member of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League from 1907 to 1908 and played all of its games at Duquesne Garden. ...

* Warslow Athletic Club

Historic professional football firsts

Several of the teams and individuals, in the circuit, pioneered several historic firsts for professional football. These accomplishments include: * William "Pudge" Heffelfinger (Allegheny Athletic Association) became the first known professional football player on November 12, 1892. * Sport Donnelly (Allegheny Athletic Association) became the first known professional football coach in 1893. * A player assumed to be

Grant Dibert Grant Dibert was an early professional football player with the Pittsburgh Athletic Club and the Allegheny Athletic Association. As a fullback, his primary team was the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, whom he played for from the team's founding in 189 ...

(Pittsburgh Athletic Club) signed the first known pro football contract, which covered all of the club's games for the 1893 season.Peterson pg. 31 *

John Brallier John Kinport "Sal" Brallier (December 12, 1876 – September 17, 1960) was one of the first professional American football players. He was nationally acknowledged as the first openly paid professional football player when he was given $10 to play f ...

(Latrobe Athletic Association) became the first openly professional football player on September 3, 1895 *Allegheny Athletic Association fielded the first entirely openly professional team in 1896. *Latrobe Athletic Association became the first football team to play a full season with only professionals in 1897. *

William Chase Temple William Chase Temple (December 28, 1862 – January 9, 1917) was a coal, citrus, and lumber baron during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from baseball's ...

(Duquesne Country and Athletic Club) became the first individual owner of a professional football team in c.1898. *The first ever professional football all-star game held between the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club and players from Western Pennsylvania All-Stars. *

Adam Martin Wyant Adam Martin Wyant (September 15, 1869 – January 5, 1935) was an American politician who served as Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. He served six terms, a total of twelve years, in the House. Wya ...

(Greensburg Athletic Club) was the first professional football player to get elected to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

in 1921.Wyant pg 1

First known professional players

*William "Pudge" Heffelfinger – Allegheny Athletic Association – $500 for one game on November 12, 1892. * Ben "Sport" Donnelly – Allegheny Athletic Association – $250 for one game on November 19, 1892. * Peter Wright – Allegheny Athletic Association – $50 per game (under contract) for the entire 1893 season. * James Van Cleve – Allegheny Athletic Association – $50 per game (under contract) for the entire 1893 season. * Ollie Rafferty – Allegheny Athletic Association – $50 per game (under contract) for the entire 1893 season. *Unknown player (assumed to be

) – Pittsburgh Athletic Club – for the entire 1893 season. * Lawson Fiscus – Greenburg Athletic Association – $20 per game (under contract) for the entire 1894 season. *John Brallier – Latrobe Athletic Association – $10 and expenses for one game on September 3, 1895.

Notes

References