Alvah (Alva) Andrew "Doc" Young (December 18, 1881 – August 9, 1942) was a founder 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 ma ...

. He was also the owner of NFL's

Hammond Pros The Hammond Pros from Hammond, Indiana played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1926 as a traveling team. History The Pros were established by local businessman Paul Parduhn and Dr. Alva Young. Young, a boxing promoter and owner o ...

from

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own m ...

until

1926 Events January * January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos (general), Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece. * January 8 **Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Kingdom of Hejaz, Hejaz. ** Bảo Đại, Crown Prince Nguyễn P ...

. He was also a respected medical doctor and sports trainer.

Early career

Young was born December 18, 1881, in

Hamilton County, Indiana Hamilton County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. The 2020 United States Census recorded a population of 347,467. The county seat is Noblesville. Hamilton County is part of the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN Metropolitan Statistical Ar ...

. He received his medical degree from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. * Indiana Univers ...

's Medical School in Indianapolis in 1905. He then established a general practice in

Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern L ...

and married a woman from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, Lillian Fallowes Young. He also would assist the police, by serving as the leading authority on gunshot wounds. In 1915, he briefly left Hammond for

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

to take post graduate work at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in 1917–1918, he served with the U.S. Army Medical Corps at Camp Travis in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

Sports

Young played

semi-pro ''Semi-Pro'' is a 2008 American sports comedy film. The film was directed by Kent Alterman in his directorial debut, written by Scot Armstrong, and produced by Jimmy Miller. It stars Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin and Maura Tierne ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

and was a

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight b ...

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spo ...

in his youth. He also he promoted amateur and semi-pro

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

matches in Hammond. His greatest love was horse racing; Doc owned a stable of horses and spent several years making the circuit of the leading race tracks. He founded a company called A.A. Young Laboratories that developed a vitamin-calcium supplement for thoroughbreds called Min-O-Lac (Minerals of Milk). Doc became a supporter of professional football in Indiana. He served as team doctor and trainer for the Hammond Clabby Athletic Club during the 1915–17 period. In 1919, promoter Paul Parduhn established the Hammond Pros for the purpose of competing against the

Decatur Staleys Decatur may refer to a number of places, streets, military establishments, schools, and others mostly named after Stephen Decatur: Places in the United States * Decatur, Alabama, county seat of Morgan County ** Decatur metropolitan area, Alabama ...

and

Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Lea ...

. The team played its home games in Cub Park (now

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago W ...

), and one of its stars was

George Halas George Stanley Halas Sr. (; February 2, 1895October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder and owner of the National Football League's Chi ...

. It is likely that Dr. Young was a part owner of the franchise. In 1919 the Pros lost many of their high-priced players. Many of these players later appeared for the Chicago Tigers. This caused Young to field a new team, but one with fewer stars.

Forming the NFL

On September 17, 1920, Dr. Young represented Hammond at a meeting of the nation's leading pro football team managers held in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes ...

, for the purpose of creating the American Professional Football Association (later known as the National Football League in 1922). Dr. Young's Hammond Pros were charter members of the organization and played in the league from 1920–26. They played three league opponents in 1920 and lost all three games by big scores. In addition to games, Doc attended the league meetings. In Green Bay, Young got into an argument with

Curly Lambeau Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau (April 9, 1898 – June 1, 1965) was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). Lambeau, along with his friend and fellow Green Bay, Wisconsin native George Whitney Cal ...

over the kind of football the league would use. The Spalding J-5 was watermelon-shaped and perfect for drop kicks. However Lambeau wanted to use a thinner ball better-suited for passing, probably since he was the top passer of his day.

Race and the NFL

In the 1940s,

Fritz Pollard Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard (January 27, 1894 – May 11, 1986) was an American football player and coach. In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League (NFL). Pollard and Bobby Marshall were th ...

alleged that several of the NFL's owners attempted to raise the issue of a

color barrier Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

in pro football. According to Pollard, Young as well as Frank Nied and

Art Ranney Arthur Fobare Ranney (February 17, 1889 – April 22, 1970) was a co-founder of the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football League in 1922), as an owner of the Akron Pros, one of the league's charter teams. T ...

of the

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 ...

refused to allow the discussion to take place. They could not understand why a player could not be considered a player without his color being brought into account. Many outstanding black stars such as Pollard,

Ink Williams Jay Mayo "Ink" Williams (September 25, 1894 – January 2, 1980) was a pioneering African-American producer of recorded blues music. Some historians have claimed that Ink Williams earned his nickname by his ability to get the signatures of ...

, John Shelbourne, and Sol Butler appeared with the team during its years in the league.

End of Pros

After Red Grange's

American Football League (1926) The first American Football League (AFL), sometimes called AFL I, AFLG, or the Grange League, was a professional American football league that operated in 1926. It was the first major competitor to the National Football League (NFL). Founded by ...

folded, the NFL pushed most of its small town and

traveling team Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel ca ...

s out of the league. This ended the Akron Indians,

, and Hammond. Indiana would not have another NFL team until the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 20 ...

would arrive from

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in 1984. Meanwhile, Young continued to practice medicine on both people and horses. He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

while working late, attending a sick horse in the summer of 1942.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Doc 1881 births 1942 deaths American primary care physicians Hammond Pros coaches National Football League founders National Football League owners Indiana University alumni New York University alumni United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army Medical Corps officers People from Hamilton County, Indiana Sportspeople from Indiana Physicians from Indiana Deaths from pneumonia in Illinois