The Racine Legion was a professional

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

team based in

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River (Wisconsin), Root River, south of Milwaukee and north of Chicago. It is the List ...

, of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

from 1922 to 1924. Its official name was the Horlick-Racine Legion. The team then operated as the Racine Tornadoes in 1926.

History

In 1915, the Racine Regulars formed

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

's first important semi-professional team. They primarily played against teams from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. The team became known as the Racine Battery C in 1916 after many of the players joined the

First Wisconsin Reserve Artillery Battery C First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

. Because of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

pandemic of 1918 the team took a break. It was reorganized in 1919 with sponsorship from the local

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

post and

William Horlick William Horlick, Sr. (23 February 1846 – 25 September 1936) was an English food manufacturer and the original patent holder of malted milk. He emigrated to the United States in 1869, settling in Racine, Wisconsin. There he started a food ...

, president of his family's malted milk company. The reorganized team was known as the Horlick-Racine Legion. In 1922, the

American Professional Football Association The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

changed its name to the National Football League. Racine, now known simply as the Racine Legion, although its official name remained the Horlick-Racine Legion, was one of four new teams admitted to membership that season. Led by the fullback-kicker

Hank Gillo Henry Charles Gillo (October 5, 1894 – September 6, 1948) was an American professional football player in the National Football League (NFL) for the Hammond Pros, Racine Legion, and Milwaukee Badgers from 1920 to 1926. In 1920, Gillo also s ...

, who led the league in scoring with 52 points, Racine finished sixth in the 18-team league with a 6–4–1 record. Despite two more respectable seasons, the team failed because of finances. In 1925, the franchise was held over by the NFL, but they did not field a team that season. Milton "Mitt" Romney, team captain at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1922, became a quarterback for the Racine Legion before later joining the

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. He was a cousin of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Governor

George W. Romney George Wilcken Romney (July 8, 1907 – July 26, 1995) was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as chairman and president of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd gove ...

, and his nickname inspired that of George Romney's son, 2012 U.S. presidential candidate

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

. Facing the threat of

Red Grange Harold Edward "Red" Grange (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "the Galloping Ghost" and "the Wheaton Iceman", was an American professional American football, football Halfback (American football), halfback who played for the Chicag ...

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

in 1926, the NFL was eager to get as many teams and players as possible into the fold to keep them away from the AFL. The Racine franchise was reactivated. The team, now called the Tornadoes, had a few of the same players as the Legion but many stars went to other teams in 1925. After winning their first game, the Tornadoes lost four in a row and disbanded in late October because of struggling finances.

Season-by-season

Trivia

The Racine Legion have the distinction of winning the only NFL game where one team scored exactly 4 points. On November 25, 1923, the Legion beat the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

by a score of 10–4. Further, the Cardinals franchise had used Racine as its geographic name until 1922, referring to Racine Ave. on which the team's home field was located.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Racine Legion Tornadoes Defunct NFL teams American football teams in Wisconsin American football teams established in 1915 American football teams disestablished in 1926 1915 establishments in Wisconsin 1926 disestablishments in Wisconsin Sports in Racine, Wisconsin

History

Season-by-season

Trivia

See also

References