Pro Football Researchers’ Association president Ken Crippen (The Original Buffalo Bills: A History of the All-America Football Conference Team; The All-America Football Conference: Players, Coaches, Records, Games & Awards) joins Tim Hanlon to discuss the upstart pro football circuit that gave the war-weary NFL a formidable challenge in the late 1940s. Crippen describes:
How a newspaper sportswriter from Chicago convinced big money investors spurned by the NFL to start a directly competitive alternative league; The NFL’s public attempts to minimize the credibility, yet private efforts to contain the success of the AAFC; The head-to-head battles between the leagues to dominate pro football in markets like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Cleveland; The immediate dominance and innovative approach of Paul Brown’s Cleveland Browns, who many felt were the best team across both leagues; Why the Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts were ultimately absorbed by the NFL, but the Buffalo Bills weren’t; and The controversy among football historians around why the AAFC’s game records are still not “official” in the eyes of the NFL, despite being recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Thank you Audible for sponsoring this week’s episode!