SHELBY, Ohio – Two area sports authorities lent their expertise to a now-running documentary series on the history of professional American football and origins of the National Football League.
Jim Stoner, author of the play “The Black Cyclone” and Richland Source’s Larry Phillips each contributed to the first episode – entitled “Origins” – of the six-part series “Before the League.”
The series debuted exclusively on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel in November and premiered Oct. 27 at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
Stoner, who lives in Fredericktown, said he contributed to the desegregation part of the series – mainly focusing on the impact Branch Rickey and Charles Follis had on the sport.
“Most people don’t know that pre-NFL football was desegregated before baseball,” Stoner said. “And the way that came to be was Branch Rickey, who was employed by Ohio Wesleyan at the time, played football in Shelby, Ohio – professionally.
“Shelby was one of the first teams in north central Ohio to pay players.”
At that time in 1902, the Shelby Blues also paid Follis, a black man, to come to the city from Wooster to play in the Ohio League. Stoner said, Rickey, who never understood segregation, was fast friends with Follis.
“In 1902, 16 people died playing football in Ohio,” Stoner said. “Charles was one of the few black men playing in the league and the only one paid to play, and he was a force to be reckoned with on the field.”
Follis and Rickey went their separate ways in 1906 when Follis went to play baseball in the Negro Leagues. He died of pneumonia in 1910 while on the Cuban Giants. Rickey went to play in Major League Baseball.
Having never forgotten Follis, Rickey became the main force behind desegregating baseball with the signing of Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
“If it wasn’t for Branch Rickey’s relationship with Charles Follis, we likely wouldn’t have had Jackie Robinson for decades,” said Stoner, adding that it is “tremendous” to be a part of something that really is a “benchmark historical piece.”
“No one’s ever done anything this thorough on pre-NFL, and I’m just thrilled to be a part of it and to be considered a football historian and get to know people like Joe Horrigan (executive vice president of museums, selection process, and chief communications officer) of the Hall of Fame, and Chris Willis, who is from Columbus and a historian for NFL Films.”
Likewise, Phillips said he mostly talked about Follis’ historical impact on football.
“I also talked about how that story played out, improbably, in Shelby, Ohio,” Phillips said. “It was pretty interesting because for years that story was lost. Folks didn’t recognize Follis as the first black pro football player until seven decades later. He was kind of a historic mystery for years, and that’s a shame.
“He was a tremendous all-around athlete, maybe the best athlete in the nation other than Jim Thorpe at that time, and his story deserves to be told. North central Ohio in general, and Shelby in particular, should be proud to be the stage for it.”
Being a part of the series and recognized as an expert is “pretty heady stuff,” Phillips said. It also helped fuel his passion for his own book – “Ohio’s Autumn Legends” – due out in August.
Having worked with the Pro Football Hall of Fame through the years on a number of historical stories, Phillips said he wasn’t sure if the filmmakers found him through that or through his many bylines connected with Follis over the years.
“It’s exciting to be part of a miniseries like this. Football is such a strong part of the culture in Ohio, and history was my minor in college, it kind of marries two very strong interests for me,” Phillips said. “I really enjoyed talking about Follis and early football in Ohio in general – it’s a fascinating topic.
“Not a lot of people seem to know or understand how big a part this state played in the early stages of the sport. Today football is the most popular sport in North America. It’s been some kind of evolution, and Ohio was the foundation for that.”
According to its website, “Before the League” examines how small Ohio towns such as Canton and Massillon were the blueprint for fielding early pro football teams and fostering rivalries.
“As precursors to the current day NFL, teams like the Akron Pros, Dayton Triangles, Portsmouth Spartans, Ironton Tanks, Shelby Blues (Ohio), Oorang Indians (Ohio) … and Columbus Panhandles laid the groundwork for the successes of today’s big city NFL teams,” the site reads.
All six episodes can be watched in their entirety on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel starting at 8 p.m. Christmas Day and again New Year’s Day.
For more information on Stoner or his play, visit blackcyclone.org. “The Black Cyclone” is being performed at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 and at 2:30 and 7 p.m. Jan. 30 at Mount Vernon Memorial Theater.
Phillips’ book, scheduled for release in August, focuses on Ohio products such as Bernie Kosar, Roger Staubach, Chris Spielman, Archie Griffin, Paul Warfield, Pete Henry and Paul Brown among others.
EPISODE 1: ORIGINS
Football was born in America in the late 1800s, evolving from a hybrid of soccer and rugby through a series of adaptations introduced on the field by college and working class men. Pioneers of the sport like Walter Camp, a student at Yale who attended the game’s first rules committee, Charles Follis, the first African American to play professional football, and William “Pudge” Heffelfinger, the game’s first documented paid player, were instrumental in creating a new sport.
EPISODE 2: RINGERS
Football is described as being akin to the “wild west” with teams, coaches and players exploiting loopholes in the rules. Company teams like the Columbus Panhandles, made up of working men who played football during their lunch breaks, and the original Green Bay Packers, formed as a way to advertise the Acme Packing Plant, were created to support local industry. Opportunity gave way to exploitation as ringers flooded the sport, eager to make their mark and their fortune.
EPISODE 3: SCANDALS
From the beginning, money and competition led to historic scandals between teams like the Canton Bulldogs and the Massillon Tigers, with accusations of cheating. Brutality on the field led to the intervention of President Roosevelt, putting an end to some of the game’s most dangerous elements like the flying wedge. But coaches and players persisted in shaping rules to their advantage.
EPISODE 4: LEGENDS
The power of celebrity to bring fans, attention and money to the game is seen with the addition by Jack Cusack of Olympic powerhouse Jim Thorpe to the Canton Bulldogs. While rule changes like the elimination of restrictions to the forward pass helped strike a balance between offensive and defensive plays.
EPISODE 5: FORMATION
Once again, Stark County is pivotal in guiding the future of football with the first ever owners meeting held to in Canton, Ohio to form a new league. Dayton, Ohio claims the first-ever NFL game and Fritz Pollard makes history becoming the first African American coach of an NFL team, leading the Akron Pros to the first league title.
EPISODE 6: BUSINESS
The arrival of players like Red Grange effectively ends the sandlot era of football, pushing teams to compete for permanent rosters. The promise of increased revenue through expansion, directly threatens the small town team originally at the core of football’s identify. The Oorang Indians are a momentary exception and the smallest NFL franchise on record while small town teams like Portsmouth Spartans, Ironton Tanks and Dayton Triangles can’t compare with the success of the Green Bay Packers.
Episode guide from beforetheleague.com.
