A little known fact about Wissinoming is that it was one of the founding cities of the National Football League. The Frankford Yellow Jackets played in the League from 1924 until 1931 when the franchise, which is now the Philadelphia Eagles, was sold to Bert Bell and Fred Wray for $2500. The Yellow Jackets were the National League Football Champions in 1926. The Jacket Games drew 15,000 to 20,000 fans each game. Salaries ranged from $250 to $300 per game and an additional $10 for practice. There were twenty-two teams in the league that year. The Yellow Jackets won 14, lost 1 and tied 1. No other team played as many as sixteen games. Due to the City’s “Blue Laws” the Yellow Jackets had to play all home games on Saturday, then travel and play the next day away. The teams limit was eighteen players, and they played without shoulder pad equipment. Other teams in the league in 1926 were the Chicago Bears, Kansas City Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Providence Steam Rollers, Chicago Cardinals and Canton Bull Dogs, to name a few. Names of some great players who played on the Yellow Jacket field are: Red Grange, Bronco Nagurski, Ken Strong, Charlie Rogers, Lud Wray, Herb Joesting, Jim Thorpe, Ernie Nevers, George Halas, Curly Lambeau, William Pete Henery, Robert “Cal” Hubbard, John McNally, Jim Conzelman, William Lyman, Geo Trafton, Steve Owen, Walt Kiesling, Joe Guijon, Arnie Herber, Ed Healey, August “Mike” Michalske, John “Paddy” Driscoll, Grey Chamberlin, Morris “Red” Badgro and others who were entered into the Football Hall of Fame. In the early years of football, various sizes of the ball, some under inflated, some inflated up to fifty pounds, were used. The rules by 1929, however, specified size, weight, and inflation. Wissinoming, a residential community since the early 1800s, has long been overlooked by the industrial growth of Frankford and Tacony. In a news item in 1923, describing the location of the Yellow Jacket Stadium, nowhere is Wissinoming men- tioned: “The new field is above Frankford on the road to Holmesburg.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 04:12:14 +0000
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