[sweetka]

Originally Posted by MplsTom

No knock on Little & LaBeau...but just one year I wish the senior committee would nominate the leading rusher of the 1920's - Tony LaTone of the Pottsville Maroons. In the words of Red Grange "Tony was one hell broth of a rugged coal miner, and for my money, he was the most football player I have ever seen. I simply cannot imagine anyone who could equal that power-play fullback whose leg drive was so unbelievably potent he simply knocked the linemen kicking."

If you haven't read Breaker Boys, The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship, it is a great book.

"Built by an eccentric owner, molded by a visionary coach and loaded with hardscrabble miners, college All Americans and the 'sky's the limit' ethos of the Roaring Twenties, the Maroons did the unthinkable and dominated the NFL in their rookie season. (Their improbable rise was chronicled each week in the local paper by a rookie Pottsville sportswriter named John O'Hara.) Little Pottsville outscored its first seven opponents 162-6. The boys so thoroughly pummeled one opponent, angry fans shot up their train car as the Maroons rode out of town. In the final game of that first season the Maroons traveled to the Midwest to face the league-leading Chicago Cardinals in what was viewed as the championship game for 1925. The Maroons overcame a Windy City snowstorm and an injury to their best player to defeat the Cardinals 21-7."

Also, Franny J-Boy...did you know that your beloved Irish were the primary reason that the Maroons were stripped from their 1925 NFL Championship?

A true story about Vince Peatros!

Great history! Obviously Vince knows about it!