American Football League (1934)
| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1934 |
| Inaugural season | 1934 |
| Ceased | 1934 |
| No. of teams | 6 |
| Country | United States |
| Last champion(s) |
St. Louis/Kansas City Blues |
The 1934 edition of the American Football League was a short-lived minor professional football league with teams based in the American South and Southwest. The first of several minor , the 1934 was also one of the first involving teams not located in the American Midwest and East. While its membership was the cornerstone of American football in the southern U.S. (with several having beaten National Football League teams on the gridiron), the AFL had only one season of competition and folded after cancelling competition in the 1935 season.
Charlotte Bantams. Formed in 1932 and playing primarily teams based along the Atlantic Coast, the Bantams amassed a 10-3 record in 1933.
Dallas Rams. Founded in 1933 with the expressed purpose of joining the new AFL as a natural rival of teams in Oklahoma City and Houston, the Rams played only three games that year. One unique fact about the Rams was that as of November 1934, they were owned by a woman: Glyma Orr, identified in print as "a young society woman" from Dallas, who had also been a former head cheerleader and was a devoted football fan. When not running the team, she ran a school of dramatic arts. The press reported that she was believed to be the first woman to ever own a football team.
Louisville Bourbons. Founded in 1931, the Bourbons played primarily against opponents in the Midwest, including the Portsmouth Spartans of the NFL.
Memphis Tigers. Formed in 1927 as "New Bry’s Hurricanes" and renamed in 1928, the Tigers were the dominant football team of the South from 1929 to 1932. In 1929, Memphis defeated the Green Bay Packers 20-7 (the Packers eventually won the 1929 NFL championship without losing a league game).
St. Louis Blues. Formed by the league after the St. Louis Gunners rejected the league's overtures for membership. Sports promoter Bud Yates was credited with founding the team after being general manager for the 1926-27 St. Louis Blues independent team (which lost only one game in its two-season existence). and founding crosstown rivals St. Louis Gunners (in 1931) and St. Louis Veterans (in 1932). When the Gunners joined the NFL in November 1934, the Blues moved to Kansas City.
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