Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup
| Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Being named the association's champions |
| Sponsored by | Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company |
| Location | Unknown |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | American Professional Football Association |
| First awarded | 1920 |
| Last awarded | 1920 |
| Currently held by | Akron Pros |
Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup was a silver trophy donated to the American Professional Football Association (renamed the National Football League in 1922) by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, Tire Division.
According to the September 17, 1920 founding meeting minutes of the NFL-APFA, the trophy was a silver loving cup, donated to the Association by a "Mr. Marshall". It was then to be presented to the team "awarded championship by the Association". This wording established the precedent for the 1920 season of awarding the title by a vote of the league's managers, rather than who finished at the top of the standings. The minutes also state that "any team winning the cup three times should be adjudged the owner [of the trophy]". The motion to include the cup as the Association's trophy was moved and seconded and a vote of thanks was extended by the secretary to "Mr. Marshall".
The Akron Pros were awarded the 1920 APFA Championship on April 30, 1921 during an association meeting at the Portage Hotel after posting an 8–0–3 record. The trophy was awarded to the team owners, Art Ranney and Frank Nied, by former Penn State star Timmy Bryant. However disputes arose from the Buffalo All-Americans and the Decatur Staleys (renamed the Chicago Bears in 1922) who had been tied, but not beaten, by the Pros that year, and that Ranney, who was presiding over the meeting because of the absences of President Jim Thorpe and Vice President Stan Cofall, had a self-dealing conflict of interest in presiding over the decision to give the championship to his own team. Even though the Pros were given the trophy in 1920, the league lost track of the event and for a long time published in its own record books that the 1920 championship was undecided. Neither the All-Americans nor the Staleys, who disputed the 1921 title, inquired of the trophy's whereabouts the next year (the All-Americans commissioned their own trophies, small gold footballs, before the dispute was ruled in the Staleys' favor). It took until the 1970s for the NFL to rediscover its early vote on awarding the Akron Pros the 1920 championship.
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