Los Angeles Dons
 |
|
| Founded | 1946 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 1949 |
| Based in | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| League | All-America Football Conference |
| Division | Western Division |
| Team colors |
Red, White, Blue |
| Home field(s) | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum |
Red, White, Blue
The Los Angeles Dons were an American football team in the now defunct All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949 that played in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Dons were the first professional football team to play a regular season game in Los Angeles, California, beating the rival Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League by two weeks.
In 1946 a new professional football league was launched to do battle with the long-established National Football League (NFL). This league, the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), included eight teams — an Eastern Division with three teams based in the state of New York and another in Miami, and a Western Division with teams in Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The AAFCs Southern California franchise, which was to compete directly with the newly relocated Los Angeles Rams of the NFL, was known as the Los Angeles Dons.
The leader of the ownership group was Benjamin Lindheimer, a Chicago real estate and race track executive. Other owners included Hollywood notables Louis B. Mayer, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Don Ameche.
The Dons' head coach was "Dud" DeGroot, a Stanford football player who had gone on to earn a PhD from that institution. DeGroot had served as head coach of the NFL's Washington Redskins in 1944 and 1945 before jumping over to the rival AAFC for its debut 1946 season.
...
Wikipedia