Founded | 1919 (Original) 1921 |
---|---|
Folded | 1922 |
Based in | New York City, New York |
League | National Football League |
Team history | New York Giants (1921) |
Team colors |
Black, Orange, Gold, Cream |
Nickname(s) | Brickley's Giants |
Head coaches | Charles Brickley |
Owner(s) |
New York Giants (1919) Billy Gibson (1921) |
Named for | Charles Brickley, New York Giants baseball club |
Home field(s) |
Commercial Field (2 games) Ebbets Field (1 game) Polo Grounds (1 game) |
Black, Orange, Gold, Cream
The New York Giants (informally known as Brickley's Giants and Brickley's New York Giants) were a professional American football team with the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football League) whose only season played was in 1921. The team has also been referred to as the Brooklyn Giants and Brickley's Brooklyn Giants. The Brickley's Giants were the first of 17 professional football teams to represent New York City at one time or another. The team was founded in 1919 by Charles Brickley, who received All-American honors while at Harvard. Brickley's Giants played two games in their only season, losing to the Buffalo All-Americans, 55–0, and the Cleveland Tigers, 17–0. It was the second-shortest-lived franchise in NFL history, behind only the Tonawanda Kardex, who played only one game in the same 1921 season.
The team was sponsored by the New York Giants professional baseball team, and coached by Brickley, a halfback who was generally considered the finest kicker of his day. Home games were to be played at the Polo Grounds.
The team was formed with the intent of competing in 1919. However, after the team's first practice, the 1919 schedule, that began with an opening day game against the Massillon Tigers, was scratched because of conflict with New York's blue laws. In 1919 the city allowed professional baseball on Sunday and the Giants thought the law would also apply to football. However, it was ruled that professional football was still outlawed on Sundays, so the team disbanded.
The APFA had played a showcase game between the Canton Bulldogs and the Buffalo All-Americans at the Polo Grounds in December 1920; 20,000 spectators witnessed the contest, a strong crowd for the nascent league.