Philadelphia Athletic Club
| Founded | 1901 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 1902 |
| Based in | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| League | National Football League (1902) |
| Team history |
Philadelphia Phillies (1902) Philadelphia Athletic Club (1901) |
| Team colors |
Red, White, Blue |
| Nickname(s) | "Philadelphia Stars" "All-Stars" "Quakers" "Philadelphia Professionals" "Pros" |
| Head coaches |
Ben Roller (1902) Blondy Wallace (1901) |
| General managers |
Bill Shettsline (1902) Wilson Wright (1901) |
| Owner(s) |
John Rogers (1902) Wilson Wright (1901) |
| Home field(s) | National League Park |
Red, White, Blue
The Philadelphia Phillies were a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1902. The team was member of what was referred to as the National Football League— not to be confused with the National Football League of today. The whole league was a curious mixture of football players as well as baseball players who adapted to playing football. The Phillies were owned and financed by baseball's Philadelphia Phillies just as the owners of the Philadelphia Athletics financed their team, the Philadelphia Athletics. The Pittsburgh Stars made up the third team and was suspected of being financed by the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team.
The Phillies began as the Philadelphia Athletic Club in 1901. The team was more commonly called throughout Philadelphia as the Philadelphia Professionals or the Philadelphia Pros. It was the region's first entirely professional football squad. Wilson Wright, a Penn graduate, was the team's manager and chief financial backer. The team, led by Penn's Blondy Wallace, was largely made up of former Penn players along with a few veterans of such teams as the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club and the Latrobe Athletic Association.
Philadelphia opened its 1901 season with shut outs of the Conshohocken Tigers, the Orange Athletic Club, Susquehanna University and a tough squad from Lafayette College. Next Philadelphia had to play the 1901 Homestead Library & Athletic Club football team. Homestead was a successful team that gave up only seven points over a span of two seasons and was clearly the strongest of the many competitive teams of Western Pennsylvania. In fact Homestead was considered it the best professional team in the nation. This match-up was generally accepted as the professional championship of the United States. Both teams worked diligently to prepare for the game. However Philadelphia proved no match for the Homestead team and lost by a score of 18-0. The two teams then closed out their seasons in Pittsburgh the following Saturday. This time Philadelphia lost by a score of only 6-5. They held Homestead to a single touchdown and managed to score the only touchdown against the team in two seasons.
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