The NFL in the 1920s Trivia Quiz

Answer: A car

The Hupmobile was a car, manufactured by Detroit's Hupp Motor Company from 1909 until it went out of business in 1941. The Canton Bulldogs of the new league were owned by Hupmobile dealer Ralph Hay, who organized the gathering in his showroom.

Answer: Jim Thorpe

Thorpe's talents as an athlete were immense, but his selection as league president was more related to his name recognition than his administrative skills. Thorpe returned to a full-time role as a player after one season as league president, and Joe Carr took over, a position he held until 1939.

Answer: Cardinals

The Chicago Cardinals were one of the 14 teams that played in the first NFL (APFA) season, finishing 3-2-1 for the year. Except for the 1944 season, when wartime player shortages led to them merging with the Pittsburgh Steelers, they played in Chicago from 1920-1959. The Cardinals moved to St. Louis, where they played from 1960-1987, and then to Phoenix in 1988.

Answer: Benny Friedman

Friedman's successes were long overlooked, possibly because the league did not rigorously keep or maintain statistics during much of his 1927-35 NFL career. Besides being a great touchdown passer, Friedman was extremely accurate. He was generally credited with completing roughly half his passes at a time when quarterbacks were considered good if they could connect on a third of their throws, using the cantaloupe-shaped ball of the era.

Answer: He attributed much of his strength to his summer job as a teen, delivering ice in Wheaton, IL

Grange, selected in 2004 by College Football News as the greatest college player of all time, was better known as the "Galloping Ghost" for his elusiveness on the field. The "Ghost/Iceman" signed with the Chicago Bears in 1925 after his final college game, and made his pro debut on Thanksgiving that year, in front of 36,600 fans, several times the number who'd seen the team's last game before he'd joined them. Grange spent his early NFL years pursuing bigger contracts with different teams. After sitting out the 1928 season with a knee injury, he returned to the Bears, where he was far less productive than he'd been at the outset of his career.

He retired in 1934 and was a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Answer: Scranton Garbage, Pawtucket Patroons, Moline Fire Engines

No, the Garbage, Patroons, and Fire Engines never took the field in 1921, but all those other teams did. It's too bad the Tonawanda Kardex (0-1 that season) and Louisville Brecks (0-2) didn't have brighter futures; the rivalry and tradition that no doubt would have sprung up between the teams would have been football entertainment at its best!

Answer: He scored 40 points, including six touchdowns

Nevers, of the Chicago Cardinals, scored six touchdowns and kicked four extra points in a Thanksgiving game against the Chicago Bears, giving him 40 points for the game. Through the rest of the 20th century, only two players (Dub Jones in 1951 and Gale Sayers in 1965) matched his six touchdowns, and no one else scored more than the 36 points Jones and Sayers tallied in their six-touchdown efforts.

Answer: Washington Redskins

The Redskins didn't enter the NFL until the 1930s. Akron won the first league title in 1920. The New York Giants won in 1927, and the Providence Steam Roller won in 1928.

Answer: Chicago Bears

The Staleys (named for Decatur's Staley Starch Works company) finished in third place in 1920, with a 5-1-2 record. The next year, as the Chicago Staleys, they finished 9-1-1, good enough for the league title. In 1922, they renamed themselves the Chicago Bears and went on to be one of the most dominant teams in NFL history. George Halas coached the Bears for almost every season from 1920 through 1967.

Answer: Green Bay Packers

The 1929 NFL title was the first of three consecutive championships won by the Packers. During the 1920s, the league title was awarded to the team having the best record. When the 1932 season ended in a tie, the two tied teams had a playoff to determine the champion, and thereafter, the NFL has had two teams play each other for the title.