The League That Didn’t Exist

The All-American Football Conference was the only challenger to the NFL (except for the American Football League of the 1960s) to survive more than two seasons in competition with the established league. It ultimately failed to achieve its goal of a peaceful coexistence with the NFL and folded in 1949. Its Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, which were absorbed by the NFL in 1950, are still in business.
This book takes a brief look at all of the NFL’s challengers (and would-be challengers) from 1926 to 1945. It looks particularly at the All-American Conference, which overcame obstacles that proved too difficult for others and opened the 1946 season with teams on the East Coast, in the Midwest, on the West Coast, and in the deep South, making it a truly “All-American” enterprise. Each season and off-season is examined in detail.

Gary Webster has spent many years in commercial radio in northeastern Ohio and is the author of five books for McFarland.

Gary Webster
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 239
Bibliographic Info: 13 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2019
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6534-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3420-3
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
1. Challenging the NFL 5
2. Ward’s Dream 15
3. Battle Stations 34
4. 1946 59
5. Exit Crowley, Enter Ingram 83
6. 1947 103
7. For the Good of the League 126
8. 1948 143
9. Wounded, but Still Alive 166
10. 1949 186
11. The Final Gun 204
Epilogue 213
Chapter Notes 221
Bibliography 225
Index 227

• “Chronicles the financial struggles during the four-year conflict that led to the demise of the AAFC…thoroughly indexed…recommended”–Choice
• “Webster’s book gives a wonderfully detailed, and well reported account of the All-American Football Conference and the men who played in, coached and operated it.”—Old School Shirts