RetroSeasons
RetroSeasons recaps past sports seasons through stories, photos, videos, and stats from every team, league, and stadium in history. Coverage includes the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, as well as vintage media from defunct teams and leagues.
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Newark Bears
Franchise Overview 1926-1926 (1 season)
Recap
The Newark Bears were a professional American football team that competed in the first American Football League in 1926 AFL season. Owned by the New Jersey Athletic Association (headed by NJAA president William Coughlin), the Bears played their home games in Davids' Stadium. Coached by player-coach Hal Hansen, the majority of the team played their college football in Georgia and Florida.
Tailback Doug Wycoff scored the club’s only points in its existence, having a touchdown run and kicking the extra point to tie the Chicago Bulls in both teams’ opening game of the season. While the Bears’ defense was respectable (yielding only five points per game), the lack of offensive production resulted in a record of no wins, three losses, and two ties. While the Bears played in front of (an announced total of) 40,000 spectators in Philadelphia (a 9-0 loss to the Quakers on October 16), the total attendance for three home games in Newark was less than 5000. After only 400 fans attended a scoreless game (with the Rock Island Independents) in Davids’ Stadium on October 24, 1926, the Bears withdrew from the AFL… the first team to call it quits in the American Football League. The exodus from the league continued through the month of November, until there were only four teams left, dooming the league.
For the team's last league game, the name of the team was changed to the Newark Demons.
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