The Pottsville Maroons and the Nfl's Stolen Championship of 1925

by Vincent Genovese

There hasn t been a pro football team in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, since Calvin Coolidge was president, but don t tell the football fans there that. They have been feuding with the NFL for over eight decades; ever since their Pottsville Maroons team won the 1925 Championship in Chicago, only to lose it six days later when they broke league rules by playing and beating the famed Four Horsemen All-Stars of Notre Dame in the city of Philadelphia. Finally, after eighty-three years, the readers of the rest of the country get to decide if the NFL has made a mistake.

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 8, 2008

Reviews

[Bill Bitner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book I’ve read about the Pottsville Maroons. While Genovese’s prose doesn’t flow as well as ESPN’s David Fleming’s book, there seemed to be a greater sense of the pain and anger of the championship being stolen. The book also contains a lot of statistics and information gleaned from newspapers and other sources. The author does also include discussion on the fights to get back the championship that have occurred over the years.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just discovered the existence of this book a few days ago. I read and enjoyed The Breaker Boys by David Fleming and knew nothing about this book which came out after David Flemings story of the 1925 Maroons. I have heard some describe The Breaker Boys as almost a super hero novel with those on the Maroons side portrayed as right and those on the other side as clearly wrong. I really, really enjoyed The Breaker Boys and after reading Vincent Genovese's account I still think it is very clear that Pottsville was wronged for not being officially awarded the title by the NFL. Vincent Genovese wrote his book with a slightly different approach, both books teach the reader something about the times. I enjoyed both books, but if a movie were ever made it would probably follow The Breaker Boys style.

Genovese mentions Fleming and some of the happenings following the release of The Breaker Boys in the last chapter of his book. Genovese gives more history on what happened with Doc Streigel and at least touches on what he knew of the other Maroons. Genovese clearly really dug into the history of all those involved and dug deep to see what wrongs took place in 1925 to strip the title from Pottsville.

My belief is that the title will never be restored by the NFL officially to Pottsville, it should and I encourage anyone slightly interested in the story to read both The Breaker Boys and this book. I feel the Bidwell family has such ties with the old boys club of the NFL that the other owners feel obligated to keep the title with the Cardinals, despite them losing to the Maroons on the field of play. I will never root for the Cardinals no matter who owns the team until the owner of the Cardinals steps forward him or herself and urges the NFL to return the title.

Vincent Genovese's account is an easy read, I read it over the course of two evenings and I would not classify myself as a fast reader.