The Northwest War Industries League (NWIL) played one season in 1942, with the Seattle Shipbuilders, Portland Boilermakers (later Portland Rockets), and teams in Spokane, Washington and Vancouver, Washington, while plans for team in Tacoma fall through. The league commissioner was Chester "Cotton" Wilcox, and the plans were that 52% of all league profits would go to military servicemen's funds. As a result of players shortage, the league allowed the teams to play with college students.[2]
Information regarding league demise has mostly been lost to time, but is known that only Seattle played in 1943, and that plans to append the league to the Pacific Coast Professional Football League as a semi-autonomous Northern Division fell through.
1942 Standings
Team
W
L
T
Pct.
PF
PA
Seattle Shipbuilders
6
1
0
.857
137
23
Portland Boilermakers
4
2
0
.666
187
16
Vancouver Warcos
1
3
1
.250
29
136
Spokane Manlowes
1
3
1
.250
33
93
1944 AFL season
In 1944, Portland returned to play. At the same time, the PCPFL revoked the membership of the Los Angeles Mustangs to protest owner Bill Freelove’s raiding of Jerry Corcoran’s Los Angeles Bulldogs roster. Freelove responded by reorganizing the old Northwest Industries league into a "new" league, the American Football League (with famous Hollywood lawyer Jerry Giesler as president). In 1944, an unprecedented five Los Angeles area teams were competing in one of the two rival leagues.
Both leagues had undefeated champions (the PCPFL San Diego Bombers had won their third consecutive title). AFL members San Diego Gunners, Los Angeles Wildcats (no relation to the 1926 AFL team), and Oakland Hornets folded before the end of the season. All three San Francisco Clippers losses were to the Hollywood Rangers.
On December 21, 1944, PCPFL league president J. Rufus Klawans announced a merger between the two leagues. Immediately afterward, the AFL champion Hollywood Rangers and PCPFL champion San Diego Bombers scheduled two games, one at each team’s home, to decide the “unified” Pacific Coast championship. Hollywood swept San Diego, winning 42-7 and 21-10, for the bragging rights.
However, what was trumpeted as a merger was in fact not much of a merger at all. Seattle and Portland, the two teams that had formed the basis of the original league on which the AFL had been built, declined to play in the new league. The PCPFL also demanded that the Rangers merge with the PCPFL's Hollywood Bears, something the Rangers were unwilling to do since the Bears had not played football in two years and the Rangers were the defending champions. Nonetheless, the Bears ended up restocking themselves mostly on the Rangers' players. One major point of contention between the two leagues went unaddressed: even though the leagues had agreed on a merger, they again refused entry to the Los Angeles Mustangs. In the end, of the five teams in the AFL at the end of the season, only one team ever played in the PCPFL, the San Francisco Clippers.[3] The Rangers and Mustangs, having their league (that they organized) ripped out from under them, continued play as independents for 1945 and quietly folded.
^(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-27. Retrieved 2008-10-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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February 14, 2023
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This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources American Football League 1944 news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Northwest War Industries League and American Football League were two closely related professional football minor leagues based on the West Coast of the United States that played for two nonconsecutive seasons during World War II 1 American Football League 1944 SportAmerican footballFounded1942Inaugural season1942Ceased1944No of teams8CountryUnited StatesLastchampion s Hollywood Rangers Contents 1 1942 NWIL season 1 1 1942 Standings 2 1944 AFL season 2 1 1944 Standings 3 References1942 NWIL season EditThe Northwest War Industries League NWIL played one season in 1942 with the Seattle Shipbuilders Portland Boilermakers later Portland Rockets and teams in Spokane Washington and Vancouver Washington while plans for team in Tacoma fall through The league commissioner was Chester Cotton Wilcox and the plans were that 52 of all league profits would go to military servicemen s funds As a result of players shortage the league allowed the teams to play with college students 2 Information regarding league demise has mostly been lost to time but is known that only Seattle played in 1943 and that plans to append the league to the Pacific Coast Professional Football League as a semi autonomous Northern Division fell through 1942 Standings Edit Team W L T Pct PF PASeattle Shipbuilders 6 1 0 857 137 23Portland Boilermakers 4 2 0 666 187 16Vancouver Warcos 1 3 1 250 29 136Spokane Manlowes 1 3 1 250 33 931944 AFL season EditIn 1944 Portland returned to play At the same time the PCPFL revoked the membership of the Los Angeles Mustangs to protest owner Bill Freelove s raiding of Jerry Corcoran s Los Angeles Bulldogs roster Freelove responded by reorganizing the old Northwest Industries league into a new league the American Football League with famous Hollywood lawyer Jerry Giesler as president In 1944 an unprecedented five Los Angeles area teams were competing in one of the two rival leagues Both leagues had undefeated champions the PCPFL San Diego Bombers had won their third consecutive title AFL members San Diego Gunners Los Angeles Wildcats no relation to the 1926 AFL team and Oakland Hornets folded before the end of the season All three San Francisco Clippers losses were to the Hollywood Rangers On December 21 1944 PCPFL league president J Rufus Klawans announced a merger between the two leagues Immediately afterward the AFL champion Hollywood Rangers and PCPFL champion San Diego Bombers scheduled two games one at each team s home to decide the unified Pacific Coast championship Hollywood swept San Diego winning 42 7 and 21 10 for the bragging rights However what was trumpeted as a merger was in fact not much of a merger at all Seattle and Portland the two teams that had formed the basis of the original league on which the AFL had been built declined to play in the new league The PCPFL also demanded that the Rangers merge with the PCPFL s Hollywood Bears something the Rangers were unwilling to do since the Bears had not played football in two years and the Rangers were the defending champions Nonetheless the Bears ended up restocking themselves mostly on the Rangers players One major point of contention between the two leagues went unaddressed even though the leagues had agreed on a merger they again refused entry to the Los Angeles Mustangs In the end of the five teams in the AFL at the end of the season only one team ever played in the PCPFL the San Francisco Clippers 3 The Rangers and Mustangs having their league that they organized ripped out from under them continued play as independents for 1945 and quietly folded 1944 Standings Edit Team W L T Pct PF PAHollywood Rangers 11 0 0 1 000 376 83San Francisco Clippers 7 3 0 700 193 120Seattle Bombers 5 5 1 500 200 157Portland Rockets 3 6 0 333 165 205Los Angeles Wildcats 2 4 2 333 133 171San Diego Gunners 2 4 1 333 42 161Los Angeles Mustangs 3 7 0 300 105 201Oakland Hornets 0 4 0 000 14 128References Edit Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2010 11 27 Retrieved 2008 10 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Northwest War Industries Football League 1942 www gnfafootball org Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2011 07 26 Retrieved 2011 06 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title American Football League 1944 amp oldid 1091225122, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
