1920-21, 1923-25 Akron Pros

Photo from 1920 shows Pros had numbers on their backs. 1s were box-top style.

1920 Akron Pros

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1921-22 Columbus Panhandles

Jersey numbers added per PFA.

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1921-22 Dayton Triangles

Jersey numbers added per PFA.

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1920-21 Buffalo All-Americans

Photo from 1920 shows All-Americans had orange numbers on their black jerseys. Most likely then also applied to the 1921 jerseys, as well.

12/4/20 - BUF vs CAN @ Polo Grounds, NY.

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1921 Rock Island Independents

Added additional combo wearing 3-stripe socks. Worn concurrently with 2-stripe version.

11/5/21 - Rock Island Argus

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1920-22 Decatur Staleys / Chicago Staleys / Chicago Bears

A photo once thought to be of Jim Thorpe as a 1924 Rock Island Independent has been shown to actually be of George Trafton playing for the 1920 Decatur Staleys. The same photo turned up in the 11/8/20 Davenport (IA) Democrat and Leader the day after the 11/7/20 Decatur Staleys @ Rock Island Independents game. The photo features ball-carrier  "Flyin'" Fred Chicken (RII) falling towards big George Trafton of the Staleys. This identifies the team with the wide sleeve stripes as Rock Island.

The player in the bottom left corner is mis-identified in the caption as George Halas of the Staleys.

As you can see in the original photo, the player on the ground in the lower left corner is actually an Independent with the same stripes as Chicken. Compounding the error, Halas wore #7 (not #9) and that number has been long retired by the franchise in his honor. In the middle of the photo (on hands and knees) is a player identified as (Burt) Ingwersen, however he, too, is not a Staley but rather another unidentified Independent. Of note also, Trafton, as well as the Staley approaching Chicken from behind with holes in his jersey's elbows, have thinner sleeve stripes than those of the Independents. These will be added to what were thought to be plain, red Staley jerseys. Additionally, those same jerseys were worn in 1921 and parts of the 1922 season for the Staleys/Bears franchise. 

PFA states that the Staleys also wore jerseys adorned by numbers on the backs. Had the numbers been the same shade as the sleeve stripes, they'd have been most difficult to read. We are adding white numbers to their backs for the time being.

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1920-22 Canton Bulldogs

Added numbers on backs of jerseys.

11/21/20 - CAN @ BUF

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1921 Rock Island Independents

Changed sock stripe design to two-white stripes.

10/24/21 - Rock Island Argus

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1921 Detroit Tigers

Alex Todoroff discovered these photos that give us our first look at the 1921 Tigers. Photo shows black shoulders and torso stripes with wider orange negative area in between.

10/30/21 - DET @ BUF

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1921 Evansville Crimson Giants

A great find by viewer Alex Todoroff.
Menz Lindsey played 1 year in the NFL for the Crimson Giants.

Menz Lindsey - 1921

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1921 Washington Senators

Darkened the blue of jerseys and socks. Washington Post articles describe the team as both 'blue and white' and 'black and white.' Team photo seems to indicate slightly lighter than the gentleman's black suit. Set to match navy shade of baseball's then-Washington Senators.

1921 Senators

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1921 New York Brickley's Giants

Giants wore black jersey with 7 thin white stripes on each sleeve and tall thin numbers on their backs for a game in Buffalo.
Altered numbers on original Giant combo to match as we lack a photo of the backs of other jerseys.

10/16/21 - NYBG @ BUF

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1921-23 Louisville Brecks

Already knowing the design of the Brecks' jerseys, we were only missing one clue...their color.
Courtesy of the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal from 10/28/23 describing the action from a game played the previous day against Dayton...

Brecks' team photo

"After battling without much gain for either side, Dayton opened an aerial offensive in the second period. A couple of short passes, followed by a long one, put the ball across the Breck goal. A trick in the Koor matchup was the wearing of red jerseys by the ends while the remainder of the team wore purple. It served to confuse the Breck defensive players on the passes as the Brecks all wore red."

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1920-21 Akron Pros

Darkened the blue for both years.

Added numbers to the backs in 1921.

1921 sleeve stripes were not white but khaki or gold in color.

1921 Akron Pros

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1921 Minneapolis Marines

New addition.

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1921 Columbus Panhandles

Corrected to seven yellow stripes on sleeves.

1920-21 Columbus Panhandles

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1921-23 Hammond Pros

Added 1921-23 uniforms based on 1922 picture of John Shelbourne.  Added numbers to the 1921 and 1923 uniforms.

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