1920 Rochester Jeffersons season

The Rochester Jeffersons finished 6–2–1 in their 1919 season.^[3] It lost the NYPFL championship to the Buffalo All-Americans.^[4] After the 1919 season, representatives of four Ohio League teams—the Canton Bulldogs, the Cleveland Tigers, the Dayton Triangles, and the Akron Pros—called a meeting on August 20, 1920, to discuss the formation of a new league. At the meeting, they tentatively agreed on a salary cap and pledged not to sign college players or players already under contract with other teams. They also agreed on a name for the circuit: the American Professional Football Conference.^[5][6] They then invited other professional teams to a second meeting on September 17.

At that meeting, held at Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay's Hupmobile showroom in Canton, representatives of the Rock Island Independents, the Muncie Flyers, the Decatur Staleys, the Racine Cardinals, the Massillon Tigers, the Chicago Cardinals, and the Hammond Pros agreed to join the league. Representatives of the All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons could not attend the meeting, but sent letters to Hay asking to be included in the league.^[7] Team representatives changed the league's name slightly to the American Professional Football Association and elected officers, installing Jim Thorpe as president.^[7][8][9] Under the new league structure, teams created their schedules dynamically as the season progressed, so there were no minimum or maximum number of games needed to be played.^[10][11] Also, representatives of each team voted to determine the winner of the APFA trophy.^[12]

Scheduling for the Jeffersons was extremely ad hoc. Little over two weeks before the start of the 1920 season, team manager Leo V. Lyons was still putting out feelers for a "good heavyweight opponent" for the home opener.^[13] Gene Dooley and his "All-Buffalo" squad met the call but were not heavy enough to go toe-to-toe, falling 10–0 to the Jeffs on a rainy Sunday afternoon in Rochester's Baseball Park.^[14]

The Rochester Jeffersons were essentially a regional team, playing local opponents, with 10 of their 11 games in Rochester. The Red Eleven's solitary road game was played in Buffalo — a little over 70 miles away. The Jeffs played opponents solely from upstate New York, including grid squads from Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Tonawanda, and Utica — the last-mentioned being the furthest distance away from Rochester, about 135 miles.

Following the Jeffs' second game of the season, a frolicking 66–0 smash up of a lesser opponent, four Rochester fans approached head coach Jack Forsyth and asked permission to organize a Jeffs rooters' club.^[15] Forsyth approved the plan, leaving the details to be worked out by the interested fans themselves, while agreeing to serve as treasurer.^[15]

^[27]

 â€   Awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup and named APFA Champions
by vote of league owners. Staleys claimed a co-title.