Chicago Rockets – Chicago Hornets

All-America Football Conference (1946-1949)

Background

The Chicago Hornets were a one-year wonder in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), a league that attempted to rival the National Football League (NFL) for pro football supremacy in the post-WWII years of 1946-1949. The Hornets arrived on the scene just in time to take part in the AAFC’s final season, before getting contracted 10 months later in the December 1949 merger of the AAFC and the NFL. The Chicago market went to the NFL’s Bears and Cardinals, while the Hornets vanished into the dustbin of history. The Cardinals left town in 1959, leaving Chicago with one team.

Chicago was always a sore point for the AAFC. When the league launched in 1946, Chicago was one of eight founding cities, not to mention the home of the circuit’s founder, Arch Ward. He was the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune when he came up with the idea for a new football league.

Wald, though, didn’t take franchise for himself. Instead, trucking magnate John L. Keeshin established the league’s Chicago entry. Known as the Rockets from 1946 to 1948, they were absolutely dreadful. The team posted a 7-32 record over three season, including back-to-back 1-13 campaigns in 1947 and 1948.

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 The Chicago franchise in the AAFC brought the number of pro teams in the Windy City to three in 1946. At first they were called the Rockets. For their final season in 1949, they were known as the Hornets. Show your Chicago football roots in one of these great replica jerseys from Royal Retros. 

 

Near Misses

One of the few accomplishments of the Rockets era was the team’s signing of the spectacular collegiate halfback Elroy Hirsch, luring him away from the National Football League.  But Hirsch suffered a season-ending skull fracture with the Rockets in 1948 and decided he didn’t want to play in the AAFC anymore. He signed a contract with the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams during the summer of 1949. New Hornets owner James C. Thompson argued that he was the rights-holder to the old Rockets franchise and that Hirsch’s contract with the Rockets contained an “auto renewal clause”.¹NO BYLINE. “Los Angeles Rams Announce Hirsch Signing”. The Tribune (Chicago, IL). July 27, 1949

Hirsch ended up with the Rams and the Hornets took the field in August 1949 without the services of the future Pro Football Hall of Famer. The Hornets also drafted two other future Hall of Famers in the 1949 AAFC draft, quarterbacks George Blanda and Norm Van Brocklin, but failed to sign either. Blanda signed with the rival Chicago Bears instead.

One & Done

After a promising 3-1 start, the Hornets lost seven of the final eight games in 1949 and missed the playoffs with a 4-8 record.

Ray Flaherty coached the Hornets. Flaherty won NFL championships as Head Coach of the Washington Redskins in 1937 and 1942 and would earn election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his coaching accomplishments in 1976. The Hornets were Flaherty’s final pro coaching post.

On December 9th, 1949, two days before the AAFC’s 1949 championship game, league officials announced a merger with the NFL. The deal saw the four-time AAFC champion Cleveland Browns admitted to the NFL, along with the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts franchises. The AAFC’s Los Angeles Dons merged with the NFL’s Rams. The Hornets folded as part of the merger, along with two other AAFC teams, the New York Yankees and the Buffalo Bills.

In Memoriam

Quarterback Johnny Clement died when the Cessna 210 aircraft he was piloting from Virginia to Texas vanished on December 11th, 1969. The wreckage of Clement’s plan was eventually found by hunters in Tennessee on January 29th, 1970.²NO BYLINE. “Missing Airplane Found In Hills”. The Kingsport News (Kingsport, TN). January 30, 1970 Clement was 50 years old when he passed away.

Quarterback Bob Hoernschemeyer passed away on June 18, 1980 after a battle with cancer. He was 54 years old.

Head Coach Ray Flaherty passed on July 19, 1994 at age 90. New York Times obituary.

Links

All-America Football Conference Programs

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