National Football League (1923-1927)
Tombstone
Born: July 28, 1923 (Joined National Football League)1NFL Transactions, The Coffin Corner, Vol. 4, 1982
Suspended Operations: August 12, 19282NFL Transactions, The Coffin Corner, Vol. 4, 1982
Relocated: July 27, 1929(Franchise transferred to Orange, NJ)3NFL Transactions, The Coffin Corner, Vol. 4, 1982
First Game: September 30, 1923(W 10-7 vs. Akron Pros)
Last Game: December 11, 1947(L 27-14 @ Chicago Bears)
NFL Championships: None
Stadium
Duluth Athletic Park
Opened: 1903
Closed: 1940
Demolished: 1941
Marketing
Team Colors:
Red & White (1923-1925) (Kelleys)
Midnight Blue & White (1926-1927) (Eskimos)
Ownership
Owners:
Kelley-Duluth Hardware (1923-1926)
Oluf Roy “Ole” Haugsrud (1926-1928)
Background
In 1923, Duluth, Minnesota joined the ranks of the National Football League (NFL), when Kelley-Duluth Hardware store manager Marshall Gebert formed a team and applied for membership in the four-year-old pro circuit. Dewey Scanlon, formerly a star player for Valparaiso University in Indiana, was hired as coach.
After three seasons, the hardware store grew weary of sponsoring the team, and it was famously sold to the team’s manager, Oluf Roy “Ole” Haugsrud for just $1. The new owner immediately brought in Stanford legend and future NFL hall of famer Ernie Nevers. The team was renamed the Duluth Eskimos.
Scanlon stayed on as coach, but in 1927, Nevers took over coaching duties while continuing to play. The area’s challenging and often frigid climate made playing home games difficult. So much so that after the first game of the 1926 season, the Eskimos were strictly a road team.
A 1-8 finish in 1927 spelled the end for the team as Haugsrud suspended the team’s operations a month before the 1928 season was set to begin. The following year, he sold the franchise back to the NFL, which in turn sold it to a group from Orange, New Jersey.
The league, though, promised Haugsrud that he would be given another chance to own an NFL franchise, and some 30 years later they made good on that promise. In 1959, the upstart American Football League (AFL) placed a franchise in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The NFL, attempting to sink the new, rival league, offered the Minnesota group membership into their fraternity. The invitation was accepted, but as part of the deal Haugsrud was allowed to purchase a 10% stake in the team for $60,000.
MORE TO COME…
FWIL FAVORITE
DULUTH ESKIMOS APPAREL
The Duluth Eskimos started as the Duluth Kelleys, named after a hardware store that sponsored the team. In 1926, the team’s manager bought the franchise for $1 and renamed them the Eskimos. Top college football player Ernie Nevers was brought in, and the team played for two more seasons before suspending operations. Honor the history of pro football in Minnesota with a great Duluth Eskimos T-shirt or replica jersey from Royal Retros.
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