Frankford Yellow Jackets
National Football League (1924-1931)
Tombstone
Born: July 25, 1924 (NFL awards franchise to Philadelphia Athletic Club)
Disbanded: November 10, 19311Philadelphia Yellow Jackets Quit Because of Poor Attendance, AP via The Spokesman Review, Nov. 11, 1931
First Game: September 21, 1924 (W 21-0 vs Rochester Jeffersons)
Last Game: November 8, 1931 (L 13-0 @ New York Giants)
NFL Championships: 1926
Stadiums
Frankford Stadium (1924-1930)
Opened: September 29, 19232Lightner In Grid Victory With Yellow Jackets, The Reading Eagle, Sep. 30, 1923
Destroyed: July 28, 19313Grid Stadium Burns, The Pittsburgh Press, Jul. 28, 1931
Philadelphia Municipal Stadium (1931)
Opened: May 31, 1926 (as Sesquicentennial Stadium)4Look For 300,000 As Sesqui Opens, The Gettysburg Times, April 28, 1926
Closed: July 13, 19895Mayor closes stadium, AP via The Vindicator, Jul. 14, 1989
Demolished: September 19, 1992
Baker Bowl (1931)
Opened: April 30, 18876Baseball, The Morning Review, May1, 1887
Closed: June 30, 19387Phillies Abandon Ancient Ballpark, AP via The Independent, Jul. 1, 1938
Marketing
Team Colors: Blue, yellow, white
Ownership
Frankford Athletic Association
Background
The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional football team based in Northeast Philadelphia that played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven and half seasons starting in 1924.
The club’s roots trace back to May 1899, when the Frankford Athletic Association was founded. Like many such organizations of the day, the FAA fielded teams in a variety of sports, including gridiron football. By June, the club completed bleachers on a plot of land at the intersection of Oxford and Leiper Streets.8Real Estate World, The Philadelphia Record, Jun. 12, 1899 In all sports in which it participated, the FAA played as the Frankford Yellow Jackets.
In 1909, the club disbanded after the estate that contained their athletic fields was sold to make way for a new high school. The FAA reformed in 1912, and the football team returned to the gridiron, playing its home games at Brown’s Field.
Making a name
The football team soon earned a reputation as one of the best squads in the Northeast, regularly beating local and regional challengers.9Lightner Returns To Gridiron, The Reading Eagle, Sep. 8, 192310News And Views, The Washington Reporter, Sep. 23, 1923 In 1922, the local amateur athletes that made up the Yellow Jackets were replaced by professionals, notably former college stars from the area. The team then scheduled several games against other professional clubs, including a few from the National Football League, founded just a few years earlier as the American Professional Football Association.
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That year, the Yellow Jackets faced five NFL opponents and beat four of them (the New York Brickley Giants, the Rochester Jeffersons, the Toledo Maroons, and the Akron Pros). They played the Buffalo All-Americans to a 3-3 tie.
Movin’ on up
In 1923, the Yellow Jackets moved into their own stadium. The team played its next six games against other regional opponents, before finishing with six against teams from the NFL. Their overall record that season was 10-2-2. They finished 4-2 against the NFL, including a December 15 contest against the Canton Bulldogs, billed as the championship game in professional football. Canton won 3-0 to capture the title. The Bulldogs kicked a 15-yard field goal for the game-winning score.11Frankford Bows To Canton Squad, The Sunday Morning Squad, Dec. 9, 1923
Two weeks later, former University of Pennsylvania football star Byron Dickson announced that he was forming an eastern professional football league called the Eastern Football League.12Eastern Professional League May Be Organized For 1924, The Reading Eagle, Dec. 29, 1924 The NFL, the country’s sole pro loop at the time, was based primarily in the Midwest, with its easternmost franchise in 1923 being the Rochester Jeffersons.
Along with Dickinson’s Atlantic City Roses, the eight-team league was to include the Yellow Jackets. However, the Eastern Football League never materialized. On July 25, 1924, at a meeting of NFL owners in Chicago, the Yellow Jackets were admitted to that league.
Joining the NFL
The team’s winning ways continued in the NFL. They opened the season with a 21-0 win over the Rochester Jeffersons on their way to an 11-2-1 record and a third-place finish in the standings. They finished 13-7 in 2025, 15-7 if the two wins against the independent All New-Britain club are included. This set the stage for a championship run the following season.
NFL Champions
After opening the 1926 season with a 45-0 shellacking of the Melrose Athletic Club of Atlantic City, the Yellow Jackets marched on through their NFL schedule and finished with a record of 14-1-2, good for the top spot on the league’s 22-team table. Their only stumble was a 7-6 loss to the Providence Steam Roller. They tied the neighboring Pottsville Maroons 0-0 before 7,000 frozen fans in Frankford Stadium on December 18 to close the season.
In 1927, the team fell to seventh place as it finished with a record of 6-9-3. In 1928, they were back to their winning ways, as they finished with the most wins in the league, 11, and second place behind Providence, based on winning percentage. They finished third in 1929.
Decline
A decision to save payroll and field a team made up mostly of recent college grads and only a few veterans. That approach resulted in the team finishing ninth out of 11 teams in the standings in 1930.
Disaster struck before the start of the 1931 season as Frankford Stadium burned to the ground,July 28, 193113Grid Stadium Burns, The Pittsburgh Press, Jul. 28, 1931 forcing the team to find a new home field. The home opener was played at cavernous Municipal Stadium (later renamed JFK Stadium), with subsequent games played at the Baker Bowl, home of baseball’s Phillies. A day after it suffered a 13-0 loss to the Giants in New York, the team threw in the towel, with team manager Joe Evans making the announcement to the press.14Philadelphia Yellow Jackets Quit Because of Poor Attendance, AP via The Spokesman Review, Nov. 11, 1931
The city was without pro football for the 1932 season. On July 8, 1933, Philadelphia was welcomed back to the NFL as the city received an expansion franchise,15Ten Pro Grid Teams In Loop, AP via The Youngstown Vindicator, Jul. 9, 1933 which a month later would assume the nickname “Eagles.”
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