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Frankford Yellow Jackets
[Guy] Chamberlin moved on to play and coach the Frankford Yellow Jackets for the
1925 and 1926 seasons. The Yellow Jackets played from 1924-1931. Frankford
itself is a neighborhood in northeast Philadelphia. Chamberlin settled into the
area, rented a home, pitched for the American Legion in the baseball season, and
worked as a truck driver in the off season.
Pennsylvania’s blue laws prohibited
professional football on Sundays so the Yellow Jackets would often schedule two
games on the same weekend, a Saturday home game and a Sunday away game.
1925 Frankford Yellow Jackets’ Season
In 1925, the NFL was a bloated 20-team league. Scheduling was seriously out
of sync. The Yellow Jackets played 19 games while the Duluth Kelleys played
just three. Five teams did not win a game all season.
The Yellow Jackets had
an excellent first half of the season winning 9 of 10 games and then fell apart
in the second half winning 3 and losing 6. It is likely that their heavy schedule
contributed to the lapse in the second half of the season. Before their swoon,
they beat the Pottsville Maroons, 20–0, on November 14. Two weeks later,
Pottsville destroyed the Yellow Jackets, 49–0. They did not play the Chicago
Cardinals who took the championship with a record of 11–2–1. Pottsville was
runner up with a 10–2–0 record.
1926 Frankford Yellow Jackets’ Season
Guy Chamberlin brought it all together for the Yellow Jackets in 1926. The
Yellow Jackets had another exhausting schedule. They played 17 games. They scored 236 points and allowed 49 from their opponents. There was a kind of
perfect symmetry to their season record. They tied the first and last game of
the season and lost game 8 to the Providence Steam Roller 7–6. They won
every other game on their schedule to end at 14–1–2 for the Championship.
On December 4, 1926, with the Yellow Jackets holding a 12–1–1 record,
they played the key game of the season against the Chicago Bears who held
a 12–0–3 record. For the first three quarters, the offenses struggled to get
into scoring position. In the third quarter, the Bears finally got close enough
for a Paddy Driscoll field goal attempt. It was blocked by Guy Chamberlin.
In the fourth quarter, the Bears’ halfback, Bill Senn, cut loose for a 62-yard
touchdown run. Chamberlin blocked the extra point attempt. The Bears held
a 6–0 lead as time was pulling away from Frankford. With one last run at the
end zone, Chamberlin’s Yellow Jackets moved down field on the strength of
a long pass play. Then, Houston Stockton hit his tiny 5-foot-5 back, Henry
“Two Bits” Homan, who caught the ball and crossed into the end zone for a
score. Frankford’s Tex Hamer kicked the extra point for the win.
On November 29, 1926, Raymond Hill of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin
described Chamberlin and his play:
… consistent performer all year…a brainy player and wide-awake on
the field….He has been performing life saving feats for the Jackets
all year, besides getting down fast under punts, grabbing passes
and breaking up end runs…his play is one of the main reasons for
Frankford being up in the fight.
Chamberlin was the toughest coach to cover in Pillars because all his professional teams for whom he coached disbanded.
ReplyDeletechamberlin was one of a few player-coaches in the early days of the NFL. But he was a superb athlete and one of the best players in the league for his first few years.
ReplyDelete