Prior to the 1949 season, there were several changes made to multiple teams. Boston’s two time American Bowl champion quarterback Brian Branch and head coach Timothy Gardener decided to retire. To replace Gardener Boston’s owner, Jim Cook, promoted Gardeners long time assistant coach David Perry as head coach. The Milwaukee Indians were struggling to draw in fans since the end of the Chicago-Milwaukee combined franchise. Milwaukee’s owner Wayne Calhoun would fire his head coach Oliver Darlington after 4 failed seasons. Calhoun would hire William Carpenter as head coach. Carpenter spent 6 seasons as head coach at the University of Wisconsin. Calhoun hoped that this would spark excitement in the franchise and help bring in crowds. Philadelphia Colonials owner Jeffrey Kennedy would be forced to sell his franchise. After years of not having success on the field, attendance dropped. With his other businesses also suffering, he had no choice but to sell the Colonials. William Middleton, the owner of the Philadelphia Railroaders American Baseball League franchise, bought the Colonials. Middleton would move the Colonials from their stadium, Independence Park, to his stadium Quaker Park. Under new ownership, Donald Pierce was fired as head coach. He was the Colonials head coach from 1946 to 1948. Pierce would finish his career with the Colonials 10-25-1. Middleton wanted to make headlines and excite his fans. George Majors, the two time American Bowl winning head coach with the New York Lions would be the new Colonials head coach. Middleton would also change the color scheme of the Colonials slightly and change the logo and uniforms. He hoped that the new changes would represent a change in direction for the franchise.
1949 NFA DRAFT
New Philadelphia Colonials owner William Middleton approached NFA Commissioner William Hensley about having the draft in Philadephia. Middleton hoped to spark some interest and excitement in the new Philadelphia Colonials. Hensley agreed and the draft would be held on December 21 to December 23, 1948 at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, PA. For the third straight year, the Colonials had the first overall pick. They would surprise everyone and trade the pick away to the St Louis Aviators. With the first overall pick, St Louis was select Paul Walker, halfback from Clemson. Paul Walker would win multiple NFA Championships with the Aviators, including one against the Colonials. Many Colonial fans would look back at this trade as a huge mistake. Milwaukee's head coach William Carpenter would orchestrate a trade to move up and select a quarterback. The Indians would make a trade with Baltimore so they could select quarterback Frank Tipca who played at the University of Virginia.
The 1949 NFA Regular Season would be the eleventh season. It would be the last season which had 10 teams play before the Cleveland and Washington expansion teams began playing. The season started on September 11, 1949. The NFA East would be easily won by the 11-1 New York Lions. Philadelphia would continue to struggle as the new owner and coaching staff were able to put together 3 wins. Their young core of players featuring HB Malcolm Christopher and QB Jack Freeman struggled with putting points on the board and turning the ball over. Philadelphia would lead the league in turnovers. Even though Philadelphia could only put together 3 wins all season, the Ironmen finished last in the NFA East. This was the first season since 1945 that the Colonials did not finish in last place. The Bluejackets, who were in a rebuild, also struggled seriously. Boston would finish 3-7-2 good enough for 2nd place in a very weak NFA East. Their freshman halfback Mike Dakota not live up to the hype that many Boston fans had prior to the start of the season. He would not rush for 100 yards a game the entire season. He also led the league in dropped passes. Another team in the East which was a disappointment, the Baltimore Knights would finish 3rd. Baltimore's quarterback Mark Trent would struggle the entire season. He would be tied for the most interceptions in the league with Milwaukee's 2nd year quarterback Trevor Blue. The defending NFA Champions would sweep the entire division winning all 8. The Lions would easily win their fourth NFA East title and earn an American Bowl berth for the fourth time. Their only loss would come against the St Louis Aviators on Week 12 in a battle between the leagues two unbeaten teams. This was the first time in NFA history that the 2 American Bowl teams would face each other on the final week of the season and in the American Bowl. In the West, the Aviators would also easily win their second NFA West title and earn their second American Bowl berth. After beating the New York Lions, they not only finished the season undefeated but also earned home field advantage for the American Bowl. This would be the first time the Aviators would finish first in the entire league and host the American Bowl. The trade that St Louis made with Philadelphia to secure the number one pick overall would go down as one of the best trades in NFA history. Paul Walker would be even better than most analysts had predicted. He would lead the league in rushing yards and total touchdowns. Every defense he faced would struggle to contain him as he was only held to under 100 yards rushing in one game all season against the New York Lions. Most felt that the only reason he did not reach 100 yards rushing, was because St Louis would pull him out of the game mid way through the fourth quarter to save him for the American Bowl after it was pretty apparent that St Louis was going to beat New York to secure home field for the championship. The Mustangs and the Buckeyes, the two juggernauts in the NFA West usually, would finish second and third. Detroit would finish second with a record of 7-4-1. Cincinnati would finish third with a record of 7-5. The "American Bowl hangover" seemed to affect the Buckeyes. Their 2nd year halfback George Washington would not put together another MVP caliber season. Without Washington's dominance, Cincinnati's quarterback Mark Edman and the entire offense would struggle to score touchdowns. Up until Week 4, the defense and special teams had more touchdowns than the Cincinnati offense. In the first quarter of the season, Detroit was unbeaten at 3-0-1. They would tie the Indians in Week 1 and then win three straight. It seemed that Detroit's dominance was back and they were going to be a challenger for the NFA West again. However, they would then lose three straight and struggle to stay above .500 the rest of the season. Detroit's once MVP halfback John Ames would struggle to stay healthy. He would miss four games during the season after getting injured on Week 6. When he returned on Week 11, he was not the same. At the end of the season, Ames would retire. He would finish his career with 2 NFA Championships. AWARDS MVP: Paul Walker (HB, STL Aviators) COY: John Franklin (STL Aviators) 1949 NFA CHAMPIONSHIP Saint Louis Aviators vs New York Lions (December 11, 1949, Saint Louis Stadium, Saint Louis, MO)