American Football Leagues Champions

Year	League	Region	Winners	P	W	L	T
1926	AFL I	E/M	Philadelphia Quakers	9	7	2	0
1934	AFL II	S/M	St. Louis / Kansas City Blues	8	7	0	1
1936	AFL III	E/M/W	Boston Shamrocks	11	8	3	0
1937	AFL III	E/M/W	Los Angeles Bulldogs	8	8	0	0
1938	AFL IV	S/M/W	East Chicago Indians	6	5	1	0
1939	AFL IV	S/M/W	Los Angeles Bulldogs	8	7	1	0
1940	AFL V	E/M	Columbus Bullies	10	8	1	1
1941	AFL V	E/M	Columbus Bullies	8	5	1	2
1944	AFL VI	W	Hollywood Rangers	11	11	0	0
1946	AAFC	E/M/S/W	Cleveland Browns	15	13	2	0
1947	AAFC	E/M/S/W	Cleveland Browns	15	13	1	1
1948	AAFC	E/M/S/W	Cleveland Browns	15	15	0	0
1949	AAFC	E/M/S/W	Cleveland Browns	14	12	1	1

AAFC Championship Games

Year	Winners		Runners-Up
1946	Cleveland Browns	14	New York Yankees	9
1947	Cleveland Browns	W	New York Yankees	L
1948	Cleveland Browns	49	Buffalo Bills	7
1949	Cleveland Browns	21	San Francisco 49ers	7

Pacific Coast League Champions

Year	League	Region	Team	P	W	L	T
1927	CWL	W/M/E	Los Angeles Buccaneers	5	3	2	0
1928	CWL	W/M/E	New York Yankees	6	3	2	1
1940	PCFL	W	Los Angeles Bulldogs	10	7	2	1
1941	PCFL	W	Hollywood Bears	8	8	0	0
1942	PCFL	W	San Diego Bombers	5	4	1	0
1943	PCFL	W	San Diego Bombers	10	7	3	0
1944	PCFL	W	San Diego Bombers	9	9	0	0
1945	PCFL	W	Hollywood Bears	11	8	2	1
1946	PCFL	W	Los Angeles Bulldogs	13	10	2	1
1947	PCFL	W	Hawaiian Warriors	9	7	2	0
1948	PCFL	W	Hawaiian Warriors	6	5	1	0

Pacific Coast Championship

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	PCFL v AFL
1944	Hollywood Rangers (AFL)	42	San Diego Bombers (PCFL)	7
1944	San Diego Bombers (PCFL)	10	Hollywood Rangers (AFL)	21
	PCFL North v PCFL South
1946	Los Angeles Bulldogs	38	Tacoma Indians	7

Report

From 1926 to 1949 there were numerous Leagues which styled themselves as Major League Rivals to the National Football League. Most of these Leagues called themselves the “American Football League” and were based in two or three regions of the USA. Only the All-American Football Conference of 1946 to 1949 was countrywide with teams in the East, MidWest, South and West.

What is most notable about these Leagues from the point of view of NFL fans is that the Los Angeles Rams (then based in Cleveland), Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers all started in one of these Leagues before joining the NFL. The NFl (or AFL of the 1960ss which merged with the NFL) reused some of the team names (Baltimore Colts, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals).

Winners of these Leagues were: Philadelphia Quakers (1926), St. Louis / Kansas City Blues (1934), Boston Shamrocks (1936), Los Angeles Bulldogs (1937, 1939), East Chicago Indians (1938), Columbus Bullies (1940-1941), Hollywood Rangers (1944) and Cleveland Browns (1946-1949).

There was also a AAA League on the West Coast of America during the 1940s, booming because of the amount of soldiers stationed there during WWII. Winners of this League were: Los Angeles Bulldogs (1940. 1946), Hollywood Bears (1941, 1945), San Diego Bombers (1942-1944), Hawaiian Warriors (1947, 1948).

The first attempt at taking advantage of West Coast appetite for American Football was the California Winter League of 1927 to 1928 when NFL and AFL teams toured the Pacific Coast arranging matches against teams in California, with League Champions being Los Angeles Buccaneers (1927) and New York Yankees (1928).

References

Websites

[1] Pro Football Hall of Fame (2005) American Football League Standings (1926) [Internet] Available from: http://www.profootballhof.com/news/american-football-league-standings-1926/ [Accessed 5 June 2017]

[2] The Growth of a Game (2015) The Complete List of European NFL Players [Internet] Available from: https://www.growthofagame.com/2015/03/the-complete-list-of-european-nfl-players/ [Accessed 11 October 2019]

[3] Pro Football Archives (2019) |Con O’Brien [Internet] Available from:https://www.profootballarchives.com/playero/obri00400.html [Accessed 5 June 2017]

[4] Bob Gill (2009) Seasons in the Sun – The California winter league of 1927 and ’28 The Coffin Corner Volume 31,No. 1, Pro Football Researchers Association (2009)[Internet] Available from: http://www.profootballresearchers.org/coffin-corner00’s/CC-31-1.pdf [Accessed 20 October 2019]

[5] Bob Gill, The Coffin Corner, Pro Football Researchers Association (1991) Tigers Roar in Tennessee [Internet] Available from: http://www.profootballresearchers.org/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/13-03-425.pdf [Accessed 9 October 2018]

[6] Pro Football Hall of Fame (2005) American Football League Standings (1936-37) [Internet] Available from: http://www.profootballhof.com/news/american-football-league-standings-1936-37/ [Accessed 5 June 2017]

[7] Bob Gill, The Coffin Corner, Pro Football Researchers Association (1989) Back Before Bengalmania – Cincinnati’s First Brush with the Big Time – [Internet] Available from: http://profootballresearchers.com/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/11-05-379.pdf [Accessed 9 October 2018]

[8] Pro Football Archives (2019) 1938 | American Football League [Internet] Available from: https://www.profootballarchives.com/1938.html [Accessed 12 October 2019]

[9] Pro Football Archives (2019) 1939 | American Football League [Internet] Available from: https://www.profootballarchives.com/1939.html [Accessed 12 October 2019]

[10] Pro Football Hall of Fame (2005) American Football League (1940-1941) [Internet] Available from: http://www.profootballhof.com/news/american-football-league-1940-1941/ [Accessed 5 June 2017]

[11] Pro Football Hall of Fame (2005) All-America Football Conference (AAFC) Standings (1946-1949) [Internet] Available from: http://www.profootballhof.com/news/all-america-football-conference-aafc-standings-1946-1949/ [Accessed 5 June 2017]

[12] PCPFL: 1940-45 – Bob Gill, The Coffin Corner, Pro Football Researchers Association (1982) Pacific Coast Pro Football League [Internet] Available from: 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine. – https://web.archive.org/web/20110726192703/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/04-07-104.pdf [Accessed 19 January 2018]

[13] The End of the PCPFL – Bob Gill, The Coffin Corner, Pro Football Researchers Association (1982) The End of the PCPFL [Internet] Available from: http://profootballresearchers.com/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/05-04-135.pdf [Accessed 9 October 2018]

Images

[14] Wikipedia (2018) All-America Football Conference Logo [Internet] Available from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/11/All-America_Football_Conference_%28logo%29.png [Accessed 8 October 2018]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to John Wills, Jean-Paul O’Flynn, John Kane, John Cummins, John Morahan & John Doody

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

World Gridiron Archive

Last Updated: 6 July 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and World Gridiron Archive 2020

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Resereved.