Northwest Football League
{{Short description|Football League}}
{{Infobox sports league
| logo =
| pixels = 150px
| sport = American football
| inaugural = 1935
| folded = 1938
| fame = The first football league to feature an all-Black football team
| country = United States
| champion = Des Moines Comets
| most_champs = La Crosse Lagers and Des Moines Comets (2)
| teams = varied (from 4 to 8)
}}
The Northwest Football League (NWFL) was a professional American football minor league that played from 1935 to 1938, in the northern part of Midwestern United States.{{Cite web|url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/11-01-362.pdf|title=Coffin Corner: Other Minor Leagues|accessdate=Apr 21, 2022}} The league had some relationships with the National Football League (NFL), and scheduled exhibition games against the Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals and Green Bay Packers through it existence.
The last remaining member of the NWFL, the Des Moines Comets, continued as independents through 1940.{{Cite web|url=https://www.profootballarchives.com/1940des.html|title=1940 Des Moines Comets - Pro Football Archives|website=www.profootballarchives.com|accessdate=Apr 21, 2022}}
League origin
Prior to the NWFL first season there was a circuit that operated in the Midwestern area called Tri-States Football League in 1934.{{cite news |title=Fort Atkinson Blackhawks meets Chippewa Falls Marines |work=Ironwood Daily Globe|date=October 20, 1934}} The "league" was more of a loose association between the teams, who also scheduled games against NFL{{Cite web|url=http://www.packershistory.net/1934PACKERS/PRESEASON-GAME1.html|title=Green Bay Packers 28, Fort Atkinson Blackhawks 7|accessdate=Apr 21, 2022}} and other prominent independent or Canadian pro teams, without attempt to crown a champion as scheduling was left up to each team. Because of that there were wide variations, both in the overall number of games played and in the number played against other association members.
The Chippewa Falls Marines,{{Cite web|url=https://www.profootballarchives.com/1934tsflchip.html|title=1934 Chippewa Falls Marines (TSFL) - Pro Football Archives|website=www.profootballarchives.com|accessdate=Apr 21, 2022}} Gogebic Panthers,{{Cite web|url=https://www.profootballarchives.com/1934gog.html|title=1934 Gogebic Panthers - Pro Football Archives|website=www.profootballarchives.com|accessdate=Apr 21, 2022}} La Crosse Old Style Lagers{{Cite web|url=https://www.profootballarchives.com/1934tsfllac.html|title=1934 La Crosse Old Style Lagers (TSFL) - Pro Football Archives|website=www.profootballarchives.com|accessdate=Apr 21, 2022}} and Minnesota All-Stars (then known as the Minnesota University All-Stars{{Cite web|url=https://www.profootballarchives.com/1934tsflmin.html|title=1934 Minnesota University All-Stars (TSFL) - Pro Football Archives|website=www.profootballarchives.com|accessdate=Apr 21, 2022}}) would later form the Tri-States Division in the Northwest Football League.
1935
The season started with eight teams, four teams from the Tri-States Football League, and four from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area, divided to two separate divisions. The St. Paul Bears folded after only two games (both loses), while the Minneapolis Ewalds decided to dropped out before the final week of the season.
{{color box|border=darkgray|#cfc|}} Northwest Football League champions.
{{note label|MD|{{Dagger}}}}Folded mid-season.
Championship Game: Minneapolis Jerseys 0 vs. La Crosse Old Style Lagers 25 (November 24, 1942 in Minneapolis, MN)
Lagers star Halfback Russ Cycmanick was killed in a car accident on his way to the game, while starting Guard Herman ("Max") Gay was seriously injured and had to retire from football. A week after the season La Crosse played All-Star benefit exhibition game against "Northwest Football League All-Stars", winning the match 18–13, and donating the earnings to the players families.Bob Gill, with Tod Maher. Outsiders: Minor League And Independent Football, 1923-1950, p. vii. St. Johann Press, 2006. {{ISBN|187828245X}}
1936
After the dissolution of the Tri-States Division, the league dropped the two-division format, and decided the championship solely on the regular season results. On October 11, La Crosse decided to run the score against Madison (winning 100–0), because they wanted the Cardinals to drop out of the league, as they failed to attract former Wisconsin Badgers stars as promised. The Cardinals folded few days later.
{{color box|border=darkgray|#cfc|}} Northwest Football League champions.
1937
The league returned for the 1937 with only four teams. Des Moines were able to defeat La Crosse in both meetings, finishing the season with a perfect 6–0 record and winning their first championship.
{{color box|border=darkgray|#cfc|}} Northwest Football League champions.
1938
The two-time champions La Crosse failed to field a team for the 1938 season, with only Des Moines and Cedar Rapids returning from previous season. To compensate, the league added lower level independent teams, but none offer a real competition to the Comets, who ran out the league for their second and final NWFL championship. The league disbanded at the end of the season, with most teams folded.
The only other important team that season was the Chicago Brown Bombers, an all-black team that played almost exclusively on the road. The Brown Bombers played a year earlier against league members as a non-league opponents, but made history in 1938 when they joined the NWFL full-time, as the first all-black football team in a pro football league.
{{color box|border=darkgray|#cfc|}} Northwest Football League champions.
References
{{reflist}}
{{Professional gridiron football leagues in North America}}
Category:Defunct American football leagues in the United States
Category:1935 establishments in the United States
Category:1938 disestablishments in the United States