1925 Rock Island Independents season

The 1925 Rock Island Independents season was their sixth and final season in the National Football League. The team failed to improve on their previous league record of 5–2–2, losing three NFL games.^[1] They finished eighth in the NFL.^[2]

The team would join the upstart rival American Football League for the 1926 season.

The 1925 season would prove to be the final campaign of the Rock Island Independents as part of the National Football League. The year started promisingly, with business manager A.H. Bowlby representing the club at the league's annual scheduling meeting, held the weekend of August 1–2 at the Sherman Hotel in Chicago.^[3] Interest in booking the Independents for 1925 was high, with Chris O'Brien, owner of the Chicago Cardinals, and representatives of the Duluth Kelleys immediately seeking to schedule home-and-home dates and other teams lining up for single games.^[3]

This early agreement with the Cardinals would become the focus of a disagreement in October, when Bowlby managed to add a game with the Chicago Bears at Cubs Park to fill what had become an open date on November 1.^[4] O'Brien objected to the appearance of the Green-and-White in the Windy City to start November, believing that it would undercut attendance for the previously-scheduled game against the Cardinals on November 29.^[4] After negotiations, both games were ultimately held.

The year started with two scoreless ties and a 3–0 victory over the Green Bay Packers — the three points scored in three games hardly rocket fuel for fan enthusiasm. Even the feel-good moment of an upset victory in the third game proved short-lived, however, when a rematch with the Packers two weeks later ended in a 20–0 pummeling regarded as the worst defeat in Rock Island franchise history.^[5]

Despite continued extensive and positive coverage in the four daily newspapers of the Rock Island–Moline–Davenport metro area, paid attendance at home games went into the tank, with only 1,500 fans showing up for a game with the Kansas City Cowboys traveling team. Legendary halfback Jim Thorpe was added to the Independents' roster for a rematch three weeks later after having started the season with the New York Giants.^[6]

Business manager Bowlby expressed disappointment over the attendance of the first three home games in 1925, noting that paid admissions had been insufficient to cover expenses of the team.^[7] "We are losing money every day at home," Bowlby told one reporter, adding that in 1924 a weaker team had achieved almost double the average attendance.^[7] The little town of Green Bay, population 35,000, could put 5,000 bodies into the stands to see Rock Island play; the 165,000 people of the quad cities could muster barely more than half of that.^[7] The situation cut deep.

The Islanders hoped for a saving turnout of 10,000 for its next home date, slated for November 8 against the Hammond Pros.^[7] Instead, they were met with disaster. A fall snowstorm blanketed the field with snow, chasing away prospective fans. The call was made not to play in the elements after the visitors had traveled to Douglas Field from Indiana,^[8] presumably putting the home team on the hook for payment of visitor travel costs.

Presold tickets were to be valid for a makeup game scheduled for November 22, initially planned as the completion of the postponed game with Hammond but ultimately played against the Milwaukee Badgers.^[9] An Armistice Day game on the road against the American Legion team of Clinton, Iowa — no better than a break-even proposition financially — was scheduled as a stop-gap.

As the 1925 season came down the home stretch, the Islanders' financial situation was clearly perilous. One local newspaper warned that "the future of National League football in the tri-cities rests on the attendance at the Kansas City game and civic clubs are cooperating with the Islanders in their efforts to keep Sunday football."^[10] Another paper editorialized that attendance at the November 22 second Kansas City game "will answer locally as to whether fans desire a continuance here of professional football as furnished by the Independents."^[11]

The result of the call to arms proved underwhelming, with "a handful of fans, perhaps 1,500," making their way to the turnstiles to support the home team in their resounding 35–12 win over the overmatched Kansas City squad.^[12] Despite failing the exam, Tri-City fans were given a final opportunity to lend support, with one more home game added to the schedule "against either Duluth or Milwaukee" the following week.^[12]

The bitingly cold winds of fall triumphed, with a "disappointing" trickle of fans coming to see the green-and-white take on the Milwaukee Badgers.^[13] One local newspaper estimated the paltry crowd at just 1,200.^[14] Another paper chalked up virtually the entire gate to the efforts of the local Elks Club to save the team through a presale of tickets.^[13]

A final decision on the future of the team was promised shortly.^[14]

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
* The Pottsville Maroons were suspended from the league in December,
and the Chicago Cardinals named the NFL champions.

• Bob Braunwart and Bob Carroll, "The Rock Island Independents," The Coffin Corner, vol. 5, no. 3 (1983).