Between 1922 and 1926, Milwaukee had its very own NFL team, the Milwaukee Badgers. Rarely able to field a competitive squad or find a regular following among Milwaukee football fans, the Badgers eventually went bust. Since then, the Packers have reigned as Milwaukee’s hometown team. But for two seasons in the early 1940s, the Milwaukee area was again home to a pro football team: the Milwaukee Chiefs of the short-lived American Football League.
The AFL (the third of four football leagues to use the title) was an upstart loop that moved into the territory of the five-year old Midwest Football League. The MFL had planned on expanding into Milwaukee for the 1940 season, but the newly formed AFL beat them to it while also establishing teams in Boston, New York and Buffalo. When the MFL ceased operations, the league’s Columbus and Cincinnati franchises jumped to the AFL, finalizing the league’s six-team roster.
Coached by former Packers tackle Tiny Cahoon, the Chiefs got off to a great start, crushing three semi-professional opponents by a combined score of 129-0 in exhibition play. Their first league game came at the old Dairy Bowl at State Fair Park, where they upended the Columbus Bullies – 1939 champions of the MFL – by a score of 14-2. 7,500 fans turned out to see the new club in action.
But the Chiefs had money problems. Players were paid sporadically and overdue game checks caused several members of the team to skip a road game against the Buffalo Indians. In early October, with the Chiefs at 3-0 in league play, the team’s uniforms were repossessed and players began to desert the club. After a game against the St. Louis Gunners was canceled, the AFL stepped in and gave control of the team to a three-person committee – one representative each from the club’s players, its management, and its creditors. Within a few weeks, the American Legion’s Milwaukee County Council took control of the club, hoping that their vast local membership rolls could help to boost the team.
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For all their financial woes, the Chiefs had a good football operation and impressed many local fans. For one home game against the Boston Bears, Mayor Carl Zeidler declared it to be “Football Day” in the city. The local papers gave nearly equal coverage to the Chiefs and Packers and praised the team for bringing a college-like enthusiasm – with marching bands, flags, and other pomp – to the pro game. After a two-game losing streak in October, they ran off three straight wins, allowing just seven points and setting themselves for a shot at the league title.
Entering the season’s final week, the Chiefs needed to beat the Buffalo Indians at home and for the first-place Bullies to lose against the New York Yankees to secure a tie-breaking championship match with Columbus. After a resounding 30-13 win over the Indians, the Bullies trailed the Yanks 16-3 heading into the final period. But a surprise comeback (the Yankees claimed that the Bullies had an unfair advantage by refusing to turn on the lights at the playing grounds) gave Columbus a last-minute win and another league title. The Chiefs finished at 7-2 on the year, scoring more points and allowing fewer than any other AFL team.
Despite the near-title, the Chiefs were still struggling financially. Just weeks after the season, the team announced that it was thousands of dollars in debt and badly needed a cash infusion. In January, the team launched a stock sale, offering shares of the club for $5 each. Just as with the publically owned Green Bay Packers, the shares would never pay dividends and came with no voting privileges. The trust created for the sale required the team to sell 3,600 shares –$18,000 worth – in order to collect the cash. For two months, the team campaigned for funds, with Mayor Zeidler and Governor Julius Heil supporting the drive and Chiefs players selling shares from booths in Downtown hotels. In late April, the team finally topped the $18,000 mark and the Chiefs announced they would return for the 1941 season.
Unfortunately, the now financially sound Chiefs stumbled in ’41, dropping their first three games of the season. The team finished strong, winning four of their last five with one tie, but they finished in third place in the now-five team league. Two weeks after the season ended, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the AFL decided to suspend operations until after the war. But the league, and the Chiefs, would not return.
