In 1920 the first professional football championship is won by the Akron Pros of Ohio. Starting at wingback for that team is a 5-foot-11 converted offensive guard and World War I veteran Frank McCormick, of South Dakota. The Pros finished the year in what would later be known as the National Football League with a record of 8-0-3. The title is awarded by a vote of team owners. McCormick plays one more year of pro football for the Cincinnati Celts. Commander of the American Legion's Department of South Dakota in 1924-25, McCormick famously invites his friend and fellow legionnaire, John L. Griffith, to speak at the summer convention in Milbank, S.D. There, former Army major and new athletic commissioner of the Big 10 Conference tells delegates that the American Legion is the perfect organization to launch a youth sports program that instilled discipline, teamwork, fitness, and responsible citizenship. That idea is converted into a national resolution in October 1925 that becomes American Legion Baseball. McCormick goes on - after helping his team win the first title in what would today be known as the super bowl-to coach college football and baseball. He later serves twice as the University of Minnesota athletic director for a total of 14 years. Griffith continues as the Big 10 commissioner until 1944.
Reprinted with permission of the American Legion Magazine, November 2024. Please join your local American Legion post/ veterans helping veterans/ be the one.
January 2025 by Charles Massey, Hickory Post 173, Central Area District 5 Vice Commander.
