This article is very long, but a great read, and well worth it. I never knew that the NFL began with smaller city teams mostly in the midwest. For anyone who loves the NFL, this is a must read. https://theathletic.com/2688366/202...s-rock-island-independents/?source=dailyemail Once a fierce Chicago Bears rival, what ever happened to the NFL’s Rock Island Independents? Scott Dochterman Jul 4, 2021 81 ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — At the intersection of 18th Avenue and 10th Street stand two brick ticket booths that serve as enduring markers to NFL history. For more than a century, those structures have stood at the entryway to Douglas Park, which once hosted an NFL charter franchise. In this gritty Mississippi River town, the booths are the only remaining relic from a foregone era when professional football consisted of mid-sized industrial towns and major communities. The former football playing surface now serves as the outfield to a semi-pro baseball team, and a mural on the press box charts a few of the events that took place at this 116-year-old facility. But NFL history bursts beyond the confines of this neighborhood park. The league’s first kickoff took place here. The Rock Island Independents competed unattached as early as 1901 and became the disputed national champion in 1919. It was one of 11 communities that formed the American Professional Football Association (later renamed National Football League) on Sept. 17, 1920. Nine days later, Douglas Park served as host to the league’s first official contest on Sept. 26, 1920. In six NFL seasons, the Independents were among the league’s most competitive franchises with only one losing season. They employed five future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and were locked into the NFL’s first great rivalry with the Decatur Staleys/Chicago Bears. Rock Island owns a series advantage against the Chicago Cardinals (2-1) and Green Bay Packers (3-1-1) and faced the Bears 13 times officially. From 1919 through 1926, one year before the NFL’s founding and one year after leaving the NFL, the Independents started at least one Black man on their roster every year but 1922. In the first NFL game, a Black man, Robert Marshall, opened at right end, played the entire game and intercepted a pass in the first quarter. Slumping attendance and impending financial ruin forced the Independents from the NFL following the 1925 season. A jump to the start-up American Football League backfired in 1926, and the Independents were relegated to local football games through 1928. That’s the digestible, fact-based story. Ticket booths at the entryway to Douglas Park at the intersection of 18th Avenue and 10th Street in Rock Island, Ill. (Scott Dochterman / The Athletic) Like many defunct NFL teams, the Independents are sprinkled among fact books and media guides. Yet little is known about the franchise except through century-old newspapers, writings from local historian Simon Herrera, a vintage game staged every year in Rock Island and peppermint green-and-white throwback shirts. Published accounts from the Rock Island Argus, the Davenport (Iowa) Democrat, the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, the Decatur (Ill.) Herald & Review and the Green Bay Press-Gazette each provide a piece representing the Rock Island Independents’ historical puzzle. Those outlets bring to life one of the most captivating and important franchises in the nation’s most popular sport. Early history The Quad Cities metro area approaches nearly 400,000 people and encompasses Iowa and Illinois communities along the Mississippi River. Davenport, Iowa, is by far the largest individual city with more than 100,000 people, while Rock Island, Moline, Ill., and Bettendorf, Iowa, all have comparable populations. Not only does the river divide the states, but it often creates a provincial chasm between the cities themselves. Chief Black Hawk was born in present-day Rock Island, and his war against the United States took place in that area. The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River connected Rock Island with Davenport. During the Civil War, the Rock Island Arsenal held more than 12,000 Confederate prisoners, and nearly 2,000 are buried there. Manufacturing, the railroad and the river have served as the lifeblood to Quad Cities’ industry, and Rock Island’s past is the most visible among the quartet. The Independents were born in 1901 and became an established entity in 1912. They played at Island City Park, which was renamed for Sen. Stephen Douglas in 1917. Throughout the decade, the team became a regional power and attracted a following in Rock Island and the region, which then was known as Tri-City (with Davenport and Moline). In 1919, the Independents vaulted in stature from quaint to powerful. Outside of a 12-7 blemish to Hammond (Ind.), in which the Independents were stranded at the 2-yard line at halftime, they were unscored upon through their first eight games. Their reputation stretched to Ohio, which featured the best pro teams of that area. On Nov. 23, 1919, the Independents faced the Columbus Panhandles, who were led by future NFL commissioner Joe Carr. Rock Island shocked the Panhandles 40-0, which prompted Carr to tell a reporter from the Rock Island Argus that only the Canton Bulldogs could give the Independents a game. A week later, the Independents proved their mettle again with a 17-0 win against the Akron Indians on a snowy Nov. 30, 1919. Rock Island held Akron to just one first down and featured Black starters in Akron running back Fritz Pollard and Rock Island end Robert Marshall. With a 9-1-1 record and eight straight shutouts, the Independents wanted a shot at Canton, which was 9-0-1 and led by the game’s most recognizable star: Jim Thorpe. At 10 a.m. Dec. 1, Canton manager Ralph Hay sent a telegram to Rock Island counterpart Walter Flanigan agreeing to a game Dec. 7 at Douglas Park. Independents’ brass hoped for a crowd exceeding 5,000 and planned to sell tickets at $2 apiece. Later that evening, Hay called Flanigan and asked about the Akron score; Canton had beaten the Indians twice but only 19-7 and 14-0. After Flanigan said it was 17-0, Hay replied that he would have to ask Thorpe. One hour and 17 minutes later, Hay wired Flanigan and wrote, “Have disbanded team. Cannot meet Rock Island.” According to The Argus, Flanigan attempted to call Hay but couldn’t reach him. In another wire, Flanigan wrote, “We are offering your team the largest guarantee that it has ever received before, $5,000 or a privilege of 50 percent of the gate. If you don’t accept, Rock Island fans will say you are quitters. Wire me your answer.” Hearing no response, Flanigan left by train for Canton and hoped to convince Hay and Thorpe to play. On Dec. 4, Flanigan received his final answer in person. He sent a telegram to the Rock Island Argus that read: “Bad case cold feet. They would hardly believe we beat Akron. When they found out, it was all off. Turned down $7,000. I am positive we would have defeated them, and so were they. W.H. FLANIGAN.” In one day of sales, the Independents already had collected $5,000 in advance ticket sales. In a letter to The Argus, a fan wrote the team should keep his ticket money as a show of his appreciation. Within a week, the Independents gained $1,003.63 that way.
The 1919 Rock Island Independents did not allow a point in the first eight games of their season. (Photo: Rock Island Parks & Recreation) Although the Bulldogs never played Rock Island, they became allies in one venture. Discussions formulated through 1920 for the Midwest’s primary teams to form an association. According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the organizational goal was to “place professional football on a higher plane (and) prevent players from holding up managers for outlandish salaries.” There was universal agreement in keeping collegiate players from signing with pro clubs and “a heavy forfeit will be placed on any manager playing any college football men who are still attending school.” Football representatives from Chicago, Rock Island, Decatur, Ill., Rochester, N.Y., Muncie, Ind., and Hammond, Ind., and along with Ohio communities of Cleveland, Dayton, Akron, Canton and Massillon, met in Canton on Sept. 17, 1920. They formed the American Pro Football Association and elected Thorpe as president. They agreed on schedules, which included games against non-affiliated members. Rock Island opened with the first game of the association against non-league member, the St. Paul (Minn.) Ideals. With Marshall as one of three Independents to play the entire game, Rock Island crushed St. Paul 48-0. The Independents followed with league victories against Muncie (45-0) and Hammond (26-0) before facing a team of which they knew nothing. That would change almost instantaneously. NFL’s first great rivalry Exactly one month from the APFA’s formation, Rock Island faced the Decatur Staleys, who were led by player-coach George Halas. The undefeated and supremely prepared Staleys upstaged the previously unbeaten Independents 7-0 on a 43-yard touchdown run from future Pro Football Hall of Fame halfback Jimmy Conzelman in the second quarter. In his recap, The Argus sportswriter Bruce Copeland decried the Independents’ performance as “punchless” and “erratic.” “The Independents deserved to lose for allowing an otherwise inferior team to catch them wholly out of physical condition, rush them off their feet and precipitate them into such impotent confusion that disrupted every vestige of the incomparable teamwork of former triumphs,” Copeland wrote. Animosity grew between the teams and their fans that Sunday in Rock Island. Copeland instigated the hard feelings in his partisan ramblings. One day after the loss, Copeland delivered backhanded compliments to the Staleys’ daily three-hour scrimmages. “Without these essentials of practice,” he wrote, “the Staleys might have been defeated Sunday by 100-0 or more.” In his autobiography, Halas wrote the Decatur fans had cleaned up against the Rock Island gamblers which intensified the emotions on both sides. The teams won their next two games decisively; the Independents beat the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 and the Chicago Tigers 20-7. The Staleys topped the Tigers 10-0 and an unaffiliated team from Rockford, Ill., 29-0. The Independents and Staleys were due to play again Nov. 7, this time in Decatur. But their first meeting attracted so much attention that Rock Island wanted to bring back the Staleys, and Peoria, Ill., also wanted to host the battle. Six days before the game, Halas and Independents manager Walter Flanigan met at the Planters Hotel in Chicago for an all-day conference. They disregarded Peoria’s offer and focused on what Flanigan would guarantee the Staleys. Flanigan agreed to give Halas $3,000 to play in Rock Island, which irked the Decatur community. “Manager Flanigan of the Rock Island team declared that he would cancel the contract for the game rather than have it go away from Rock Island,” wrote the Decatur Herald & Review. The Davenport and Rock Island newspapers, naturally, saw it differently. “It was only after weeks of dickering that Manager Flanigan landed the game and he secured it at a time when it appeared almost hopeless,” wrote the Davenport Democrat. “Flanigan offered the Staleys the biggest guarantee ever given a team in Rock Island to land the contest. “Halas wanted the game in Rock Island because of the gate. The Staley ownership finally relented.” The Argus’ Copeland, per usual, stirred the emotional pot one word at a time. “The Staleys, the greatest sensation of the year in professional football, abandoned the extensive plans of their own supporters to stage the great game in Decatur in favor of Rock Island and its superior bid,” Copeland wrote. “(Staleys center George Trafton) is big, strong and speedy enough to carry the battle to almost any center of prominence. He, however, spreads it on thick. Halas, suave with noticeable traces of vindictiveness toward any opponent, avowed openly that he was positive his team could defeat the Independents by at least three touchdowns.” Under a photo showing Trafton in the Nov. 3 newspaper. Copeland wrote, “Trafton boasts overtly that the Independents were the softest team he ever played against and will be out to repeat Sunday — if he can.” The game received heavy traction from fans, ticket scalpers and bettors. The Independents added more than 500 field chairs and increased standing-room capacity to 2,000 fans. Scalpers secured blocks of tickets and were selling them between 30-40 percent higher. Police from Davenport and Moline were brought in, and Rock Island’s police chief swore in 50 extra officers and vowed to arrest any ticket scalper. Two days before the game, Flannigan told Halas over the phone that every reserved seat was sold, and people still were looking for tickets. Halas’ “Starch Workers” left Decatur by train at 10:56 a.m. Saturday and arrived in Davenport around 8 p.m. Halas opted to stay in Iowa to avoid some of the most impassioned Rock Island fans, but they still found his team and, especially, Trafton. “Trafton was personally challenged in the Davenport hotel Saturday evening, and a handful of these birds from Rock Island heckled and ‘razzed’ him into bets that he would be forced to take time before the end of the first quarter,” the Davenport Democrat reported. “Trafton bet till his money was gone and went into the game (Sunday) hammer and tongs.” “Being cautious — off the field — I made our overnight headquarters at Hotel Davenport in Davenport, Iowa, across the Mississippi River from Rock Island,” Halas wrote in his autobiography. “Several gamblers appeared in the hotel and offered substantial sums that the Independents would win. They boasted that George Trafton, our best defensive man, would be knocked out of the game in the first quarter.” The game exceeded the pre-game bluster. Between 7,000 and 8,000 fans showed up to soggy Douglas Park. A makeshift set of bleachers on the field’s north side collapsed during the game. Trafton became the fans’ chief antagonist. Rock Island center Harry Gunderson, the man fans wanted to see knock out Trafton, instead became the first to fall. Trafton head-butted Gunderson, who was standing up, and sent him flying. Up for debate was whether the play was considered legal or well after the whistle. The umpire called for Trafton’s ejection while the referee overruled it as unintentional contact. Play was suspended for eight minutes amid boos and jeers. When it restarted, Grafton and the Staleys took out three more Independents, including star running back Fred Chicken. “The most flagrant violation of all was the murderous attempt of Trafton to eliminate Gunderson, which was successful,” Copeland wrote. “Gunderson, by sheer strength, had been playing the big brute off his feet in the line, spilling play after play. Flagrant is too mild a word to describe such utter lack of sportsmanship. A cave-dweller could have done no better.” With a more impartial take, the Davenport Democrat reporter put some of the blame on Copeland. “The bets of ‘enthusiastic’ fans that Gunderson would ‘get’ Trafton before the end of the first quarter ended disastrously for a Swede center and a number of other players,” wrote the Davenport Democrat. “A cyclone of cheers in the grandstand made it impossible for the visitors to call their signals. “Much of the dirty work on the sidelines is said to be the result of the sentiment fostered during the week by Rock Island’s only sport writer, who for the entire week has been quoting Trafton, Staleys’ center, to the effort that he would get the Rock Island line during the game.” Halas said Trafton’s knockout of Gunderson was accidental despite the blow forcing a Rock Island doctor to “put 19 stitches in his scalp and a plaster cast around his broken wrist.” The game ended in a tie, but Rock Island’s fans wanted a piece of Trafton. “We foresaw trouble for our George,” Halas wrote. “Fortunately, as the end neared, we had the ball. We devised a play that had George running toward the exit. As the gun fired with the score still 0-0, George went out the gate. We threw him a sweatshirt to hide his numerals. He headed for the bridge and Iowa. A car stopped and carried him to safety across the river and the state line.” Trafton almost didn’t make it. As he jumped in the back of a taxi, a bottle crashed through a window, which sent glass flying. Neither Trafton nor the driver was hurt. When he made it to the Hotel Davenport, Trafton met with Halas. “Our share of the gate was $3,000, in cash,” Halas wrote. “At the hotel, I gave it to Trafton to bring to the train. I knew if we did encounter obstreperous Rock Island fans, I would run for the money, but Trafton would run for his life. Trafton returned the money to me on the train.”
The teams met 13 times over a six-year block. The Bears won eight, and there were four ties. The only time — officially — Rock Island was victorious came Sept. 30, 1923. Herb Sies connected on a second-quarter field goal to elevate the Independents to a 3-0 win. According to Art Williams of The Argus, Sol Butler was the “most outstanding performer” who “pulled off some of the prettiest pivoting and dodging work ever seen on a local gridiron.” Butler, a Black man from Rock Island, made his professional football debut that day after a record-breaking international track career. Only a leg injury kept Butler from competing in the 1920 Olympics, but he won numerous world titles in the broad jump. The victory ignited a celebration throughout the Quad Cities. “They said it couldn’t be done, but it was,” wrote Williams. “That is many of the fans did who watched the Independents and the Bears battle for three years with Rock Island always coming out on the bottom of the heap.” In a look back at the Independents’ NFL era in 1925, The Argus wrote a separate story on the Bears rivalry. “At no time since the two teams first met in 1920 has one or the other had anything but a hard fight with each other,” wrote The Argus. “‘Bitter’ is now a better word to use in describing these meetings, and with each year the spirit of rivalry has continued to increase. Bears vs. Independents is a longer way of spelling “grid classic” in the minds of tri-city fans.” Downward slope Halas’ franchise continuously kept Rock Island from winning the NFL title. In 1921, the Independents beat the Chicago Cardinals 14-7 and claimed the inaugural meeting with the Green Bay Packers 13-3 — both on the road. But Rock Island’s only two losses came to the Staleys. Their first meeting was held on a Monday afternoon in Decatur, a 14-10 loss. Halas planned to move his squad to Chicago, but the Cubs and White Sox were playing their annual postseason crosstown series and Cubs Park (now Wrigley Field) wasn’t available for football. Six days later, the Staleys lined up at the iconic venue, where they lived until 1971. In 1922, Rock Island again was 4-2-1 and both losses came to Halas’ newly christened Bears. That year, the Independents signed its greatest player in Duke Slater. An All-American lineman at Iowa, where he remained a law student, Slater spurned an offer from Halas and transfer to a Chicago university and instead stayed only 60 miles from Iowa City. Slater, a Black man who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class, commuted to Iowa for law school in the mornings before practicing later in the afternoons. Slater was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020. (Photo: Rock Island Parks & Recreation) After a 2-3-3 record in 1923 — the only losing NFL season in team history — the Independents returned as one of the league’s best squads in 1924. Although the team welcomed Black players, some of Rock Island’s opponents did not. In a game at Kansas City, Slater did not suit up for his football team for the only time in his professional career. Kansas City laws refused to allow Slater to compete against White men in the city. With Slater out, not even the newly signed player-coach Thorpe could help unbeaten Rock Island in a 23-7 loss. In the rematch a few weeks later, Rock Island got even 17-0. With a chance to share the NFL title, Rock Island stumbled in the season finale against Duluth 9-0 to finish 6-2-2. With a 7-1-1 mark and a 16-14 win against the Chicago Bears, the Cleveland Bulldogs officially claimed the NFL crown based on winning percentage over the Bears (6-1-4). The Bulldogs and Bears then met again on Dec. 7 and Chicago won 23-0 to avenge an early defeat and stake their claim as the rightful champions. But in the confusing era, it was considered a non-league game. A week later, Rock Island, which tied the Bears twice that season, met up with its rival for a third meeting on Dec. 14 at Cubs Park. Officially, it was off the books. A 25-yard interception return by Evar Swanson gave the Independents a 7-0 lead that held for most of the game. With about two minutes left, the Bears’ Jim Sternaman burst in from the 12-yard line to bring Chicago within a point. Sternaman, however, missed the extra point and the Independents held on 7-6. It was a hard-fought but mostly cleanly played. According to the Chicago Tribune, “The usual display of fisticuffs, so frequently seen when Rock Island comes here, was not evident yesterday. But (Buck) Gavin, a visiting player, was chased from the game after striking the referee, Bobby Cahn, comparatively half the size of the pugnacious Rock Island fullback.” The Bears considered this matchup an exhibition because Rock Island used Swanson, who played with the Milwaukee franchise during the season. Chicago still claimed the national title, and Rock Island considered itself the rightful league champion. Neither claim received merit. By 1925, the Independents remained competitive on the field but the sport began to take root in major cities. Both the Bears and Cardinals established fan bases on both ends of Chicago. The New York Giants had become a popular attraction in the nation’s most populated city. Some of the games in major markets had gates beyond 20,000 fans. Rock Island needed at least 5,000 a game to remain financially solvent but interest had plateaued. In the season opener, the Bears traveled to Rock Island. The Independents had the ball first-and-goal at the Bears’ 1-yard line. Gavin fumbled and the Bears recovered. Despite that outcome and a 3-0 victory against Green Bay within the first three games, home attendance had waned. The Packers later handed the Independents their worst loss of the season, 20-0, in Green Bay. On Nov. 1, in their final meeting against the Bears, Thorpe was barely a shell of himself as a player and Rock Island lost 6-0. “He failed to do anything toward winning it,” wrote The Argus. “He was elected to handle the punting job, and one of his boots, straight up in the air, gave the Bears a chance for one of the two dropkicks made by Joe Sternaman.” Afterward, management announced there was a financial crisis with the team. There was an urgency attached to the plea, and the community tried to rally. The Rock Island Elks Club took over ticket sales for a game against Hammond (Ind.) and announced it as a homecoming for former players. Then several inches of snow blanketed the city, and the game was canceled. The homecoming was pushed back one more week for a game against the Kansas City Cowboys. Management hoped for 5,000 fans. Instead, with the cold continuing to bite down, only 1,500 showed up to watch a 35-12 victory. It was the final home NFL contest for the Independents. On Thanksgiving, Rock Island traveled to Detroit and beat the league-leading Panthers 6-3. In the season finale on Nov. 29, Rock Island fell to the league champion Chicago Cardinals 7-0 at Comiskey Park. The Independents finished at 5-3-3, just ahead of the Packers (8-5) and just behind the Bears (9-5-3) and Giants (8-4). In their six NFL seasons, the Independents officially were 26-14-12 with only one losing season. They were involved in the league’s hottest rivalry with the popular Bears, but they couldn’t keep up financially. By season’s end, barring a major community-related investment, it seemed almost a formality the team would leave the NFL. One final plea from the hometown daily newspaper coupled with what it envisioned for the sport itself appears prescient almost a century later. “The Independents have been of major league caliber during every season since 1919, and if records alone would provide for success in the professional football field in Rock Island from all standpoints, there is no doubt that the team would be sailing in a cloudless sky,” wrote the Rock Island Argus on Dec. 30, 1925. “Rock Island fandom, ardent supporters of professional football through the turmoil and competition that 14 consecutive seasons since 1912 has had to offer, is faced with the prospect of losing the game. That the loss, if sustained, would be a great one, it is not necessary to emphasize. Professional football and the National Pro league gained in power and in prestige by leaps and bounds during 1925. It is becoming a generally known fact that the paid sport has come to stay, that being only five years old, it is in its infancy. “Next year, the name of Rock Island Independents, written upon league records as one of the charter members, may not be flashed over the country. Rock Island and tri-city fans may be without a sport that means as much now and will later mean more than a National or American league baseball franchise. And all has come because attendance at the home games during the year dwindled far below the necessary number.”
Over the ensuing seven months, Rock Island brass negotiated with NFL officials about finding a way to keep the team, including playing a majority of road games for guarantees. Concurrently, Independents’ secretary Archie Bowlby sought financial backing from business groups. But waning attendance coupled with the sport’s national growth had surpassed what the Mississippi River community could support. On July 8, 1926, Rock Island officially dropped out of the NFL. “There was once a day, and not so long ago either, when the paid grid sport was a worth-while proposition to its backers in the city. The situation changed today,” wrote The Argus. “During each of the last five years, the Rock Island Independents have been a major figure in national professional football. Games of the same class as those played to crowds of 20,000 and 30,000 in Chicago and New York have been staged in the city. But tri-city fandom has turned out in numbers that spelled financial failure.” But the franchise wasn’t completely gone, however. Two weeks later, promoter C.C. Pyle and superstar Red Grange formed the American Football League, and both wanted the Independents’ name for their new endeavor. Eight of the nine teams were placed in major U.S. cities, including Chicago, Newark, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston and Los Angeles. Grange would compete for the flagship New York Yankees, which wore bright red, white and blue. Rock Island would host three games, then play the final 11 on the road. The Los Angeles squad, which was known as Wilson’s Wildcats, was scheduled to play every game away from home. The Independents kept most of their roster and added former Notre Dame fullback Elmer Layden — one of the Four Horsemen — as their fullback. They won two of their first three games with the only loss coming to Grange and the Yankees in the middle. Two days after beating the Chicago Bulls 7-3, the team hopped aboard a Northland bus with the words “Rock Island Independents Foot Ball Club Rock Island, Ill” and embarked on a 4,000-mile journey eastbound. The Independents lost at Cleveland and Philadelphia, had Brooklyn cancel on them because of a downpour and tied Newark before about 400 fans. A week later, they played Grange’s squad at Yankee Stadium and lost 35-0. Outside of Grange’s Yankees, the league was hemorrhaging money. The Newark, Cleveland and Brooklyn franchises dropped out. The Independents’ second contest with the Bulls was moved up three weeks to Nov. 21. At snowy Comiskey Park, the Bulls beat the Independents 3-0. Attempts by Rock Island management to secure another game with Wilson’s Wildcats failed, and the Independents ended their season 2-5-1. Slater had played for Rock Island since 1922 and agreed to terms with the Chicago Cardinals once the Independents’ season ended. When he left, so did the last hopes of the once-proud organization. The Independents asked for NFL reinstatement at the April 23, 1927 meetings but they were denied. Charter members in Canton, Akron and Hammond also were nudged out of the fledgling league. After considering a tiered system, the NFL chose to focus on its larger markets. The Independents put together two final campaigns as an unaffiliated squad. In 1927, they played four home games against regional semi-pro teams, beating squads from Moline, Ill., Clinton, Iowa, and two from Chicago. They were 3-0-1 and traveled on Oct. 30 to Spring Valley, where they lost 9-7. They played five games against nearby teams in 1928 and disbanded afterward. Legacy Douglas Park now sits in a working-class neighborhood located only a mile from the Mississippi River. The Friends of Douglas Park non-profit organization has donated more than $2 million into renovating the once-dilapidated area that previously had 16-foot fencing with barbed wire across the top to keep out drug activity. “It’s a big source of pride,” said Rock Island Parks and Recreation director John Gripp. “People who have grown up in and around Douglas Park, private donors, have given $100,000-plus to see this thing come back to life, to honor the history of Douglas and the NFL and everything else.” (Scott Dochterman / The Athletic) Plans are under discussion for a boardwalk along 18th Avenue with storyboards to display Douglas Park’s history, including the old Independents. A former firehouse on the park’s southwest corner eventually will become an educational center. On Sept. 11, another vintage football game will take place representing the Independents. As part of the NFL’s centennial celebration, 2019 draft selections were unveiled from charter franchise locations. Former Augustana (Ill.) College quarterback Ken Anderson, perhaps the best NFL quarterback not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, announced the Rock Island selection for the Cincinnati Bengals that afternoon. On April 28, 2021, Slater officially became the fifth Rock Island player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He joined Conzelman, Thorpe, Ed Healey and Joe Guyon with busts in Canton. Slater, who later became a Chicago judge, played five seasons with the Independents, much longer than the others. “It is a belief of many that the Independents will continue to live,” wrote The Argus in 1925. “Without doubt they have to have a place in Rock Island and in the tri-cities.” Gone but not forgotten, the Independents are but one tile in the NFL mosaic. But it’s one that sets the foundation.
