Thanksgiving Football Results from 1920

Three NFL games for your enjoyment this Thanksgiving plus the results from 1920

The Detroit Lions have hosted a game every Thanksgiving Day since 1934 (with the exception of 1939–1944. They have been nationally televised since 1962. In 1966, the NFL introduced an annual game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys, which has been played every year except in 1975 and 1977 when the St. Louis Cardinals hosted a match instead. However, St. Louis football fans, used to the traditional “Turkey Day Game” between Kirkwood High School and Webster Groves High School as the only local match on Thanksgiving, did not respond well to an NFL fixture on the same day, and thus Dallas resumed hosting the game in 1978.

Since 2006, three games are played every Thanksgiving. This year the Detroit Lions host the Green Bay Packers at 12.30 p.m. EST shown on the Fox network; the Dallas Cowboys entertain the Miami Dolphins at 4.15 p.m. EST on CBS and on the NFL network at 8.20 p.m. EST, the Baltimore Raven will play the San Fransisco Forty-Niners.

Football on Thanksgiving is actually a tradition that predates the league’s formation itself. Records of pro football being played on Thanksgiving date back to as early as 1902, when the “National” Football League, a Major League Baseball-backed organization based entirely in Pennsylvania and unrelated to the current NFL, attempted to settle its championship over Thanksgiving weekend. After the game ended in a tie, eventually all three teams in the league claimed to have won the title.

Members of the Ohio League, during its early years, usually placed their marquee matchups on Thanksgiving Day. For instance, in 1905 and 1906 the Latrobe Athletic Association and Canton Bulldogs, considered at the time to be two of the best teams in professional football (along with the Massillon Tigers), played on Thanksgiving.

A rigging scandal with the Tigers leading up to the 1906 game led to severe drops in attendance for the Bulldogs and ultimately led to their suspension of operations. During the 1910s, the Ohio League stopped holding Thanksgiving games because many of its players coached high school teams and were unavailable. This was not the case in other regional circuits: in 1919, the New York Pro Football League featured a Thanksgiving match-up between the Buffalo Prospects and the Rochester Jeffersons. The game ended in a scoreless tie, leading to a rematch the next Sunday for the league championship

Nov. 25, 1920
AKRON PROS 7, Canton Bulldogs 0
Decatur Staleys 6, CHICAGO TIGERS 0
ELYRIA (OH) ATHLETICS* 0, Columbus Panhandles 0
DAYTON TRIANGLES 28, Detroit Heralds 0
CHICAGO BOOSTERS* 27, Hammond Pros 0
All-Tonawanda (NY) 14, ROCHESTER JEFFERSONS 3
* Non league team. Games between league teams and non league teams counted in standings in 1920.

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