Dixie League (football)

Championship: no playoffs – Washington clinches title on 3-3 tie with Baltimore

While the league featured balance from top to bottom in its maiden season, it clearly divided into the "haves" and "have nots" in 1937. Five members of the Washington Presidents (including backfield mates Tom Oliver and Gene Augusterfer) were named to the all league team. Baltimore's Ted Wright was once again the league's leading scorer while teammate "Sunshine" Campbell dented defenses with his passes. Richmond placed three linemen on the all league team, including league most valuable player Lyle Graham. The winless Portsmouth team had a future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame on its roster, player-coach Ace Parker, who played in only one game for the Cubs before he signed with the NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers in early November.

1938

After two years of stability, the Dixie League made some adjustments in 1938. William Nickels, Jr. became the league's second president, replacing Charles Hamilton. The DL was forced to play with only five teams after the folding of the Baltimore Blue Birds, and the Washington Patriots became a traveling team.

A. E. Stutz, the founder and owner of the Norfolk Clancys, died in late 1937; in 1938, new owner Harry Howren started stockpiling talent (including back Mush DeLotto, formerly of Richmond) sufficient enough for the newly-renamed Shamrocks to dominate league play that year. Another Shamrock player, tackle Vernon "Buck" Miles, was named the league's most valuable player at the end of the season.

Portsmouth, winless in 1937, reached .500 in 1938 as quarterback Larry Weldon led the league in scoring.

No playoffs: Portsmouth declared league champions for the second straight year.

1941

For the first time, the Dixie League had six teams, all of them with actual home fields, with the Charlotte Clippers replacing Washington. As the United States started preparing for a war that appeared to be inevitable in the fall of 1941, the league benefited from the addition of military personnel from bases in the region.

Playing for the Newport News Builders, two such newcomers broke passing and scoring records that were established just the previous year. George Cafego had eight of his passes go for touchdowns, while Ken Fryer scored 61 points, more than any minor league player in a single season before the entry of the US into World War II. Despite the records on offense, the Builders finished the 1941 season in third place.

Charlotte had a successful freshman season in the Dixie League, scoring 184 points, roughly 30 more than Newport News and Norfolk… and the previous record set in 1940 by Richmond. The Clippers finished second to Norfolk, whose star back Pete Sachon was billed as "Pistol Pete" three decades before Pete Maravich. "Pistol Pete" Sachon was selected the DL most valuable player for 1941.

On October 7, control of the Portsmouth Pirates was transferred from an ailing Charles Aberson to a group based in Charlottesville, with the agreement that the team would revert to Aberson in 1948. The next day, the league was blindsided by the announcement that longtime DL member Richmond purchased the assets of a defunct American Football League franchise (the Long Island Indians, which lost all three games they played that season) and defected to the other minor league. [ [http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/12-02-398.pdf Nothing Minor About It: The American Association/AFL of 1936-1950] – Bob Gill, Pro Football Researchers Association (1990)] [ [http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/11-01-363.pdf All for One… The Minor Leagues' "Big Three" Make History in 1946] – Bob Gill, Pro Football Researchers Association (1990)] [ [http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/10-An-35.pdf A History of the Dixie League] – Bob Gill, Pro Football Researchers Association (1988)]

The move inflicted a fatal wound to the league. A month earlier, the DL had six members ready for competition; after the Richmond defection, only three teams remained. The league was forced to call it quits. While there were discussions of a possible reorganization for 1948, the Dixie League was no longer a viable entity. The Charlotte Clippers continued through 1949 as an independent team, while members of the Portsmouth Pirates and Norfolk Shamrocks combined forces to test the waters of independence in 1948.

The Richmond Rebels, Dixie League charter members like Portsmouth and Norfolk, continued their participation in the American League until the league had "its" implosion in 1950 (the Rebels won the last two AFL championships, in 1949 and 1950). The team petitioned to join the All America Football Conference for the 1950 season, but the major league’s merger with the National Football League thwarted the club’s intentions. [ [http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/12-02-398.pdf Nothing Minor About It: The American Association/AFL of 1936-1950] – Bob Gill, Pro Football Researchers Association (1990)] [ [http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/11-01-363.pdf All for One… The Minor Leagues' "Big Three" Make History in 1946] – Bob Gill, Pro Football Researchers Association (1990)] [ [http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/10-An-35.pdf A History of the Dixie League] – Bob Gill, Pro Football Researchers Association (1988)]

References

See also

*Pacific Coast Professional Football League
*American Association (football)