Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)

The Brooklyn Dodgers were an American football team that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943, and in 1944 as the Brooklyn Tigers. The team played its home games at Ebbets Field. In 1945, due to financial difficulties, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks. The franchise is not related to the Brooklyn Dodgers franchise that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1948; nor is it related to the American Football League franchise that played as the Brooklyn Tigers for the first half of the 1936 season before moving to Rochester and playing as the Rochester Tigers. Another NFL team that played in Brooklyn was the Brooklyn Lions (which became the Brooklyn Horsemen after merging with an AFL team of the same name) in 1926.

The team began play in 1930 after Brooklyn businessmen William B. Dwyer and John C. Depler bought the Dayton Triangles, moved it, and renamed it the Brooklyn Dodgers. Four years later, the team was eventually sold to New Yorker Dan Topping. On October 22, 1939, at Ebbets Field , the Dodgers played the Philadelphia Eagles in the first NFL game shown on television. The Dodgers won the game 23-14.

Beginning in 1942, the team went into a steep decline, as World War II caused a shortage of players. In 1944, the team was renamed the Tigers but suffered a 0-10 regular season record. In a desperate attempt for survival, the team merged with the Boston Yanks for the 1945 season. The merged team played four home games in Boston and one in New York. But fans from neither cities cared as they finished with a 3-6-1 record. The merger happened after the 1945 NFL draft.

In December 1945, Topping announced his intentions to accept the All-America Football Conference's New York franchise. In response, the NFL cancelled his NFL team and all of its players were assigned to Boston.

First Round Draft Selections

*1936 Dick Crayne Back Iowa
*1937 Ed Goddard Back Washington State
*1938 Boyd Brumbaugh Back Duquesne
*1939 Bob MacLeod Back Dartmouth
*1940 Banks McFadden Back Clemson
*1941 Dean McAdams Back Washington
*1942 Bob Robertson Back Southern California
*1943 Paul Governali Back Columbia
*1944 Creighton Miller Back Notre Dame
*1945 Joe Renfroe Back Tulane

Pro Football Hall of Famers

*Morris "Red" Badgro
*Benny Friedman
*Frank Kinard
*Clarence "Ace" Parker

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