On December 12, 1937, Washington bested the Bears at Wrigley Field to lift its first league title. That championship gave rise to a group of legends and laid the first brick of a legacy. Get Your Commanders Tickets Here: https://bit.ly/3SpwKU3
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Five dates. They're often bunched together, sitting higher with a
different shine than the other seasons. This franchise has played
football the NFL Championships. It may be debated which was
the most unlikely.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Heavy ball made number thirty three wild against.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
The world, which was the most perfect back.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Clutchdown. Red States Park regimes.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Are the world.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Champion six, but only one can be called the first.
(00:59):
This is hay Tails Stories from Washington football history the
nineteen thirty seven NFL Championship. It's nineteen thirty seven. Tensions
(01:20):
that would lead to World War two are heating up.
A new exciting food product called Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
has hit the shelves, and pro football is finding its
footing in American culture.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I'm Chris Willis. They had archivist of NFL.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Films, The NFL of nineteen thirty seven, Willis explains, would
probably be hard for football fans to recognize today.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
So at this time in the mid thirties, the NFL
was sort of all its way becoming what you would
think is a successful business model. They weren't the juggernaut
as you see today with being the number one sport
in the States. And maybe you know or in sports
in the world in the nineteen thirties, they were just
coming off the depression. The whole country and sports and
(02:07):
the NFL were going through an adjustment.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
So what the stock.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Market craft really did was focused the NFL on they
had to be in the big cities to operate.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
They had to be like Major League Baseball.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
So they eliminated a lot of the small towns, you know,
like Canton and Dayton and Rochester, all of those little ones,
and sort of focused on the big cities. In Green Bay,
because they were community owned, was the only small team
to survive. So you had the two teams in Chicago,
New York at this point maybe nineteen thirty five, thirty six,
you had Boston, you had Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
So it became.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
More of like a one team league to really like
an eight to twelve team sort of league.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
That's what's going on off the field. As for on
the field, it.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Was pretty much single wing players going pretty much both ways.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So you didn't have to have full rosters. The rosters
were about sixteen players, so most of the players.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Hey that once they were on the field, they didn't
come out.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
It was real physical.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Still, it was still predominantly a run game at the time,
and then the rules were starting to.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Separate from the college game.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
The college game is much more popular in the twenties
and into the thirties, and they dictated.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
How the game was played based on the rules.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
So that was a good sort of breakaway where they
sort of wanted to make it more fan friendly. The
passing game was, you know, you could throw from anywhere
behind line of scrimmage. You know, the rosters and some
of the better players now were coming into the league
because they knew they would get paid, especially after the
stock market crashed, and so that's where.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
The NFL was sort of moving.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
They were moving sort of in a positive direction, a
physiness we can sort of achieve similar to what Major
League baseball, which was the most popular.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Sport at the time.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
In nineteen thirty seven, there are ten teams in the
NFL and one has just moved from Boston to Washington.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
D C.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
Boston was just a pro town. They cared about Boston
college football. They didn't care about pro football at the time.
So Marshall was definitely frustrated. You know, the crowds were three, four, five,
six thousand, at this time in the NFL in the
mid thirties, they were past that. Chicago was getting twenty thousand,
New York was getting twenty twenty five thousand, So Marshall
(04:24):
just got fed up. He was building a good team.
In nineteen thirty six, they had a team with Cliff
Battles that half back, and they actually won the Eastern Division.
Was playing the Packers in the championship game, but Marshall
got so mad at the city he moved the game
actually to New York because they would get a bigger crowd.
They would try to get a little bit more money
(04:44):
from the champions game so they could split it with
the players. They did lose the game, Don Hudson and
the Packers won. By this time, Marshall was like, yeah,
I'm done.
Speaker 7 (04:51):
He packed up and they moved to d C.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Washington football historian Mike Richmond, his.
Speaker 7 (04:57):
Wife actually influenced it a part. She wanted him to
come to DC and it They packed it up and moved
to the nation's capital.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
That's when the Washington Redskins were born.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
This Washington team is strong, having made it to the
NFL Championship the year prior. The coach is a tough
and fiery former player named Ray Flaherty.
Speaker 8 (05:17):
A grim business is this professional football, and the hard
taskmaster is Ray Flaherty, the Redskins coach on fair Lawn Field,
where George P. Marshall's hirelings practice four hours each day
for sixty minutes of football each week. Flarity tolerates no trifling.
So it's woe to the bruiser who doesn't throw a
(05:37):
proper block into the defensive end, or the lineman who
waits a split second before starting his charge that costs
the offender a fine that maybe a dollar, two bucks,
or even five dollars.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
On the roster are stars like Cliff Battles, Big.
Speaker 8 (05:52):
Blonde Cliff Battles. The most deceptive thing in.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Moleskins, Wayne Milner.
Speaker 8 (05:58):
Then came the prettiest play off the afternoon. Milner raced
inside for a Phil.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Shock pass and Turk Edwards.
Speaker 8 (06:05):
A towering figure wearing the number seventeen of Turk Edwards.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
In the nineteen thirty seven NFL draft, Washington has a
chance to add some new weapons. The most potent of
those comes with the sixth overall pick. His name is
Sam Baw.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
One passing thread is slinging Sami Baul, who made history
at Texas Christian University. This is the grip with vingers
spread wide that gives the maximum control in passing. Samy
spots the receiver as he draws the ball back behind
his ear and metric fly every time he throws a football,
completes the pass games a yard scords a touchdown ball.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
That's the world reckoning.
Speaker 8 (06:48):
Coach Flaherty confesses that you could have knocked him over
with a bird seat when he realized that the Redskins
had one ball on the Professional League's draft list, it
was my turn to pick, with ball not yet drafted.
I thought I was dreaming, the league president said clarity,
who is the Redskins choice? Well, by God, I think
(07:09):
I bellowed ball so loud that it must have been
hurt downtown and we had him.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
He had a sterling career with at TCUs. He's this
skinny kid, probably waged one hundred and seventy when he
got to the Redskins.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Joe Holly longtime journalist who has written for The Houston
Chronicle and The Washington Post. He is the author of
Sling and Sam, The Life and Times of the greatest
quarterback to ever play the game became.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
An All American TCU played in the Cotton Bowl, and
the Redskins were aware of him and signed him. And
yet he at that point he still wasn't sure whether
he wanted to play football because he was a good
baseball player and back then, as you probably know, football
players didn't make that much money and most of them
had to work somewhere else during the offseason, and he
(07:57):
was thinking maybe the Saint Louis Cardinals, who had offered
him a contract, would be a better bet for him,
not only because he'd probably pay him better. Baseball was
more popular than football in those days, but he would
probably have a longer career because you didn't get hurt
in baseball the way you do in football.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
The decision is hard, but he chooses the NFL, and
his play is boggling to the mind.
Speaker 7 (08:21):
At that point, bos still, you know, added a flare
that the game had not seen with his ability to pass.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
It's not an exaggeration to say that Samy Baugh was
the Babe Ruth of professional football. In the same way
that Babe Ruth changed the way the game was played,
Sam was the same way and the ball looked, you know,
it was more round so it was hard to get
a hold of the ball and throw a football the way
(08:48):
Patrick Mahomes does or Tom Brady, and he could get
his hands around the ball. As we said, he was
also a baseball player, so he's got a good arm,
and he wasn't afraid to throw the ball, and that
opened up the game and changed it for it.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Ba's killer arm battles sensational rushing Turk, Edward's imposing presence,
Riley Smith's production all over the field, the Burgundy and
Gold get the results it needs throughout the regular season.
Speaker 8 (09:17):
Smith's sixty yard run decides in thriller Invaders held on
goal line Baw important factor. Cliff battles thrills with long
runs Baw. Edwards Milner also played brilliantly in the rain.
Possibly the pressure was just too great for the Indians, who,
although they outplayed the last place club in every offensive department,
(09:39):
failed to Washington beats Eagles get revenge. Redskins back boots
ball from twenty seven yard line in closing minutes, Brooklyn
line falls apart in final half. Baugh and Irwin score
first last five minutes of play sees wild scramble for victory.
Cliff Battle's hero of second half rally, thirty thousand crowd
(10:00):
to see Redskins neat Ackers. Washington finds its football.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Team the Burgundy, and goal goes seven to three. They
then traveled to New York for the Eastern Conference Final
and trample the Giants.
Speaker 8 (10:12):
Again and again. Washington's Redskins swept down the field this afternoon,
driving New York's Giants before them in a wild, dazzling
and relentless scoring spree. By the startling and near incredible
score of forty nine to fourteen, the Washington team smeared
New York's hopes of victory, left their foes dazed and bewildered,
(10:34):
and sent the eight thousand Washingtonians among the fifty eight thousand,
two hundred and eighty five in the stands joyously stampeding
onto the field.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
At the finish, Washington books its ticket to Chicago to
face the Bears for the nineteen thirty seven NFL Championship.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
For Chicago, it was a big deal.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
The Bears were well written about. House made sure that
was the case. He had a great team. He wanted
fans to.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Come out for the city and for the teams.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
This was something that was sort of the top news
in the sports section because the NFL was like trying
to build the brand, and the championship game was their
world series. So by thirty seven this was one of
the key dates on the sports map.
Speaker 7 (11:14):
It was in the worst of conditions. Wrigley Field was
covered with ice, snow, and as Sammy Baugh told me
in an interview in the early two thousands, there was
like little pebbles on the field. Everybody got sliced up
in one way or another that game.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Arthur Daily of the New York Times wrote that quote,
the Gridiron was like a skating rink. The players actually
end up wearing sneakers to improve traction on the ice.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Behears it tried to get it in shape with Hay
And for a team like Chicago that runs over you,
it's not nearly the disadvantage it is for a team
that relies on passing routes and guys trying to get open.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
These teams certainly had different qualities to them, and the
storylines heading into this championship game were intriguing.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
Today, you would have a really good time with the
ex's and oh shows to say, Hey, what's going to
be the most important aspect of this game. First, I
think you had Sammy's passing a Billy. You had to
be aware of that he was throwing to Wayne Milner.
It was an all pro in you know, Charlie Malone
was also an All Pro times. But then you also
had Cliff Brattles in the running game, so you had
to be aware of maybe the best overall runner in
(12:28):
the league in nineteen thirty seven.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
In Cliff Battle.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
So but then the other thing is the Washington defense
against the Bears.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
So Bears were a juggernaut.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
They were up there with Washington in the Western Division,
and they also had Broncoln and Gersky probably the most
physical player in the league. They had a reputation who
was also at that time in nineteen thirty that was
the World wrestling heavyweight champion, So he's going back and
forth between wrestling and playing football.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
You had to stop new Gersky.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
They were the Monsters of the Midway and their coach,
George Pallas, his approach to the game was, for example,
when he's when he's going to play someone like Sammy Ball,
mock him out of the game. Heard it, get rid
of it.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
The Monsters of the Midway versus the brand new team
from Washington d C.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
The very first play of the game, when Washington has
the ball and they were backed up, I think they
were on their one yard line and he lines up
in pontformation first down and back. Then that's not unusual,
you know, you play for a position. So Sammy lines
up to ponds, but he doesn't.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
He throws a.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Pass that ends up a forty three yard completion. And
then the play was sort of symbolic.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
It was it was.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
A message to the Bears, but they were going to
play their game. They weren't intimidated, and Sammy was.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Someone who recorded.
Speaker 8 (13:55):
Ball. Faked a pass and ran left tackle for three yards.
Battles board center for two and a first down on
the Bears ten. Battles ran right tackle for three yards.
Baw aimed to pass it Battles and Nanders knocked it down.
Baw handed the ball to Battles on a reverse, and
Battles dashed around the weak side of the line for
a touchdown, diving over the goal untouched. Riley Smith sent
(14:19):
a placement through the posts for the extra point score.
Redskins seven, Bears nothing. Seven minutes of the first quarter remained.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Washington throws the first punch, but Chicago would come roaring back.
Speaker 8 (14:30):
Masterson passed Demanski, who made a shoe string catch in
Boss territory, slipped on the Redskins forty, regained and ran
to the Redskins nineteen before Ball brought him down. Nagirsky
swept around left end for nine yards before Battles bumped
him down. Nanders shot through a huge hole at right
guard for ten yards and a.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Touchdown seven to seven. The game is heating up Temper's
player and players are hungry to win at all costs.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
There was up where the fearsome Brocco Gercy comes. He's
running through the middle of the line and the only
one between him and go line is a safety man,
Skinny Sammy Ball. No one has touched Bronco as he
gets up ahead of Steam and Sammy has to somehow
(15:17):
try to tackle him, and somehow he kind of finally
brings him down. Its torture. And after the game, Sammy
and Bronco were talking and Sammy says, hey, Brock, did you.
Speaker 9 (15:30):
Realize nobody nobody touched you before you got to me?
And Bronco said, yeah, that was the plan for me
to run over you and knock you out of the game.
So that's what the quarterback, the most valuable player on
the team, had to deal with everything.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
The icy conditions don't help the brutality of the game.
The Burgundy and Gold struggle to respond after the Bears
tie it.
Speaker 8 (15:56):
Instead, Wilson intercepted balls past the battles.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Chicago goes ahead. What's more, Bow gets his knee banged
up and has to leave the game.
Speaker 8 (16:09):
At the end of the half. The game belonged to
the Bears by a score of fourteen to seven, with
the Redskins seemingly en route as Nigirsky and Manders and
Nolting and Masterson poured through the Washington line and bullied
their way into the lead.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Halftime a break from the cold, a chance to regroup,
a rousing speech from coach Ray Flaherty, thirty more minutes
of football to play. The third quarter starts on a
high note for Washington as Ba returns and the quarterback
plays like a man possessed.
Speaker 7 (16:43):
Faull was sensational that game, as passing was seventeen to
thirty four three o fifty two yards, three touchdowns, and
two of his touchdown receptions were by Wayne Milner. The
great Redskins receiver, and Milner was known as quote the
money player when he was in college and note to day,
he cut two touchdown passes in a nineteen thirty five
(17:03):
win over Ohio State, which was one of the so
called games of the century. So he came through in
the thirty seven championship game as well. He cut two
touchdowns from ball that day, two long wins, a fifty
five yarder and a seventy seven yarder, and both of
them he outraced the defenders after catching the pass from Ball.
(17:24):
One of those receptions was on the screen pass that
was invented by the Redskins, and it was on bail
that day.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
In the third quarter, Milner scores Ben Manski for Chicago.
Then Milner. It's twenty one to twenty one, the clocks
ticking down on the period, Washington has.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
The ball from a spread formation. Erwin charged center for
nine yards. Erwin slammed through center for six and a
first down on the Redskins thirty six.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
The offense is marching down the field.
Speaker 8 (17:53):
Ball passed them alone for eleven yards. Milner took a
pass from Ball for seven yards.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Chunk by chunk. Chicago can't contain the unit, and then.
Speaker 8 (18:02):
Ball faked a short past them alone, then wound up
again and fired a longwinded Justice, who took the ball
on the Bear's eleven yard line and galloped to a touchdown.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Sambaw to ed Justice for thirty five yards. Washington goes
up twenty eight to twenty one. All this action in
the third quarter. Francis Stan of The Evening Star calls
it quote probably the best fifteen minutes of play in history.
The Bear's panic in the fourth quarter. Instead of relying
on the run game that had made them so successful
(18:32):
all season, they try to pivot to passing more and fail.
Their final passing attempt is picked off by Washington's Riley
Smith that seals.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
It the Redskins win. There were three thousand Washington fans
who had gotten on a train in Union Station and
travel west to Chicago. You know, they were excitic. They
too had survived the cold, probably with a bit of
liquid refreshment to keep them going.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
The celebrations were a little different back then. For example,
there wasn't a victory parade with the team, and the
immediate days.
Speaker 8 (19:07):
Following Washington will have no chance to acclaim until next ball.
The Redskins team that today won the National Professional League Championship.
The entire squad of Redskins will disband here tomorrow to
meet again on the Pacific Coast within two weeks, where
they will play several exhibition.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Games, and as was tradition, then the NFL Championship winner
qualified to play a pick team of college all stars
the following summer, a pros versus amateurs showdown. Washington would
lose that one thirteen to seven. But as for the
NFL Championship in Chicago, the discomforts of that freezing win
(19:45):
continued to staying after the final whistle. There were plenty
of injuries to nurse. Plus the harsh game day environment
actually affected Washington's earnings.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
When the championship game is over, the players actually get
part of the the gate, so that was because the
gate was a little bit low. The Washington players, yes,
got two hundred and twenty five dollars for their winning effort,
which actually was I think like thirty forty dollars.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Less than what the package got in nineteen thirty six.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
You would think there would be more, but because they
had more fans in New York for that game, they
only got two twenty five, and then.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
I think the Bears were, you know, was like one twenty.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
Seven or something like one hundred and twenty five bucks
or something for losing. So it wasn't as big a
money maker because of the fans and the attendance. But
I guess two hundred and twenty five extra dollars is
two hundred and twenty five extra dollars.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Despite the ice skating ring field and Chicago's determination to
literally run their opponent into the ground, Washington's passing game
took center stage in the win. Slingin Sammy bas showed
just how powerful throwing the pigskin could be, and the
game never looked back.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
I think Sammy's performance and that's what makes Sammy a
a charter member of the Pro Fotball Hall of Fame.
This is before he threw for over three hundred yards
three touchdown, and it proved to the league, especially George
Hollis on that sidelines that day. This is where the
game's moved LEMI Ball, where we gets paid number thirty
three wild again we learn.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
Later Sammy's advice to the boys who would become good
passers is simple, just keep throwing the ball, he says,
that's what I did.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
For the Burgundian Golds and the Nation's Capital. Nineteen thirty
seven is the year so many of the memories, the loyalty,
the passion, the singular pursuit of success can be traced
back to It was.
Speaker 7 (21:40):
The first championship for a pro sports team in DC
since the nineteen twenty four Washington Senators won the World Series.
The fact that this was their first year in the
Nation's Capital, it's one of the reasons that people say
the interest in the team was passed down from generation
to generation because they had that dominance through that era.
Speaker 8 (22:03):
Chicago, December twelve, Managing Editor, Washington Post, Washington, d C.
Dear sir, we would be deeply grateful if, through the
columns of the Washington Post, you would express our gratitude
for the season long support given to our team by
the Washington public. We are especially pleased that we have
won the national Professional Championship for Washington, and please believe
(22:26):
us that the moral support rendered us by the people
of Washington was a huge factor in our successful season.
Most sincerely, yours, signed, Ray, George Marsh Slinging, Sammy.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
Bar Bernie Pinker, Justin, Jim Barber, Charliecliff, battle Less Olson,
Max Crowd, George Smith, Jim Carter, Smith, Wayne Melon, Henry Crowd,
Eddie Cony, Hailed, Jade Donovan, Barney Chritzy.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
This episode of Haile Tales was narrated, produce, and research
by me Hannah Liechtenstein, senior copywriter for the Washington Commanders.
It was produced and edited by Jason Johnson, additional editing
by Nick Leanos. Executive producers are Ryan Yoakum and Kevin Klein.
Additional voiceover help comes from Bram Weinstein. Graphics designed by
(23:27):
Zach Osborne and Matt Cashman. Thank you to our guests
for their contributions, and thank you for listening
Five dates. They're often bunched together, sitting higher with a
different shine than the other seasons. This franchise has played
football the NFL Championships. It may be debated which was
the most unlikely.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Heavy ball made number thirty three wild against.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
The world, which was the most perfect back.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Clutchdown. Red States Park regimes.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Are the world.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Champion six, but only one can be called the first.
(00:59):
This is hay Tails Stories from Washington football history the
nineteen thirty seven NFL Championship. It's nineteen thirty seven. Tensions
(01:20):
that would lead to World War two are heating up.
A new exciting food product called Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
has hit the shelves, and pro football is finding its
footing in American culture.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I'm Chris Willis. They had archivist of NFL.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Films, The NFL of nineteen thirty seven, Willis explains, would
probably be hard for football fans to recognize today.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
So at this time in the mid thirties, the NFL
was sort of all its way becoming what you would
think is a successful business model. They weren't the juggernaut
as you see today with being the number one sport
in the States. And maybe you know or in sports
in the world in the nineteen thirties, they were just
coming off the depression. The whole country and sports and
(02:07):
the NFL were going through an adjustment.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
So what the stock.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Market craft really did was focused the NFL on they
had to be in the big cities to operate.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
They had to be like Major League Baseball.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
So they eliminated a lot of the small towns, you know,
like Canton and Dayton and Rochester, all of those little ones,
and sort of focused on the big cities. In Green Bay,
because they were community owned, was the only small team
to survive. So you had the two teams in Chicago,
New York at this point maybe nineteen thirty five, thirty six,
you had Boston, you had Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
So it became.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
More of like a one team league to really like
an eight to twelve team sort of league.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
That's what's going on off the field. As for on
the field, it.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Was pretty much single wing players going pretty much both ways.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So you didn't have to have full rosters. The rosters
were about sixteen players, so most of the players.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Hey that once they were on the field, they didn't
come out.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
It was real physical.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Still, it was still predominantly a run game at the time,
and then the rules were starting to.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Separate from the college game.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
The college game is much more popular in the twenties
and into the thirties, and they dictated.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
How the game was played based on the rules.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
So that was a good sort of breakaway where they
sort of wanted to make it more fan friendly. The
passing game was, you know, you could throw from anywhere
behind line of scrimmage. You know, the rosters and some
of the better players now were coming into the league
because they knew they would get paid, especially after the
stock market crashed, and so that's where.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
The NFL was sort of moving.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
They were moving sort of in a positive direction, a
physiness we can sort of achieve similar to what Major
League baseball, which was the most popular.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Sport at the time.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
In nineteen thirty seven, there are ten teams in the
NFL and one has just moved from Boston to Washington.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
D C.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
Boston was just a pro town. They cared about Boston
college football. They didn't care about pro football at the time.
So Marshall was definitely frustrated. You know, the crowds were three, four, five,
six thousand, at this time in the NFL in the
mid thirties, they were past that. Chicago was getting twenty thousand,
New York was getting twenty twenty five thousand, So Marshall
(04:24):
just got fed up. He was building a good team.
In nineteen thirty six, they had a team with Cliff
Battles that half back, and they actually won the Eastern Division.
Was playing the Packers in the championship game, but Marshall
got so mad at the city he moved the game
actually to New York because they would get a bigger crowd.
They would try to get a little bit more money
(04:44):
from the champions game so they could split it with
the players. They did lose the game, Don Hudson and
the Packers won. By this time, Marshall was like, yeah,
I'm done.
Speaker 7 (04:51):
He packed up and they moved to d C.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Washington football historian Mike Richmond, his.
Speaker 7 (04:57):
Wife actually influenced it a part. She wanted him to
come to DC and it They packed it up and moved
to the nation's capital.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
That's when the Washington Redskins were born.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
This Washington team is strong, having made it to the
NFL Championship the year prior. The coach is a tough
and fiery former player named Ray Flaherty.
Speaker 8 (05:17):
A grim business is this professional football, and the hard
taskmaster is Ray Flaherty, the Redskins coach on fair Lawn Field,
where George P. Marshall's hirelings practice four hours each day
for sixty minutes of football each week. Flarity tolerates no trifling.
So it's woe to the bruiser who doesn't throw a
(05:37):
proper block into the defensive end, or the lineman who
waits a split second before starting his charge that costs
the offender a fine that maybe a dollar, two bucks,
or even five dollars.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
On the roster are stars like Cliff Battles, Big.
Speaker 8 (05:52):
Blonde Cliff Battles. The most deceptive thing in.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Moleskins, Wayne Milner.
Speaker 8 (05:58):
Then came the prettiest play off the afternoon. Milner raced
inside for a Phil.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Shock pass and Turk Edwards.
Speaker 8 (06:05):
A towering figure wearing the number seventeen of Turk Edwards.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
In the nineteen thirty seven NFL draft, Washington has a
chance to add some new weapons. The most potent of
those comes with the sixth overall pick. His name is
Sam Baw.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
One passing thread is slinging Sami Baul, who made history
at Texas Christian University. This is the grip with vingers
spread wide that gives the maximum control in passing. Samy
spots the receiver as he draws the ball back behind
his ear and metric fly every time he throws a football,
completes the pass games a yard scords a touchdown ball.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
That's the world reckoning.
Speaker 8 (06:48):
Coach Flaherty confesses that you could have knocked him over
with a bird seat when he realized that the Redskins
had one ball on the Professional League's draft list, it
was my turn to pick, with ball not yet drafted.
I thought I was dreaming, the league president said clarity,
who is the Redskins choice? Well, by God, I think
(07:09):
I bellowed ball so loud that it must have been
hurt downtown and we had him.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
He had a sterling career with at TCUs. He's this
skinny kid, probably waged one hundred and seventy when he
got to the Redskins.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Joe Holly longtime journalist who has written for The Houston
Chronicle and The Washington Post. He is the author of
Sling and Sam, The Life and Times of the greatest
quarterback to ever play the game became.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
An All American TCU played in the Cotton Bowl, and
the Redskins were aware of him and signed him. And
yet he at that point he still wasn't sure whether
he wanted to play football because he was a good
baseball player and back then, as you probably know, football
players didn't make that much money and most of them
had to work somewhere else during the offseason, and he
(07:57):
was thinking maybe the Saint Louis Cardinals, who had offered
him a contract, would be a better bet for him,
not only because he'd probably pay him better. Baseball was
more popular than football in those days, but he would
probably have a longer career because you didn't get hurt
in baseball the way you do in football.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
The decision is hard, but he chooses the NFL, and
his play is boggling to the mind.
Speaker 7 (08:21):
At that point, bos still, you know, added a flare
that the game had not seen with his ability to pass.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
It's not an exaggeration to say that Samy Baugh was
the Babe Ruth of professional football. In the same way
that Babe Ruth changed the way the game was played,
Sam was the same way and the ball looked, you know,
it was more round so it was hard to get
a hold of the ball and throw a football the way
(08:48):
Patrick Mahomes does or Tom Brady, and he could get
his hands around the ball. As we said, he was
also a baseball player, so he's got a good arm,
and he wasn't afraid to throw the ball, and that
opened up the game and changed it for it.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Ba's killer arm battles sensational rushing Turk, Edward's imposing presence,
Riley Smith's production all over the field, the Burgundy and
Gold get the results it needs throughout the regular season.
Speaker 8 (09:17):
Smith's sixty yard run decides in thriller Invaders held on
goal line Baw important factor. Cliff battles thrills with long
runs Baw. Edwards Milner also played brilliantly in the rain.
Possibly the pressure was just too great for the Indians, who,
although they outplayed the last place club in every offensive department,
(09:39):
failed to Washington beats Eagles get revenge. Redskins back boots
ball from twenty seven yard line in closing minutes, Brooklyn
line falls apart in final half. Baugh and Irwin score
first last five minutes of play sees wild scramble for victory.
Cliff Battle's hero of second half rally, thirty thousand crowd
(10:00):
to see Redskins neat Ackers. Washington finds its football.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Team the Burgundy, and goal goes seven to three. They
then traveled to New York for the Eastern Conference Final
and trample the Giants.
Speaker 8 (10:12):
Again and again. Washington's Redskins swept down the field this afternoon,
driving New York's Giants before them in a wild, dazzling
and relentless scoring spree. By the startling and near incredible
score of forty nine to fourteen, the Washington team smeared
New York's hopes of victory, left their foes dazed and bewildered,
(10:34):
and sent the eight thousand Washingtonians among the fifty eight thousand,
two hundred and eighty five in the stands joyously stampeding
onto the field.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
At the finish, Washington books its ticket to Chicago to
face the Bears for the nineteen thirty seven NFL Championship.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
For Chicago, it was a big deal.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
The Bears were well written about. House made sure that
was the case. He had a great team. He wanted
fans to.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Come out for the city and for the teams.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
This was something that was sort of the top news
in the sports section because the NFL was like trying
to build the brand, and the championship game was their
world series. So by thirty seven this was one of
the key dates on the sports map.
Speaker 7 (11:14):
It was in the worst of conditions. Wrigley Field was
covered with ice, snow, and as Sammy Baugh told me
in an interview in the early two thousands, there was
like little pebbles on the field. Everybody got sliced up
in one way or another that game.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Arthur Daily of the New York Times wrote that quote,
the Gridiron was like a skating rink. The players actually
end up wearing sneakers to improve traction on the ice.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Behears it tried to get it in shape with Hay
And for a team like Chicago that runs over you,
it's not nearly the disadvantage it is for a team
that relies on passing routes and guys trying to get open.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
These teams certainly had different qualities to them, and the
storylines heading into this championship game were intriguing.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
Today, you would have a really good time with the
ex's and oh shows to say, Hey, what's going to
be the most important aspect of this game. First, I
think you had Sammy's passing a Billy. You had to
be aware of that he was throwing to Wayne Milner.
It was an all pro in you know, Charlie Malone
was also an All Pro times. But then you also
had Cliff Brattles in the running game, so you had
to be aware of maybe the best overall runner in
(12:28):
the league in nineteen thirty seven.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
In Cliff Battle.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
So but then the other thing is the Washington defense
against the Bears.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
So Bears were a juggernaut.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
They were up there with Washington in the Western Division,
and they also had Broncoln and Gersky probably the most
physical player in the league. They had a reputation who
was also at that time in nineteen thirty that was
the World wrestling heavyweight champion, So he's going back and
forth between wrestling and playing football.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
You had to stop new Gersky.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
They were the Monsters of the Midway and their coach,
George Pallas, his approach to the game was, for example,
when he's when he's going to play someone like Sammy Ball,
mock him out of the game. Heard it, get rid
of it.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
The Monsters of the Midway versus the brand new team
from Washington d C.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
The very first play of the game, when Washington has
the ball and they were backed up, I think they
were on their one yard line and he lines up
in pontformation first down and back. Then that's not unusual,
you know, you play for a position. So Sammy lines
up to ponds, but he doesn't.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
He throws a.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Pass that ends up a forty three yard completion. And
then the play was sort of symbolic.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
It was it was.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
A message to the Bears, but they were going to
play their game. They weren't intimidated, and Sammy was.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Someone who recorded.
Speaker 8 (13:55):
Ball. Faked a pass and ran left tackle for three yards.
Battles board center for two and a first down on
the Bears ten. Battles ran right tackle for three yards.
Baw aimed to pass it Battles and Nanders knocked it down.
Baw handed the ball to Battles on a reverse, and
Battles dashed around the weak side of the line for
a touchdown, diving over the goal untouched. Riley Smith sent
(14:19):
a placement through the posts for the extra point score.
Redskins seven, Bears nothing. Seven minutes of the first quarter remained.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Washington throws the first punch, but Chicago would come roaring back.
Speaker 8 (14:30):
Masterson passed Demanski, who made a shoe string catch in
Boss territory, slipped on the Redskins forty, regained and ran
to the Redskins nineteen before Ball brought him down. Nagirsky
swept around left end for nine yards before Battles bumped
him down. Nanders shot through a huge hole at right
guard for ten yards and a.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Touchdown seven to seven. The game is heating up Temper's
player and players are hungry to win at all costs.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
There was up where the fearsome Brocco Gercy comes. He's
running through the middle of the line and the only
one between him and go line is a safety man,
Skinny Sammy Ball. No one has touched Bronco as he
gets up ahead of Steam and Sammy has to somehow
(15:17):
try to tackle him, and somehow he kind of finally
brings him down. Its torture. And after the game, Sammy
and Bronco were talking and Sammy says, hey, Brock, did you.
Speaker 9 (15:30):
Realize nobody nobody touched you before you got to me?
And Bronco said, yeah, that was the plan for me
to run over you and knock you out of the game.
So that's what the quarterback, the most valuable player on
the team, had to deal with everything.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
The icy conditions don't help the brutality of the game.
The Burgundy and Gold struggle to respond after the Bears
tie it.
Speaker 8 (15:56):
Instead, Wilson intercepted balls past the battles.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Chicago goes ahead. What's more, Bow gets his knee banged
up and has to leave the game.
Speaker 8 (16:09):
At the end of the half. The game belonged to
the Bears by a score of fourteen to seven, with
the Redskins seemingly en route as Nigirsky and Manders and
Nolting and Masterson poured through the Washington line and bullied
their way into the lead.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Halftime a break from the cold, a chance to regroup,
a rousing speech from coach Ray Flaherty, thirty more minutes
of football to play. The third quarter starts on a
high note for Washington as Ba returns and the quarterback
plays like a man possessed.
Speaker 7 (16:43):
Faull was sensational that game, as passing was seventeen to
thirty four three o fifty two yards, three touchdowns, and
two of his touchdown receptions were by Wayne Milner. The
great Redskins receiver, and Milner was known as quote the
money player when he was in college and note to day,
he cut two touchdown passes in a nineteen thirty five
(17:03):
win over Ohio State, which was one of the so
called games of the century. So he came through in
the thirty seven championship game as well. He cut two
touchdowns from ball that day, two long wins, a fifty
five yarder and a seventy seven yarder, and both of
them he outraced the defenders after catching the pass from Ball.
(17:24):
One of those receptions was on the screen pass that
was invented by the Redskins, and it was on bail
that day.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
In the third quarter, Milner scores Ben Manski for Chicago.
Then Milner. It's twenty one to twenty one, the clocks
ticking down on the period, Washington has.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
The ball from a spread formation. Erwin charged center for
nine yards. Erwin slammed through center for six and a
first down on the Redskins thirty six.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
The offense is marching down the field.
Speaker 8 (17:53):
Ball passed them alone for eleven yards. Milner took a
pass from Ball for seven yards.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Chunk by chunk. Chicago can't contain the unit, and then.
Speaker 8 (18:02):
Ball faked a short past them alone, then wound up
again and fired a longwinded Justice, who took the ball
on the Bear's eleven yard line and galloped to a touchdown.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Sambaw to ed Justice for thirty five yards. Washington goes
up twenty eight to twenty one. All this action in
the third quarter. Francis Stan of The Evening Star calls
it quote probably the best fifteen minutes of play in history.
The Bear's panic in the fourth quarter. Instead of relying
on the run game that had made them so successful
(18:32):
all season, they try to pivot to passing more and fail.
Their final passing attempt is picked off by Washington's Riley
Smith that seals.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
It the Redskins win. There were three thousand Washington fans
who had gotten on a train in Union Station and
travel west to Chicago. You know, they were excitic. They
too had survived the cold, probably with a bit of
liquid refreshment to keep them going.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
The celebrations were a little different back then. For example,
there wasn't a victory parade with the team, and the
immediate days.
Speaker 8 (19:07):
Following Washington will have no chance to acclaim until next ball.
The Redskins team that today won the National Professional League Championship.
The entire squad of Redskins will disband here tomorrow to
meet again on the Pacific Coast within two weeks, where
they will play several exhibition.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Games, and as was tradition, then the NFL Championship winner
qualified to play a pick team of college all stars
the following summer, a pros versus amateurs showdown. Washington would
lose that one thirteen to seven. But as for the
NFL Championship in Chicago, the discomforts of that freezing win
(19:45):
continued to staying after the final whistle. There were plenty
of injuries to nurse. Plus the harsh game day environment
actually affected Washington's earnings.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
When the championship game is over, the players actually get
part of the the gate, so that was because the
gate was a little bit low. The Washington players, yes,
got two hundred and twenty five dollars for their winning effort,
which actually was I think like thirty forty dollars.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Less than what the package got in nineteen thirty six.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
You would think there would be more, but because they
had more fans in New York for that game, they
only got two twenty five, and then.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
I think the Bears were, you know, was like one twenty.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
Seven or something like one hundred and twenty five bucks
or something for losing. So it wasn't as big a
money maker because of the fans and the attendance. But
I guess two hundred and twenty five extra dollars is
two hundred and twenty five extra dollars.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Despite the ice skating ring field and Chicago's determination to
literally run their opponent into the ground, Washington's passing game
took center stage in the win. Slingin Sammy bas showed
just how powerful throwing the pigskin could be, and the
game never looked back.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
I think Sammy's performance and that's what makes Sammy a
a charter member of the Pro Fotball Hall of Fame.
This is before he threw for over three hundred yards
three touchdown, and it proved to the league, especially George
Hollis on that sidelines that day. This is where the
game's moved LEMI Ball, where we gets paid number thirty
three wild again we learn.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
Later Sammy's advice to the boys who would become good
passers is simple, just keep throwing the ball, he says,
that's what I did.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
For the Burgundian Golds and the Nation's Capital. Nineteen thirty
seven is the year so many of the memories, the loyalty,
the passion, the singular pursuit of success can be traced
back to It was.
Speaker 7 (21:40):
The first championship for a pro sports team in DC
since the nineteen twenty four Washington Senators won the World Series.
The fact that this was their first year in the
Nation's Capital, it's one of the reasons that people say
the interest in the team was passed down from generation
to generation because they had that dominance through that era.
Speaker 8 (22:03):
Chicago, December twelve, Managing Editor, Washington Post, Washington, d C.
Dear sir, we would be deeply grateful if, through the
columns of the Washington Post, you would express our gratitude
for the season long support given to our team by
the Washington public. We are especially pleased that we have
won the national Professional Championship for Washington, and please believe
(22:26):
us that the moral support rendered us by the people
of Washington was a huge factor in our successful season.
Most sincerely, yours, signed, Ray, George Marsh Slinging, Sammy.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
Bar Bernie Pinker, Justin, Jim Barber, Charliecliff, battle Less Olson,
Max Crowd, George Smith, Jim Carter, Smith, Wayne Melon, Henry Crowd,
Eddie Cony, Hailed, Jade Donovan, Barney Chritzy.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
This episode of Haile Tales was narrated, produce, and research
by me Hannah Liechtenstein, senior copywriter for the Washington Commanders.
It was produced and edited by Jason Johnson, additional editing
by Nick Leanos. Executive producers are Ryan Yoakum and Kevin Klein.
Additional voiceover help comes from Bram Weinstein. Graphics designed by
(23:27):
Zach Osborne and Matt Cashman. Thank you to our guests
for their contributions, and thank you for listening
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