WHEN THE TANKS WERE TOPSReproduced with permission of the authors, C. Robert Barnett and Linda Terhume |
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| .....one of the few teams which
emerged from the semi-pro ranks into the big time, of only for a few
seasons. (They were sold in 1934 for $16,500 and became the Detroit
Lions franchise) Professional football in the 1920's was in a chaotic state. Because the crowds were often small, players were usually only paid $25 or $50 a game, if at all. Teams came and went. Players like Jim Thorpe and Paddy Driscoll could change teams, playing for the highest bidder, and college players often played for pro teams using assumed names and disguising themselves with adhesive tape on their faces. Semi-professional football began in Ironton as early as 1893 with a team known as the 'Irontonians." Little is known about the Irontonians except that their biggest rival was the Portsmouth Cycle Club, the beginning of an intense competition which was to stretch through the semi-pro league days of the 1920's into modern time. The Ironton Tanks were founded in 1919, and many legends have developed about how the team started and picked up the nickname of the Tanks. It came as a result of the amalgam of talent of two cross-town rival sandlot teams, the "Irish Town Rags" and the "Lombards." This consolidation of returning World War I veterans and younger athletes was the nucleus of the first Tanks team. The Ranks of these originals have been thinned today, but the survivors recall practice sessions under the arc lights at the corner near Lawrence Street and Lombard schools with a football and scant equipment. Jim Mains, lifelong Ironton resident and childhood fan
of the Tanks (and one-time coach at St. Joseph's and Ironton High
School) says the team started when a group of returning
veterans got together who "just wanted to play football." They likened
themselves to the battlefield tanks because they rolled over their
opponents without mercy, and the name stuck. Perhaps they got their name
form a headline that first season, which read: |
describes the team's play. In 12 seasons, the Tanks rumbled to a record of 85 wins, 14
ties and 19 losses against strong semi-professional and NFL teams.
After a series of games in 1919 between some Ironton teams, an all-star team was picked to play a four-game schedule. All of the players were hometown boys who agreed to share any of the gate receipts, The team got a late start compared with other area teams and amassed a 1-1-1 record going into the highlight game of the season: a Thanksgiving clash with Portsmouth. The Portsmouth team which had been playing all fall, was accompanied to Ironton by 300 confident fans. Ironton fans were confident also, because they had an ace up their sleeve: T.C. "Shorty" Davies, a former Ironton High School star and a running back at Ohio State and West Virginia universities, returned home to play for the Tanks in the big game. (Davies refused his share of the gate receipts so he could retain his college eligibility.) Davies proved to be an early problem for Portsmouth when three minutes into the game he carried the ball around right end and down the sideline for a spectacular 50-yard touchdown run. Portsmouth could never seem to get going against the strong Rank defense, and the game ended. Ironton 12, Portsmouth 0. Page 3 ---> |
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