POTTSVILLE, Pa. — Pottsville is known for being in the heart of the coal region and the home of America's oldest brewery, Yuengling. But nearly a century ago, it was also home to an NFL franchise.
"They had been bragging for years that they could beat anybody and the commissioner from the NFL challenged them and said, 'why don't you join the NFL?' So they did and as it turns out, they kicked butt," said Vincent Genovese, author of The Pottsville Maroons and the NFL's Stolen Championship.
A tough, rugged, physical team, the Maroons dominated the league in its inaugural season in 1925. But 95 years later, there's a controversy that still haunts the franchise's existence: Having the league championship taken away. Vincent Genovese wrote about it in his book.
"They rode the train from Pottsville out to Chicago and they played Chicago for the NFL Championship and the Maroons ended up dominating the game and beating Chicago and about a week or two later, they played an exhibition game against the four horsemen of Notre Dame and a college all-star team. Because they knew they could pack the stadium, they moved the game to Philadelphia and the owner of the Philadelphia franchise in the NFL cried foul. He said 'they came into our territory to play a game. They can't do that. So he protested it and the commissioner at the time hated Pottsville because he foresaw the future of the NFL being in major cities. So he jumped on the chance and stripped them of the championship. So they were champions for a few days and then they got a telegram from the commissioner saying: 'you're not the champions anymore. You're stripped."
And even though Pottsville protested that controversial decision on several occasions over the years, the league has never budged and never officially crowned the Maroons NFL champions.
The Maroons played for a few more seasons before moving to Boston. But the team still remains a proud part of the city's history and is considered champs.