Washington Senators, also referred to as the Washington Pros or Washington Presidents, was a professional football club from Washington, D.C. The team played for one season in the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football League) during the 1921 season. Afterward, it continued to operate as an independent football club until 1941. The Senators played and practiced at American League Park.
Formation
Washington, D.C. was a considerable distance from most professional football activity in the 1910s and 1920s, with the closest circuit of professional teams of note located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At least one pre-NFL team from the city, the Washington Vigilants, was considered at or near par to the top teams in the country, consistently beating its local peers and playing a close loss to the Youngstown Patricians, an undefeated team in the Ohio League, then considered the premier U.S. pro circuit, in 1915. The Vigilants disbanded in 1916.
The Senators were formed specifically for the 1921 APFA season. Officials from the Washington Professional Football Club met at the Arlington Hotel on May 19, 1921 to finalize plans for the team, then referred to as the Washington Pros. Tim Jordan was appointed the team's business manager, and the squad was coached by former Georgetown star Jack Hegarty. The Senators would play a full 11-game schedule, however only four of those games would be against other APFA squads. The team featured Benny Boynton who would be involved in all three Senator touchdowns that were scored in APFA contests, throwing for two and running in the third.
1921 season
First non-league opponents
The Senators began their 1921 campaign with a 33–0 win over the Wilmington Collegians. Led by quarterback Bullets Watson, the victory featured touchdowns by Jack Sullivan, Watson and Dutch Leighty. The team's next opponent was the Holmesburg Athletic Club which was based out of Holmesburg, Pennsylvania, and were made up of former college stars from Penn State, Penn, Cornell, Swarthmore College, Carlisle Indian School and Lafayette College. The Senators' third game was against a team from Norfolk, after a semi-pro team from Akron was unable to play due to having a large number of injured players.
Syracuse Pros
After playing against three non-APFA opponents, the Senators defeated the Syracuse Pros 20–7 at home. It is unclear however if the Pros were ever a part of the APFA. The team acknowledged that they were members of the league, however there is no record available through the APFA or NFL documenting the team's membership. Therefore, the Pros are not counted in many record books as being an APFA or NFL franchise.
Harry Courtney
Harry Courtney, a left-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators baseball club, signed with the football Senators for their November 20 game against a team from Clarksburg, West Virginia. However Clark Griffith, the owner of the baseball Senators, found out about his Courtney moonlighting as a football player. Griffith ordered Courtney to stop playing football or risk finding himself without a job in baseball. Indeed, Courtney gave up his football career and continued to focus only on baseball.
APFA debut
The Senators' APFA debut occurred on November 27, 1921, when they faced the Canton Bulldogs. Canton had a reputation was one of the nation's premier clubs. The game received relatively large amounts of exposure in the local papers. Many observers saw this as Washington's big chance to show that it was a force to be taken seriously nationally. While, Canton was known for its speed, Washington came into the game with a weight advantage. Washington's average offensive lineman tipped the scales at 189 pounds while Canton's stood at 185 pounds, while the backs registered at 171 pounds to the Bulldogs' 168 pounds. To help his team win the game, Senators head coach Jack Hegerty signed three former Canton players in an effort to tip the odds. Former Georgia Tech star Joe Guyon, Johnny Gilroy and Pete Calac. The plan was to have the men come off the bench and provide support to the already sturdy starting eleven.
With tickets priced one dollar, approximately 4,000 showed up to American League Field to see the game. However Canton shutout Washington, 15–0.
Rochester forfeit controversy
Washington was originally scheduled to play the Pittsburgh Collegians after their loss to Canton, however the plans for the game fell apart. When that happened, Tim Jordan substituted the Collegians for the Rochester Jeffersons.