{ "page": { "url": "https://coneyislandpottsville.com/pottsville-maroons" }, "publisher": { "name": "The Coney Island (Pottsville)", "alternateName": [ "The Coney Island", "Coney Island Pottsville", "The Coney Island Restaurant & Tavern" ], "url": "https://coneyislandpottsville.com/", "identifier": "https://coneyislandpottsville.com/#restaurant", "address": { "streetAddress": "2290 W. Market St", "addressLocality": "Pottsville", "addressRegion": "PA", "postalCode": "17901", "addressCountry": "US" }, "telephone": "+15706227722", "geo": { "latitude": 40.6769, "longitude": -76.2214 } }, "team": { "name": "Pottsville Maroons", "sport": "American football", "foundingDate": "1920", "location": "Pottsville, PA" }, "lastReviewed": "2026-05-22", "status": "approved", "intro": "In 1925, a team of coal miners and mill hands from Pottsville joined the young National Football League and, by December, had beaten the first-place Chicago Cardinals on the field. Days later the league suspended the Maroons over an exhibition game — and the championship went to Chicago. A hundred years on, Pottsville has never accepted it. The Coney Island has served this town since 1917, the same coal-region era the Maroons rose from; this page is our hometown salute to them — a neighbor's tribute, not an official team or NFL page.", "story": [ { "id": "roots", "heading": "A coal-region team", "body": "The Maroons came up in the 1920s as Pottsville's own — a roster largely of working coal miners and mill hands from Schuylkill County. They turned professional, joined the National Football League in 1925, and quickly became one of the young league's best." }, { "id": "comiskey", "heading": "December 6, 1925: Pottsville 21, Chicago 7", "body": "On December 6, 1925, the Maroons traveled to Comiskey Park and beat the Chicago Cardinals, 21–7 — the head-to-head meeting many at the time saw as settling the championship." }, { "id": "notre-dame", "heading": "Beating the Four Horsemen", "body": "Six days later, in Philadelphia, the Maroons beat a barnstorming all-star team built around Notre Dame's famed \"Four Horsemen,\" 9–7, before a Shibe Park crowd of about 11,000. Maroons captain Charlie Berry kicked the winning field goal late in the fourth quarter. For the young professional game, beating the college stars was a landmark win." }, { "id": "suspension", "heading": "The suspension", "body": "That Philadelphia game was the problem: it sat in territory the NFL had granted to the Frankford Yellow Jackets, and league president Joseph Carr had warned the Maroons in advance not to play it. Pottsville owner Dr. John Striegel said the league first approved the game, then told him to call it off. Carr suspended the Pottsville franchise the next day, and the league's members upheld the suspension at their annual meeting in Detroit in February 1926." }, { "id": "cardinals", "heading": "The title goes to Chicago", "body": "With Pottsville suspended, the 1925 title was left unsettled. The Chicago Cardinals finished with the better record, but their owner, Chris O'Brien, declined the championship — he wanted one won on the field. The NFL today recognizes the Cardinals as the 1925 champions, and they hold it still. In Pottsville, the loss has never been accepted." }, { "id": "fight", "heading": "A century of trying to get it back", "body": "Pottsville never let it go. The NFL has revisited the case more than once over the decades and has never overturned it. The league did honor the Maroons as one of pro football's early great teams, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame later recognized Pottsville with its Daniel F. Reeves Pioneer Award. The team's players carved a trophy out of anthracite coal that now sits in the Hall of Fame in Canton, and the saga reached a national audience through David Fleming's book \"Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship.\"" }, { "id": "centennial", "heading": "The 2025 centennial", "body": "In 2025, a hundred years on, Pennsylvania marked the anniversary: the General Assembly designated August 16, 2025 \"Pottsville Maroons Championship Day,\" and the Schuylkill County Historical Society gathered the team's story and artifacts for the town to celebrate." }, { "id": "coney", "heading": "Two Pottsville institutions", "body": "The Coney Island opened in 1917 and has served Pottsville ever since — out of the same anthracite-era streets the Maroons played for. We ran the \"then & now\" ad above for the centennial: one Pottsville institution raising a glass to another. We're not affiliated with the Maroons or the NFL — just proud to help keep the town's story going." } ], "factbox": [ { "label": "Team", "value": "Pottsville Maroons — Pottsville, PA (Schuylkill County)" }, { "label": "Founded", "value": "1920 (named the Maroons in 1924)" }, { "label": "Joined the NFL", "value": "1925" }, { "label": "1925 record", "value": "10–2" }, { "label": "Dec 6, 1925", "value": "Beat the Chicago Cardinals, 21–7 (Comiskey Park)" }, { "label": "Dec 12, 1925", "value": "Beat the Notre Dame All-Stars, 9–7 (Shibe Park, Philadelphia)" }, { "label": "Official 1925 NFL champion", "value": "Chicago Cardinals (unchanged to this day)" }, { "label": "Their trophy", "value": "Carved from anthracite coal — now at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Canton" }, { "label": "Centennial", "value": "Aug 16, 2025 — \"Pottsville Maroons Championship Day\" (PA House Resolution 277)" } ], "timeline": [ { "date": "1920", "event": "A Pottsville football team is organized; it takes the \"Maroons\" name in 1924." }, { "date": "1925", "event": "The Maroons join the National Football League." }, { "date": "Dec 6, 1925", "iso": "1925-12-06", "event": "Pottsville beats the Chicago Cardinals, 21–7, at Comiskey Park." }, { "date": "Dec 12, 1925", "iso": "1925-12-12", "event": "Pottsville beats the Notre Dame \"Four Horsemen\" All-Stars, 9–7, at Shibe Park, Philadelphia." }, { "date": "Late 1925", "event": "The NFL suspends the Maroons over the Philadelphia game; the Chicago Cardinals are named champions." }, { "date": "2004", "event": "The Pro Football Hall of Fame names Pottsville the winner of its Daniel F. Reeves Pioneer Award." }, { "date": "Aug 16, 2025", "iso": "2025-08-16", "event": "Pennsylvania marks \"Pottsville Maroons Championship Day\" for the centennial." } ], "faq": [ { "q": "Did the Pottsville Maroons win the 1925 NFL championship?", "a": "They beat the Chicago Cardinals 21–7 in the teams' December 1925 meeting, and many in Pottsville have believed for a century that the title was theirs. But after the NFL suspended the Maroons over an exhibition game, the Cardinals were named champions — and they remain the official 1925 NFL champions to this day." }, { "q": "Why were the Maroons stripped of the championship?", "a": "They played an exhibition game in Philadelphia, in territory claimed by the NFL's Frankford Yellow Jackets. League president Joseph Carr had warned them not to; the team believed it had approval. Carr suspended the Maroons and removed them from championship consideration." }, { "q": "Did the NFL fine the Maroons $500?", "a": "No — that figure doesn't appear in the contemporaneous newspaper coverage. Pottsville's penalty was the suspension of its franchise, which the league's members upheld at their annual meeting in February 1926. (The $1,000 fine sometimes tied to this story was levied on the Chicago Cardinals' owner, over a separate game that used ineligible players.)" }, { "q": "Has the NFL ever given the title back?", "a": "No. The league has revisited the case more than once over the decades and has never overturned it. It has honored the Maroons as one of pro football's early great teams, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame recognized Pottsville with its Daniel F. Reeves Pioneer Award." }, { "q": "Where can I see the Maroons' coal trophy?", "a": "The team's players carved a championship trophy out of anthracite coal. It is held at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio." }, { "q": "Is The Coney Island affiliated with the Pottsville Maroons or the NFL?", "a": "No. The Coney Island is a Pottsville restaurant that has served the town since 1917. This page is our hometown tribute to the Maroons — we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or licensed by the Maroons, the National Football League, or any team." } ], "sources": [ { "label": "Pro Football Hall of Fame — the 1925 NFL season", "url": "https://www.profootballhof.com/football-history/football-history/1869-1939/1925/", "note": "The controlling reference for the 1925 championship dispute." }, { "label": "Pennsylvania House Resolution 277 (2025) — \"Pottsville Maroons Championship Day\"", "url": "https://www.palegis.us/legislation/bills/2025/hr277", "note": "The Commonwealth's official centennial designation." }, { "label": "Schuylkill County Historical Society", "url": "https://www.schuylkillhistory.org/", "note": "Host of the 2025 Maroons centennial exhibit, in Pottsville." } ], "primarySources": [ { "lead": "Who kicked the winner", "quote": "the talented toe of the Maroon captain, Charlie Berry", "citation": "Philadelphia Inquirer · Dec. 13, 1925 · p. 77" }, { "lead": "The penalty was a franchise suspension, not a fine", "quote": "The magnates sustained President Carr's action in the Pottsville case when he ordered that franchise suspended", "citation": "Philadelphia Inquirer · Feb. 7, 1926 · p. 21" }, { "lead": "The Cardinals' owner declined the title", "quote": "the Chicago club wanted only a title won in the playing field", "citation": "Chicago Tribune · Feb. 8, 1926 · p. 19" }, { "lead": "The $1,000 fine was the Cardinals' — for high-school players", "quote": "O'Brien, who was assessed $1,000 because four high school boys played in a game against his team", "citation": "Chicago Tribune · Feb. 7, 1926 · p. 27" } ], "imageSlots": [ { "id": "ad", "source": "repo-photo", "asset": "/img/pottsville-maroons-100-years-ad.jpg", "alt": "The Coney Island's centennial ad. Top: a circa-1925 black-and-white photo of the original storefront, its sign reading \"Coney Island Hot Weiners,\" labeled \"approx. 1925.\" Middle: a large \"100 — Celebrating Over 100 Years of Pottsville Pride,\" a maroon Maroons football badge, a menu QR code, and \"Proudly Serving Pottsville Since 1917.\" Bottom: a 2025 night photo of today's neon-lit Coney Island Restaurant & Tavern, labeled \"2025.\"", "caption": "The commemorative ad The Coney Island ran for the Pottsville Maroons centennial.", "followUpDeliverable": null } ], "crossLink": { "href": "/facts", "text": "More Pottsville and Coney Island history is on our Facts & FAQ page." }, "affiliationDisclaimer": "The Coney Island is an independent Pottsville restaurant. This page is a hometown tribute to the Pottsville Maroons; we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or licensed by the Pottsville Maroons, the National Football League, or any team." }