1920 All-Pro Team

Background

The 1920 team was a list compiled by Bruce Copeland, sports editor of the Rock Island Argus, who considered only members of the association's "Big Eight" teams for inclusion. These were, in his view, the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Chicago Cardinals and Tigers, Cleveland Tigers, Dayton Triangles, Decatur Staleys, and Rock Island Independents.

In addition to his "three first teams" of eleven players each, Copeland named three reserve elevens, with an addition 44 players accorded "honorable mention" status. In all, 111 players were named to Copeland's end-of-season roll call of star performers for 1920.

Copeland's three "All-Star Professional Teams" were published in the Argus on December 2, 1920.

Biases

While five of the six teams excluded were of lesser caliber than their league peers, Copeland did omit one important squad from consideration — the Buffalo All-Americans, who finished fifth in the league standings. The All-Americans never played a game during the 1920 season outside of New York state and the team's personnel and their relative capabilities may have been unknown to Copeland.

It has been noted that since this was the list of a single sportswriter, there appears to be a discernible bias towards the "home team," the Rock Island Independents, in Copeland's choices. Copeland himself stated that his selections were based upon personal observations and "past acquaintance with most of the players with the Akron Indians, Canton Bulldogs, and Cleveland Tigers, which did not play this year in Rock Island."

Copeland's original article presents rationales for the players selected for first team honors. In these explanations, Copeland intimates that superior defensive performance was the chief consideration for linemen, rather than the offensive blocking ability of interior linemen or the pass-catching prowess of ends. Rock Island end Oak Smith is lauded, for example, as one who could "not be boxed" and who "broke through opposing lines almost at will, spilling the runner, interference, or blocking punts." On the other hand, the two top receiving ends in the league in Copeland's estimation, Dave Reese and Dutch Thiele of Dayton, are dismissed as "woefully weak" on defense, "as was demonstrated by repeated gains in their direction" during their 1920 appearance in Rock Island.

Teams

References

References

1. David S. Neft and Richard M. Cohen, ''The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional NFL Football from 1892 to the Present.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991; p. 20.
2. He justified these eight teams as constituting an elite of the league based upon "comparative scores."Bruce Copeland, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-rock-island-argus-all-star-professio/165206387/ "All-Star Professional Teams,"] ''Rock Island Argus,'' December 2, 1920, p. 17.
3. John Hogrogian, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140808122855/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/06-01-173.pdf "1920 All-Pros,"] ''The Coffin Corner'', vol. 6, no. 1 (1984).