Ah, the Philadelphia Eagles. Seems a bit fitting they were an opponent of the United States at one point. Not literally, of course (though I’m sure more than a few fanbases would disagree).

The Eagles played their inaugural season in 1933. Their first regular season meeting was on October 15, 1933, when they lost 56–0 to the Giants. While regular season is obviously what matters, preseason was technically their first action as a team, and they played seven such games in the month leading up to it.

The penultimate of these games was also the first played in their home city and state. Their opponent? The United States Marine Corps.

The 1933 Eagles

Let’s get this history lesson out of the way.

Bert Bell and James Ludlow “Lud” Wray, good friends and former teammates at Penn, acquired the assets of the Frankford Yellow Jackets in 1933. The Yellow Jackets shut down at the end of 1931 following a disastrous final few seasons financially, unable to even find a buyer and sending the franchise’s rights back to the league. Bell and Wray bought what was left and the Philadelphia Eagles were born (keep in mind the Eagles are not regarded as a continuation of the Yellow Jackets).

Wray was named head coach while Bell oversaw operations. It was a fairly reasonable choice: Wray used to be Penn’s HC and already knew how to coach an expansion team when he led the 1932 Boston Braves to a 4–4–2 record. Braves players liked him, even gifting him a carved meerschaum pipe at season’s end, while owner George Preston Marshall seemed pleased with how the team did in their first season.^[1] Still, Marshall didn’t offer Wray a new contract.^[2] Out of a job, Wray considered returning to the college ranks when Bell asked him to join Philadelphia.

Funny enough, Bell and Wray were on bad terms before they ran the Eagles. Their relationship, once described as a “Damon and Pythias friendship”, frayed when they were assistant coaches at Penn in the 1920s under head coach Lou Young. Bell, who was the backfield coach, felt Wray as the line coach was meddling too much with the backs. Both finally went their separate ways when Bell joined Temple.^[3]

“Now the Bell-Wray feud has been forgotten and the combine is ideal,” wrote the Courier-Post in March 1933.^[3]

Preseason

Before the regular season, the Eagles played seven exhibitions throughout September and October. While the games didn’t matter, the experience to get everyone in tune for the season did.

What was technically their first ever game came on September 17 against the Wessingtons of Clifton, the defending New Jersey pro football state champs.^[4] The Eagles won 6–0 in a game that probably should have been more lopsided if not for mistakes like repeatedly turning the ball over in the red zone. Even their lone touchdown (and unofficially the first TD in franchise history), a 20-yard run by Tom “Swede” Hanson, was followed by him having his drop kick blocked.^[5]

Game 2 took the Eagles to Connecticut to play the Bridgeport Pros under the lights.^[6] Hanson scored again on a 25-yard run (and made his PAT this time) before Nick Prisco added another on an 18-yard reverse. As with the Wessingtons, they had a hard time scoring when inside the 10, most notably being stopped on fourth and goal from the 1.^[7]

Four days later, the Eagles went back to New Jersey to play the Orange Tornadoes, a former NFL team. While they gave up their first points, Jack Roberts had two scores on 57- and 25-yard runs for a 14–7 victory.^[8]

Wray and Young

On October 4, the Baker Bowl (home of the Phillies) hosted what was technically the Eagles’ maiden home game against a reserve detachment from the 3d Battalion, 19th Regiment of the United States Marines.^[9]

For Wray, this game was personal: the Marines were led by none other than Lou Young.

They were friendly when both were at Penn and Wray was the obvious successor when Young resigned to become assistant chairman to the Council of Athletics (basically the school’s athletic department, consisting of alumni, students, faculty members, and the Football Committee).^[10]

The 1930 Quakers finished 5–4 before Wray was fired just one season into his three-year contract. Although some players liked Wray, his coaching style—which put a premium on player fitness—and personality led to friction with the rest of the roster, as well as the school’s boosters and alumni.^[11][12] Penn’s junior varsity coach Jack Butler refused to work under Wray and quit, as did Football Committee chairman Sydney Hutchinson.^[10] When he recorded his first loss to Wisconsin, there were already calls to fire him that only escalated as the season progressed. Some players left the team after arguing with Wray. Things spiraled so far that the school’s administration got involved and agreed to can him.^[11]

“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,” Wray said after his firing.^[13]

Wray had a simple reason for his struggles: Young.^[12]

He insisted Young possessed a “sinister influence” over the program that caused him to inherit a bad situation where everybody hated him.^[12] Ironically, Young himself was considered as a possible replacement for Wray before the job went to Harvey Harman.^[14]

Young, in turn, was described as “one of those who is loudest in the praise of Pennsy’s house-cleaning methods.”^[15] Ironically, he lost his job too just two months after Wray when the University of Pennsylvania shut down the Council of Athletics and took over all athletic operations; officially, the school said he retired.^[16][17]

Of course, Young was anything but relaxing and enjoying his “retirement”. He became the head coach of the Marine team at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where he rebuilt the Leathernecks by recruiting his former Penn players. Although they represented the Navy Yard, a good chunk of the Marines on the roster weren’t serving with the unit stationed there. Al Kruze, considered the greatest fullback in school history, was Young’s de facto lieutenant as the backfield coach.^[19]

The Marines mainly played against teams in the region like the Wessingtons and New Rochelle Bulldogs, the latter the reigning champions of the Eastern League.^[19] Harry Lee Warren, former Naval Academy player who was part of the Midshipmen team that handed Young and Penn their only defeat in 1928, was team captain.^[20]

New Rochelle was the Marines’ last opponent before taking on the Eagles. The Bulldogs by far looked like the better team on the stat sheet: they recorded ten first downs to the Marines’ two, completing 15 of 23 passes versus the Marines’ 3/9, and had a net 32 yards rushing to the Marines’ –29.^[21]

The defense, however, couldn’t hold forever. After the Bulldogs struck first on an 11-yard passing touchdown, the Marines tied it up on a 70-yard TD pass from “Swede” Carlson to Carl Zephyer: Carlson launched it 60 yards to Zephyer, who beat his man and ran the final ten yards for the score. Neither team scored in the second half for the 7–7 tie.^[21]

Game Time

Everybody knew of the tension between Wray and Young, and it was palpable going into their meeting. The Philadelphia Inquirer described this game as a “grudge battle” where Wray wanted to finally stick it to his old boss and “assuage some of the rancor in his breast”.^[22]

The Courier-Post wrote of the upcoming meeting:^[23]

A feud of three years’ duration will break forth in all its fury tonight as two former Penn football coaches match wits in a grid battle at the Phillies’ ball park. Lud Wray, who is guiding the destinies of the undefeated Eagles, will send his pro eleven into action against the Marines, coached by none other than Louis Alonzo Young. The result should be a battle well worth the watching.

Wray’s fast-stepping Eagles have played four games to date and won all four. In three they were never in danger of having their goal line crossed, and after three weeks of training at Atlantic City are primed for their local inaugural.

Young, on the other hand, has only recently taken over the doughty U. S. Marines, but in the short time he has been at the helm has pressed upon his charges the necessity of clipping the wings of the powerful Eagles. The rival coaches will leave no stone unturned to gain victory.

The game marks the first appearance of the Eagles in Philadelphia, and the new team promises to make a strong bid for the National Professional Football crown, now held by the Chicago Bears.

Being a night game, a portable lighting plant was brought in to illuminate the field.^[24] The Eagles would rack up a pretty solid primetime record over the next 92 years, and boy, did it show here.

The game was not even close. In front of 3,000 “astonished and thrilled” fans, the Eagles manhandled the Marines from the start. They scored the first touchdown just five minutes in on a ten-yard double pass from Hanson to Lee Woodruff, then added another score just two drives later when Dick Thornton picked off a pass on the Marine 30 to set up another Woodruff score. After one quarter, the Eagles were up 12–0 (they missed their PATs).^[22]

It was at this point that Wray, still out for Young’s blood, decided to send the backups in. The second stringers quickly got on the board themselves when Jodie Whire took a reverse and ran 65 yards for the score. Just before halftime, Marine tackle Ralph “Horse” Chase threw a punch at Prisco. Besides Chase getting ejected, the ensuing fight led to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that moved the Eagles into the red zone, leading to Prisco’s 15-yard strike to Joe Carter. Eagles 26, Marines 0.^[22]

Wray put his starters back in to start the second half. Harry O’Boyle romped his way to another score early on, then Hanson added a final TD in the fourth. Eagles 40, Marines 0.^[22]

“Wray’s men brushed aside their highly touted ex-Penn foes with ridiculous ease, scoring touchdowns in every period as they ripped the Marine line to shred and wrecked havoc through the air,” The Philadelphia Inquirer stated.^[22] Even then, the paper stressed “it was an interesting game to watch. The play was wide open—the lighting splendid and the running attack was punctuated with just enough passes to keep the fans on edge.”

Onward

The Eagles played two more preseason games after that. They suffered what was technically their first loss ever to the Staten Island Stapletons 7–0; the Stapletons used to be an NFL franchise but suspended their league membership before the 1933 season for financial reasons. Doug Wyckoff scored the only touchdown of the game, while Philly reached Staten Island’s goal line on three different occasions but couldn’t get into the end zone.^[25]

They rebounded in dominant fashion by smashing the Frankford Legion 40–0. Their performance was sluggish for much of the day as the score was only 6–0 going into the fourth, then their “charging and blocking which had only been fair became hard and accurate” while their “puny interference straightened out and tossed aside the Legion opposition as though they were paper weights.”^[26] Hanson ran for touchdowns of six, 18, and 47 yards while throwing a 30-yard score to Nip Felber. Prisco had a 25-yard rushing TD while Rick Lackman got a 50-yard pick six.^[27]

With that, the regular season arrived. Of course, if Staten Island was any indicator, playing NFL teams was not the same as semi-pro and independent clubs. After losing their opener to the Giants 56–0, the Eagles fell 25–0 to the Spartans and 35–9 to the Packers.

In November, they scored their first NFL win in rainy conditions over the Cincinnati Reds 6–0. With the game in a scoreless tie with just minutes remaining, the Eagles had a critical interception on the Reds’ 35-yard line and returned it to the seven. Three downs and losing two yards later, they faced fourth-and-goal from the Cincy nine. The Reds defense expected the Eagles to either kick or throw, so they dropped everyone back in coverage. Roberts took the snap and handed off to Hanson on the reverse, who ran for the dagger.^[28]

The Eagles finished their maiden campaign 3–5–1. Their three wins were a sweep of the Reds and a blowout of the Pittsburgh Pirates (there’s a baseball joke somewhere in here; for inquiring minds, that year’s Phillies were 14–7 against the Reds and 7–15 against the Pirates) while they tied the eventual champion Bears.

References

[1] “BRAVES GIVE PIPE TO COACH WRAY”, The Boston Globe, December 6, 1932

[2] “WRAY NOT TO BE GIVEN NEW CONTRACT, REPORT”, The Boston Globe, January 12, 1933

[3] “Bert Bell Ready for Pro Football”, Courier-Post, March 7, 1933

[4] “Wessingtons to Open September 17”, The Paterson Morning Call, August 30, 1933

[5] “Philadelphia Eagles Defeat Clifton Wessingtons by 6-0”, The Paterson Morning Call, September 18, 1933

[6] “BERNIE O’HARA TO REFEREE NIGHT GAME”, Waterbury Evening Democrat, September 20, 1933

[7] “Hansen Stars as Eagles Blank Bridgeport Eleven”, The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 21, 1933

[8] “Philly Eagles Beat Orange, 14-7”, The Paterson Evening News, September 25, 1933

[9] “PRO FOOTBALL”, Atlantic City Press, October 5, 1933

[10] “LUD WRAY ELECTED TO PENN GRID POST” by the Associated Press, The Evening Sun, December 21, 1929

[11] “Penn Team Should Name Coach”, Allentown Morning Call, December 14, 1930

[12] “PHILLY EAGLES OPEN GRID SEASON TONIGHT”, The Reading Times, October 4, 1933

[13] “Lud Wray Forced Out As Grid Coach At Pennsylvania” by the Associated Press, Wilmington Morning News, December 13, 1930

[14] “Lou Young Now Being Mentioned” by Chester L. Smith, The Pittsburgh Press, January 29, 1931

[15] “Live Tips and Topics” by “Sportsman”, The Boston Globe, February 7, 1931

[16] “Penn Tears Down Entire Athletic System and Builds New Structure In Most Sweeping Change in Years” by John H. Reitinger (AP), Allentown Morning Call, February 3, 1931

[17] “Drastic Changes Made in U. of P. Athletic Policy; Coaching, Schedules, Training Affected”, The Patriot, February 3, 1931

[18] “Penn’s North Jersey Alumni to Hold Smoker”, The Jersey Journal, February 5, 1931

[19] “Wessies Oppose Marines at Night”, Herald-News, October 7, 1933

[20] “Bulldogs Face Marines Tomorrow in Colorful Combat at City Park Stadium” by Tom Hoctor, The Standard-Star, September 30, 1933

[21] “COLORFUL SCENE AS RIVAL TEAMS BATTLE AT PARK” by Larry Tres, The Standard-Star, October 2, 1933

[22] “LOCAL ‘PROS’ START HOME SEASON RIGHT”, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 5, 1933

[23] “EAGLES IN OPENER AGAINST MARINES”, Courier-Post, October 4, 1933

[24] “PENN-DEL PLANS NIGHT FOOTBALL”, The Evening Journal, September 29, 1933

[25] “STAPLETON GRIDDERS CLIP PHILLY EAGLES” by the United Press, Intelligencer Journal, October 9, 1933

[26] “EAGLES SCORE FIVE TIMES IN LAST QUARTER TO WIN”, Evening Herald, October 12, 1933

[27] “EAGLES SMOTHER LEGION FOE, 40-0”, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 12, 1933

[28] “EAGLES TRICK REDS INTO 6-0 GRID DEFEAT”, St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, November 6, 1933