Newark Bears (AFL)

Newark Bears
Founded1926
Folded1926
Based inNewark, New Jersey, United States
LeagueAmerican Football League (1926)
Team historyNewark Bears (1926)
Newark Demons (1926)
Team colorsPurple, White    
Head coachesHal Hansen
Owner(s)The New Jersey Athletic Association
Home field(s)Davids' Stadium

The Newark Bears were a professional American football team that competed in the first American Football League in 1926 AFL season. Owned by the New Jersey Athletic Association (headed by NJAA president William Coughlin),[1] the Bears played their home games in Davids' Stadium. Coached by player-coach Hal Hansen, the majority of the team played their college football in Georgia and Florida.[2]

Tailback Doug Wycoff scored the club’s only points in its existence, having a touchdown run and kicking the extra point to tie the Chicago Bulls in both teams’ opening game of the season.[3] While the Bears’ defense was respectable (yielding only five points per game), the lack of offensive production resulted in a record of no wins, three losses, and two ties. While the Bears played in front of (an announced total of) 40,000 spectators in Philadelphia (a 9-0 loss to the Quakers on October 16), the total attendance for three home games in Newark was less than 5000. After only 400 fans attended a scoreless game (with the Rock Island Independents) in Davids’ Stadium on October 24, 1926, the Bears withdrew from the AFL… the first team to call it quits in the American Football League. The exodus from the league continued through the month of November, until there were only four teams left, dooming the league.

For the team's last league game, the name of the team was changed to the Newark Demons.[4]

Year W L T Finish Coach
1926 0 3 2 9th Hal Hansen
  1. ^ “Bill Edwards Named President of A.F.L.", New York Times, March 8, 1926
  2. ^ David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen, and Rick Korch, The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional Football, From 1892 to the Present (St. Martin’s Press 1994), ISBN 0-312-11435-4
  3. ^ 1926 American Football League from Elias Sports Bureau and Pro Football Research Association Linescore Committee Archived June 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen, and Rick Korch, The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional Football, From 1892 to the Present (St. Martin’s Press 1994), ISBN 0-312-11435-4