HARTFORD BLUES
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HISTORICAL MOMENTS: | |
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1924-1925: | Owned by George Mulligan, the leading sports promoter in Connecticut, the Waterbury Blues were founded in 1924. Mulligan sought to sign several former Notre Dame Players including Harry Stuhldreher, the quarterback of the Four Horsemen. The Blues would later add Ed Hunsinger who played end with the Irish Horsemen. They would also land Jim Crowley from the Four Horsemen, but Crowley would leave the Blues after just one game. Crowley would return with Elmer Laden as the Four Horsemen reunited for one game with the Blues a 13-6 loss against the NFL’s Cleveland Bulldogs. |
1926: | The Blues moved to Hartford as they were invited to join the NFL. Unfortunately they were unable to keep the Horsemen together as Elmer Laden and Harry Stuhldreher signed to play in Brooklyn. Playing in the East Hartford Velodrome a bicycle track that could barely contain a football field and sat 8,000 the Hartford Blues who were coached by a Dentist named Jack Keogh were shutout by the New York Giants 21-0 on September 26th. The Blues would lose their first four games in the NFL, before finally beating the Brooklyn Lions 16-6 on October 24th. The Blues would alternate wins and losses the remainder of the season, posting a record of 3-7. It would be their only season in the NFL as the Hartford Blues became the Hartford Giants and returned to the independent football circuit before folding after the 1927 season. The New York Giants briefly called Hartford home in 1973 and 1974 as they waited for their new stadiums in the Meadowlands to be completed, while the New England Patriots toyed with Hartford while trying to get a new stadium in Foxboro in the late 90s. |
PLAYERS | ||
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1926 Hartford Blues pose at East Hartford Velodrome | Sam Dana 1926 | Jack Perrin 1926 |