Louisville, Kentucky had two professional American football teams in the National Football League: the Louisville Breckenridges (or Brecks for short) from 1921 to 1924 and the Louisville Colonels in 1926.
The NFL intended for the Brecks to be a traveling team, however the team played a series of "home" games. All Brecks home games were played at Eclipse Park, until the stadium caught fire and burned to the ground on November 20, 1922. Meanwhile, the Colonels played all of their games on the road. While the Colonels were really a traveling team out of Chicago they are usually accepted as a continuation of the Brecks franchise.
Louisville Brecks (1899–1924)
The Brecks dated their beginnings back to 1899. Officially the name of the team was the Louisville Breckenridge Club. The club was located in Louisville at corner of Fifth and St. Catherine Streets at what was then the city's perimeter. The Louisville Courier-Journal reported in 1922 that the Brecks dated "back fifteen years, springing from a boys neighborhood team, the Floyds and Brecks, that has kept itself intact probably longer than any independent team in the country." At first the team was considered an amateur team, made up of mostly neighborhood boys. However, by 1919, the team was considered professional, although evidently still made up of local players.
The team's first ever professional football game was held on November 16, 1919. The game resulted in a 17–0 Brecks victory over the New Albany Calumets. That win allowed the Brecks to claim the mythical "Falls Cities" title. While a champion was declared, no "league" existed at this time. Had Eclipse Park not burned down, forcing cancellation of the final two games, the team would probably have financially broken even.
1923 season
After the destruction of Eclipse Park, the Brecks decided to play their home games of the 1923 season at the newly constructed Parkway Field. In order for the team to bring the Akron Pros, Columbus Panhandles, or Oorang Indians to Louisville, the Brecks announced the sale of season tickets. However, the 1923 season began in the same manner as the previous year, with a 37–0 loss to Canton. The following week saw a 34–0 loss at Columbus. Meanwhile, the Brecks home opener against Akron was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. The Breck did manage to play the Oorang Indians in Louisville, for the team's very last NFL game. The Indians were an all-Native American football team, created by, owner Walter Lingo to promote the sale of his airedale terriers. The game included pre-game entertainment and the very first halftime shows. The Indians roster also included Jim Thorpe. The Brecks lost the game 12–0.
Louisville Colonels (1926)
The Louisville Colonels were created in 1926 to fill the schedules of the expanded NFL, but they were a traveling team that operated out of Chicago. That season, the NFL added several semi-pro teams to their ranks, mostly to keep them out of the rival American Football League. While the Colonels were really a traveling team out of Chicago, they are usually accepted as a continuation of the Brecks franchise. Bill Harley, the former owner of the Toledo Maroons, was granted the right to manage the Louisville Colonel operation out of Chicago, while Hertzman still owned the team.
The Brecks-Colonels franchise is the last team from the four currently extant major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada to play its home games in Kentucky, although the Kentucky Colonels played in the American Basketball Association from 1967 until the ABA-NBA merger brought the ABA into the National Basketball Association after the 1975–76 season. Only five of 38 different players played NFL football outside of Louisville.
Season-by-season
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Year !! W !! L !! T !! Finish !! Coach
|-
!rowspan="3"| Brecks
| 1921 || 0 || 2 || 0 || 18th ||Austin Higgins
|-
| 1922 || 1 || 3 || 0 || 12th || Hubert Wiggs
|-
| 1923 || 0 || 3 || 0 || 19th || Jim Kendrick
|-
! Colonels
| 1926 || 0 || 4 || 0 || 21st || Lenny Sachs
|-
!colspan="2"|Total || 1 || 12 || 0 || ||
|}
See also
- Sports in Louisville, Kentucky