Vikings Message Board.Com

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:14 pm**

That's right! The Zenith City of the Inland Seas; the Christmas City of the North; one-half of the Twin Ports had an NFL team!

The star of the team was HOFer Ernie Nevers. Persuaded by Ole Haugsrud to play for the Duluth Eskimos, he (and the team) have been credited with saving the NFL, when star Red Grange began his own football league.

The Eskimos really began life as Kelley-Duluth, sponsored by Kelley Hardware. In 1926, they became the Duluth Eskimos, sometimes known as Ernie Nevers' Duluth Eskimos, and only played two seasons.

The Eskimos sent three players to the NFL Hall of Fame: Ernie Nevers, Walt Kiesling and Johnny 'Blood' McNally.

The 1926-27 Eskimos played 14 regular season games and 15 non-league games and not once played in Duluth. (!)

Ernie Nevers played all but 29 of the 1740 minutes the team was on the field during their 29 game road trip.

The Eskimos were the first NFL team to have a logo on their jerseys.

The Eskimos reportedly were the first NFL team to hold a pre-season training camp -- in Two Harbors, Minnesota.

The 1924 Kelley-Duluth team beat the Green Bay Packers in Duluth 6 to 3. The following year, Curly Lambeau refused to play them in Duluth.

The Eskimos (and the Kelley-Duluths) are the only NFL teams to feature three brothers playing for the same team in the same season. They were the Rooney brothers of Hibbing, Minnesota.

The Kelley-Duluths featured the second black player to play in the NFL: Bobby Marshall, who played football for the U of Minnesota.

Wanna read the history of the team that saved the NFL? Go here:
http://www.x-communication.org/xcomm/bo ... heads.html

Get your Eskimos t-shirts there, too. Check out the logo!

Dawn
BTW George Clooney's upcoming football movie 'Leatherheads' is based on the Eskimos(!)

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:27 pm**

I heard George Clooney is going to be in a film that features the Duluth Eskimos. No Joke!!! I could hardly believe it myself.

Posted: **Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:39 pm**

It has quite the cast as well, Here are a couple links:

http://www.clooneystudio.com/movies/lea ... sting.html

http://www.leatherheadsmovie.com/

STORY: The film takes place during the early years of professional football in the 1920s and follows an aging footballer who convinces a young college star to dump his school and play in the pros. Dodge Connolly decides to rejuvenate his team, the Duluth Eskimos, by getting Princeton football hero/war hero Carter Rutherford, the toast of the nation, to join the team, fill the seats, and boost their revenue. Unfortunately, a female reporter with the Chicago Tribune, Lexie Littleton, is travelling with Carter ostensibly to do a puff piece on him, but really to debunk the myth of his war heroism in Germany. With Carter falling for Lexie and Lexie and Dodge falling for each other, a betrayed Carter and his PR person, CC Pyle, start on some public damage control that is finally resolved in the newly minted office of the Commissioner of Football, Pete Harpen--who's determined to nip any scandal in the bud.

Posted: **Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:00 pm**

A weird little aside to the Eskimos is that it was the first team to put a logo on its jersey.

Posted: **Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:08 am**

Cool Stuff Dawn. Its wierd that Duluth used to have an NFL team. And they beat the Packers!

Posted: **Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:32 am**

VikeMike wrote:A weird little aside to the Eskimos is that it was the first team to put a logo on its jersey.

No kidding. That little tidbit is in my post.

Dawn

Posted: **Fri Dec 21, 2007 1:12 pm**

DeeEss57 wrote: No kidding. That little tidbit is in my post.

Dawn

And they were the first team to wear a logo on their jerseys.

Posted: **Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:19 pm**

No kidding. That little tidbit is in my post.

Yikes. I'm so terribly sorry I missed that! Wow. Am I red-faced! Ohmygosh, I feel just terrible.

Posted: **Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:27 am**

Do you know what the strange part is?

The only reason that the Packers are a team today is because of the Duluth Eskimos.

I believe that I read this in the "Cold Wars: 40 Years of Packer-Viking Rivalry" book.

The Packers couldn't afford the cost of the drive to Minnesota to play the Eskimos, so they were about to give up and do away with the Packers due to the lack of funds to keep them going.

Being that the rivalry was strong...everyone in Green Bay decided to buy stock in the team so that they could raise enough money to make it to Duluth to play Minnesota.
Hence, that is why the Packers are not only a team that still exists today, but also, it's the reason why they are owned by the fans.

It has been a long time since I read the book, so I might be a little off on my facts. Feel free to correct any errors in my tidbit.

Vikings Message Board.Com

Ernie Nevers' Duluth Eskimos NFL team

Ernie Nevers' Duluth Eskimos NFL team