Leatherheads of the North by Chuck Frederick

Those hefty gates enabled the struggling NFL - with 22 franchises in cities ranging in size from Pottsville, Pa.

The Eskimos played 28 of 29 games on the road from September 1926 through January 1927, travelling 17,000 miles by train and drawing big crowds almost everywhere. With Ernie Nevers of Stanford, who was born in Minnesota and played high school football in Wisconsin, as the star attraction, the Eskimos became the NFL’s ultimate barnstorming act. The book, based on Frederick’s columns and stories for the newspaper, came out in 2007, just ahead of the George Clooney movie “Leatherheads” about the escapades of a fictitious football team inspired by the Eskimos. The next time you complain about Brett Favre, a head coach’s clock management, or the seven-layer dip at your Super Bowl party, thank the Eskimos.įor the historic detail, park on Superior Street and walk uphill to the offices of the Duluth News-Tribune, where editorial page editor Chuck Frederick greets you in a new Green Bay Packers hat (he’s originally from Wisconsin), offers a seat in his office and produces a copy of his book about the Eskimos, “Leatherheads of the North.” The Duluth Eskimos never won a championship but played a significant role in the survival of the league. 1 in the nation, carries on the tradition.īut meaningful football goes back a little farther - to the 1920s, when this port city on Lake Superior had a team in the National Football League. This year’s team, undefeated and ranked No.

The UMD program has plenty to celebrate, from its origins as Duluth State Teachers College in 1930 to its Division II national championship in 2008. If you ask members of the University of Minnesota-Duluth football team what they know about the history of football in Duluth, you’ll get answers like “Not much,” or if you’re lucky, a name or two of the six UMD players who made it to the NFL.Īnd that’s understandable.

Leatherheads of the North by Chuck Frederick