HGP Bonus: So, You Think You Know…?
The Indianapolis Colts
The story of the Dayton Triangles has been told by Dayton and football historians alike; one of the Founding Franchises of the most popular sports league on the planet. I wonder how many times their connection to the Indianapolis Colts has been mentioned? It is a long and winding road of failure, success, and heartbreak but it ties Dayton forever with the NFL and one of its most storied franchises.
The Dayton Triangles, founded in 1916, were a significant team in the early NFL, known for their local talent and impressive performances during their first three seasons with a 23 — 1 — 2 record over that span culminating with their 1918 NFL Championship. The Triangles championship season was their most dominant, at 8–0 they took advantage of some opposing talent being absent due to World War I. Fortunes turned as did the calendars, the 1920’s saw the Triangle’s decline. Unable to compete with teams that recruited nationally. After seven straight losing seasons, three of them winless, fan’s began to lose interest, attendance declined and financial difficulties followed.
Financial struggles led to the sale of the Dayton Triangles in 1930 to a Brooklyn-based group, renaming the Triangle’s the Brooklyn Dodgers before the well-known baseball team (unrelated) carried the same moniker. The Dodgers had purchased franchise rights to the Dayton players, but most of the Dodgers’ roster came from a previous year’s Orange Tornadoes club that had also folded. Unfortunately, most of Triangles’ players simply couldn’t uproot families and move to Brooklyn on short-notice during the Great Depression.
There were several more name changes to follow including a merger with the rival Boston Yanks, later changing yet again to the New York Bulldogs. In the final chapter of the Triangle’s New York Saga they were known as the New York Yanks.
In 1952, the team once known as the Triangles began their Texas chapter with the sale to a Texas-based ownership group and moved to Dallas. In Dallas Triangles were rebranded as Texans.
Unable to escape financial challenges the Texans folded and players were shipped off to expansion Baltimore in 1953. The end of their brief Texas history would be followed by immortality with the formation of those iconic Baltimore Colts.
In 1984 much ado about a lot of anger saw the famed Baltimore franchise uproot to Indianapolis under cover of darkness, back when sneaking several semi-trucks out of town didn’t catch the attention of a million Instagram followers.
Despite the team’s relocation and name changes, the Dayton Triangles’ legacy remains significant to NFL history. The Triangle’s can boast their own Line of Greats with players named Peyton Manning, Marshall Faulk, Dwight Freeney, Eric Dickerson, Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, Gino Marchetti, Jim Parker, and two-way star Greasy Neale.
I see the bumper stickers and flags around the region quite a bit and I wonder if Colts fans in Dayton, know how much of a connection their home has with their NFL team. The Triangles represent a connection to the early days of the NFL and should be an immense source of local football pride…especially for Colts fans.
