‘On Any Given Day’ Came True In 1952

On Thanksgiving Day nearly 70 years ago, the most unusual team in NFL history sprung an upset against George Halas and the Chicago Bears.

Thanks, David Fleming of ESPN.com, for bringing to our attention an interesting story about NFL history. It’s a Thanksgiving story, too, about a team that came and went in a flash–the Dallas Texans.

It was an awful team–a winless team–until it stood tall on one day, and one day only, on Thanksgiving Day. The team’s victory proved that even the biggest of underdogs can win “On Any Given Day.”

Courtesy: Dawgs By Nature

The year was 1952. It had to be 1952 because that year was the only year of this team’s existence. The Texans were founded in January and gone by December.

To make matters worse, the team didn’t even finish out the year in its namesake city. After a November 9 home-game loss to the Rams, the league moved the Texans from Dallas to Hershey, PA.

And in the most ironic of twists, the team neither played a game in central Pennsylvania nor carried the Hershey name. Instead, the Texans became a traveling team with a ‘Dallas’ moniker.

The Texans were winless on the year, 0-9, going into the November 27 Thanksgiving Day game against George Halas and the Chicago Bears. ‘Dallas’ was the ‘home team’ in a game played in Akron, OH at the legendary (and now defunct) “Rubber Bowl.” The NFL match-up was part of a Turkey Day doubleheader.

Texans v. Bears in Akron, Thanksgiving Day 1952 (courtesy: ESPN.com)

Over 20,000 fans filled the Rubber Bowl that day in 1952, but most of them were there to see the first game–a game between local high school teams. Fewer than 3000 stuck around to watch the Texans take on the Bears.

The non-interest was palpable. The NFL wasn’t big back then. The Texans weren’t a local team. And the Bears were anything but “The Monsters of the Midway.’ Chicago had already lost five games, winning only four, with one of those wins notched against these lowly Texans.

But this wasn’t a bad Bears team. Just four days earlier they had defeated the eventual NFL champions, the Detroit Lions. It’s just that Chicago’s high from that win didn’t last very long.

The game in Akron got away from Halas’ crew and it got away quickly. ‘Dallas’ raced out to a 20-2 lead and hung on to win, 27-23.

Sadly for the Texans, that win was a one-off. Two games remained on the 1952 schedule (at Philadelphia and at Detroit) and ‘Dallas’ lost both. The Texans ended the year (and its lifespan) at 1-9.

But that one win, nearly 70 years ago, rendered true a sacred sports adage, “On any given day….”

(Note: There’s an error in the YouTube graphic below. This video is about the 1952 Dallas team.)