Cleveland Bulldogs
On July 8, 1923, Samuel H. Deutsch, a jeweler in Cleveland, Ohio, formed the Cleveland Indians. The Cleveland Indians was a professional football team that played its home games in Cleveland. The team was part of the National Football League. During the 1923 season, the Cleveland Indians won three games, lost one game, and tied three, finishing fifth in the league, which had twenty teams.
After the 1923 season, Deutsch purchased the Canton Bulldogs for $2500.00. The Canton Bulldogs had won the National Football League championship in 1922 and 1923. Deutsch combined the Cleveland Indians with the Canton Bulldogs, creating a new team, the Cleveland Bulldogs. The Cleveland Bulldogs won the league championship in 1924, winning seven games, losing one, and tying one.
In 1925, Canton businessmen purchased the rights to the team from Deutsch. The Bulldogs, now known as the Canton Bulldogs, played in Canton during the 1925 and 1926 seasons. At the end of the 1926 season, the team disbanded, but a new Bulldogs team formed in Cleveland for the 1927 season. Samuel Deutsch was the principal owner of this new Cleveland Bulldogs club. The team finished fourth in the National Football League this season, with eight wins, four losses, and one tie. At the end of the season, Elliott Fisher purchased the Bulldogs and moved the team to Detroit. In 1929, Fisher sold the Detroit team to Tim Mara, who renamed the team the New York Giants.