THE 1926 LOS ANGELES BUCCANEERS
Every Bucs fan knows that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers started play in the 1976
NFL season and went winless in their first 26 games. But how many of you know
that 50 years earlier, another Buccaneers' team took the field in the NFL and
posted a winning season?
Long before the days of Gene Deckerhoff, Dave Moore and TJ Rives ... well OK,
long before the days of Dave and TJ then, back in the early days of the NFL,
when teams came and went every season, a team that called itself the Los
Angeles Buccaneers played in the 1926 NFL season. The year before, there had
been a team called the Los Angeles Tigers, but they were also a one-year wonder.
The LA Bucs played only ten games in their existence, and every one of them was
a road game as most NFL teams in those days were based on the East Coast or
around the Chicago area. In addition, there was no proper NFL schedule and
teams played an odd number of games in a season. The unofficial champion went
to the team with the best winning percentage and the idea of a Super Bowl was still a long way in the future.
The head coach of the team was one Tut Imlay who also played at running back, wing back and full back for the franchise. Brick Miller was
his assistant playing at the end position. These were the days of 60 minute football, two-way players and no specialist substitutions. Not
much passing, definitely no Monday Night Football and George Halas was still a player on his way to becoming a legend.
The Buccaneers even played a midweek match during their 10-game schedule. Fresh from a narrow win
over the Providence Steam Roller (pictured), they lost to the Pottsville Maroons on a Thursday afternoon,
before defeating the New York Giants three days later in a normal Sunday game.
Tut Imlay was the main offensive force of the team along with the wonderfully-named Tuffy Maul, perhaps
an ancestor of the Sith Lord Darth Maul from The Phantom Menace. Brick Miller's passing stats for that
season rank even some of the worst QBs in Buc history in terms of completion percentage, but in 1926,
football was by no means any kind of passing game.
The NFL re-organised itself at the end of the 1926 season and many teams were disbanded with their best players being absorbed into other
teams. The Los Angeles Buccaneers were one of those and their records were consigned to the history books. It would be another 50 years
before a team calling itself the Buccaneers took the field in the NFL.
The playing roster included:-
G Juddy Ash, WB Ben Bangs, G Fred Beach, FB Bull Finch, FB Bill Gutteron, E Del Hufford, RB/WB/FB Tut Imlay, FB Tuffy Maul, C/T/G/E
Jack McArthur, E Brick Muller, T Don Newmeyer, G John Nolan, FB/WB Artie Sandberg, E/FB/WB Pete Schaffnit, G Don Thompson, T John
Thurman, WB/FB Ellery
White, WB/FB/RB Al
Young.
LOS ANGELES BUCCANEERS RESULTS
DATE
OPPONENT
SCORE
26 Sep 1926
Chicago Cardinals
0-15
3 Oct 1926
Milwaukee Badgers
6-0
17 Oct 1926
Canton Bulldogs
16-13
24 Oct 1926
Buffalo Rangers
0-0
7 Nov 1926
Providence Steam Roller
7-6
11 Nov 1926
Pottsville Maroons
0-10
14 Nov 1926
New York Giants
6-0
21 Nov 1926
Brooklyn Lions
20-0
25 Nov 1926
Detroit Panthers
9-6
5 Dec 1926
Kansas City Cowboys
3-7
Passing
Att
Com
Yds
TD
Int
Brick Muller
95
14
unk
3
0
Tuffy Maul
16
8
134
1
2
Tut Imlay
13
8
131
1
1
Ellery White
1
1
21
0
0
Bill Gutteron
1
0
0
0
0
Pete Schaffnit
1
0
0
0
0
Rushing
No
Yds
Avg
TD
Tut Imlay
29
225
7.8
3
Tuffy Maul
34
104
3.1
2
Ellery White
20
78
3.9
0
Brick Muller
8
64
8.0
0
Al Young
5
14
2.8
0
Receiving
No
Yds
Avg
TD
Tut Imlay
8
175
21.9
1
Brick Miller
8
169
21.1
4
Pete Schaffnit
3
13
4.3
0
Del Hufford
2
24
12.0
0
Punt Returns
Tut Imlay 16-234, 14.6 avg.
Interceptions
Don Thompson 1 (1 TD), Bull Finch 1, Tuffy Maul 1, Jack McArthur 1, Pete Schaffnit 1, John Thurman 1.