|
Northward Bound
From 1930-1933, the home record of the Portsmouth Spartans was unsurpassed by any other NFL franchise. The combination of a small market and the Great Depression however, was too much for the team to overcome financially. Reportedly, players were being given shares in the team in lieu of their salaries, which there was no money to pay. One wonders how aware of this situation Dutch Clark was, and how much of a factor if any it played in his decision not to play professionally half the country away from his home in the 1933 season.
New Ownership
Enter George Arthur Richards, a man about whom there is much to say both good and ... not so good. He moved to Chicago on his own at the age of 14 - life was most definitely different a century ago - and got a job operating an elevator. By the age of 23 in 1912 he as the youngest branch manager the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company had ever had, later founded a successful car dealership, and eventually transitioned into the radio business. On Christmas Day, 1926, Richards took over the now-venerable station of WJR, but at the time it was going bankrupt. Under Richards leadership, WJR became profitable, continuing his track record as a very successful businessman.
Richards was also the financial backing for the popular broadcasts of Father Charles Coughlin, and reportedly pushed him to focus on politics rather than religion. Coughlin's program, named the 'Golden Hour of the Shrine of the Little Flower' after the church he pastored in Royal Oak, Michigan, was heard by an estimated 15-30 million on 36 stations with WJR as the most important, and by 1934 he had built his own post office to handle the 10,000 letters he was receiving daily. Inflammatory attacks on communists, bankers, Jews, and the KKK were much of his public fare at least. It started largely as support for social justice as he saw it and anti-capitalist rhetoric, as when he in not exactly understated fashion declared that "If Congress fails to back up the President in his monetary program, I predict a revolution in this country which will make the French Revolution look silly". Later in the 30s, his broadcasts descended into anti-semitic and pro-fascism of the lowest order. If you feel the need to throw up and aren't familiar with this particular corner of history, look up some of his statements. Be sure to have a stiff beverage and/or a sedative handy if you do.
Richards also purchased the Portsmouth Spartans for an estimated $15,000, moving them to Detroit as the Lions in 1934, where they have remained to the present day nearly 90 years later. He negotiated live radio broadcasts of the Lions games on Thanksgiving, helping to popularize that long-standing tradition.
|