Dayton and the Buckeye Trail: Site of the first professional football game

The first pro-league football game

What city hosted the first professional leage football game? Since this article is in the Trailblazer, that should narrow it down to a city in Ohio where the Buckeye Trail (BT) is near-by. And if you are one to read the narration on the BT Section Maps, you may have a better idea of the location. In the description of the November 2015 edition of the Troy Section Map, there is a sentence at Point 6 that reads in part, “…enters Triangle Park (Dayton City Parks, home of the Dayton Triangles pro football team 1920-1929.)”. There is no room provided in the map to elaborate about the Dayton Triangles Football Team and that shrouds the importance of the team’s place in history.

The Dayton Triangles

The Dayton Triangles are foundational to the history of professional football and the National Football League (NFL) as we know it today. Professional and semipro football had a strong presence in Ohio in the late teen years of the last century. Two meetings were held in Ralph Hay’s Hupmobile Dealership in Canton Ohio, August 20 and September 17, 1920 that resulted in the formation of the American Professional Football Association (APFA). In 1922, the Association was renamed to NFL. The Dayton Triangles were represented at the meetings by Carl Storck, the founding owner and future coach of the Triangles. Mr. Storck would go on to be the secretary-treasurer of the NFL, 1921-39, and eventually serve as the league president. Dayton businessmen, Charles Kettering and Edward Deeds, were the team sponsors and responsible for the name, “Triangles”. The men were owners of three large manufacturing companies in the Dayton area and the team adopted the delta shape in the honor of the location of the companies around the city. They were: Kettering’s National Cash Register (NCR), Dayton Engineering Laboratories (DELCO), and Dayton Metal Production Company. Charles Kettering was an amazing inventor whom you can thank for many things, including your car starter motor. The Dayton suburb of Kettering, Ohio is named after him. Edward Deed is prominent in Dayton history. Deeds Park, named in his honor, is Point 5 in the Troy Section Map of the Buckeye Trail. A little over two weeks after the formation of the APFA/NFL, Dayton hosted the first game of the new APFA/NFL pro league on October 3, 1920 in Triangle Park. Dayton won 14-0 over the Columbus Panhandles, another of the league’s founding teams. One of the stars of the Triangles, Lou Partlow, scored the first touchdown in NFL history.

Don’t miss this site (and sight)

To bring this story home to the Buckeye Trail it is key to know exactly where the former Triangles Stadium was located. For most, if not all, who have hiked the Troy Section of the BT the location is in plan sight, but if you didn’t know where to look you might miss it. If you hike clockwise on the BT/Great Miami Recreation River Trail (GMRRT), you will cross the Gayle B. Price Jr Bridge from Island Park over the Miami River to Triangle Park (named for its Triangle shape as the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater Rivers and the home to the football team). Once in Triangle Park, if you make a turn to the right/north, you will see Howell Baseball Field to your left/west after 1000ft. Just outside the left field fence, do I dare say, less than a football field away, stands a historical marker (dedicated 2004).

As it says, the NFL recognizes this place as the hallowed ground of the first NFL game. During the 100th Anniversary of the first game in the fall of 2020, the NFL had big plans to promote the history of the founding game. Unfortunately, this occurred in the middle of COVID and though the anniversary was mentioned on TV, it was not covered as much as it would have been. As a gift to recognize the site, the NFL donated funding for Dayton to build a football field on the location in Triangle Park. This plan was disrupted, too, when Native American artifacts were discovered at the site that could not be disturbed. The field was erected about ½ mile away in the area of Kettering Baseball Fields. The field can be seen to the right/west as you drive south on Interstate 75 just before you cross the bride over the Great Miami River and into Dayton.

The BT travels past too many historical locations in Ohio to count. The “Gem City” of Dayton has many of the gems including the location of the first NFL game ever played. If you are a fan of professional football, or just history, and are hiking the Troy Section of the BT, make sure to take a couple minute for a side hike to find the marker and stand on one of the historical locations of the early NFL.

For those whom are not into hiking, the large parking lot at Triangle Park is about a one-minute walk away from the former location of the field. Most of all enjoy the beauty, nature, and challenge of the BT while keeping an eye out for the history you can find along the path.