Laurie still backs Maroons

The following was reported in the Pottsville Republican and Herald today:

PHILADELPHIA — Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney and Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said Tuesday they still support the Pottsville Maroons’ quest to regain the 1925 NFL championship, while league Commissioner Roger Goodell seemed disinterested in a vote, or even discussion, on the matter.

At the fall NFL team owners meeting at the Philadelphia Westin Hotel on Tuesday, a reporter and photographer from The REPUBLICAN & Herald surveyed several owners about the possibility of returning a national championship to Pottsville.

“I’m all for it. I think that we should make this a national campaign issue,” Lurie said. “I would love to see that. They deserve it.”

“Breaker Boys: The NFL’s Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship,” a book written by David Fleming released three weeks ago, has rekindled interest in the Maroons. About 7,500 people have signed an online petition “to restore the legacy of one of the most dominant, influential and important teams in NFL history” at http://www.petitiononline.com/Maroons/petition.html.

Fleming is a senior writer at ESPN Magazine.

When asked if he would sign the growing petition, Lurie responded: “Totally.”

Some other owners seemed only vaguely familiar with the story of the Pottsville Maroons or Fleming’s book.

In 2003, the league voted 30-2 against even discussing the issue. Rooney and Lurie were the only owners to vote in the Maroons’ favor.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Tuesday he did not recall voting with the majority in 2003.

“I did?” Kraft said. “I’m not sure that I’m educated.”

Goodell, NFL commissioner since August 2006, seemed surprised with even the suggestion of another league vote.

“This is the first I’ve thought about it in four years,” Goodell said at a press conference following the meeting. “This must mean that we’re back in Philadelphia.”

The 2003 vote came at an owners meeting in Philadelphia.

While still supporting the Maroons, Dan Rooney admitted that the issue wasn’t on the radar of most team owners or NFL officials.

“It’s a dead issue,” Rooney said. “I don’t know where we’d go.”

Contacted by telephone Tuesday night, Fleming said he wasn’t surprised with the lack of interest among owners.

“There is no way to make a room full of billionaires learn about a team that’s 82 years old unless their fans demand it,” Fleming said. “They don’t know the story. They voted 30-2 (in 2003) without talking about it. It’s a matter of education.”

Bill Bidwill, owner of the Arizona Cardinals, said that the Maroons and the lost championship “isn’t on the front burner.”

The Maroons won what was widely regarded as the 1925 championship when they defeated the Chicago Cardinals, 21-7. A few days later, the Maroons beat the legendary Notre Dame Four Horsemen squad in an exhibition game in Philadelphia.

A week later, the Frankford Yellow Jackets (the team that later became the Eagles) protested that the Maroons had played the Notre Dame game in their “territory” and the league NFL suspended the Maroons, making them ineligible for the title.

Bidwill’s Cardinals — the same franchise the Maroons defeated in 1925 — continue to lay claim to the 1925 title.

“It’s not a discussion,” Bidwill said. “They (the league) voted on it, and they voted the Cardinals the champions.”

Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf gave a quick glance and continued walking after being asked about the Maroons. Other owners also did not respond when entering and exiting the meeting room.

Fleming said that he hopes the issue will be raised again at the spring owners meeting, and that the only way something will happen is if the owners “are embarrassed into doing something.”

Meanwhile, a movie based on the “Breaker Boys” book is also in the works. The script was finished earlier this month, co-producer Patrick Rizzotti, said Oct. 8. Rizzotti said it’s possible the project could go before the cameras as early as spring.