Maroons campaign heads to Harrisburg

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

Inspired by a petition started by the author of a book about the 1925 Pottsville Maroons, two state representatives are writing a resolution requesting that the NFL owners return the championship to the team.

“This takes it to the next step,” said state Rep. Tim Seip, D-125, “ If the resolution is successful, it’s an endorsement of the entire Commonwealth — 12 million Pennsylvanians saying to the NFL ‘you know, you really should re-examine this.’ ”

Interest in the Pottsville Maroons has been high in the region since ESPN Books published a book about the team, ““Breaker Boys: The NFL’s Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship” by David Fleming on Oct. 9. Fleming visited Pottsville that week, signed hundreds of copies and started an online petition to help the Maroons get back the 1925 championship.

Now, Seip and State Rep. Neal P. Goodman, D-123, are writing up the proposal requesting that NFL owners return the title to the team. And while Fleming is planning a return trip to Pottsville on Dec. 5, he said he intends to go to Harrisburg to hear Seip and Goodman present the resolution to the State House of Representatives for approval on Dec. 10.

“I’ll be there,” Fleming said Wednesday. “I’m running out of ways to describe my elation...but I think it’s great.”

State Rep. David G. Argall, D-124, Tamaqua, who said he signed Fleming’s petition online, said he’ll also support Goodman and Seip’s resolution.

“The resolution will be overwhelmingly approved by the House. I think it’s a great idea,” Argall said.

And Argall said he thinks this resolution will further encourage the NFL to give the Maroons the championship.

“Every little bit helps,” Argall said.

City Administrator Thomas A. Palamar said Seip and Goodman’s proposal is “exciting.”

“Any movement that we have to help encourage people to remain interested in the Maroons and to keep that in the forefront is good for us and I think it’s good for the community,” Palamar said.

Seip said he’s heard some criticism of this project from one of his constituents, who stated he should concentrate on reducing property taxes instead. Seip said the Maroons are helping the local economy.

“The week that David Fleming was in Pottsville, I believe that was a real economic boom for the City of Pottsville and a boom for probably the highest concentration of constituents that I have. And if we’re able to successfully get that title returned, I think that this will foster a lot more tourism and interest in the area,” Seip said.

He noted that tourism is the state’s second biggest industry. And in 2005, about 138 million visitors came to Pennsylvania, spending over $25 billion dollars.

“If this is something that enhances our tourism, then I’d have to say that it is connected to property tax relief,” Seip said.

Goodman could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Meanwhile, signatures are still be added to the petition started by Fleming at Petition Online Oct. 15, “The Pottsville Maroons 1925 NFL Championship Petition to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NFL owners, NFL media.”

The initial flood of signatures on the petition has slowed to a trickle, but Fleming has hopes more will come.

“We’re almost to 10,000. We’re coming back to Pottsville that first week of December so I think everything’s going to get revved back up here pretty soon,” he said.

On Dec. 6, 1925, the Pottsville Maroons defeated the Chicago Cardinals at Chicago for the National League Championship, 21-7. But the NFL stripped the Maroons of the championship because the Philadelphia-based Frankford Yellow Jackets claimed the Maroons invaded their territory by playing a game against the Notre Dame.

The City of Pottsville petitioned the NFL owners to return the championship to the Maroons in 2003, but that Oct. 30, the owners decided not to reopen the case in a vote of 30-2.

Fleming is tentatively planning to deliver his petition Feb. 3 to the NFL owners at Super Bowl XLII at Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Chicago was the original home of the Cardinals.