NFL: Revising Defunct NFL Franchises: Rock Island Independents. 8 of 8

The NFL came about from the merger of two leagues, the Ohio league and the New York Pro Football League. Just as many teams grew out of themerger of two good teams, the APFA (now NFL) combined the best of the two leagues, along with selected independent teams. Just as the formation of professional teams required the existence of semi-pro (and before them, amateur) teams, The NFL could not have emerged fully formed. It took having a structure of Semi pro teams in loose associations existing for early Pro teams to grow out of and it took those early pro teams existing in order to have something for the stronger teams and organizations to plant roots into.In 1920 the APFA looked like this:Akron Pros Four time Ohio league ChampionBuffalo All-Americans 1918 City Champs, 1919 New York Pro ChampsCanton Bulldogs Four time Ohio league ChampionChicago Cardinals Current Arizona CardinalsCleveland Tigers Ohio League memberColumbus Panhandles Ohio League memberDayton Triangles Ohio league Champion, three other league championshipsDecatur Staleys Current Chicago BearsHammond Pros IndependentMuncie Flyers Indiana State ChampionsRochester Jeffersons 1916 NYPFL ChampionRock Island Independents Five unbeaten seasonsOf the teams available in 1920 to form a league this wasn't a bad list. It's interesting that the surviving NFL teams didn't have championships to their name previously.In 1932, the year after the last of the "Modernized" teams that I've profiled folded, the league looked like this:Chicago BearsGreen Bay PackersPortsmouth SpartansBoston BravesNew York GiantsBrooklyn DodgersChicago CardinalsStaten Island StapletonsThe NFL was at it's lowest ebb. Only eight teams existed but Of these eight only two would fold. The Portsmouth Spartans would become the Detroit Lions, The Boston Braves would become the Washington Redskins. Teams would continue to join at a much slower pace but the core of the NFL was in place. Even during the Great Depression the NFL would add teams. No NFL team has folded in the last 50 years.Rock Island was another of those teams that bridged the gap between semi-pro and pro. The name "Independents" came from the fact that they didn't have either corporate sponsorship or membership in a league. The owner from 1915 to 1923 was Walter Flanigan, who has the distinction of being the only owner to fire a coach mid-game. He left to concentrate on his real estate and insurance businesses, and the team played a couple more years before jumping to a second league. The league was the first AFL, and it didn't pay as well as the NFL. With players leaving for better paying teams the Independents went semi-pro in 1927 and then folded.I had not intended on doing the Independents. They weren't one of the stronger teams or nearly as good a story as Oorang.The idea behind this project was to do teams that were champions, that looked as though they could have survived into the modern era. A team like the Canton Bulldogs or Frankford Yellowjackets were good bets at one point to be solid league teams for a long time. They were winners and had solid ownership but had one or more things go bad. Likewise the team needed a strong identity, something that would supply a direction to follow. Providence and Pottsville didn't have good graphic groundwork but their teams had been too strong to ignore.The team I was going to do was the Columbus Panhandles. They had a good logo http://i.imgur.com/AneT6sX.png and I got as far as putting together a helmet http://i.imgur.com/NleGGHS.png but I couldn't come up with what was next.That's really how it goes sometimes. The inspiration just isn't there and it's best to try a different direction.Rock Island had a logo and and a uniform with a lot of green stripes. In playing with it, a design came out that was nice looking and was unique.The original unis : http://i.imgur.com/rpSscnH.jpgThe logo : http://i.imgur.com/ulIjqW2.jpgFrom that I got this:The modernized helmet: http://i.imgur.com/ucZHArC.pngThe Modernized Jersey: http://i.imgur.com/SouJbMO.jpgI've gotten more feedback on this design than any other which surprises me a bit. One of the great things that the NFL does in branding is keeping team identity strong. The logos for Detroit Lions, The NY Giants, Minnesota Vikings, KC Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, all look like themselves and nothing else. For the most part all 32 have very strong identities without repeats. That's a difficult thing to do. So kudos to the generations of Graphic artists who faced making logos for The Rams, etc.There's been a couple of requests for the Rochester Jeffs, or Akron All-Pros. I'll have to think about it. I wish there was more out there for these teams.These were done in Photoshop. Fraser Davidson made the template for the helmet. You can D/L the Photoshop file here:http://rezland.deviantart.com/art/Revolution-Speed- Template-280301179I made the teamplate for the uniform from promotional images for the new Bucc unis. You can D/L it here: http://darth-brooks.deviantart.com/art/Doug-Martin-Template-450283476The process of making the template was described here: http://boards.sportslogos.net/topic/97813-photoshop- advice-megathread/Here's the list of the teams.Canton Bulldogs http://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2v2jbm/revising_defunct_nfl_franchises_canton_bulldogs_1/Dayton Triangles http://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2v4gzi/revising_defunct_nfl_franchises_dayton_triangles/Frankford Yellowjackets http://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2v7u8l/revising_defunct_nfl_franchises_frankford_yellow/Pottsville Maroons http://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2v91yq/revising_defunct_nfl_franchises_pottsville/Providence Steamroller http://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2vcqwr/revising_defunct_nfl_franchises_providence/Duluth Eskimos http://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2vhqb0/revising_defunct_nfl_franchises_duluth_eskimos_6/Oorang Indians http://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2vkui8/revising_defunct_nfl_franchises_oorang_indians_7/Rock Island Independents http://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2vprwm/revising_defunct_nfl_franchises_rock_island/ via /r/nfl http://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2vprwm/revising_defunct_nfl_franchises_rock_island/