The Tonawanda What?

Sometimes I'll read a story within a book that just makes my head shake. How come I didn't hear about this before?

In this case, "this" is the Tonawanda Kardex. Of the American Pro Football Association. That's the predecesor of the National Football League.

You read correctly. Tonawanda, in a sense, once had an NFL team.

For a game.

The team was created in 1921 by Rand Kardex, a company that eventually merged into Remington Rand six years later. They were also called the Lumbermen.

The Fighting Kardex, or whatever they were known in fandom, played one game in November 1921. It lost, 45-0, to the Rochester Jeffersons -- no relation to the future TV show, although it is a great mental image.

And that was it. The Kardex folded, never to be heard from again.

Buffalo had a team in the league that year as well, and actually was one of the best teams around. It essentially had a championship stolen by George Halas and his Chicago team.

But that's a story for another day. Where can I get my Kardex souvenirs?