The 1918 Buffalo Niagaras season was the fourth season of a top-level professional football team in Buffalo, New York. The team, which was the successor to the Buffalo All-Stars (1915-1917) and predecessor to the 1919 Buffalo Prospects, was one of four teams that played in the newly-created Buffalo Semi-Professional Football League. The league was created to accommodate the travel restrictions put in place because of World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic, which required a delay in the start of the season (not starting until October 27) and prevented Buffalo's teams from leaving the city.
1918 Buffalo Niagaras season | |
---|---|
Head Coach | Tommy Hughitt |
Home Field | Buffalo Baseball Park |
Results | |
Record | 5-0 |
Place | No divisions |
Playoff Finish | BSPFL Champions |
Timeline | |
Previous season | Next season |
1917 | 1919 |
Because of the greatly fewer number of teams playing across the country in 1918, the Niagaras had greater access to the remaining players who were not in the war. The 1918 Niagaras, whose name was borrowed from an earlier (and later) semi-pro team, were the first Buffalo team to employ former Michigan Wolverines and Youngstown Patricians quarterback Ernest "Tommy" Hughitt; Hughitt would go on to play for the Prospects and its NFL successors through 1924. Under Hughitt's leadership, Buffalo compiled a perfect season of five wins, a sixth game was scheduled but canceled due to it being rendered moot. Because of the travel restrictions, the Niagaras were not allowed to challenge the other teams in the nation (such as the first-place Dayton Triangles, the still-active Detroit Heralds or even Buffalo's regional rivals, the Rochester Jeffersons), leaving it unknown how the team would have fared compared to the rest of the country.
Schedule[]
Game | Date | Opponent | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1 | October 20, 1918 | Buffalo Hydraulics | Cancelled[1] |
2 | October 27, 1918 | Buffalo Hydraulics | W 20-0 |
3 | November 3, 1918 | Buffalo Pierce-Arrows | W 27-0 |
4 | November 10, 1918 | Pittsburgh Colored Stars | W 24-0 |
5 | November 17, 1918 | Buffalo Hydraulics | Postponed[2] |
6 | November 24, 1918 | Buffalo Hydraulics | W 18-7 |
7 | November 28, 1918 | Buffalo Pierce-Arrows[3] | W 20-0 |
8 | N/A | Pittsburgh Colored Stars | Canceled[4] |
Game notes[]
- ↑ Game cancelled due to the 1918 flu pandemic. All public gatherings were banned.
- ↑ Postponed due to heavy rain
- ↑ Thanksgiving Classic
- ↑ Buffalo clinched league title, rendering game moot.