Rock Island Independents

Rock Island Independents

Founded	1907
Folded	1926
Based in	Rock Island, Illinois, United States
League	Independent (1907–1919) National Football League (1920–1925) American Football League (1926)
Team history	Rock Island Independents (1907–1926)
Team colors	Green and white
Head coaches	Dick Liitt (1912–1913) Joseph Smith (1914) Walter Flanigan (1915–1916, 1918) Ted Guyer (1917) Rube Ursella (1919–1920, 1925) John Roche (1919) Frank Coughlin (1921) Jimmy Conzelman (1921–1922) Herb Sies (1923) Johnny Armstrong (1924, 1926)
General managers	Demetrius Clements (1907–1914) Walter Flanigan (1915–1923) Vince McCarthy (1924–1926)
Owner(s)	Demetrius Clenents (1907–1914) Walter Flanigan (1915–1923) Dale Johnson (1923–1926)
AFL Championship wins	none
Other League Championship wins	1 (1919 – self-proclaimed)
Undefeated seasons	5 (1908, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1918)
Home field(s)	Douglas Park (1907–1925) Browning Field (1926)
Fan website	http://www.rockislandindependents.com/

The Rock Island Independents were a professional American football team, based in Rock Island, Illinois, from 1907 to 1926. The Independents were a founding National Football League franchise. They hosted what has been retrospectively designated the first National Football League game on September 26, 1920 at Douglas Park. The Independents were founded in 1907 by Demetrius Clements as an independent football club. Hence, the team was named the "Independents."

In 1926, the Independents left the NFL to become a charter member of the first American Football League, the only NFL team to do so. The Independents then folded along with the entire league in 1927.^[1][2][3]

Pro Football Hall of Fame alumni Jimmy Conzelman (1920–1921), Joe Guyon (1924), Ed Healey (1920–1922), Duke Slater (1922-1926), and Jim Thorpe (1924–1925) played for the Independents.