New York and Detroit both look great!

Love the emphasis on orange for the Lions and the name "New York Lions" fits the era and works surprisingly well for New York and I'm honestly surprised no teams used that name IRL.

I'll also echo QCS about loving that shade of blue for Detroit.

Chicago



The McNair family disagreed on the name and colors of their new team. Erwin wanted purple to honor his alma mater of Northwestern while his wife Ethel preferred bright blue like the Chicago flag. It was an old striped faded red sweater worn by Eddie that convinced Erwin and Ethel of the color choice. Erwin had a test sweater made in maroon with white stripes and they all loved it, with Erwin suggesting they choose the name Maroons. Eddie reminded them that local UChicago's athletic department already went by that nickname. Undeterred, Erwin met with UChicago president Robert Maynard Hutchins to ask permission to use the name, even offering a sizable school donation. Hutchins decided to accept the donation, as he was already planning to deemphasize athletics by the esteemed research school and was in dire need of money to keep their debts at bay. (He later cancelled the football program and others entirely. The school color was also later changed to their original color of goldenrod.) The official sweaters were maroon with white stripes and an angled script Chicago on the front with simple serifed numbers on the back. The roundel featured a script C in the middle with a simple team name around it.

With Eddie installed as manager, Erwin and and his son hired a Minnesota hockey legend who had been born in Chicago named Harley Wiggins to be head coach. Wiggins, 50, had starred at Minnesota as a defenseman before turning to coaching, where he had travelled all over the country and even in Canada. The McNairs valued experience and hired a pair of Chicago natives in Monty Osborne, 55, a graduate of Michigan Tech, and Geoff Gilson, 52, from St. Cloud State to be coaching assistants. The McNairs scouted around Chicago and found a 24-year-old center named Arlen Barber who showed great promise as a hockey player despite no collegiate or much amateur experience. He impressed them with his leadership and they gave him a $6,500 contract and named him team captain against Wiggins' advice to give the C to a more experienced player.



Meanwhile the McNairs recruited a pair of German-born immigrants whose families had found asylum in Chicago during WWI. Fritz Krauss and Fritz Kiser, both 23, had attended Minnesota where Wiggins had been their coach with Krauss playing goalie and Kiser on the wing. With the two Fritzes in the fold, Erwin found a tough bruising defenseman named Ron Gould, 28, to head the blue line on a $3,000 deal, and a top-line complement to Barber and Kiser in the form of hard-working winger Jerry Hagan, 28, on a $4,500 deal. To fill out the roster the McNairs recruited a mix of young inexperienced but promising players like 21-year-old center Dudley Youngblood and 22-year-old winger Miles Norris, and grizzled veterans like winger Von Hutchinson, 30, and defenseman Frankie Vinson, 32. The roster, topping out at $46,200, seems to have quite a few question marks on viability and sustainability but the McNairs are banking on a wealth of coaching experience behind the bench to bring it all together.

Editor's Note: I took a little creative license on this one. I had chosen Maroons for Chicago long before realizing that UChicago also used that name, though there were also some amateur teams that used the name briefly in the 1920s. The storyline of the UC president is true, and the anecdote about them changing to goldenrod is also based in truth as they had originally chosen that color before changing to maroon in 1894. I decided to use some of those facts to suit the storyline in this instance. I've also decided to more or less ignore that the Montreal Maroons also existed at this time. Perhaps it was a not-so-subtle dig at the NHL.




Philadelphia



Bruno Leone was last to present and revealed the Philadelphia franchise would feature a red, white, and blue color scheme, with a bright blue as the primary color, and be called the Stars. Leone wanted to lean into the rich Revolutionary history of Philadelphia and chose Stars to honor the American flag. Leone had originally wanted to adorn the team in flag-styled sweaters but on family advice decided on a simpler style with red stripes trimmed in white, a choice also applied to the serifed sweater numbers. The bright blue was originally supposed to be navy but the manufacturer misunderstood the request and since Detroit had chosen a dark blue, Leone decided to keep it. He did, however, have a custom star patch designed with an inset script P which would be applied to the front of the sweater. Blue socks with a red and white stripe would complete the look. The team's roundel would feature the P-Star logo with an encircling team name and founding date.

Leone and his son Steve signed a Philly native named Ross Ziegler, 46, who had amateur coaching experience and had briefly played in Canadian leagues, to be head coach. They then hired a Princeton graduate named Roscoe Pritchard, 53, to be an assistant coach and would also assist Steve in roster management operations. A grizzled veteran in Newton Fellows, 57, from Harrisburg, PA, who had coached numerous amateur teams over the years, was added as a second assistant coach. Looking to make an instant splash, Leone signed a tall, lanky 25-year-old smooth-skating defenseman named Russ Hatley to a league maximum deal of $7,500. Hatley, a native of Bethlehem, PA, was more offensively-minded than most defenders and Leone liked his strong leadership and easy communication skills enough to name him team captain.



The Stars would also sign a pair of 26-year-old former Princeton players in center Alvy Rousseau to a $6,000 deal and winger Giovanni Rizzo to a $2,500 deal. After the big splash with Hatley, Leone was hesitant to overspend and looked for cheap depth players to fill out the roster, including an unusual arrangement in goal where he decided to take advantage of Jaffe's rule and signed Jordy Manera and Ben Christie to be co-starters and alternate starts. Because of this, Christie was issued #11 and becomes the only goalie in the league to not wear #1. The Stars roster also features the youngest player in the league in winger Luke Broadlee, just turned 21, who left Hamilton College early to join the league. The Stars have some interesting pieces but with a total salary of $42,400, may lack credible depth to keep up with other teams, though the unique set up in goal will be an interesting development to watch.




The League Convention Concludes

With that, the inaugural teams for the Federal Hockey League were all ready to battle it out on the ice. The owners, staff, and players all returned to their home rinks to begin preparations for training camp before the season would begin in late November 1933 and conclude with the first Quinlan Cup in April 1934. With the "Founding Five" set to play 36 games each in the inaugural season, Jaffe also scoured the East Coast for the best referees and game-day reporters he could find to give the on-ice product some credibility. He also secured a radio network contract for weekend games on certain stations.



Which club will catch your allegiance in these early days of a fledgling league?
C&C always appreciated!

Here’s my two cents on logos and uniforms for each team:

Boston: Not much to say really, just a classic looking uniform. I find the Hibernians name to be a unique one though!

New York: The New Yorker in me thinks you did a pretty good job here! I personally find the really dark shade of blue to go well with the orange without being too hard on the eyes. Not to mention it the navy is almost black reminding me of the Cincinnati Bengals in a way. This will be the team I will be rooting for (although I will also probably pull for an Ohio based team when the time comes for such a thing).

Detroit: Another classy set! Their logo looks like a pretty cool one for the time period, and as QCS and Section30 pointed out, the shade of blue is what makes the uniforms really stand out in my opinion.

Chicago: This look is simple, yet effective. I personally like the “Chicago” script the most.

Philadelphia: I like how patriotic this team looks. Glad you went with a lighter blue to differentiate them from Detroit as well. While I like the logo too, the red star may come across as communistic, but on the flip side, that shouldn’t be an issue until the 1950’s or so.

I am really digging the founding five! Can’t wait for the puck to be dropped on the inaugural season, and go Lions!

Dan O'Mac wrote:

Okay, so I have a question: Why isn't Chicago going maroon and cream? But seriously, these all look great and the story is on point. 

I don't think there are many examples of cream being used in the 30s. White makes more sense, but I am sure you will get your wish when Chicago eventually does a throwback in the 2010s.


Overall, I think the league looks good. I am surprised every team uses tan pants. I believe there was more color variety available around this time.

Last edited by Thehealthiestscratch (Today 11:50 am)