Yellow Jackets

That older body, the Frankford Athletic Association, dated to 1899; the football side did not join the National Football League until 1924, and it lasted only until 1931.

The team never bothered with a proper nickname beyond "the Jackets" or simply "Frankford," but it did not need one to make its mark. In 1926 the club went 14–1–2, the best record in the league, and with no championship game yet in existence, that mark alone made them NFL champions. The 14 victories stood as a record for regular-season wins until 1984. Guy Chamberlin , the player-coach who steered that title run, later entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as did left tackle William "Link" Lyman , who anchored the line in 1925.

Frankford Stadium, known to locals as Yellow Jacket Field, burned down on 27 July 1931. Forced to scatter home games to Philadelphia Municipal Stadium and the Baker Bowl, the club lost its fanbase, and the Depression finished what the fire started. Two years later Bert Bell and Lud Wray bought the franchise rights for $2,500 and relaunched the operation as the Philadelphia Eagles — though the gap in play and personnel is enough that the league counts the two as separate clubs.

No rivalry defined those years like the one with the Pottsville Maroons, settled off the field in 1925 when the league stripped Pottsville of its title for playing an exhibition in Philadelphia's own territory. Thanksgiving Day brought a gentler but no less regular fixture: Frankford met the Green Bay Packers five straight years from 1925, and won four of them.