Photo from the Warren Observer Goal line scrums look pretty similar to modern football.

By JOSH COTTON

jcotton@timesobserver.com

A Warren football team once played the Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears in the same season.

The Warren Red Jackets were born as the Hyvis Oils in the mid-1930s but struck out as the Red Jackets in 1937.

The football team didn’t just pull from Warren. It pulled from the region.

Photo from the Warren Observer Facemask-less football was the order of the day for the Warren Red Jackets pictured here in the 1940s.

And counted an All American among its number.

I was unable to find any 1937 references to the team in local newspaper but regional papers give some sense of the squad.

From the McKean County Democrat on Sept. 23, 1937: “A number of Smethport football fans were in Warren Sunday afternoon to witness the semi-pro football game between the Warren Red Jackets, captained and coached by Leo “Shorty” Petruzzi, of Smethport, and the Struthers, Ohio eleven. Warren won by a score of 6-0.

“The only touchdown of the day was scored by Warren Heller, Smethport High School coach, who played in a halfback position with Warren. Heller, a former Pitt All-American and Pittsburgh Pirate’s star, showed plenty of skill. He did considerable passing, in addition to making consistent gains while carrying the ball.”

Petruzzi, a Smethport native, played college ball at the University of Tennessee while Heller was pulling double-duty as the coach of the Smethport high school team.

Heller had played three seasons with the professional league’s Pittsburgh Pirates before joining the Warren squad.

Bob Kopf, who played collegiately at Princeton, was also part of the squad.

“As an excellent lineman, he earned his Class numerals on our undefeated and unscored-upon freshman football team, and he won his varsity letters the next three years on our championship teams,” according to an article published in Princeton Alumni Weekly when he died in Warren in 1992.

Kopf, for a time, owned the Locust House in Russell, that article explained. He was involved with several local companies including Pittsburg-Des Moines Steel Company.

The game with the Bears was a big deal in Smethport.

“Beattie Feathers, who ran to All-American honors behind the perfect blocking of ‘Shorty” Petruzzi, is one of the stars of the Chicago team,” they reported. “Smethport citizens are raising a fund to enable the entire Smethport High School squad to go to Erie and watch Coach Heller perform.”

The Titusville Herald reported on Oct. 23, 1937 that the Red Jackets “remain undefeated on their home gridiron, having won five straight there.

“Wednesday night they lost, 18-0, to the Cleveland Rams of the Professional Football League at Youngstown, O., although chalking up 11 first downs to Cleveland’s eight.”

After the loss to the Rams, the Red Jackets ripped off five straight wins to end the season, the archive shows, outsourcing their opponents 82-12. All of those games were in Warren except the final game against the McKees Rocks Rangers which was held at “Stowe High School.”

The following month, the McKean County Democrat included a headline that read “WARREN PROS WIN TITLE.”

“The Warren Red Jackets, professional football team coached by Leo “Shorty” Petruzzi, formerly of Smethport, won the Western Pennsylvania championship last Sunday when they defeated McKees Rocks by a score of 21-6,” the report said. “4,000 people watched the game, which was played at Warren.

“Warren Heller, Smethport High School coach, who has been a stellar player with the Warren team, scored the final touchdown Sunday.”

The Red Jackets success was thwarted by World War II, meeting a similar fate to minor league baseball in Warren.

The team returned after the war for a couple seasons before shuttering for good.

But they’ll always have those games with the Rams and the Bears.