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30-629: The Maroons originated as a semi-pro football team known as the Toledo Athletic Association , in 1902. The Association formed the Toledo Maroons in 1906 as a farm team for teenagers who could later move up to playing for the Association's senior team. However, in 1908, the Association was forced to disband after the owners of Armory Park , where the team played, no longer wanted the field torn up by cleats. Despite

60-565: A 16-game schedule, the new lineup was league champion Bartlesville Phillips 66ers (15-1 record), Denver Chevvies , Peoria Caterpillars, Akron Goodyears/Akron Goodyear Wingfoots , and Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys. In the 1949–50 season, with the addition of the Dayton Industrialists making the league a six-team circuit, the Phillips 66ers repeated as champions. The league expanded again in the 1950–51 season to eight teams, adding

90-414: A full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a considerably lower rate than a full-time professional athlete . As a result, semi-professional players frequently have (or seek) full-time employment elsewhere. A semi-pro player or team could also be one that represents a place of employment that only

120-447: Is prohibitive, semi-pro football is common at the adult levels, in the outdoor or indoor variety , providing an outlet for players who have used up their NCAA eligibility and have no further use for maintaining amateur status. As a sport that normally plays only one game per week, American football is especially suited for semi-pro play and commonly known as "working man's" football; meaning the players have regular jobs and play football on

150-547: The AAU National tournament against teams from other amateur or semi-professional leagues. The league's first year, 1947–48, featured five teams in an eight-game schedule—the Milwaukee Harnischfeger's (which won the round robin schedule with an 8–0 record), Peoria Caterpillars , Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys, Akron Goodyear Wingfoots , and Fort Wayne General Electrics. The following season (1948-1949), with

180-872: The Dayton Triangles ), and the Cincinnati Celts . When the American Professional Football Association was organized in 1920, Toledo chose to remain an independent team. However, in 1922, the Maroons joined the league, now renamed the National Football League. The Maroons finished fourth with a 5–2–2 record that season, then dropped to 3–3–2 in 1923. Attendance was poor in Toledo, so the franchise moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and dropped out of

210-615: The Scottish Premiership , with most teams below the second-level Scottish Championship being semi-professional. Historically, English rugby league and rugby union have had one full-time professional division, with semi-professional divisions at the next level down. The second tier of union, the RFU Championship , became fully professional beginning with the 2009–10 season. National Industrial Basketball League The National Industrial Basketball League

240-642: The ( Oakland Blue 'n Gold Atlas ) and San Francisco Stewart Chevrolets. The Dayton team renamed as the Dayton Air Gems, and the Phillips 66ers repeated for their third consecutive title. The league expanded to 11 teams, in 1951-52 with such new teams as the Los Angeles Fibber McGee & Mollys, Artesia REA Travelers, and Santa Maria Golden Dukes. The 66ers just edged the Oakland Atlas-Pacific Engineers and

270-510: The 1923 season ended, the league ordered the team to either transfer or suspend operations. The team's players and personnel did eventually move to Kenosha, Wisconsin to play as the Kenosha Maroons for the 1924 season . However no conclusive evidence exists that the Toledo franchise was officially transferred to Kenosha. Semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on

300-567: The 1953-54 title, each with a 10–4 record. The next two seasons, the 66ers and the Cats took first and second respectively. A new team in the greatly reduced circuit of five teams in 1955-56 was the Wichita Vickers . The 1956–57 season was one of the most competitive in the NIBL history. While the 66ers again took first with a 13–7 record, four teams tied for second with 11-9 records, including

330-548: The NBA, and the NIBL began to decline in popularity and profitability. This is evidenced by the disbandment of the Peoria Cats at the end of the 1959–60 season. In the NIBL's final season, 1960–61, the league had dropped down to only six members divided into two divisions, Eastern ( Cleveland Pipers , Akron Goodyears, New York Tuck Tapers ) and Western (Denver-Chicago Truckers, Phillips 66ers, and Seattle Buchan Bakers). Instead of

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360-727: The Olympic Club was accused by a rival club of enticing athletes to jump to its ranks with offers of jobs. An investigation by the Amateur Athletic Union ruled that the Olympics' practice was not actually professionalism but only a "semi" form of it, inventing the term "semi-pro". Although the Amateur Athletic Union did not like the idea very much, it decided that clubs could indeed offer employment without losing their amateur status or compromising

390-688: The San Francisco Stewart Chevrolets for their fourth title, with a 17–5 record to their opponents 16-6 records that tied for second. The next season (1952-1953), the league dropped down to nine teams, but saw new opponents in the Houston Ada Oilers and the Los Angeles Kirby's Shoes. The 66ers beat the Caterpillars for the title by one game, with a 13–3 record. The Peoria Cats tied the 66ers for

420-464: The United States, where college ice hockey dominates at that age group; the junior leagues in the United States generally operate as fully amateur teams to maintain the players' eligibility to play in college. Lower-end minor leagues and more obscure sports often operate at a semi-professional level due to cost concerns. Because the cost of running a fully professional American football team

450-404: The athlete. In North America, semi-professional athletes and teams were far more common in the early and mid-20th century than they are today. Large blue-collar employers such as factories and shipyards often fielded baseball and basketball teams, with players receiving full-time salaries comparable to other employees. In theory, such players split their work week between athletic training and

480-603: The attendant scholarships , in maintaining amateur status (unlike the Amateur Athletic Union, the NCAA forbade any sort of compensation outside of scholarships, including job offers tied to their playing, until 2020). Eligibility for participation in the Olympics in some sports is still dependent upon maintaining a purely amateur status (although far less so than was previously the case), and such athletes may be supported by government money, business sponsorships, and other systems. At

510-435: The employees are allowed to play on. In this case, it is considered semi-pro because their employer pays them, but for their regular job, not for playing on the company's team. The semi-professional status is not universal throughout the world and depends on each country's labour code and each sports organization's specific regulations. The San Francisco Olympic Club fielded an American football team in 1890. That year,

540-607: The first time since their coming to the league, finishing in third place. The Truckers finished first with a 21–9 record, with the Vickers runner-up at 19–11. Joining the league that season was the Seattle Buchan Bakers . However, in the 1959–60 season, the 66ers regained their title as league champions. By the early 1960s, NIBL teams were increasingly struggling to compete with the salaries offered in professional league. Top college graduates increasingly gravitated to

570-491: The league after an 0–4–1 record in 1924. The Maroons ran up a 5–2–2 record in their initial 1922 season. However, the level of competition was suspect. Their opponents' combined mark was only 7–23–2. The Maroons scheduled easy opponents again in 1923 and finished this season at 3–3–2. However, when they were blasted 28–0 in the last game of the season by the Canton Bulldogs , the Toledo squad played its last game. After

600-552: The newly added Denver-Chicago Truckers. This proved to be the last season for the Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys, who finished last for the seventh time with a 3–17 record. The 1957–58 season saw the Vickers move to the forefront, tying the 66ers for the league title with a 21–9 record. A new team that year was the Kansas City Kaycee's. In the 1958–59 season, the 66ers failed to take the league title for

630-475: The newly formed American Basketball League in 1961. In the 1950s the salaries were about the same as the NBA and there was a job for all players in their companies. Some of them ended up being president of their companies, working there for a lifetime. Most of players wanted no part of the uncertain professional game, and instead were accepting a position with the companies, rejecting offers even from NBA. The NIBL

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660-590: The normal duties of the company's employees, though highly competitive teams often evolved into "sponsored" squads which trained for sports full-time and only nominally worked in the factory. The National Industrial Basketball League evolved out of these company-branded basketball teams. By the 1940s, baseball split off into separate truly amateur softball teams, sometimes sponsored by employers, and an expanded system of fully professionalized minor leagues whose lower ranks included many former industrial players. There are many benefits, such as collegiate eligibility and

690-646: The round-robin schedule determining a winner, the league sponsored a four-team playoff. The Pipers beat the Truckers for the championship, 136–100. The 66ers beat the Goodyears for in a match for third place, 114–112. In 1961, the league dropped their industrial sponsors and merged with other amateur leagues to form the National Alliance of Basketball Leagues (NABL). The Pipers and the Tapers left to join

720-407: The same time, professional sports have become such a massive and remunerative business that even many low-level feeder teams can afford to have fully professional athletes. In Canada, semi-professionalism is prevalent in junior ice hockey , in which the top level players (most of whom are teenagers still in, or just out of, high school) are paid at a semi-professional level. This is not the case in

750-538: The setback, the Maroons kept playing on other fields. By 1909, the former teenagers were adults, still playing organized football, and they began to play against numerous amateur and semi-pro opponents from outside the area. Beginning in 1915, the Maroons were playing some very strong opposition, including such future NFL teams as the Columbus Panhandles , the Dayton Gym Cadets (later known as

780-594: The short summer seasons and low salaries require players to hold jobs in the offseason to make ends meet. There are several hundred semi-professional football teams at non-League level. The bottom division of the English Football League (the fourth tier of the English football league system ) has traditionally been the cut-off point between professional ("full-time") and semi-professional ("part-time") in English football . However, many teams in

810-422: The top levels, as finances depend on promotion and relegation both of parent male teams and of the female teams themselves. Full professionalism for women is still in the planning stages; top female players often depend on other sources of income (such as coaching and physical training), and many attend university or college while playing. In Scottish football , semi-professional teams compete at all levels below

840-538: The top non-League competition, the National League , have become "full-time" professional clubs in an effort to achieve League status. Many former League clubs also remain as fully professional teams following relegation to the lower leagues at least for as long as they retain a large enough average attendance to generate the income needed to pay the players. Women's football in England is semi-professional at

870-538: The weekends. In the 20th century the term "semi-pro football league" refer to higher level amateur leagues, though the players do not get paid, the leagues and the games are run in a somewhat professional manner. The National Lacrosse League , whose teams also typically play only one game per week, pays a salary that is enough to be considered fully professional, but players also are able to pursue outside employment to supplement their income. The lowest levels of organized baseball are also effectively semi-professional, as

900-709: Was founded in 1947 to enable U.S. mill workers a chance to compete in basketball. The league was founded by the industrial teams (teams sponsored by the large companies and made up of their employees) belonging to the National Basketball League (NBL) that did not join the National Basketball Association when the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America . The NIBL teams participated every year in

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