History
When the New York Yanks folded after the 1951 season, NFL owners decided that Dallas was a good location for a new franchise because Texas loved football. It didn't occur to them that fans of good college football teams might not appreciate a bad professional team.
Giles Miller led a group of investors who bought the franchise and installed the new team, called the Texans, in the Cotton Bowl. The Texans lost their first seven games by an aggregate score of 240 to 101, fans naturally stayed away, and the owners couldn't meet the payroll.
The league took the franchise back and operated it for the last five games of the season. A training camp was set up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, but the Texans played all those games on the road. They got their lone victory on Thanksgiving Day before 3,000 fans in Akron, Ohio, of all places.
Chicago Bears owner-coach George Halas thought that he could rest most of his starters and still beat Dallas. After falling behind, 20-2, he decided to get the first string into the game, but Dallas won, 27-23.
In 1953, the Texans were replaced by a new Baltimore Colts franchise. Of the 33-man roster, 20 players were gone from the NFL for good, but the other 13 joined the Colts. Two future Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive linemen, Gino Marchetti and Art Donovan, were in that group.