History
Toledo's first important semi-pro football team was the Toledo Athletic Association squad, organized in 1902. The association formed the Toledo Maroons in 1906 as a team for teen-agers, to train players who could later move up to the big team.
The Toledo AA team was forced to disband in 1908 because management at Armory Park, where they played, no longer wanted the field torn up by cleats. However, the Maroons kept playing on other fields. By 1909, the former teen-agers were adults, still playing oranized football, and they began to take on some fairly good 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 the Dayton Triangles), and the Cincinnati Celts.
When the American Professional Football Association was organized in 1920, Toledo chose to remain independent. But, after the APFA became the National Football League in 1922, the Maroons got an NFL franchise. 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 the league after an 0-4-1 record in 1924.