Dayton Triangles - Page 2 of 6

Triangles Develop into Champions

In 1916, F. B. MacNab, a patent attorney for the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO), started organizing a recreational football team from among the employees of three downtown Dayton factories. The factories were DELCO, Dayton Metal Products Company (D.M.P. Co.), and Domestic Engineering Company (DECO, later called Delco-Light). These three factories were all founded by Edward Deeds and Charles Kettering and formed an industrial “triangle” of plants in downtown Dayton.

Rather than recruit a complete team from the factories, MacNab got together with Carl Storck (who had played at Stivers High School in Dayton and was a player, coach and manager of the Cadets football team), to sponsor the Dayton Cadets football team and use players recruited from the three factories to fill out a team roster. Thus, DELCO, D.M.P. Co. and DECO triangle of plants became the team’s new corporate sponsors and added new players to the renamed “Triangles” football team.

The “Dayton Cadets” became the “Dayton Triangles” in 1916. Later the Dayton Wright Airplane Company, another Deeds and Kettering venture became a fourth corporate sponsor.

Nelson “Bud” Talbott, a Walter Camp All-American tackle and team captain at Yale University (1913-15), was brought in as coach in 1916. The team manager was Mike Redelle, who arranged the team’s playing schedule, recruited new players, handled travel arrangements for road games, etc. The team’s first secretary-treasurer was A. O. Davison.

The Triangles’ team jerseys were royal blue, with the player’s number outlined by a white triangle on the back. Later on, the jerseys had a small white triangle on the front and plain white numbers on the back.

The Triangles opened the 1916 season at Westwood Field, on Western Avenue (now James H. McGee Boulevard), by defeating the Cincinnati Northerns, 72-0. The Triangles went 9-1 that first season, defeating teams from Cincinnati, Detroit, Toledo, and Pittsburgh.

The Canton Bulldogs, with star athlete Jim Thorpe, claimed the World’s Professional Football Championship after their win over the Massillon Tigers.

The Triangles challenged the Bulldogs to a game on December 10, 1916, but the game was never played.

The Dayton Triangles Name

While the team continued to play their home games at Westwood Field in 1916, Edward Deeds and Charles Kettering, founders of the three companies sponsoring the football team, purchased a tract of land from the Edward Best estate. This land was to be a park for the City of Dayton. However, during this period, the area became a recreational park for the employees of all of Deeds’ and Kettering’s companies.

The park was located at the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater Rivers thus the park had triangle shape. A committee appointed to select a name for the new park picked the name “Triangle Park”. Triangle Park was probably named due to its geographical shape.

Dayton’s professional football team was using the nickname “Triangles” in 1916 to honor their new corporate sponsors, the Deeds and Kettering “triangle” of companies in downtown Dayton before Triangles Park opened.

In May of 1917, the new park opened, and that Fall, the Dayton Triangles football team started to use Triangle Park as their home football field. Their playing field was located on Ridge Avenue where Howell Baseball Field is located today.

The first season at Triangle Park was particularly successful. The team went 6-0-2 that season. Their opponents were able to score in only two games; the totals for the season showed 188 points for the Triangles to 13 for their opponents.

With manager Mike Redelle enlisting in the Army during World War I in 1918, Carl Storck took over as team manager for the Triangles. During that 1918 season, the Triangles went 8-0-0, scoring 188 points to their opponents’ 9.

Their 1919 season’s record was 4-2-1 for the Triangles.

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