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Fred Chicken played for the Minneapolis Marines (1913, 1915-17)

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Fred Samuel “Chick” Slepica, a.k.a. “Fred Chicken” from Minneapolis, Minnesota, used the last name Chicken throughout his lifetime. In the Czech language, “Slepica” means “hen.” A Minneapolis North athlete, he played football, basketball, and baseball for the high school. He went on to manage and play forward on the Ascension Parish independent basketball team. Chicken also played baseball for the North Minneapolis Creams, the Crystals, East Side Eagles, J. C. Donahues, and Olsons. After high school, Chicken went on to play two seasons of baseball for the Lethbridge Miners (1909-1910) and one season for the Calgary Bronchos (1911) in the Western Canada League (WCL). He then played football for Bobby Marshall’s Hennepins (1911) alongside his brother, Joe Chicken. Fred then played baseball for the Seattle Giants and Tacoma Tigers in the Northwestern League (1912). He also continued to play basketball with the Ascension Parish team, which found a sponsor in Dakota Business College in Farg
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Walt Buland played for the Minneapolis Marines (1907-09, 1911-17)

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Walter Daniel “Fat” Buland from Minneapolis played mostly right tackle for the Minneapolis Marines (1907-09, 1911-17) and as a ringer for West Duluth (1916). During his time with the Marines, he worked as a shipping clerk and then as a policeman for the Soo Line Railroad. Buland served in the 122nd Machine Gun Battalion during World War I and fought in the trenches near Amiens, France, and in the battle of Saint-Mihiel. After the war, Buland played football for the Rock Island Independents (1917, 1919-21, 1924, 1927), coached and played for the Hibbing All-Stars (1922-23, 1925), and played for the Green Bay Packers (1924) and Duluth Eskimos (1926). Born February 7, 1892, Buland passed away on May 26, 1937. Read more in  Mill City Scrum , the history of Minnesota's first team in the National Football League.
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Nate Barrager played for the Minneapolis Red Jackets (1930)

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  Nathan Robert Barrager, center Nathan Robert Barrager from Los Angeles, California, played football for the University of Southern California (1927-29) and captained the team. Barrager is seen here in Trojans uniform from a photograph published in the Oakland Tribune. In the National Football League, he played center for the Minneapolis Red Jackets (1930) and he played for the Frankford Yellow Jackets (1930-31) and Green Bay Packers (1931-32, 1934-35). After football, Barrager worked in Hollywood as an assistant director, production manager, and actor. He worked on films, including Hondoand Sands of Iwo Jima, and on television series, including Bonanza, the Rifleman, the Roy Rogers Show, the Gene Autry Show, and the Adventures of Superman. Born June 3, 1907, Barrager passed away on August 10, 1985. Read more in  Mill City Scrum , the history of Minnesota's first team in the National Football League.
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Adrian Baril played for the Minneapolis Marines (1923-24, 1927-28)

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Adrian George Baril, guard Adrian George Baril from Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, played college football for the University of St. Thomas and then pro football for the Minneapolis Marines (1923-24, 1927-28), Ironwood Legion (1925), and Milwaukee Badgers (1925). He also played for the Minnesota All-Stars (1925) exhibition team and the Twin City All Stars (1926) semi-professional team. He played for and coached the Oaks (1925). Born June 4, 1898, Baril passed away on June 10, 1961. Read more in  Mill City Scrum , the history of Minnesota's first team in the National Football League.
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First Gophers All-American McGovern led All-Star teams vs. the Marines

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University of Minnesota Gophers player John McGovern was the team's first-ever All-American in 1909 at quarterback. (This image is from the December 23, 1934, Minneapolis Sunday Tribune.) From 1912-16 and 1919-20, McGovern organized exhibition teams dubbed the Minnesota All-Stars, which played opponents on Thanksgiving Day at Nicollet Park. McGovern's Minnesota All-Stars included mostly former Gophers players, and they usually played the Minneapolis Marines, the local professional football team, which joined the NFL in 1921. McGovern's all-star teams always beat the Marines or, just once, they tied. McGovern later opened a successful law practice in Washington, D. C. Read more in Mill City Scrum , the history of Minnesota's first team in the National Football League.
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Minneapolis quarterback fought in France during World War I

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Before the Great War, Reuben John “Rube” or “Ruby” Ursella from Minneapolis played quarterback for the Minneapolis Marines independent professional football team, from the time the Marines were just a sandlot squad in 1907, until 1917, when the team played in front of thousands of fans at home, and they defeated professional teams in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. In April 1918, Reuben Ursella and his older brother, Harry, reported to the agricultural campus of the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. The two men enlisted in the Army to be trained as aviators or aviation mechanics, or so they thought. Instead, the War Department chose to train the roughly 500 men at the farm school in engineering trades, such as blacksmithing, carpentry, electrical, and woodworking. Disappointed about the bait-and-switch, the tongue-in-cheek servicemen in the program called themselves the Farm School Aviators. The group was later designated the 604th Engineering Regiment, which participated in the Meus
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Marines, Red Jackets name origins unknown

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The first-ever NFL team from Minnesota was the Minneapolis Marines, which later took on a new name, the Minneapolis Red Jackets. Here is a team photo of the Red Jackets. The origin of the original Minneapolis Marines name is unknown, but if it was a military reference, perhaps the name was inspired by the USS Minneapolis naval cruiser, which served in the Spanish-American War. The origin of the Minneapolis Red Jackets name is also unclear, but “Red Jackets” may have been inspired by the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment, a volunteer force that mustered at Fort Snelling in 1861 and fought in the Civil War. The men of the 1st Minnesota wore red shirts, not by choice, but because they were available. The Minneapolis Marines and Minneapolis Red Jackets both wore red jerseys, with white stripes. Read more in Mill City Scrum , the history of Minnesota's first team in the National Football League.
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Pete Regnier, one of the first Gophers to play for a Minnesota NFL franchise

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Pierre Napoleon “Pete” Regnier (pictured) grew up in Marshall, Minnesota, and lettered with the University of Minnesota Gophers football team in 1919 and 1920. He was one of the first Gophers ever to play pro football for a Minnesota-based franchise in the National Football League. Did Pete Regnier play for the Minnesota Vikings? No, Regnier was born September 10, 1896, and he died young, at age 42. If he had lived longer, he would have been 65 years old when the Vikings first kicked off in 1961. No, Regnier played halfback for Minnesota's FIRST team in the NFL. (The Vikings are Minnesota's THIRD team in the NFL; the second was the Duluth Eskimos.) Minnesota's first team in the NFL was the Minneapolis Marines, which played four years in the NFL (1921-24) and two years as the Minneapolis Red Jackets (1929-30). Regnier played for the Marines in 1921 and then for the Green Bay Packers in 1922.  Read more in Mill City Scrum , the history of Minnesota's first team in the Nat
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Pecky Rhoades, the founder of the Minneapolis Marines

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From 1913-16, Henry Harrison “Pecky” Rhoades played professional baseball in the affiliated minor leagues. On Baseball Reference, he is referred to as Harry Rhoades, and for the most part, he's just another forgotten player from Minneapolis. But did you know that without Pecky Rhoades, there might never have been a Minneapolis Marines football team in the National Football League? (The Marines played in the NFL from 1921-24 and from 1929-30 as the Red Jackets.) That's because in 1905, sixteen-year-old Pecky Rhoades decided to start a baseball team in south Minneapolis, and he named the team the Marines. That same year, some members of the Marines baseball team decided to start a football team, too. (Because rosters for the Marines are incomplete in 1905-06, it's not clear whether Pecky might have played football, too.) A few future NFL players played alongside Pecky on his Minneapolis Marines baseball team, which folded after eight seasons, one year after Rhoades left the M
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Minnesota's first NFL team, a 1922 team photo

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  Did you know that the Minnesota Vikings aren't the first NFL team from Minnesota? Heck, the Vikings aren't even the second NFL team from Minnesota (the Duluth Eskimos were Minnesota's second-ever NFL team). No, the very first team from Minnesota in the National Football League was the Minneapolis Marines, and this may be one of the few team photos we have of them, here from the November 30, 1922, Minneapolis Tribune . For this photo, only three players bothered to wear their football jerseys, which at the time were more like long-sleeved crew-necked sweaters. The Marines wore red with white stripes on the sleeves. The men you see here played against the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals). This was a tough season for the Marines due to internal turmoil, but they would play two more seasons (four total) in the NFL, and later two more seasons as the Minneapolis Red Jackets.  Read more in Mill City Scrum , the history of Minnesota's fi
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