MILL CITY SCRUM

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.

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...

  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...