MILL CITY SCRUM

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

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.

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

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.

  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