The American Football Association entered the 1924 season - its fifth - in a continual state of flux. In hindsight these were the growing pains of a fledgling professional sports outfit but at the time it simply fueled the fire for the so-called "football purists" who considered the collegiate version to be the best, truest form of the sport. Regardless, the AFA fielded 18 clubs, with a pair of newcomers coming in to replace five clubs that had folded after the '23 season (Pittsburgh, Louisville, Racine, St. Louis and Canton). These new teams were the Kansas City Steers and the Philadelphia Hornets.
Kansas City was, as had become the norm for new teams, terrible and finished 1-8. But the Hornets were not exactly a new team, having been a successful "independent" club for years. They also signed several former Pittsburgh Pros to bolster their roster and ended up going 12-2-0, posting the most wins in the entire AFA. The Toledo Tigers, who also absorbed many former Pittsburgh Pros, posted a 9-0-0 mark and were named 1924 AFA Champions. Detroit, at 10-1, joined Philadelphia in crying foul. But the league office stood adamant. All of this simply raised the cry of "the AFA need a championship game" to new levels.
The AFA continued to grow - some said too much, too fast as the league ballooned to 20 clubs for the 1923 season, its fourth campaign. Several names that would last for a very long time were there, near the top as the Detroit Maroons, Chicago Wildcats and Cleveland Finches all enjoyed successful seasons. But the team that finished first was also finishing for the last time.
Despite being one of the AFA's best teams since the league's inception, the Pittsburgh Pros were also probably the worst-run franchise in the league - and that was saying something. So while the team on the field was demolishing opponents and finished with an unblemished 12-0-0 record, the John Oxendine-led front office was losing money hand over fist. In the end, the 1923 championship season would be the last for the Pittsburgh Pros. Pro football wasn't gone forever in the Steel City, but the city's original franchise sunk in an ocean of red ink, it's players moving on to other clubs.