Homer C. Selby Portsmouth Spartans Football Team Correspondence

Collection

Identifier: MSSP_1006

Staff Only
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Content Description

This collection consists of 30 letters and telegrams to and from Homer Clifford Selby (1880-1959) about the National Football League's Portsmouth Spartans franchise located in Portsmouth, Ohio. Selby was a local shoe company executive, who in late 1931 assumed leadership of a local committee charged with rescuing the Portsmouth franchise from debt and insolvency. Selby remained involved through the end of the 1933 season, but the committee's work was unsuccessul and could not pay down the team's debt. Most of the letters involve the team's finances, particularly correspondence from Portsmouth players and other creditors seeking to receive the money they were due. The collection also includes two lengthy multi-page copies of letters by Harry N. Snyder, Spartans' Vice President and largest shareholder.

Dates

Creation: 1931-1934

Creator

Selby, Homer C. (Homer Clifford), 1880-1959 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Biographical / Historical

The Portsmouth Spartans football team was founded in 1928 and played an independent schedule until the Spartans joined the National Football League in 1930. From 1930-33 the Spartans were a competitive NFL team. Portsmouth posted an 11-3 record in 1931 good for second place in the league. The following season Portsmouth lost to the Chicago Bears in the NFL's first playoff game and finished with a record of 6-2-4.

Located in the second-smallest city in the league (behind only Green Bay, Wisconsin), however, the Spartans struggled with finances throughout the team's tenure in the NFL. During the 1933 season, the team had to pay players partially in stock shares instead of cash. Prior to the 1934 season, the Spartans' owners sold the franchise to investors in Detroit who relocated and renamed the team the Detroit Lions.