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Hey Eric
Sorry but I have no new info on the team.
It seems as though you aren't buying or selling anything but only looking for information and your first request was put in a BST forum? Since the information you are looking for is sports related, vintage and from your own family I think it is a perfect and permitted off topic comment to be put on the front page. Neat photo and I especially like the doggie mascot :). Hopefully someone will come through and know the team, which is sort of a long shot but there is always hope.... and good luck in the quest.

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Thanks Leon. A little more history of the photo - I took this to the football HOF as a kid and they scanned the photo for their archives and told me it was the "Staley Bears" but I was young and don't remember more of the conversation. My guess is it was a team that reformed in Decatur after the original moved to Chicago.

You are right that it's most likely a reformed team. The original Staleys team moved from Decatur to Chicago for the 1921 season and played at Cubs Park as the Chicago Staleys. In 1922 they changed their name to the Chicago Bears.

At first glance, I thought that the guy in the second row was wearing an early version of a cheesehead hat.:D

No "cheesehead"s but there are some real block head looking fellas in the photo. My mother said he used to go to St. Louis every year to try out for the "baseball team" and won a reputation as being a "scrapper" by the other players. He owned a bar in Macon and was good at boxing/fighting too. He died before I was old enough to pick his brain but I bet he had some good stories. Played football, tried out for major league baseball and boxed. Carl is pictured sitting to left as you look at the photo of the guy with the mascot and was a pretty small guy.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I could research an adult league football program in Decatur during the '20's?

This is a long shot, but maybe the Macon County Historical Society can provide you with either some information or a contact person familiar with the local history. Just a guess though...