Chester “Swede” Johnston’s 35 Chicle

[jefferyepayne]

I can't find any info that points to Johnston's father playing in the NFL either. Agree he probably played for a town team / semi-pro team.

At that time there were an order of magnitude more semi-pro teams out there than teams in the NFL.

jeff

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks Jeff - I agree - nothing seems to point to Swede's father having played in the NFL. In the mid-twenties - town teams, teams sponsored by companies etc. were still doing well. I would guess the NFL was still playing these non-league teams at that time too.

I'd love to see a program or anything that shows the elder Johnston played football - seems like such a strange thing for National Chicle to just make up - but its sure not easy to confirm.

[revmoran]

Here's an article from 1925 from Appleton about the semi-pro football in the area - it doesn't mention Johnston as either a player or a promoter, although in looking through newspaper clips from that year Elmer Johnston shows up quite a few time as a boxing and wrestling promoter.

[jefferyepayne]

In digging around a bit I saw that John F. Johnston is the "founder" of Appleton, WI and an elementary school there is named after him. I wonder if he is an ancestor of Swede?

jeff

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks guys - I appreciate it. Mike - the newspaper article is a nice find. Definitly has me thinking the football card (National Chicle) got it wrong.

Plus, aren't the years a little tight? Say the son is about 22 in 32. If the father is 20 years older than the son, he would have been 35 in 1925. If the father is 25 years older, he'd have been 40 in 1925!