With humble beginnings the summer of 1890, members at the local Y.M.C.A. discussed playing "football", not the association soccer version, but the east coast "Rugby rules" version.  By December of 1890, the Tacoma Athletic Club began to take shape with a club house, locker rooms and meeting rooms.  By mid-October 1891, players were practicing for the first big game in Tacoma history against Portland's Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club on Thanksgiving Day.  With a 50/50 split, the 1,000 spectators witnessed the birth of Amateur American football in the Northwest as Multnomah raced to a 30-6 victory.  Charles Anderson, former Yale player and W.E. Hacker, captain of the TAC team split the squad for a practice scrimmage on Dec 12 as they prepped for a return game on New Year's Day with Portland.  The Jan 1, 1892 game was played under protest by MAAC claiming Charles Pope was a professional having played baseball back east.  Pope was forced to retire from the field before the M's would play and was badly missed by Tacoma.  William Goodwin was called away to his ranch and was also missed in the game. The MAAC team would win that game as well 24-0, but launched the Tacoma program that would rise and fall over the next 40 years. 

Inaugural 1891 Tacoma Athletic Club Team

The 1892 season was a two-game set with the Seattle Athletic Club, split by the clubs 1-1.  A proposed rubber match for late Dec or New Years was scrapped when the TAC's best players were away traveling.  The first local rival club arrived on the scene in September of 1893 when a young men's club called the Viviendas put together 20 men for a football team.  The upstarts would upset the Tacks 9-8 and lay claim to the city title of the year.  The so-planned "practice" team for the Tacks would be rolled back into the main club sharing players.
Original team member Gid Rowe took over the coaching reigns for 1894.  Following a 48-0 loss to the Seattle Athletic Club on Nov 10, 1894, a coach was quoted in the newspaper as being completely disgusted with the dedication of his players who won't turnout for practice and they never get the same group twice for workouts and it showed in the teams' disarray in the "Fog Bowl"  The team filtered around, some to the YMCA.  Rowe would be elected to the governing board of the AAU head quartered in New York.
"Phat" Downing, former Stanford player, came aboard as coach of team for 1895.  Backfielder Louis Parsons joined Puget Sound University as a halfback for the game against the Seattle YMCA as well as refereed high school games in 1896.  New Years Day 1897 a picked team of players, many from the club took the field and a 6-0 win over the Puyallup Indian School.
After much struggle, the Tacoma Athletic Club officially disbanded in 1898.  The Tacoma YMCA made strides to take up the position of keeping athletes engaged.
 
The club was rekindled in 1914 by Leo Horejs with alumns of Stadium High as it's backbone after the school board ruled against inter-city athletic contests.  Often dubbed the "Tahomas" in newspapers, the players were rumored to be playing under assumed names to avoid the school board ruling against high schoolers playing on outside teams.  At season end, the team was down $200 on the season, the equivalent of losing $6,333.00 in 2024. Horejs was a standout and captain of the Tacoma High Blue and Gold, albeit a bit of a rebel.  He had been suspened by coaches for breaking football and track rules including smoking during the season 1912-13 season.  Horejs was involved in the infamous 100-point game against Bellingham in 1912.
 
The 1915 Thanksgiving game with Bremerton was such a rainy muddy mess that only one forward pass was completed in the 0-0 tie.  After the 1915 season QB Butch Pollen moved to the South Tacoma Athletic Club team where he would face and win against his old team.
 
The game versus the Alums of Hoquiam/Aberdeen ended in controversy and protest as the Alums had the ball on the 1-foot line.  The H/A QB simply had to stretch the ball between the legs of the center on the next play to win, however referee E.E. Perkins flagged a foul on the fullback for assisting the QB with a push...from 4 yards away.  Even Tacoma fans felt the call was egregious and smelt of loyalty to Tacoma from the referee. The Dec 2, 1916 headline of the Tacoma Times exclaimed 'Robbed'.
Horejs and the players had high hopes entering the 1917 season as late as September, but World War I broke out and many enlisted.  Leo Horejs and Stan Ives were sent to training in January 1918 and were commissioned as lieutenants in July of 1918 in the US Marine Corps spending time at Mare Island, CA.
 
Bane Browse nailed 2 drop kicks to win over St. Martin's on 11/14/1920.
 
Nov 19, 1921: Reports stating "difference of opinions" led to Coach Tony Bell resigning.  Bob Faust would coach the remainder of the season.  A newly formed South Tacoma Athletic Club resurrected the 1916 version as a cross-town rival to the Tacks.  Many of the players would be former and future TAC players including Rip Revelle, Shumake and Schwartz.
 
Jake Kanzler scored 12 touchdowns on the season including a record 6 against the Camp Lewis Balloon Corps and 4 against the Camp Lewis Engineers.

The Tacoma Athletic Club brought football back in 1923 in an attempt to get the community back on board with the sport.  Harry Quass, former University of Washington player coached the team in what became a three-year run for him compiling a 12-9-4 record.  Following the 1924 season, the T.A.C. claimed the Independent title for the state of Washington based on the victories over what were deemed the "strong" teams.  The claim was meant to entice others to accept the challenge and schedule games or by default, acknowledge and affirm the claim.
John William ("Bill" or "Red") Bone, beloved "clean cut" center of the team was electrocuted at a Tacoma sub-station the day before the St. Martin's game on Sep 27, 1924.  Bone played for Gonzaga University in 1922 and was considered one of the best players in the Northwest at the time of his death, aged 24.
 
Former Seattle College coach Tom Barry was announced in August 1927 as the new coach tasked with rebuilding the "Tacks" and help build a league for stable game scheduling. 

The 1928 season was the swan song for the Tacoma Athletic Club after a winless season.  There would be no 1929 season, some players going over to the South Tacoma Athletic Club.  A split of Tacoma football would begin in 1930 with the Tacoma National Guard Armory team and the Tacoma Leathernecks representing Marines.  The team would recombine as the McKinley Hill Athletic Club "Presidents" in 1931.

Sam Tipton, a former all-navy guard in 1925, took over McKinley Hill in October of 1931 after the team was smashed by George Wilson's Everett Wildcats in the '31 opener.
 
Briles, Smith and Berry came over from South Tacoma Athletic Club in November after defeating their new team 7-0.
 
After starting the 1932 season as the McKinley Hill Presidents, it was decided to change the name of the team to the Tacoma Wolves in October prior to the season opener with Fort Lewis. Sam Tipton coached with Phil Sorboe, Washington State backfield ace, would assist with the backs until returning to school.  The team continued to struggle with getting games and players shuffled off to play with other teams as they could. 
 
The Wolves struggled to find games as an independent outside of regular meetings with Fort Lewis from 1931-1933.  Louie Worrell intercepted a Soldier pass and dashed 50-yards for the winning TD in the final 4 minutes of the season opening victory over Fort Lewis.  That season Bob Grady, Jack Lauer, Jack Brady, Phil Kneip, Ted Hamilton, Joe Smith, Lee Knight, Fales Martin, John Brecht, "Buck" DeMaris, Bill St. Thomas, Frank Hal, George Paugh, Ray "Rabbit" Kelly, Bill Sewell, Bob Palmer, Ocky Johnson and Max McKenzie made up the USS Tacoma VFW that would travel to play Everett.  Some of those same players would bounce between both teams in order to play in games and play against each other in 1933 as part of the VFW or Wolves team
 
1934 - The team was initially called the "Wolves" in early September, but after sponsorship from the Cammaranos Bros. Distributing, the team was written about as Cammarano Brothers or "Cams".  Ray Mahnkey (HB) rushed and passed for touchdowns in the Cams first win against Fort Lewis.  Klinge, Ferries, and Newberg were all added the week of the Fort Lewis game.
The Tacoma businessmen pulled out of supporting the team in 1935, so no team was formed for the Northwest League.  Early in October it was announced that Coach Tipton would be reforming the team as an independent and kicked off Oct 27 in Elma winning 3-0 and at home on Nov 17 against White Center from Seattle.  Walt Klopstein was the star runner against Elma busting off two long runs to get within field goal range from 32-yards out in the last 40 seconds of the game.  Prior to the game with Olympia, Jess Brooks (College of Puget Sound), Grenier, Fry and Martin all of Pacific Lutheran, Elmore of Fort Lewis and Jack Reeves, former University of Washington freshman joined the team.  Jess Brooks intercepted his former Olympia teammate and raced 92-yards for the INT-TD, the only Tacoma score of the game.  The game had a total of nine intereceptions, five by Tacoma.
 
1936 Highlights: Jess Brooks, fullback passed to Norman Iverson for a game-tying TD against West Seattle.
The team was written about as the "Alt Heidelbergs" in reference to the beer bottling sponsors.  Eddie Schwarz was hired to coach the team, returning to a post he held in 1928, nine years earlier.  Billy Sewell, a youngster with no prep or college experience led an upset against the West Seattle Yellowjackets.  Sewell scored a touchdown, kicked a field goal, and played great defense for Tacoma in the 17-9 victory.
 
Injuries throughout the season limited the potential for Tacoma to knock off the Rams in the chase for the crown.
 
During the season finale against the Bremerton Destroyers, Tacoma's opponent started out with its regular roster, but before the first period was over, the Destroyers gained reinforcements from the USS Maryland and other Navy All-Stars of other ported ships.  Tacoma escaped the melee with a 6-6 tie.
 
The Grays Harbor team selected it's All-Opponent team listing Loring Wire (E), and Vern Pederson (C) as tops from the Red Devils.
 
Sewell was re-acquired after running into scholastic issues in college at Washington State, and Nilsen joined after playing the '37 season at PLU.
 
Sewell and Nilsen connected for 3 TD scores in a 27-12 over the Destroyers.  Nilsen set a league record in scoring with 55 points (9 TDs, 1 PAT).  Even with the best season in years, it was the early season loss to Bremerton that cost Tacoma the league title having split games with Enumclaw and West Seattle.  West Seattle survived a 7-6 finale with Enumclaw to sweep the Barons and claim the title.

Bill Sewell was nominated for Tacoma Sportsman of the Year by Alt Heidelberg and was noticed again by Washington State University where he played the 1939 season.  Sewell, a 1933 graduate of Lincoln High played tennis, NOT football due to his diminutive size. He played with McKinley Hill and the Wolves as a halfback and after a stint working for the Civilian Conservation Corps, his growth spurt got him a spot on the 1936 Tacoma Athletic Club team.  Washington State scooped him up where his punting and passing were on display in 1937, but academics cost him his spot on the team.  He returned to the TAC team and quarterbacked the 1938 squad just short of the championship.  Had he and Hal Nilsen played earlier in the season, Tacoma would have claimed the crown.  He was offered another shot at college and with the advice of sponsor and President of Columbia Breweries Joe Lanser, he went back to Pullman.  Against arch-rival University of Washington, the 1939 game was barely underway when Sewell uncorked a 70-yard punt that shifted the field the Huskies never recovered from.  A pass to set up the lone Cougar TD in the 6-0 win, and in the fourth quarter Bill blasted another punt 77-yards, averaging 47-yards per punt on the day.  Billy Sewell was inducted into the Washington State University football hall of fame in 1987 having established records from 1939-1941.
 
1939: The Red Devils changed their name to the "Columbians" when the Tacoma-based Columbia Brewery, brewers of Alt Heidelberg sponsored the team.
 
Tacoma smashed Enumclaw 19-0 on Oct 28 handing the Barons their worst defeat in 6 years.  Babe Harmon ran for one score, passed to Hal Nilsen for another.  Burton Kindred recovered a fumble to set up Harmon's first score.
 
Coach Tucci announced prior to the Nov.19th game with West Seattle that Japanese center from Fife, Nubuo Yoshido would be the captain for his consistent play during the season, playing the season finale with a heavily bandaged knee.  Injuries piled up as the league leaders lost the final two games of the season, costing Tacoma the league crown.  Nubuo Yoshida would go on to play for St. Martins College.
With the Tacoma franchise placed on hold for 1940, the players scattered or retired. 
 
Frank Stojak would sign on with the newly formed Boeing Bombers for 1940 with "Diamond" Joe Paglia as coach. Stojack, John Sullivan, Tony Zizak, Bill Rach and other Columbians would migrate to the Boeing squad finally winning a title that eluded them in Tacoma for so many years. Jess Brooks, former College of Puget Sound star would continue playing in the minor league baseball circuits through 1946.

With World War II breaking out, Tacoma was once again left out in the cold in terms of minor league football.  Talks would come up each year, but no solid foundation could put a club out on the field even though local fields would play host to Seattle vs Portland games as a midway point.  Fort Lewis would take up most of the slack.

Jimmy Ennis of St. Martin's college was reported to be in line to coach the Tacoma Boilermakers if the team could be organized under the 568 Local Union and entered into the 1942 Northwest Football League.  By August, Johnny Heinrich, Stadium High coach was actively recruiting players.  The Boilermaker moniker was eventually used by Portland of the War Industries League and the Tacoma area would be represented by Fort Lewis and assisted by Heinrich.  Fort Lewis would put a league out for the 1942 season on base.
The Northwest League officials would approach the Shipyard Athletic Club about a Tacoma team for 1943, but Erling Tollefson declined on the basis of finances and lack of sponsors.  Tacoma continued to suffer without collegiate or minor league football.

Tacoma resident Al Davies, President of the 1944 Seattle Bombers, following a feud with Jimmy Mandas former head man of the 1942 Seattle Shipbuilders and 1943 Seattle Ironworkers teams over ownership, appealed to Tacoma to raise the support to move the team.  It would finally take root with the 1946 Tacoma Indians in what would be the first "official" semi-pro football team with players earning paychecks in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League.  The "Athletic Club" teams of Tacoma would officially cease.

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