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Carl H. Storck (born November 14, 1892 – March 13, 1950) Carl Stock on pro-football-reference.com was a co-founder of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the founding owner of the Dayton Triangles. He was also the Triangles coach from 1922 to 1926. Storck served as the NFL's secretary-treasurer from 1921 to 1939 and president from 1939 to 1941.
After graduating from high school in 1913, Storck pursued a career in the YMCA movement. He attended the YMCA's preparatory training course at Lake Geneva before accepting a position as second assistant physical education director for the Dayton YMCA in July 1914. "Two Appointments to Positions in YMCA," Dayton Daily News, July 23, 1914, p. 8.
On October 1, 1916, Storck left for Chicago to attend the YMCA Training School there. "Conference of YMCA Officials at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Will Draw Local Men," Dayton Daily News, June 14, 1916, p. 14. He was simultaneously made the physical director of the Sears YMCA club in Chicago.
Storck returned to Dayton in 1919, where he took a position with the personnel department of the General Motors there. He remained in that professional capacity in addition to his football avocation through the first half of the 1930s.
After his return, Storck took the reins as manager of the Dayton Triangles professional basketball team. "Triangles Not To Play Again This Season," Dayton Herald, March 19, 1919, p. 15. While successful on the court, the team was plagued by poor attendance, however, resulting in an abrupt shutting down of home games and completion of a truncated schedule on the road. It would not be the last time that lack of fan support in Dayton interfered with Storck's best-laid plans.
The Triangles would have trouble competing in the increasingly competitive NFL, however, and would be plagued by poor attendance throughout their existence.
Storck would remain head of the Triangles franchise until its sale in 1928 to Bill Dwyer, who moved the team to Brooklyn and renamed them the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Upon the death of Joseph Carr, Storck served as president of the NFL during its 1939 and 1940 seasons.
Former Notre Dame great Elmer Layden, an undersized fullback who gained fame as a member of Knute Rockne legendary "Four Horsemen" backfield of 1924, was decided upon. A lucrative five-year contract was bestowed upon Layden to induce him to leave his comfortable position as head coach and athletic director of Notre Dame.In his 1969 memoir, Layden indicates that "more money, more security" and a "better life" for his family were his main reasons for leaving Notre Dame, adding that the school's new university president had offered him only a one-year contract at the end of his expiring five-year deal. See: Elmer Layden with Ed Snyder, It Was a Different Game: The Elmer Layden Story. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969; pp. 135-136.
League President Carl Storck was the odd man out under this restructuring. He had given twenty years of his life to the NFL — most of them unpaid — as a league official and had performed his duties capably. He was not the subject of criticism during his tenure as president. Now he was seemingly rendered a veritable minister without portfolio or even function.
Initially, Storck stated that he would remain on the job as league president if the owners defined his duties in a contract. However, on April 4, 1941, he abruptly reversed course and announced that he would be resigning the position "for the best interests of the game"."Storck Quits Post In Surprise Move," New York Times, April 5, 1941."Storck Predicts Fight Over Layden," New York Times, April 4, 1941.
In 1939, Storck served as president of the Dayton Ducks baseball franchise of the Middle Atlantic League. "Pro Football Organizer, Storck, Dies," Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1950, p. 29.
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