1940 was the first of nine seasons for the Pacific Coast Football League. The PCFL was a professional American football league based in California. It operated from 1940 through 1948. One of the few minor American professional sports leagues that competed in the years of World War II, the PCFL was regarded as a minor league of the highest level, particularly from 1940 to 1945, at a time in which the National Football League did not extend further west than Chicago and Green Bay. It was also the first professional football league to have a team based in Hawaii (the Hawaiian Warriors). Formed from the wreckage of a failed California Pro Football League, the PCFL showcased the Los Angeles Bulldogs and the Hollywood Bears. The league became the “home” of African American football stars (including Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, and, briefly, Jackie Robinson) as the NFL had developed and enforced a color barrier in 1934 that extended until 1946. Kenny Washington and Woody Strode starred for the Bears after being denied entrance into the NFL due to their race. The Bears also had the leading scorer of the league, former New York Giant Kink Richards. Phoenix and Oakland dropped out at the end of the 1940 season. On the field, the Hollywood Bears (6-2-0) and the Los Angeles Bulldogs (7-2-1) dominated the league and their losses were to each other (two each). Since there were no playoff games at that time, the team with the best winning percentage was
crowned champion of the Pacific Coast Football League. As a result, the Los Angeles Bulldogs would be crowned the 1940 PCFL Champions.