1942 was the one and only season for the Northwest War Industries Football League. The NWIL was formed in August of 1942 with 4 teams. A possible Tacoma entrant did not take shape. Commissioner Wilcox, in an Associated Press story on Sep 14, 1942 announced that 52% of all league profits would go to military servicemen's funds. Wilcox and Edwin Atherton, commissioner of the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Conference, locked horns verbally over the question of future amateur status of the athletes competing in the war industries league.
Atherton had taken a hard stance and "Athertonized" many collegiate athletes who had played on teams with pros and ex-pros. Wilcox argued that due to the war setting, and the previous ruling following World War I, that athletes had their amateur status reinstated following the war-time sports. Wilcox stated there should be no difference between the kids competing for military teams alongside former pros and the kids playing for war-industry teams as both squads were products of war-time conditions which in themselves call for a different set of rules. On the field, the Seattle Shipbuilders won the league championship after losing to the Spokane Manlowes in the opener. They would reel off four straight wins, including two over the second place Portland Boilermakers to win the NWIL Championship by one-half game, despite an impressive offensive performance by Portland, as they averaged a whopping 31.2 points per game.