On September 17, 1920, a group of men gathered in Canton, Ohio at the Hupmobile showroom of Ralph Hay, owner of the hometown Bulldogs. The result of the meeting was the birth of the National Football League..
First known as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) and later renamed the NFL in 1922, the league's first president was Jim Thorpe. Without a doubt the most famous athlete of his time, Thorpe helped add credibility to the sport. While not front-page news in 1920, the league's formation was the start of a journey that has made the NFL this country's favorite sport.
Pro football began in 1892 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when former Yale star William "Pudge" Heffelfinger was paid a notable sum of $500 to play in a single game for the Allegheny Athletic Association on November 12. For nearly the next three decades, pro football faced its ups and downs as the game was played primarily in small towns throughout western Pennsylvania and the Midwest.
Many problems plagued the game of pro football with increasing regularity. The need for a sense of order brought these men, which among others included George Halas, together in Canton to form the first professional football league. Eleven franchises were represented at the meeting: Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Decatur Staleys, Chicago Cardinals, Cleveland Indians Dayton Triangles, Hammond Pros, Massillon Tigers, Muncie Flyers, Rock Island Independents, Rochester Jeffersons
The first matter of business was Massillon's withdrawal from professional football for the 1920 season. The team never joined the NFL. However, by season's start, the membership also included the Buffalo All-Americans, Chicago Tigers, Columbus Panhandles, and Detroit Heralds. Only two of the franchises still exist today. The Decatur Staleys moved to Chicago in 1921 and were renamed the Bears one year later. The Chicago Cardinals franchise now calls Arizona home.
On September 26, 1920, the first game featuring a team from the APFA was played at Douglas Park in Rock Island, Illinois. The Independents were victorious as they rolled to a 48-0 win over the St. Paul Ideals. One week later, two league teams battled head-to-head for the fist time. The Dayton Triangles shutout the Columbus Panhandles, 14-0 in Triangle Park.
The Akron Pros, with an 8-0-3 regular season record, were crowned the league's first champions.
I am going to see how many players or personalities i can name in 10 minutes from my era or memory.....
Jim Thorpe, George Halas, Art Rooney, Paul Brown, Jim Brown, Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Tom Landry, Otto Graham, Joe Greene, Larry Csonka, Terry Bradshaw, Dan Pastorini, Earl Campbell, Brett Farve, The Scrambler, The Snake, The purple people eaters, The Steel Curtain, The Hogs, The Pack, Da Bears, Lamar Hunt, Don Shula, Undefeated Dolphins, Immaculate reception, The Drive, Cardiac Kids, The dawg pound, Mile High, The Orange Crush, Dick Butkus, Joe Namath, Ray Nitcke, George Blanda, Ray Guy, Don Meredith, John Elway, Joe Montana, Deacon Jones, Sweetness, Barry Sanders, Gayle Sayers, Jim Otto, Mike Webster, Lou Groza, Norm Van Brocklin, Johnny U, Forrest Gregg, Jack Youngblood, Lynn Swan, Jack Ham, Dan Marino, Bernie Kosar, Dave Casper, Oj, Mark Van Egan, Bob Trumpy, John Madden, Roger Staubauch, Dan Dierdorf, Billy White Shoes, Franco Harris, Rocky Blier, Sammy Baugh, Johnny Blood Mcnally, Buckets Goldenberg, Steve Largent, Reggie White, John Riggins, Howie Long, Rick Upchurch, Dan Fouts, Brian Sipe, Ozzie Newsome, LT, Mel Blount, MDP, emmit smith, Chris Carter, Jim McMahon, Jim Kelly, Jerry Rice,Paul Warfield, Reggie Rucker, Mike Pruitt, Greg Pruitt, Carl Eller, Bob Lily, Cliff Branch, Fred Balitnikoff, Len Dawson, Weeb, Original MNF, Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, Pat Summerall, Dick Enberg, Lyle Alzado and last but not least my Cousin(2nd) Mike Simone.
The reason for this was to show what type of fan i used to be, i know i missed a few, but i did this from the top of my head. I loved the game of football. I waited for Saturdays after cartoons our basement TV room watching Keith Jackson calling College football and Sunday dad up at 6am started the sauce on low boil, 730 mass, doughnut stop, back home stirred the sauce added the meat.. Mom was at work, dad read the paper i read the comics and watched Daniel Boone, Big Valley and Bonanza. We went up filled our plates with pasta, hurried back down and watched pre game then spent all afternoon watching The NFL, we had our 20 inch color TV tuned to the local channel and our little 15 inch black and white tuned into the Youngstown channel to watch the other games on uhf. listening to my dad yell at the Browns in the 70s and calling Bradshaw a bald headed son of a bitch!!! The west coast games at 4pm. Then Monday night football after dinner!!
I still think the guys who ruined Pro sports was George Steinbrenner and Reggie Jackson which eventually bled into other sports when sports agents became the norm.
Who ruined Pro Football, Jerry Jones started the avalanche and the rest followed. I have been watching football for at least 50 years as far back as I remember, its going to be a hard habit to break , but its not the game I grew up with, everything changes hopefully for the better but the NFL changed for the worse. Sports is something you turn to for entertainment to forget what's going on not be part of the problem, not to be a political forum for a bunch of millionaire assholes.
I couldn't wait for football season, I played the game from 7 years old until I graduated, i sucked but i loved it all the same.
The Lombardi trophy stood for blood, sweat and tears. the players i named above are what the Lombardi trophy was about, football. The last 20 years the NFL has become more and more unwatchable, yeah they fill the stands but the I think the average fan like me has just lost interest. The older fans pine for the old game only to watch it fade to instant replay after instant replay. Every catch, every run, every thing has to be rerun, why because of fairness? No, money! In the 80s The NFL Union President Gene Upshaw fought for the players rights to earn and be taken care of because of the short lived career of most players. The injury prone sport proved to turn a blind eye on its vets. Jim Otto had over 75 surgeries and multiple joint replacements and his leg was amputated, the NFL didn't drop a dime for any of them but the players associations helped him. That was totally agreeable to me and they all deserved to be compensated.
Greed wasn't bad enough, rule changes after rule changes that slowed the game down and made it much less exciting to watch, now enters politics...... Some Lame assed 1 year wonder ruined the game for me and millions of other fans because of some baked up bullshit. relevance was the only thing he was protesting. he could find no other medium in which anyone cared. I hope your happy jerk off. When I see little kids copying the kneeling on a sports field I laugh, why, because wtf does a little kid know about oppression, sacrifice or Jack shit? That is their coward parents using their kids to promote political bullshit during a recreational sport.
Vince Lombardi and the greats would not fit into todays game of cheaters and multi millionaires they played for pride they played for respect they played because they loved the game. so what shall we re name the trophy for the former NFL championship? I don't know if anyone actually cares RIP NFL.....
