The Early Era of American Pro Football

American football came into existence in the 1860's as rugby football from Canada. College football was introduced with the first game being played in 1869. Pro football goes back as far as at least 1892 when former Yale All-American William "Pudge" Heffelfinger was paid $500 to play for the Alleghany Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Heffelfinger scored the only touchdown of the game on a fumble recover as the Alleghany Athletic Club won, 4-0. In those days, touchdowns were worth four points while field goals were worth six points. This was not verified until a business ledger was discovered that Heffelfinger in fact was the first paid professional football player on record.

It wasn't until 1895 that the first professional football game was played with all players being paid that participated. It was on September 3, 1895 that saw the Latrobe YMCA defeat the Jeanette Athletic Club, 12-0. The game took place in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

The game was mostly played by East Coast college programs, but it began to gain exposure in the Midwest. In 1898, the Morgan Athletic Club had formed a professional football club. They eventually changed their name to the Racine Normals since they played at Normal Park and at Chicago's Racine Avenue. Not long after, owner Chris O'Brien, who started his professional club as a neighborhood team, was given a deal on used jerseys that were worn by the University of Chicago. The team colors were actually cardinal red and not the maroon color that the Chicago school was called. This prompted O'Brien to change the team name to the Racine Cardinals. The Cardinals played mostly amateur teams, but found that competition was extremely tough to come by. So by 1906, the team disbanded. In 1913, O'Brien reorganized the team, and they were able to buy new uniforms and hire their first coach in 1917. It was in 1917 that the Cardinals won the Chicago Football League Title. However, the team was forced to disband again in 1918 after World War I and the influenza plague that broke out in the United States. O'Brien then reorganized the team one more time, and they are the oldest continuing pro football franchise. The Cardinals currently play in Arizona.

In 1903, the game moved to the Midwest, and Ohio in particular after the Massillon Tigers signed four pro players from Pittsburgh. The game had began to decline in the Pittsburgh and thus the Ohio Football League was formed. Massillon, after signing the four players, beat the Canton Athletic Club for the league title. The World Series of pro football saw the Franklin Athletic Club win the last title in that league as they folded at season's end.

The pro game saw the first big star in 1913 as former Olympic hero Jim Thorpe signed to play for the Canton Bulldogs of the Ohio League. Canton's rival with the Massilion Tigers ended with Canton taking the league title that year. The Ohio Football League was at the time the most influential pro football league.

In 1920, the first organized professional league was founded after team officials met at a Hupmobile in Canton, Ohio. The American Professional Football League was founded on September 17, 1920 that originally consisted of 11 teams. Three more teams would join before the season got underway. The very next year, the APFA changed to become the National Football League. It also marked the first time that league standings were released, and that the regular season winners with the best record were declared the league champions. Pro football had plenty of financial troubles in the early going which led to many teams disbanding or withdrawing from the league altogether.

In 1925, the Chicago Bears signed college star Harold "Red" Grange to a $100,000 contract while they were scheduling a barn-storming tour. At the time, most of football fans preferred the college game because they did not like the idea of players being paid to play. This began to change when Grange signed the contract to play for the Bears. This move brought the league national exposure as the Bears toured all over the country to promote the game. Pro football was gaining popularity, and Grange's signing was a big reason why. The New York Giants football franchise nearly folded in 1925 as they had major financial troubles. The Bears agreed to come to the Polo Grounds in New York to take on the Giants in December. More than 65,000 fans flocked to see the game, and the Giants franchise was able to stay in the league.

In 1932, the first playoff game took place as the Chicago Bears beat the Portsmouth Spartans, 9-0. This game was even more significant as they also played the first ever indoor game at Chicago Stadium with an enclosed roof because Chicago was hit hard with bad weather at the time. That game proved to be very popular and the NFL divided the league into two conferences in 1933. Several rule changes took place around that time as goal posts were moved forward to the goal line, plays started between the hash marks, and the forward pass could be performed anywhere behind the line of scrimmage when you had to be five yards behind before.

Pro football began to rival college football in terms of fan support during and after World War II. Many defunct leagues came and went between the time the NFL started to World War II. The NFL had gained a mainstream audience and was starting to become the most popular American sport according to many fans when baseball was the dominant sport for the first half of the 20th Century. The NFL nearly folded in the first years of existence, but the signing of Red Grange and teams moving to larger markets kept them from doing so. By 1934, on the Green Bay Packers played in a small market, and they happened to be one of the most successful franchises in the first thirty years of the NFL's existence. The NFL has expanded into several markets, and is now easily the most profitable sport in the United States today.