Amazing NFL Stories 12 Highlights From NFL History
The NFL Rises from Humble Beginnings 4 Thanksgiving Day Games become a Tradition 6 Players Take the Field without Helmets 8 The NFL Goes to War 10 One Game Changes Everything 12 A Rival League Challenges the NFL 14 The Super Bowl Just Gets Bigger 16 The Dolphins Stand Alone 18 Weather Plays a Role 20 Two-Sport Stars Shine in the NFL 22 NFL Salaries Blow Up 24 Television Leads the Way 26 Fun Facts and Stories 28 Glossary 30 For More Information 31 Index 32 About the Author 32 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Today’s National Football League NFL is a spectacle No pro sport is bigger in the United States The stars are big The money is bigger Yet the league’s beginnings were quite small THE NFL RISES FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS 1 4 Akron Pros players around 1921
By 1920 pro teams were scattered around the Midwest There was no single champion There was no shared rule book Players went to the highest bidder It was chaos Ralph Hay owned one such team the Canton Bulldogs Hay thought he had a better way to operate So in 1920 he invited several other owners to his car dealership in Canton Ohio There the men agreed to form the American Professional Football Association APFA They later renamed it the National Football League The early NFL didn’t look much like the league we know Most of the teams were from the Midwest They didn’t play a fixed schedule Most still played against non-NFL teams There were no playoffs or championship game Teams voted for the 1920 NFL champion four months after the season The Akron Pros ended up with that belated honor after an 8 0 3 season ANOTHER NFL FIRST The first televised NFL game was on October 22 1939 An estimated 500 viewers watched the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Eagles 23 14 No footage of that first broadcast exists today 14 Teams in the NFL’s first season in 1920 The NFL was called the American Professional Football Association in 1920 and 1921 Only two of the original NFL teams still exist The Decatur Staleys are the present-day Chicago Bears The Racine Cardinals are today’s Arizona Cardinals The Dayton Triangles won the first game between two NFL teams They beat the Columbus Panhandles 14 0 on October 3 1920 5
