History Of Professional Football In America

Have you ever wondered how we got convinced of this? Well, it all started with a Hupmobile. At a Canton, Ohio Hupmobile dealership on September 17, 1920, owners of existing pro football teams met to form the American Professional Football Association (APFA). George Halas and other signers likely couldn’t have predicted that two years later, the APFA would become the National Football League (NFL). They were off and running.

So, was Red Grange the first big NFL star?

In 1925, he sprinted from the campus of Illinois to the Bears and the bank, pocketing the then-ridiculous sum of $100,000 to thrill huge crowds as the galloping ghost. Red Grange carried the ball 4,013 times for an average of 8.1 yards and scored 531 touchdowns. To capitalize on its newfound popularity, the NFL created the NFL Championship Game in 1933 played between the best teams in each division. Grange’s Bears were a powerhouse, playing in seven of the first eleven championships against teams like Tim Maris Giants and the Redskins led by slingin’ Sammy Baugh, who lived up to his name by throwing the ball all over. “Retire every fine, he throws off the fall completes the fast Kzr scores a touchdown the world record.”

The NFL, like the rest of America, was hit hard by World War II.

League rosters were so depleted, merged teams like the Steagles played against whoever was left. But when the soldiers came home, football had gained enough popularity to support a second league, the AFC, which included teams like the Browns, 49ers, and Colts. Instead of a rivalry between two leagues killing the sport, they merged in 1949. Along with his Browns, coach Paul Brown brought to the NFL innovation and domination. He was the first coach to champion film study, which helped lead to three championships in the ’50s.

Walking around, Graham Hill Carey, growing up, the Browns weren’t winning.

Detroit was three times with quarterback Bobby Lane. Johnny closed out the decade in style, leaving the Colts to an epic come-from-behind victory in sudden-death overtime, in what’s still known as the greatest game ever played. The huge demand for football led to the formation of the AFL and teams like the Bills, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Oilers, and Raiders. But back in the NFL, it was all Packers winning titles in a Cotton Bowl, a nice Bowl, and in the first two Super Bowls, 35 and Captain’s living out their legendary status secured when the league’s championship trophy was named after their head coach Vince Lombardi. Meanwhile, Jim Brown was rewriting record books until retiring at the ripe old age of 29. In Super Bowl 3, Broadway Joe’s guarantee of a Jets victory stole the spotlight. “I think we’re going to win that.” Coming, and when they delivered by upsetting the Colts, fans knew AFL teams weren’t bit players anymore.

It was 1970 when the NFL and AFL merged.

The style of football, ground-and-pound, the run game, was in vogue. From The Electric Company to the new champs, the Dolphins, who ground out two titles. So did Tom Landry’s Cowboys, behind Duane’s silent Tony D and the defense called doomsday. These Cowboys and their cheerleaders won themselves a new nickname, America’s team, and a pair of Super Bowls. But the Steelers trumped that with four of a kind, dominating the ’70s with two jacks, a Mean Joe, and swan dive. But was it all handoffs during the disco era? As a