The Birth of the NFL

Jay Berwanger was the first player to
ever be selected in the NFL Draft.

The sport of professional football was in a state of confusion in the very beginning of the 20th century due to dramatically rising salaries, players switching teams consistently to follow the highest bidder, and using players who were still enrolled in college. In order to fix this, the teams decided that it was necessary to force all teams to abide by the same rules by creating an official league. In 1920, a meeting was held in Canton, Ohio to address this issue, and the American Professional Football Conference (APFC) was created. A month later, the name of the league was changed to the American Professional Football Association (APFA) and Jim Thorpe was named president. Two years later, on June 4th, 1922, the name of the organization was once again renamed, this time to the National Football League (NFL).

In 1935, the NFL agreed to use Bert Bell's idea of an annual draft of college players prior to the 1936 season, with teams selecting in reverse order of finish. In the 1936 NFL Draft, Jay Berwanger from University of Chicago was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles first overall, making him first player ever drafted in the NFL. However, he decided to not play professional football, making Riley Smith of Alabama (selected by the Boston Braves) the first drafted player to ever sign with an NFL team. At almost the same time, the American Football League (AFL), a rival league, was created.

What do you think about the the original NFL Draft? Isn't it interesting that sometimes, the top pick in the draft didn't even want to play football professionally. Nowadays, it is every kid's dream to be the first pick in the NFL Draft. Where do you think professional football would be today if the NFL was not created?

History of the Thanksgiving Day Game

This interesting video from History.com covers the history of the first broadcasted Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit in 1934. This sparked a tradition of Thanksgiving Day football games that is continued today.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving Day tradition? Personally, I love football on Thanksgiving; the two seem to complement each other so well. Do you associate the two together, like I do, or would you prefer football and Thanksgiving to be separate?

Origins of Football



Walter Camp, famously known as
the father of American football.

 We can trace the origins of American football back to 1869, when Rutgers and Princeton played in the first college soccer football game, which was a combination of soccer, football, and rugby. Over the next few years, these three diverged into separate sports. In eastern colleges, rugby became more popular than soccer, and football subsequently emerged from rugby. It is interesting to think that the roots of these three popular sports crossed paths back in the 19th century. In 1876, Walter Camp, known as the father of American football, helped to write the first rules of football.

Over the next few decades, several football clubs emerged, notably the Allegheny Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. The intense rivalry between these two teams led to Pudge Heffelfinger being paid $500 in 1892 by the AAA to play in a game against the PAC, essentially making him the first professional football player ever. The first completely professional football team to play an entire season, the Latrobe Athletic Association, came five years later in 1897. As time went on in the 19th century, several rules of the game (i.e. the point value of field goals and touchdowns, the legalization of the forward pass) were slowly modified and altered.

Why do you think that football emerged as the dominant sport in America, as opposed to soccer? It seems that we would follow Europe's obsession with soccer, but we surprisingly did the opposite.

History of American Football



 Hi guys, welcome to my blog about the History of American Football. Nowadays, football is one of the most popular sports in America. Oddly enough, not that many people truly know where the game came from. Is it totally American? Or did it originate in a different country? I bet you don't know. Personally, football is my favorite sport to play and watch, and I am sometimes disappointed that football is only really popular in the United States. I feel that in order to bring football to an international level, we need to know more of a general history of the game so we can understand it better.                                            

By creating this blog, I hope to provide my followers with a much better knowledge of the history of football, from its origination to the most important events throughout the history. Now, I ask my followers, what do you know about the history of football? Do you feel like the histories of other sports, like soccer, baseball, and lacrosse get much more attention in our society today? Are you interested in learning more about football? Do you agree that obtaining a better knowledge of the game will allow us to appreciate the game further?