Birth of the NFL (1920)

The NFL is Born in Canton, Ohio

The Birth certificate for the National Football League was signed in a small automobile dealership in Canton, Ohio in September of 1920. The new league, the American Professional Football Association, operated under that name for two seasons before being changed to the National Football League in 1922. "This is one of the greatest moments of football because otherwise we wouldn't be watching football" according to (Mr. Joe Horrigan.) Team membership in the new league consisted of 22 teams. Two of those original teams remain in operation today: the Chicago Cardinals (now Arizona Cardinals) and the Decatur Staleys (now Chicago Bears). The Akron Pros, a small regional team, won the first NFL championship in 1920. Jim Thorpe, of the Canton Bulldogs, was named the new league's commissioner.

While Pro Football was officially organized with the founding of the American Professional Football Association, pro football made its debut much earlier. The first game where a player was paid to play a game took place on November 12, 1892 when Pudge Heffinger was openly paid $500 to play in a single game. Right after that some people thought there was trouble with the league paying that much. People thought the League strayed from their usual practice by paying someone to play. The proof of this did not become public or known about until 80 years later ." Today the proof is commonly considered The NFL’s birth certificate according to The Pro Hall Of Fame site".

‘The first ever Professional football game was on October 3rd, 1920 and it featured the Dayton Triangles and the Columbus Panhandles. (Pro Hall Of Fame) The final score of the game was Dayton 14 Columbus 0. There is no such thing now as the Columbus Panhandles or the Dayton Triangles, now we have the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns. These two teams were created by the same owner and his name is Paul Brown. Paul Brown asked Baltimore to acquire the name (Browns) because it was very much wanted in Cleveland because the coach was Paul Brown and that is when Baltimore became the Baltimore Ravens.

Going along with the first team to win a championship was the Akron Pros. Throughout the NFL’s history the first team to win a Superbowl was the Green Bay Packers. They won the second Super Bowl as well too. The Tv ratings for football is the greatest show watched and it hasn’t dropped since it aired when tvs first came out and started to be in homes.