The Story of the NFL

The Story of the NFL — page 5
b u i l t f o r s u c c e s s 6 p a g e the story of the nfl chapter one Professional football began in the U S in 1892 when the Allegheny Athletic Association in Allegheny Pennsylvania paid one of the play ers on its regional football club for a game After that amateur teams in towns on the East Coast and across the Midwest also began to pay their players Because there was no governing body to set and enforce rules for professional football players jumped from team to team in search of the best salary College players even joined such teams while they were still in school The lack of rules created not only confusion but also unfair advantages for wealthier team owners So in the summer of 1920 representatives from four teams convened in the showroom of a car dealership in Canton Ohio Jim Thorpe a for mer Olympic gold medalist in track and field who had gone on to star with profes sional baseball and football teams and was now a member of the Canton Bulldogs wanted to discuss the formation of a league to govern the far-flung teams By mid-September 14 teams from 4 states including the Bulldogs the Rochester New York Jeffersons the Racine Chicago Illinois Cardinals and the Muncie Indiana Flyers had agreed to participate in the new league which would be called the American Professional Football Association APFA None of the charter Only a Game