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Happy Birthday, NFL!!


KRC

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August 20, 1920 saw the birth of what became the National Football League. Below is a little light reading on the occasion.

 

PFRA Linky

 

 

I loves me some sweet history/trivia like this.

 

 

B-) Ken!

 

 

God, you guys, imagine if you could go back in time and let those guys know what became of what they created.

 

 

MR. PEABODY, FIRE UP THE WAY-BACK MACHINE!!!

 

 

:beer:

 

 

 

 

"Yes, Mr. Halas, yes. You heard me right. There are going to be DOMED stadiums...in warm weather cities. To protect you from the sun."

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I don't understand the link - I thought it was well known that there were many regional leagues after the turn of the century, despite NFL claims.

 

I believe the following link lists box scores that have turned up in old newspapers -

http://www.profootballarchives.com/

 

They are very incomplete - for example, scores are there for the Rochester Jeffersons 1912 4-1-1 season in which they played 6 area opponents, but no further scores are known for the other teams. It seems very unlikely that they were not playing in a league.

 

Maybe it boils down to the question of what we mean by league exactly.

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I don't understand the link - I thought it was well known that there were many regional leagues after the turn of the century, despite NFL claims.

 

I believe the following link lists box scores that have turned up in old newspapers -

http://www.profootballarchives.com/

 

They are very incomplete - for example, scores are there for the Rochester Jeffersons 1912 4-1-1 season in which they played 6 area opponents, but no further scores are known for the other teams. It seems very unlikely that they were not playing in a league.

 

Maybe it boils down to the question of what we mean by league exactly.

 

The Jeffersons did not play in a league. There were regional rivalries. For example, Rochester would play the Buffalo area teams (Buffalo, Tonawanda, etc) for regional titles, but it was nothing more than bragging rights. As far as actual leagues, there were a few attempts, but none lasted. The APFA/NFL was the only one that lasted, and it started in 1920.

 

BTW, the Pro Football Archives site is done by one of the guys who wrote the ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia: Tod Maher. He gathered information from several pre-NFL historians. Roy Sye did a lot of work on the Indiana, Illinois and Ohio teams. I did the WNY stuff. The only WNY stuff I have that he does not is the early Rochester Jeffersons stuff. I found games for 1902 and 1903. There is a rumor that they were originally formed in 1898, but I have not found concrete evidence if it yet. If that is true and they played continuously from 1898 through 1920, then they would be the oldest, continuously operating franchise that became a founding member of the NFL.

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Thanks, Ken!

 

Cool to know we were there from the beginning!

 

Rochester??? :ph34r:

 

Almost. Buffalo was never an official member of the APFA until 1921 (which is a departure from the article). Rochester, however, was a member in 1920. Tonawanda had a team in 1921.

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