Founding of the NFL

The NFL's founding story is more interesting than you might think. It all started on September 17, 1920, in a Canton, Ohio, car dealership — Ralph Hay's Hupmobile showroom. Fourteen teams each paid just $100 to join the league, which wasn't even called the NFL yet. Jim Thorpe, an Olympic gold medalist, served as its first president. If you're curious about what happened next, there's plenty more to uncover.

Key Takeaways

• The NFL was founded on September 17, 1920, in Ralph Hay's Hupmobile car showroom in Canton, Ohio, during a two-hour meeting.
• Originally named the American Professional Football Association, the league officially became the National Football League on June 24, 1922.
• Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe was elected the league's first president, instantly boosting its credibility and public appeal.
• The first NFL game was played on October 3, 1920, with the Dayton Triangles defeating the Columbus Panhandles 14-0.
• Of the 14 original charter members, only the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals still exist as active franchises today.

Where and When the NFL Was Actually Born

The NFL's origin story begins not in some grand stadium or league office, but in a Canton, Ohio, auto dealership. On August 20, 1920, team representatives gathered at the Jordan and Hupmobile showroom, forming the American Professional Football Conference.

Then, on September 17, 1920, they returned to Ralph Hay's Hupmobile showroom in Canton's Odd Fellows Building to establish the American Professional Football Association with eleven franchises. The location significance of Canton can't be overstated — it hosted both pivotal meetings that shaped professional football forever.

The league changed its name to the National Football League on June 24, 1922, cementing its league legacy. Today, a historical marker stands where those meetings happened, reminding you that pro football's billion-dollar empire started among car showroom floors. The founding of the NFL represented a major shift toward standardized rules and regulations, replacing the chaotic and inconsistent playing standards that had plagued professional football for years.

At the helm of this newly formed association was Jim Thorpe, who was elected as the first president of the American Professional Football Association, lending the fledgling league both credibility and star power during its earliest days.

Why Did Canton, Ohio Host That First Meeting?

Canton, Ohio, became pro football's birthplace largely because of one man: Ralph Hay. He owned the Canton Bulldogs and a local Hupmobile dealership, making the city a natural hub for organizing professional football.

Ralph Hay's car showroom choice came down to pure practicality — his office simply couldn't fit 15 men. So attendees sat on cars, fenders, and running boards while buckets of beer sat on the floor amid thick cigar smoke.

Hay had already helped tackle one of pro football's biggest headaches: player bidding wars resolution. Ohio teams had agreed in August 1920 to stop aggressive bidding and cap player salaries. That groundwork made the September meeting possible.

Hay then reached out to owners nationwide, turning a regional agreement into the foundation of what you now know as the NFL. The historic meeting took place on September 17, 1920, lasting just two hours but leaving a permanent mark on American sports history. At that founding meeting, Jim Thorpe was unanimously elected as the league's first president, a nod to his fame and stature in the sport.

The League's Original Name Wasn't the NFL

Most people assume the NFL has always been the NFL, but the league went through two name changes before settling on the one you know today. It started as the American Professional Football Conference on August 20, 1920, then quickly rebranded to the American Professional Football Association just weeks later. The original team names reflected regional identities tied to local leagues, not a national brand.

The league finally became the National Football League on June 24, 1922, a decision made at the NFL's Columbus headquarters before operations moved to Chicago in 1941. There was even a brief, three-month detour in 1950 when it became the National-American Football League before reverting to the name that stuck. Three names in roughly two years — not exactly a confident start. Professional football became an official paid sport back in 1892, meaning the league spent nearly three decades as a loosely organized regional pastime before it even had a stable name to rally behind. Among the founding members that gathered to establish the association were teams like the Akron Pros and Canton Bulldogs, franchises that helped shape the early identity of professional football long before a permanent name was ever agreed upon.

Jim Thorpe Was the NFL's First President

Few people know that Jim Thorpe — one of history's greatest athletes — also served as the NFL's first president. Elected in 1920, Thorpe led the newly formed American Professional Football Association while still playing for the Canton Bulldogs.

Thorpe's leadership vision shaped the league's early integrity. He introduced a salary cap, banned signing active college players, and prohibited teams from luring players under contract. He emphasized fair play on the field rather than through backroom deals.

Thorpe's Olympic accomplishments — two gold medals at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics in the pentathlon and decathlon — gave the fledgling league instant credibility. Fans recognized his legendary name and showed up. Though Joseph Carr replaced him in 1921, Thorpe's foundational role remains a defining chapter in NFL history. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who faced Thorpe on the field, once declared him the best football player he had ever seen.

Thorpe, of Sac and Fox and Potawatomi descent, was raised on the Sac and Fox Reservation in Oklahoma, where his remarkable athletic journey first began.

Which 14 Teams Made Up the Original NFL?

When the American Professional Football Association formed on September 17, 1920, 14 teams signed on as charter members, each paying a $100 membership fee at a meeting held inside a Canton, Ohio, Hupmobile dealership. The roster showed strong regional representation, with five Ohio-based franchises leading the way: Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Tigers, Columbus Panhandles, and Dayton Triangles.

Illinois contributed the Chicago Tigers, Decatur Staleys, Hammond Pros, and Rock Island Independents. New York sent the Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons, while Detroit and Muncie rounded out the group. Jim Thorpe served as the APFA's first president while also playing for the Canton Bulldogs.

Early instability factors quickly emerged, as the Chicago Tigers folded after just one season and only four founding teams completed the 1920 schedule. The association was later renamed National Football League on June 24, 1922, marking a pivotal moment in professional football history. Today, only two original franchises survive — the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals.

The First NFL Game Ever Played

Once those 14 founding teams paid their $100 membership fees and officially formed the league, they needed to actually play football. On October 3, 1920, the Dayton Triangles defeated the Columbus Panhandles 14-0 at Triangle Park in Dayton, Ohio, marking the first official NFL game ever played.

About 4,000 fans paid $1.75 each to witness history, while players earned $50 per game. Lou Partlow scored the first touchdown in NFL history, earning the nickname "the West Carrollton battering ram" through notable player performances powered by unconventional training methods — he'd run through woods and ram his shoulders into trees.

Partlow's ground-gaining abilities, combined with strong defensive efforts from Kinderdine, Bacon, and others, secured the shutout and established professional football's commercial foundation for the next century. The Dayton Triangles were founded by industrialists Edward Deeds and Charles Kettering, who helped sponsor the team through three local factories.

Professional football itself had much earlier roots, however, with William "Pudge" Heffelfinger becoming the first known paid football player when he received $500 to play in a game between the Allegheny Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club on November 12, 1892.

How Did the NFL Pick Its First Champion?

Determining a champion for the NFL's inaugural 1920 season wasn't exactly straightforward — the league didn't keep official records, hold playoffs, or even issue formal standings. Instead, team owners simply voted, awarding the Akron Pros championship selection based on their spotless 8-0-3 record as the league's only undefeated team.

Starting in 1921, the NFL clarified its process:

• Win-loss percentage determined champions
• Ties were excluded from calculations
• No playoffs existed until 1932

Even with clearer rules, controversy followed. The controversial 1925 Pottsville Maroons suspension saw the league strip a strong contender of its title, handing it to the Chicago Cardinals despite an inferior record. It's a reminder that early NFL championship decisions were far from perfect. The league itself had humble beginnings, having originally been founded as the American Professional Football Association before officially adopting the name National Football League on June 24, 1922. Today, the Green Bay Packers hold the record for the most championships in NFL history, with 13 titles to their name.

Why the NFL Stripped Buffalo of the 1921 Title

The 1921 APFA season produced one of the most controversial championship decisions in pro football history. Buffalo's All-Americans finished 9-0-2, with their only blemish being two ties. They'd beaten Chicago 7-6 on Thanksgiving, seemingly securing the title.

However, George Halas challenged Buffalo to a rematch, which Frank McNeil accepted under the condition it held exhibition status only. Buffalo lost the fatigued rematch 10-7, and Chicago lobbied owners to count it more heavily than the original matchup. The APFA awarded Chicago the title, creating the controversy surrounding the 1921 title decision that Buffalo historians call the "Staley Swindle."

The ruling accelerated Buffalo All-Americans' declining fortunes. The franchise suspended operations in 1927 and folded completely in 1929, never recovering from this pivotal injustice. The NFL Championship Game only became a permanent fixture in 1933, a direct result of the league being forced to establish clearer guidelines following the chaos of the 1921 season.

This controversy was not an isolated incident, as the NFL struggled to determine champions consistently throughout its early years, ultimately leading to the structured playoff system and, eventually, the Super Bowl format introduced after the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

How a Tie in 1932 Forced the NFL to Invent the Playoff

By the end of the 1932 regular season, three teams had tangled themselves into a championship mess the NFL had no clean way to resolve. The Chicago Bears, Portsmouth Spartans, and Green Bay Packers all held legitimate title claims, forcing the league to schedule a tiebreaker game that ultimately sparked the playoff system's establishment.

The Bears won 9-0, but the game triggered permanent rule changes:

• Forward passes were allowed from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage
• Goal posts moved to the goal line to encourage field goals
• Hash marks standardized where every play begins

You can trace today's Super Bowl directly to that chaotic indoor game. Without that three-way standoff, the NFL's structured postseason might've taken years longer to exist. The Packers actually finished the regular season with the league's best record at 10-1-4, but the flawed winning percentage formula used at the time left them without a championship despite their dominant performance.

The championship game itself was played on December 18, 1932, moving indoors to Chicago Stadium due to brutal winter weather conditions that made outdoor play impossible.

Only Two Original NFL Teams Still Exist Today

While those 1932 rule changes reshaped how football gets played, they also underscore just how far the league had come from its chaotic origins. When the APFA launched in 1920, 14 teams joined, yet most collapsed within a decade due to original franchise struggles like poor finances and unstable rosters.

Only two survived. The Chicago Bears started as the Decatur Staleys in 1920, relocated to Chicago in 1921, and took their current name in 1922. The Arizona Cardinals entered as the Racine Cardinals that same year, eventually settling in Arizona by 1994. Both franchises represent the legacy of early teams that weathered constant league instability, relocations, and competition. Every other original member — Canton, Dayton, Columbus — disappeared entirely before the 1930s ended.

The Arizona Cardinals hold the distinction of being the oldest established team in the NFL, having been founded all the way back in 1898, more than two decades before the league itself even existed. The NFL would later grow dramatically when it merged with the AFL in 1969/1970, adding ten new teams and eventually expanding to the 32-team league that exists today.