Football's origins were quite humble. The first pro football game is considered to be a 1892 match-up between two Pittsburgh-area athletic clubs. Former Yale All-American guard William Heffelfinger was paid $500 by the Allegheny Athletic Association and became the first pro football player. Between 1906 and 1912, the forward pass was legalized, successful field goals became three-point plays and touchdowns became six-point plays, revealing the outline of the modern game.
Early Years
In 1922, the owners of over 20 pro football teams changed the name of their organization from the American Professional Football Association to the National Football League. Two superstars fueled interest in the sport: Jim Thorpe and Red Grange. Thorpe, an Olympic champion in track and field, became the first famous Native American sports star. In 1922, he played on a team, the Oorang Indians, that was sponsored by Oorang dog kennels. Red Grange, a college star at the University of Illinois, drew huge crowds to games and gave football a new cachet with sports fans. In 1935, the NFL conducted its first draft of graduating college players.
Mid-Century
The Chicago Bears, led by coach George Halas, defeated the Washington Redskins 73-0 in the NFL Championship in 1940, the biggest rout in league history. The game was broadcast by Red Barber to 120 stations around the country. In 1943, Sammy Baugh, one of the great two-way players in NFL history, led the league in passing, punting and interceptions. A competitor to the NFL arrived in 1959, when Texan Lamar Hunt took the lead role in creating the American Football League. The AFL was initially considered to be inferior to the NFL, but it succeeded in attracting some top NFL and college players and scored a network TV contract.
Latter Century
The NFL and AFL agreed to merge in 1966. In 1967 and 1968, the NFL's Green Bay Packers trounced the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders in the first two Super Bowl games, which pitted the NFL champion versus the AFL champion. However, in 1969, "Broadway" Joe Namath "guaranteed" that the AFL's New York Jets, a huge underdog, would win Super Bowl III. When he led his team to a 16-7 win over the NFL's Baltimore Colts, it demonstrated the parity of the AFL and NFL and turned the Super Bowl into must-see TV. The next season saw the advent of "Monday Night Football" and another victory by the AFL in the Super Bowl, cementing pro football as an integral part of American culture. However, things weren't all rosy. In a clash between management and labor (which would become a constant theme and roil the sport for years to come) the players went on strike for 57 days in 1982, shortening the season. Still, football continued to thrive, surpassing baseball as the most popular sport in America.
Modern Era
The NFL has continued to tinker with its rules, mostly to inject more offense into the game. In 1994, the largest television audience in history -- 134.8 million people -- watched the Super Bowl. In the first decade of the 21st century, the New England Patriots dominated their rivals, and pro football extended its hold on the imagination of the American public. Draft day has turned into a major event. The Super Bowl has become a pop-culture extravaganza, with half-time shows starring such musical giants as Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen. Super Bowl commercials even became a subject of rabid interest. However, more clouds have gathered in the sky of the modern game. Former players have been increasingly diagnosed with brain damage, a result of the physical punishment they endured during their careers. Also, the second decade of the century began with the players and management once again locking horns in a labor dispute.
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