| Today professional football is a social and economic force in American society. While it is now a multi-million dollar industry, the National Football League had its origins in something smaller, certainly less prestigious, and much more unstable.;Deriving from English rugby, American football found two outlets in late nineteenth century America: eastern colleges and amateur athletic clubs. Members of both groups opposed professionalism in athletics. In western Pennsylvania intense rivalries between various athletic clubs brought a desire for victory so strong that it broke down the amateur ideal. The Allegheny Athletic Club secretly paid "Pudge" Heffelfinger ;Pro football spread quickly. Attempts at promotion failed in the east, but the sport gained acceptance in Ohio, where it evolved somewhat haphazardly.;In various small towns, pro football evoked civic pride in communities that were rapidly losing their identities to a new industrial society. In the minds of many, local teams became symbols of a community's worth, and winning became essential. The importance attached to victory hastened the development of professionalism in football, despite opposition from many who cried out against the sport's brutality and creeping professionalism.;The problem plaguing pro football--low attendance and gate receipts, relatively high salaries, rumors of corruption--were difficult to solve without organization. Canton's signing of Olympic hero Jim Thorpe, however, won much attention for the game and signalled the beginning of more rapid growth. By 1920 managers of fourteen professional squads formed the loosely structured American Professional Football Association. The APFA, the forerunner of today's NFL, solved little because of a lack of leadership and financing. By 1922 and APFA would come under the leadership of Joseph Carr and change its name to the National Football League. |
