The behemoth that is the National Football League started at a Canton, Ohio, automobile dealership.
There were professional football teams as early as the 1890s and region conferences in the early years of the 20th century. The first national conference was founded when representatives of eight teams met at the hupmobile (an early auto) dealership in 1920. They formed the American Professional Football Conference, which changed its name to National Football League two years later.
It is because the league was founded in Canton that the Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in that city.
The NFL's first 13 years were without a championship game. The team with the best record was the champion.
In the first season, the two best teams were the Akron Pros, with eight wins, no losses and three times, and the Decatur Staleys (10-1-2), including a 7-6 loss to the Chicago Cardinals and a scoreless tie with the Pros. Since ties did not count in the standings, the Pros were league champions with a 1.000 won-loss record to .909 for the Staleys.
Other teams that first year were the Buffalo Bisons, Rock Island Independents, Dayton Triangles, Rochester Jeffersons, Canton Bulldogs, Detroit Heralds, Cleveland Tigers, Chicago Tigers, Hammond Pros, Columbus Panhandles and Muncie Flyers.
Most of the teams did not last through the 1920s, including Akron, which disbanded in 1926. The Staleys moved to Chicago in 1922 and became the Bears.
The league split into Eastern and Western conferences in1933. The Bears won the west with a 10-2-1 record and the New York Giants the east (11-3). They met in the first championship game December 17 at Wrigley Field.
With less than two minutes remaining, Bronco Nagurski competed a pass to Bill Hewitt. He lateraled to Bill Karr who scored, competing a 36-yard play that gave the Bears a 23-21 victory.
The same two teams met again in 1934 at the Polo Grounds in New York. With a 13-0 record, the Bears were favored over the 8-5 Giants.
A freezing rain the night before left the field frozen and footing difficult. When Giants end Ray Faherty told head coach Steve Owen that sneakers would provide better footing, Owen sent Abe Cohen, a team assistant, to Manhattan College. He returned with sneakers from the Manhattan basketball team that the players donned at halftime.
The Bears led 10-3 at the half, and stretched the lead to 13-3wth a third quarter field goal. But in the fourth quarter, the Giants took advantage of better footing to score 27 points for a 30-13 victory.
The 27 points in what was dubbed “The Sneakers Game” remains a championship game record for the fourth quarter.
The Bears and Giants met in the championship game four more times in the pre-Super Bowl era. The Bears won three, 37-9 in 1941, 24-14 in 1946 and 14-10 in 1963. The Giants win came in 1956, 47-7 at Yankee Stadium.
That Giant team was quarterback by Clarksdale native and Ole Miss grad Charlie Conerly. Since 1996, the Conerly Trophy has been presented to the best collegiate football player in Mississippi.
