Since we are using season years starting with 1940 (the original intent was to try to style the league play after that period), thought it would be fun to start a thread with interesting facts from NFL History. I also messaged JDB and confirmed that he has thought about having a league set up with early era pro football simulation, that would include 2 way players, 1/2 sized rosters 20-24, no specialists like kicker/punter, no helmet bars, more running plays and backfield formations, no 3, 4, and 5 WR formations, and several other features. Would be an interesting and fun league. He also mentioned that at this time, it would be difficult to alter the game code to accomodate such a league, but there were a few things that could be done like roster limitations, play removal, and player generation attributes that could help. Post in this thread or hit the like button if you would like to see a league developed like that.

So, to start it off, who had the first helmet logo?


Halfback Fred Gehrke of the Los Angeles Rams painted horns on the Rams' helmets, the first modern helmet emblems in pro football.

1933 was a landmark year in the development of pro football and the NFL.

The NFL, which long had followed the rules of college football, made a number of significant changes from the college game for the first time and began to develop rules serving its needs and the style of play it preferred. The innovations from the 1932 championship game-inbounds line or hashmarks and goal posts on the goal lines-were adopted. Also the forward pass was legalized from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage, February 25. Marshall and Halas pushed through a proposal that divided the NFL into two divisions, with the winners to meet in an annual championship game, July 8.

Three new franchises joined the league-the Pittsburgh Pirates of Art Rooney, the Philadelphia Eagles of Bert Bell and Lud Wray, and the Cincinnati Reds. The Staten Island Stapletons suspended operations for a year, but never returned to the league.

Halas bought out Sternaman, became sole owner of the Bears, and reinstated himself as head coach. Marshall changed the name of the Boston Braves to the Redskins. David Jones sold the Chicago Cardinals to Charles W. Bidwill.

In the first NFL Championship Game scheduled before the season, the Western Division champion Bears defeated the Eastern Division champion Giants 23-21 at Wrigley Field, December 17.

It happened between 1966 and 68. The Packers and the Lombardi era.

Well, it started for many reasons but when the draft's founder, Eagles owner Bert Bell, was laying out his ideas for the annual selection of college players, he used Philadelphia's lowly status as one of the reasons.

“Gentlemen, I’ve always had the theory that pro football is like a chain. The league is no stronger than its weakest link and I’ve been a weak link for so long that I should know. Every year the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Four teams control the championships, the Giants and Redskins in the East, and the Bears and Packers in the West. Because they are successful, they keep attracting the best college players in the open market—which makes them successful. Here’s what I propose [to change that]."

He then gave his plans for the draft. It didn't work, at least not at first. The NFL champion in the first 10 seasons after the institution of the draft were either: New York, Washington, Chicago or Green Bay.

The first draft was held on Feb 8, 1936, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Philly. RB Jay Berwanger, Univ of Chicago, was the first player chosen, by the Eagles. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Berwanger never played a down in the NFL. His rights were traded by the Philadelphia Eagles to the Chicago Bears, as the Eagles felt they would be unable to meet Berwanger's reported demand of $1000 per game. The Eagles received tackle Art Buss from the Bears in exchange for Berwanger's rights. George Halas was unable to convince Berwanger to sign with the Bears. Riley Smith, QB/Alabama, was the second pick, by the then Boston Redskins, and was the first player drafted to actually play in the NFL.

The 31st player selected in the first NFL draft was a lanky, tough end from Alabama..... Paul "Bear" Bryant, by the Brooklyn Dodgers. However, like Berwanger and others, he chose not to play in the NFL. Alabama won the NC in 1934, his junior year.

In 1955, G.E. Morgan, a consultant to Riddell, and Paul Brown, the coach of the Cleveland Browns, invented the BT-5 face mask which is the single bar design. The year after the BT-5 a single wave radio was installed in a players helmet so the coach could give the play to the quarterback over a radio frequency.

On November 15, 1953, in a game against the San Francisco 49ers, an opponent’s elbow struck Cleveland Browns quarterback Otto Graham in the face. Graham was a veteran player who knew through years in the league that this hit would take him out of the game. Graham was not wearing a protective mask and the blow resulted in a deep gash running down his cheek bone. It was not the first hit that took Graham out of a game, but he decided that it would be the last. Graham went to the locker room where a trainer stitched the cut, and he later returned to the game wearing a plastic protective mask. It was the first time an NFL player wore a mask during a regular season game.

The NFL is a non-profit unincorporated organization. Because it does not make a profit it does not have to pay income tax. All teams except the Green Bay Packers pay tax because they make a profit.

One of the most unusual team names that has been used in any of the MFN leagues was one that eyeball came up with and he was asked by many what the heck the name meant or stood for.

His team name is the Tonawanda Kardex, which is in Private league 75. Several of us were wondering what the **** is a Kardex? Tonawanda is a town in New York.

So, did a good old google search (funny calling it old), and it turns out that Kardex is a business name that the owner of the team used. Anyway, its a great story about the team that only played one game as an NFL team ......

Professional football was being played in Tonawanda by no later than 1913 (this terminus ad quem comes from records that show the team lost to the Lancaster Malleables in the region's showcase Thanksgiving game that year). They played their home games on the Tonawanda High School field, sometimes drawing up to 3,500 fans for a game. For the team's entire history, it was coached by Syracuse standout Walter "Tam" Rose. In 1917, it defeated the Rochester Jeffersons for the state championship. In 1919, it made the state playoffs, but lost in the semifinals to the Buffalo Prospects, who went on to win the title.

The 1920 All Tonawanda Lumberjacks were a very successful team, garnering a record of 7–1 against two local American Professional Football Association (the predecessor to the NFL) franchises and other independent teams, only allowing more than 6 points in one of their contests (the one loss, a 35–0 decision to Buffalo). Their last game of the season against the Rochester Jeffersons was among the first games in the traditional Thanksgiving Day series.

With their 1920 success (and a crackdown by the NFL on playing non-league teams), the Lumberjacks joined the league in 1921 as the Tonawanda Lumbermen or Tonawanda Kardex, named for (and presumably sponsored by) James Rand, Jr.'s American Kardex, a company that through mergers and acquisitions became part of Rand Kardex, Remington Rand, Sperry Rand, and eventually UniSys.

Prior to 1921, the team played its home games at Tonawanda High School; however, its lone game in the NFL was an away game, and according to contemporary news reports, the team had intended to play as a traveling team had it continued beyond one game.[1] NFL records list the nonexistent and spurious "Lumbermen Stadium" as the team's home field.

The 1921 season began much like the first, with a 0–0 tie against the Syracuse Pros, followed by a 9–7 win against the Cleveland Panthers. A game against the Rochester Scalpers scheduled for November was canceled; instead, on November 6, 1921, the Kardex traveled to Rochester to play their sole NFL league game, against the Rochester Jeffersons. There they played the worst game of their existence, a 45–0 blowout loss to the Jeffs in front of 2,700 fans.

A number of factors played into the Lumbermen's departure from the league. Records from the Pro Football Researchers Association indicate that Tonawanda had trouble scheduling games due to a lack of willing opponents. The NFL's franchise fee for 1922 also increased from $50 to $1,000, making it harder for Tonawanda play a second season in the league. The team's declining on-field performance was also a factor (Rochester and Syracuse were two teams that Tonawanda had beaten handily as an independent in 1920 but performed far less well against as a league member in 1921).

I like hearing these little facts of little known history.

can anyone name who #33 is? and team. He's a HOFer and the only player that led both in passing and punting in the same season. His yards per punt, 51.4 in the 1940 season, still stands as the best ever, which may never be broken, like DiMaggios hitting streak. He also played defensive back, was still in the time of 2 way players. He also set records for QB rating, which was pretty amazing considering the passing game was still in its early stages of development and use.

Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins