Last week we visited two of the three oldest established NFL franchises. Their storied battles are the stuff of legends and lore. This week we’ll take a brief look at how the NFL began: the troublesome early days, its ebbs and flows and its expansion era.

The NFL kicks off

Historians point to Oct. 6, 1869, and the game between Rutgers and Princeton, a soccer-football game using a modified version of London Football Association rules, as the beginning of American football.

The new game, rugby, progressed, and in 1876 at the Massasoit (Ohio) Convention, the first rules for American football were written. It was at this meeting that Walter Camp became involved. Camp was thought to be the driving force in establishing the American game of football.

Professionalism advances

In 1893 the Pittsburgh Athletic Club signed Grant Dibert to the first known contract, and in 1895 John Brallier became the first player to openly accept $10 and expenses. He played for the Latrobe, Penn., YMCA. The Latrobe Athletic Association went totally professional in 1895 with all pro players.

In 1903 in Massillon, Ohio, pro football was becoming increasingly popular. Although the pro game was on the wane in Pittsburgh, it was becoming popular in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

In 1904 a field goal was worth four points — a decrease from five — and in 1909 it was further reduced to three points. A touchdown was increased to six points from five points.

A professional league takes hold

On Aug. 20, 1920, in Canton, Ohio, the American Professional Football Conference was created. Four teams were established: the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians and Dayton Triangles. There were three problems, though: rising salaries, players continually moving from one team to another (for more money), and using college players while they were still in school.

At another meeting on Sept. 17, six additional teams were added. Among them were the Decatur Staleys, headed up by George S. Halas. Also at this meeting, the league changed its name to the American Professional Association. Later, it would be called the National Football League.

In 1921 A. E. Staley transferred the Decatur Staleys to owner-coach Halas. Halas moved the club to Chicago’s Cubs Park. Buffalo and the Staleys ended the season at 9-1-2 and 9-1-1 respectively. Joe Carr, acting APFC president, ruled for the Staleys giving Halas his first football championship.

The league in 1921 was bulging at the seams. There were 22 teams that included the Green Bay Packers, formerly known as the Acme Packers.

Troublesome 1930s

In 1931, and as a sign of the times, the NFL decreased to 10 teams. In the next year the league further reduced its teams to eight — the fewest ever in the history of the NFL.

For the first time ever, statistics were being kept. By the end of the decade the NFL had stabilized financially and NBC televised the first game, albeit on a local basis. The Brooklyn Dodgers played the Philadelphia Eagles in Ebbits Field, with the signal being beamed to about 1,000 sets in New York.

Turning the corner

During the war years, the league experienced a depletion of players and teams merged to stay afloat. The Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers and the Brooklyn and Boston clubs were two examples.

A rival league, the All-American Football League, established in 1936, had eight teams by 1946, Paul Brown’s Cleveland Browns edged the New York Yankees 14-9 in the first AAFC championship.

Follow the money

In 1950, the Los Angeles Rams were the first team to have all of their games — home and away — televised. CBS jumped on the bandwagon and began televising some NFL regular-season games. A new football league called the American Football League was being formed in 1959 and in 1960 signed a five-year television deal with ABC.

In 1961 at Canton, Ohio, where the NFL was born in 1920, the league opened its doors to its Hall of Fame. It was officially dedicated in November 1963.

NBC in that year began broadcasting the AFL Championship game and, in 1964, CBS’s $14.1 million contract secured the rights to televise the 1964 and 1965 seasons and championship games.

The first four Super Bowls, NFL versus the AFL, were televised by CBS and NBC at a cost of $9.5 million.

League expansions/mergers