NFL FOOTBALL
Transcript: 1943 War Takes Players With many of the NFL's players and fans overseas in military service, the league struggles to survive through World War II. Pennsylvania rivals Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, both unable to field a complete team, temporarily join forces to play one season as the Phil-Pitt Steagles. NEW YORK HEADQUARTERS Apr 23, 1927 Strongest Franchises Survive The NFL, hoping to eliminate rampant turnover in financially weak franchises, decides to eliminate all but its most economically stable teams. The move cuts the number of franchises from 22 to 12, and permanently moves the league's center of gravity from small Midwestern towns to large Eastern cities. 1933 Football Segregates At the insistence of Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall, the NFL imposes a new de facto policy of total racial segregation. No more black athletes will play in the NFL until after World War II. FIRST NFL DRAFT Sep 28, 1951 Passing Record In a game against the New York Yanks, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Norm Van Brocklin sets an NFL passing record that will last for more than half a century by throwing for a staggering 554 yards. 1951 NFL Championship Televised For the first time, the NFL Championship Game is televised nationwide. FOOTBALL SEGREGATES 1946 First African-Americans The Los Angeles Rams sign former UCLA stars Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, who will become the first African-Americans to play in the NFL in the modern era, ending 13 years of whites-only football in the league. TEAMS STRUGGLE CHAMPIONSHIP TELEVISED 1936 First Draft The NFL holds its first annual draft of college players. The first player selected, Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger, chooses to pursue a career in plastics manufacturing instead of pro football and never plays a down in the NFL. PASSING RECORD FIRST BLACK QB 1939 First Televised Game An NFL game airs on television for the first time, with NBC producing a local broadcast of a game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Eagles. Since fewer than 1,000 TV sets are known to exist in New York at the time, it is unclear whether anyone actually watches the broadcast. Aug 20, 1920 Professional Football Begins Representatives of four Ohio football teams—the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, and Dayton Triangles—meet in a Canton automobile showroom to form a new professional football league. Initially called the American Professional Football Association, the organization will eventually be renamed the National Football League. 1921 First Black Head Coach Akron Pros star Fritz Pollard adds coaching responsibilities to his on-field duties, becoming the NFL's first black head coach. WAR TAKES PLAYERS STRONGEST FRANCHISES SURVIVE FOOTBALL BEGINS 1961 Corporate Headquarter Moved to New York Hoping to establish better links to the television and advertising industries, new NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle moves the league's corporate offices from the small Philadelphia suburb of Bala-Cynwyd, Pennsylvania to New York's Rockefeller Center. FIRST TELEVISED GAME FIRST AFRICAN AMERICANS FIRST BLACK HEAD COACH 1961 Jim Brown Sets Running Record The Cleveland Browns' powerful running back Jim Brown leads the NFL in rushing yardage for the fifth straight season, setting a record that will last for half a century. Nov 1920 Akron Pros The undefeated Akron Pros—led by star running back Fritz Pollard, one of the league's two black players—are named champions of the NFL's inaugural season. Only four of the fourteen teams that began the season are still playing by season's end. AKRON PROS RUNNING RECORD 1921 Teams Struggle In the NFL's first dozen years of existence, more than 40 different teams will join the league, only to quickly drop out or go out of business entirely. 1953 First Black Quarterback The Chicago Bears' Willie Thrower becomes the first black player to throw a pass as quarterback in the modern NFL.
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