Jaylen Weaver's NFL Timeline 2015

Professional Football Begins

Aug 20, 1920

Representatives of four Ohio football teamt,the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, and Dayton Triangle and met in a Canton automobile showroom to form a new professional football league. Initially called the American Professional Football Association

Jaylen Weaver's NFL History Timeline

Period: Aug 20, 1920 to Jan 15, 1967

First Black Head Coach

Sep 18, 1920

Fritz Pollard adds coaching responsibilities to his on-field duties, becoming the NFL's first black head coach.

Teams Struggle

May 21, 1921

More than 40 different teams will join the league, only to quickly drop out or go out of business entirely.

NFL Begins

Jun 24, 1922

The American Professional Football Association officially renames itself the National Football League.

Cutting Teams

Apr 23, 1927

The NFL cuts the number of franchises from 22 to 12.

NFL Segregates

Jun 17, 1933

The NFL imposes a new total racial segregation. No more black athletes will play in the NFL until after World War II.

First Draft

Jul 20, 1936

The NFL holds its first annual draft of college players. The first player selected, Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger.

First Televised Game

Apr 23, 1939

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.

First African Americans

Mar 20, 1946

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.

First Helmet Logo

Apr 15, 1948

The Los Angeles Rams become the first NFL team to wear a helmet logo, painting rams' horns onto their leather hats.

NFL Championship Televised

Jun 18, 1951

For the first time, the NFL Championship Game is televised nationwide.

First Black Quarter back

Apr 20, 1953

The Chicago Bears' Willie Thrower becomes the first black player to throw a pass as quarterback in the modern NFL.

AFL

Aug 18, 1959

Texas oilmen Lamar Hunt and Bud Adams, rebuffed in their attempts to acquire NFL franchises for Houston and Dallas, announce plans to form a new football league to rival the NFL. Their new league, called the American Football League (AFL), will begin play in 1960 with eight teams.

First AFL Championship

Jan 1, 1961

The Houston Oilers defeat the San Diego Chargers to win the first AFL Championship.

More Helmet Logos

Apr 21, 1961

Old-time teams like the Packers, Bears, and Giants begin using helmet logos for the first time.

NFL Desegregate

Mar 21, 1962

Receiver Bobby Mitchell signs with the Washington Redskins, becoming the first black player on the last all-white team in the NFL. The league's segregationist era is over.

NFL Properties

Jun 21, 1963

NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle creates NFL Properties, Inc. to manage the licensing of league logos.

Football Beats Baseball as Favorite Sport

Oct 21, 1965

For the first time, more people polled in a national survey choose pro football than baseball as their favorite sport.

AFL - NFL Merger Agreed

Jun 8, 1966

NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle announces that the NFL and AFL have reached an agreement to merge into a single league by 1970.

First Super Bowl

Jan 15, 1967

Bowl. More than 32,000 tickets go unsold for the game, held in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but the game draws more television viewers than any previous sporting event.