In the early twentieth century, football was primarily a college sport. After graduation, an all-American college quarterback, end, or lineman had little future in athletics. All this began to change in 1920, when George Halas (1895–1983; legendary player, coach, and owner of the Chicago Bears), and others convened in Canton, Ohio. They were there to organize the American Professional Football Association (APFA). Soon afterward, this fledgling coalition changed its name to the National Football League (NFL).

Harold "Red" Grange (1903–1991) was a University of Illinois star who scored four touchdowns in twelve minutes in a 1924 contest against the University of Michigan. He helped earn the NFL credibility when he signed with Halas's Bears in 1925. Grange, nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost," became the league's first superstar. For the next three decades, different franchises emerged as powerhouses, and other players became NFL heroes. A national championship game was inaugurated in...