June 24 is a significant day in NFL history for two reasons. In fact, it’s the first day in NFL history. Happy birthday, National Football League.
Sure, the NFL is considered to be 106 years old, but that includes the first two years of existence — when it was known by another name. Team owners had originally met in downtown Canton, Ohio in 1920 and formed a league they called the American Professional Football Association.
The APFA? Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as naturally as NFL, does it? On June 24, 1922, team owners officially voted to change their name to the National Football League. The 1922 season featured 18 teams — most of them from smaller cities in the Midwest. League president Joe Carr, who presided over the name change, was the visionary who also stressed the importance of expanding the league into bigger markets. Carr played a key role in bringing a franchise to New York.
Speaking of bigger markets, that brings us to the second reason why this is an important anniversary. One of the original APFA teams from 1920 was the Decatur Staleys. In 1921, with Carr’s approval, the Staley Starch Company gave legendary coach George Halas ownership of the team and allowed him to move the franchise 180 miles north of Decatur… to Chicago. As a condition of the deal, Halas agreed to keep the name Staleys for the 1921 season.
In 1922, the team officially changed its name: The Chicago Bears were born.
