1920 Racine Cardinals vs. Rock Island Independents Program--Oldest Known APFA (NFL) Example!. ...

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1920 Racine Cardinals vs. Rock Island Independents Program--Oldest Known APFA (NFL) Example!
While professionalism had long held sway over our national pastime of baseball at the completion of the first two decades of the twentieth century, the practice of paying football players for their services was in its infancy in 1920. Today that vintage stands in bold type in the history of the sport, a year that saw loose affiliations of professional teams in Ohio and New York State band together to form the American Professional Football Association, an organization that would take on the familiar name "The National Football League" just two years later.

However it would be decades before the NFL would pull even with the collegiate game in the estimation of the American sports fan, a fact that left the first years of the league poorly attended or documented. Relics from the 1920's APFA/NFL are nearly non-existent, and we believe this remarkable offering to be the sole program to survive from the inaugural season of the league's existence.

Diminutive in size but immeasurable in significance and collecting appeal, this 5.5x3.5" card reports team rosters matching only those present for the October 24, 1920 gridiron battle between the Racine Cardinals and Rock Island Independents, a 7-0 victory for the hosts at Rock Island's Douglas Park. Future Hall of Famers appearing on the roster include John "Paddy" Driscoll and Ed Healey.

The card exhibits an expected degree of wear and handwriting from the original fan--one of just four thousand in attendance--who appears to have kept track of the active players from the visiting team with check marks and a handwritten notation. Verso exhibits evidence of scrapbook removal, the key to the relic's improbable survival.