1921 National Football League Season Pass from The Joe Carr Find....

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1921 National Football League Season Pass from The Joe Carr Find. At an American Professional Football Association meeting in Akron, Ohio prior to the 1921 season, Joe Carr of the Columbus Panhandles was named president of the league, which was only in its second year of existence. Under the new leadership, there were many historically significant changes that would take place. The most notable change was made so that only games played against league teams would count toward the standings. This was extremely important, as it would encourage independent teams to join the new league, and also caused those that did not join to fold, as NFL teams would be much less willing to play what were effectively "exhibition games" against teams that would not help them in the standings.

The current lot listing represents one of the rarest and most coveted of all football tickets. Good for admission into all games in the APFA (NFL) in 1921, the season pass has president Carr's facsimile signature on the bottom right, while the cities to where each league franchise belonged is noted on the back. Exhibiting moderate moisture damage and handling wear throughout, it displays superbly. The handwritten name of the ticket's original owner has been erased from the front, while it is slabbed "Authentic" by the experts at PSA.

The Joe Carr Find

Though his name may be unfamiliar to all but the true football historians, arguably no figure was more essential in raising the National Football League from its vulnerable infancy to commercial viability than the man whose personal collection is listed on the following pages. At a time when the college game was the only game that mattered, Joe Carr fought and won a seemingly unwinnable war to legitimize the pay-for-play gridiron. Though Jim Thorpe owns the distinction of the first president of the National Football League, the iconic Hall of Famer was little more than a figurehead. It was Carr whose generalship moved the needle from amateur to professional dominance.

Remarkably, this special archive narrowly averted oblivion less than a year ago when our consignor spotted a large quantity of documents being loaded into a dumpster. We can see, in the lots that follow, what a great loss that would have been to the physical history of the early professional game. This offering represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the cultured football collector.

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