Football Origins
The history of what Americans call football dates back to the late 1800’s and was a combination of sorts between two other sports, rugby and soccer.
American football got its start somewhere between 1876 to 1881. The man accredited to being the father of football is Walter Camp.
Camp was a medical student at Yale and played the game as halfback, coach or captain.
Professional football was born in 1892 when $500 was paid to Pudge Heffelfinger to sign with Allegenghy Athletic Association.
The moden era began in 1932 with the first National Football League playoff game.
Rutgers and New Jersey was the first collegiate American football game and the first high school game was in 1894 between the Oklahoma City Terrors and Oklahoma City High School.
Little League football, commonly called Pop Warner, played their first game in 1929 near Philadelphia. It was named after Glenn Scobie “Pop” Warner who was a great athlete himself in high school. It is estimated that 400,000 youngsters play Pop Warner currently.
In local history, the first Claiborne versus Powell Valley game was in 1969. The tradition continues with the Cumberland Gap Panthers and Claiborne Bulldogs.
