The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Such is the case when it comes to Thanksgiving and NFL football.
According to culturetrip.com, the first Thanksgiving Day football game was played back in 1869.
The match took place in Philadelphia, between the Young America Cricket Club & the Germantown Cricket Club.
Pro football, however, wasn’t played on Thanksgiving until 1920, when 6 contests took place on Nov. 25 of that year.
Oddly enough, the games included 2 non-league teams. The league, back then, was known as the American Professional Football Association, or APFA. It wasn’t until 1922 that it rebranded itself as the NFL.
Some odds and ends from that day:
- The results from the 2 games that included the non-league teams counted in the standings.
- Five of the games were shutouts.
- The contest between the Elyria Athletics (non-league) & the Columbus Panhandles ended in a 0-0 tie.
- Only one of the teams that played that day is still around. The Chicago Bears – known back then as the Decatur Staleys – beat the Chicago Tigers 6-0.
It’s been nearly 100 years since, and the league, the teams, and the way we celebrate the holiday have changed. But NFL football is still almost as much a Thanksgiving tradition as the turkey dinner itself.
Happy Thanksgiving!