NFL Anniversary Annals
NFL Anniversary Annals

Here's the major anniversaries that the NFL is commemorating this season

95th

The National Football League was born in Canton, Ohio on August 20, 1920.

90th

Tim Mara and Billy Gibson were awarded a new NFL franchise, the New York Giants, for $500 (1925).

90th

All-America halfback Red Grange signed with the Chicago Bears. Team went on barnstorming tour of 19 games in 66 days (1925).

80th

The NFL adopted Bert Bell's proposal to hold an annual draft of college players, to begin in 1936, with teams selecting in an inverse order of finish, May 19 (1935).

80th

The New York Giants retired the uniform number of receiver Ray Flaherty (No. 1), thus becoming the first professional athlete to have his name and number retired (1935).

75th

Chicago defeated Washington 73-0 for the NFL championship in the most decisive victory in NFL history. The game popularized the Bears' T-formation with a man-in-motion. It was the first NFL championship carried on network radio (1940).

65th

The Los Angeles Rams became the first NFL team to have all of its games -- both home and away -- televised (1950).

60th

The Baltimore Colts made an 80-cent phone call to Johnny Unitas and signed him as a free agent (1955).

55th

Pete Rozelle was elected NFL Commissioner as a compromise choice on the 23rd ballot, January 26. Rozelle moved the league offices to New York City (1960).

50th

The NFL added a sixth official, the line judge, February 19. The color of the officials' penalty flags was changed from white to bright gold, April 5 (1965).

50th

Commissioner Rozelle negotiated an agreement on behalf of the NFL clubs to purchase Ed Sabol's Blair Motion Pictures, which was renamed NFL Films, April (1965).

50th

Field Judge Burl Toler became the first black official in NFL history, September 19 (1965).

50th

According to a Harris survey, sports fans chose professional football (41 percent) as their favorite sport, overtaking baseball (38 percent) for the first time, October (1965).

45th

The AFL and NFL merged into one league (1970).

45th

The Super Bowl trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi trophy, September 10 (1970).

40th

Referees were equipped with

wireless microphones for all preseason, regular-season, and playoff games (1975).

35th

Rules changes placed greater restrictions on contact in the area of the head, neck, and face. Under the heading of "personal foul," players were prohibited from directly striking, swinging, or clubbing on the head, neck, or face. Starting in 1980, a penalty could be called for such contact whether or not the initial contact was made below the neck area (1980).

35th

The NFL Draft was televised for the first time by ESPN, April 29 (1980).

30th

The 1985 Super Bowl XX champion Chicago Bears performed the Super Bowl Shuffle.

30th

The league-wide conversion to videotape from movie film for coaching study was approved (1985).

25th

The NFL revised its playoff format to include two additional Wild Card teams (one per conference), which raised the total to six Wild Card teams (1990).

25th

The bye week was introduced and the 16-game schedule was played over 17 weeks (1990).

25th

The Super Bowl Most Valuable Player trophy was renamed the Pete Rozelle trophy, October 8 (1990).

20th

The NFL became the first major sports league to establish a site on the Internet, April 10 (1995).

10th

The NFL Network began televising regular-season NFL games (2005).

5th

NFL owners voted to amend postseason overtime rules to a modified sudden death format, guaranteeing at least one possession for each club if the receiving team fails to score a touchdown on its first overtime possession, March 23 (2010).

5th

The NFL Draft debuted a new three-day format, with

the first two days broadcast in primetime. A record combined total of 45.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the 75th NFL Draft on NFL Network, ESPN and ESPN2, April 22-24 (2010).

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