APFA, forerunner of the NFL. The original shield. Gridiron heritage wear supreme.

Item Description

American Professional Football Association® is a registered trademark.

American Professional Football Association, 1920 - 1921

Embroidered cotton twill ballcap, two-tone khaki bill with a black crown, velcro adjustable. 

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Original League, Original Shield

The American Professional Football Association®  formed in 1920 with 14 teams. Several teams sputtered and collapsed almost immediately, the business model untenable in an era when pro football was given little credence -- in or out of sport.

When the league expanded in 1922 to 18 teams, driving force George Halas thought the APFA name too long, so he coined National Football League.

►Halas also renamed his Chicago Staleys the Bears at this time, making it three names in three years for this enduring franchise.

Growing football into an ongoing commercial enterprise proved elusive and by 1930, just two of the original APFA teams remained. Because the Chicago Bears and the other surviving team (Apparel Shop!) birthed the association that morphed into the NFL, 1920 is deemed 'year one.'  

Spectacular ballcap to mark the foundation of the NFL.  

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