The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr

by Chris Willis, James A. Carr (Foreword by)

Overview

Founded in 1920, the National Football League chose famed athlete Jim Thorpe as its first president, a position he held briefly until a successor was elected. From 1921 to 1939, Joe F. Carr guided the sport of professional football with intelligence, hard work, and a passion that built the foundation of what the NFL has become: the number one sports organization in the world. During his eighteen-year tenure as NFL President, Carr created the organization's first Constitution & By-Laws; implemented the standard player's contract; wrote the NFL's first-ever Record and Fact Book; helped split the NFL into two divisions and establish the NFL's World Championship Game; started keeping league statistics; and developed the NFL Draft. But Carr's greatest achievement was creating a vision for the NFL as a big-city sport. By skillfully recruiting financially capable owners to operate NFL franchises in big market cities, he created the solid foundation for the league's successful future.

While the sport has grown to unheard of heights, Carr's name and accomplishments have been lost and forgotten. The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr captures the life and career of this pivotal figure in professional sports, chronicling the many achievements of a man whose vision helped shaped what the NFL is today. With unlimited access and complete cooperation from the Carr family—including family interviews, personal letters, and family photos—as well as NFL League Minutes, Willis recounts the fascinating life and career of a man dedicated to the game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442242845
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/25/2014
Pages:	504
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Chris Willis has worked at NFL Films as the head of the research library since 1996. He has written multiple books on early pro football, including Old Leather: An Oral History of Early Pro Football in Ohio, 1920–1935 (2005), The Columbus Panhandles: A Complete History of Pro Football’s Toughest Team, 1900–1922 (2007), and Dutch Clark: The Life of an NFL Legend and the Birth of the Detroit Lions (2012), all published by Scarecrow Press.

Table of Contents

Foreword James A. Carr, grandson of Joe F. Carr
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: One Man’s Vision
Part I: Humble Beginnings (1879–1919)
1. The Irish Way (1841–1878)
2. Growing Up in Columbus, Ohio (1879–1893)
3. The Love of a Family Is Replaced by a Love of Sports (1894–1906)
4. The Columbus Panhandles and the Great Nesser Brothers (1907–1909)
5. Starting a Family (1910–1913)
6. Pro Football’s Most Famous Traveling Team (1914–1916)
7. Making a Name for Himself (1917–1919)
Part II: The Presidency (1920–1939)
8. The American Professional Football Association (1920)
9. President Elect (1921)
10. The National Football League (1922)
11. Defending Professional Football (1923)
12. Baby Steps for President Carr (1924)
13. The NFL Comes to New York City (1925)
14. The Galloping Ghost and Pottsville Controversy (1925)
15. The Grange League (1926)
16. Traveling for a Cause (1927–1928)
17. How Do We Get to the Big Cities and Stay? (1929–1930)
18. Small-Town Green Bay Is Titletown (1931)
19. Indoor Circus (1932)
20. The Pro Game Separates Itself from the College Game (1933)
21. Sneakers in New York (1934)
22. The Postgraduate Game Is Finally a Big-City Sport (1935)
23. Packers, Redskins, and the NFL Draft (1936)
24. Heart of Gold Continues to Work (1937)
25. “Greatest Show in Football” (1938)
26. Death of a President (1939)
27. Aftermath
28. Pro Football Hall of Fame (1963)
29. The Legacy of Joe F. Carr
Appendix: Dates and Locations of NFL Meetings Presided by NFL President Joe F. Carr (1921–1939)
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

[The Man Who Built The National Football League] is excellent reading for a football fan and a history buff.

Jamestown Post-Journal - Jim Riggs

Willis has dived into obscure and early behind the scenes NFL history in his book….I highly recommend this book for any football library. Once I started reading it, I was unable to put it down…. Willis has captured the essence of this time frame of early football history and gives the reader great insight into this overlooked football legend.

Gridiron Greats - Bob Swick

Willis, the veteran head of NFL Films' Research Library, turns the clock back to the genesis of the National Football League and Joe F. Carr, the remarkable man who laid the solid foundation of modern professional football from 1922 to 1937. Described by Willis as "the Henry Ford of the NFL," Carr, a tireless visionary, rose from his modest Irish upbringing to create one of the first traveling football teams, the Columbus Panhandles, in the early part of the last century and guided the new professional football league, the American Professional Football Association, in 1921. With complete access to Carr's family and associates, the author performs a workmanlike recounting of Carr as the diligent, straight-shooting president of the NFL, overseeing many of the achievements we take for granted today: standard player's contracts, rules for college recruitment, professional football regulations, players' statistics, creation of two NFL divisions, the NFL draft, and the championship game. Informed, somewhat academic, yet engaging, this gridiron biography of Carr explains completely why football fever takes hold of America each and every fall. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Willis has dived into obscure and early behind the scenes NFL history in his book….I highly recommend this book for any football library. Once I started reading it, I was unable to put it down…. Willis has captured the essence of this time frame of early football history and gives the reader great insight into this overlooked football legend.
— Bob Swick, 2010

Gridiron Greats

This biography profiles the man who shepherded the NFL at its outset and established the solid foundation upon which Bert Bell and Pete Rozelle could build. In many ways, Carr's was the harder and most crucial job, named league president in 1921 when "post graduate football" was not a serious competitor to college football or major league baseball. Willis (head of research lib., NFL Films) reminds us that Carr drew up and enforced the bylaws of the league and continually pushed it forward by recruiting a stable ownership group in large U.S. cities. Carr's years in sports management also embraced basketball and baseball. Willis relates Carr's life in comprehensive detail from a wealth of interviews and use of Carr's archives. This thorough biography of a forgotten but influential figure in sports management is recommended to all football fans.

Library Journal