Football Facts

Football may not have been around as long as some other well-known American sports but it has its history and interesting moments as well. Here are some things you may not have known about this much followed and much loved sport.

• The first football ever used was round.
• Players are assigned their number based in their positions in the game:
  • 1 to 29 is for quarterback’s and kickers
  • 20 to 49 is for running backs and defensive backs
  • 50 to 59 is for centers and linebackers
  • 60 to 79 is for linemen
  • 80 to 80 is for wide receivers and tight ends
• All plays are started by the quarterback.
• P.A.T stands for point after touchdown.
• Kickers and punters are the only two players who can use their feet to move the ball.
• In November, 1869, Rutgers and Princeton played the first college football game.
• Created in 1920 under the name The American Professional Football Conference, it became known as the National Football League (NFL) in 1922.
• The two conferences we know today, the NFC and AFC were founded in 1970.
• The first pro-football stadium with a retractable roof is in Reliant Park in Houston.
• The Astrodome in Houston, Texas was the first stadium to use artificial turf, or Astroturf as it is commonly known.
• The most expensive ads on television run during the Super Bowl. A thirty-second commercial cost 2.7 million dollars in 2008.
• American football is slightly different from Canadian Football. Both games originated from Rugby Football. In Europe, the game they call football is what we call Soccer.

And now here are some facts about some players, games and memorable moments:

• The longest NFL game in history was a Christmas day game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins.
• The team to win the first two Super Bowls in 1967 and 1968 was The Green Bay Packers. It was thirty years before they won again.
• One of the oldest teams in professional football is the Chicago Bears.
• Chuck Nell has had more Super Bowl wins than any other coach in history.
• Antonio Cromartie of The Chargers had the longest return of a missed field goal at 109 yards.
• The first pro-football team to have their own organized cheerleading squad was the Baltimore Colts in 1960.
• Ellis Holls is credited with having had the longest kickoff return at 108 yards.
• The NFL’s leading rusher is Emmit Smith. He holds many records including most career rushing yards at 18,355. He also won the 2006 season of dancing with the stars.
• The player with the longest punt return at 105 yards is Robert Bailey of The Rams.