William “Pudge” Heffelfinger of the Allegheny Athletic Association in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was the first paid participant, earning $500 for his participation in a game November 12, 1892. It wasn’t until Walter Camp, a great rugby player from Yale, came along in the 1880s that the early rules for what we know today as American football were established. The regulations were developed as a cross between soccer and rugby. The first formal football game as we know it took place in 1869 between Princeton and Rutgers, and the NFL has a long and illustrious history.
