IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)—On this day in 1892, the Allegheny Athletic Association was desperate to beat its rival, the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, so they secretly paid $500 to a former Yale star, William “Pudge” Heffelfinger to play just one game.
Adjusted for inflation, that is over $17,000 dollars in today’s money.
Heffelfinger earned his keep, scooping up a fumble and running it 35 yards for the only touchdown of the game.
The payment was hidden in the team’s ledger as a “Game Performance Bonus”, something historians only found decades later.
Sources for this Story:
ProFootballResearchers.com — Football Chronology II
ProFootballResearchers.com — Five Hundred Reasons, Football’s First Pro: 1892
ProFootballOF.com — 1892 – Pudge Heffelfinger Becomes the First Person to be Paid to Play Football
