Wednesday Open Line


Football season is soon to be in full swing again. Colleges have already begun playing, and the National Football League season starts on Thursday. For many years, it was believed the first professional game took place on this date in 1895 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. It was considered professional because one player was paid the sum of $10. However, recent research determined that the first professional game took place in 1892 in Pittsburgh. There, a Yale All-American named Pudge Heffelfinger received $500 for his gridiron exploits. That is almost $13,000 today, or very nearly half of America’s current annual per capita income of $28,000. You can find more statistics on communities across the country by downloading the Census Bureau’s “dwellr” mobile application at <www.census.gov/mobile>.