Latrobe laments fumbling Hall of Fame

Based on a few bucks that changed hands in 1895, Latrobe got the first crack at having the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1946.

Because a lot of bucks weren't forthcoming, that chance was missed.

The chronic sting of this opportunity lost is felt acutely about this time each summer. The Hall of Fame prepares to induct another class today -- in Canton, Ohio, not Latrobe. It's the sort of pain that having the Steelers annually in summer residence at nearby St. Vincent College doesn't totally eliminate.

For a time, John Brallier was acknowledged as the first professional football player, having received $10 and "cakes" (expenses) to play for Latrobe YMCA in a Sept. 5, 1895, game against Jeannette.

Based on this, the National Football League accepted Latrobe as the birthplace of professional football.

A Latrobe contingent attended an NFL owners meeting in January 1946 and, according to the meeting minutes, received cooperation from the league in the "selection and erection of a suitable memorial to the beginning of professional football."

Then, as now, the NFL was big on letting others fund its facilities.

"In 1946, the league was very young," said Joe Horrigan, the Hall of Fame's vice president of communications and exhibits. "It was not this flush organization. They were struggling just to make ends meet. When the idea of a Football Hall of Fame came about and Latrobe offered the evidence of John Brallier, it seemed logical. It was a case of, 'We'd love to see it. How much do you think you will spend?'

"When the answer came back it was basically 'We were hoping you would spend the money.'"

The tab for Latrobe to construct a hall of fame was in the $400,000 neighborhood, and the town balked.

Canton stepped into the picture late in 1959 when that town's newspaper made a public appeal for the Hall, based on the league having been founded there in 1920. A campaign began in December 1961 and raised $378,026 in community pledges in less then three months, a big chunk of money and other assistance coming from H.H. Timken Jr., board chairman of Timken Roller Bearing Co. In a bit of irony, Timken Corp. later would buy Latrobe Steel Co.

The NFL said goodbye to Latrobe, and hello to Canton.

"We missed the boat. There's no doubt about it," said Bill Miller, a 65-year-old Latrobe resident who on this recent day was pitching horseshoes across the street from his town's Memorial Stadium. "They went to the big shots in town and they didn't come up with the money.

"They could have put this town on the map. I mean, we have Arnie Palmer and Mister Rogers, but the Hall of Fame brings lots of people and lots of business and lots of money into a city."

That city is Canton, not Latrobe.

Since then, Latrobe also has lost its claim of Brallier as the first pro football player.

The NFL since 1972 has recognized William "Pudge" Heffelfinger, who was paid $500 by Pittsburgh's Allegheny Athletic Association for a game Nov. 12, 1892, as the first pro.

Horrigan indicated even that would be open to further consideration if necessary.

"We're careful in acknowledging Heffelfinger as the first known or documented case of professionalism," he said. "As factually as we can say, this is the evidence that exists. Somebody may walk in the door some day and say 'Did you know this?' and 'Here's the evidence.'

"For many, many years Latrobe was recognized as the birthplace of pro football, mainly because John Brallier was willing to be open about his professionalism."

In addition to Heffelfinger, five others now are considered to have predated Brallier as pros, including Lawson Fiscus, of Greensburg, who was paid $20 a game for the 1894 season.

But a plaque outside Memorial Stadium, the end opposite Miller and the horseshoe court, still proclaims:

"Birthplace of professional football. On Sept. 3, 1895, 300 yards southeast of this spot, John K. Brallier, quarterback, was paid $10 and expenses for leading the Latrobe YMCA team to a 6-0 win over Jeannette. This payment is recognized by the National Football League as the beginning of the professional gridiron sport."

The reluctance of Latrobe to relinquish its claim as the taproot of the pro football tree reached a crescendo in 1999.

Latrobe resident Tony Novak was threatening to sue the NFL, and an organization, the Latrobe Professional Football Association, was founded to restore what was considered the town's pro football birthright.

To promote the cause, Novak hired a plane to tow banners over a Steelers night practice at Memorial Stadium. The first read: "Welcome 2 Latrobe Birthplace Pro Football." The second read: "NFL Insults Latrobe We Contest."

The second tow banner also had the association's phone number.

"I thought I had to break the ice, not be too subtle," Novak said.

Even though Novak for a brief time feared the tow plane and another small private plane might collide over the stadium, there was no accident, and he considers the approximately $300 cost money well-spent.

"I got a lot of feedback from it," Novak said. "I was intrigued how many people saw it and commented on it."

The group also rode a float in a July Fourth parade in Latrobe that year, throwing miniature orange plastic footballs to the crowd.

Novak has collected historical paperwork, including copies of correspondence between NFL commissioners Elmer Layden and Bert Bell and those hoping to build the NFL Hall in Latrobe.

"It's a passion," Novak said.

In October 1999, Novak, accompanied by then-mayor Jim Gebicki and councilman Vincent Lucchetti, arranged a visit to the Hall to review proof that Brallier wasn't the first pro.

"We had the opportunity to go into the archives in the basement at the Hall," Gebicki recalled. "Joe Horrigan took us in. We had to put on white gloves and we reviewed all the artifacts. We saw the letter pertaining to Heffelfinger, compared dates, and it predated Brallier being paid. I was convinced."

The others were, too.

"The only concession we got was the general admission that while John Brallier was not the first paid player, Latrobe had the first all-paid team (1897, captained by Brallier)," Lucchetti said. "That was just as important a concession to us. That may be disproved in 20 years, too. But for now, we're the birthplace because we had the first all-paid team."

While in the archive session, Novak made, and was granted, an unusual request.

"The evidence was there and Tony was crushed by it all," Gebicki said. "He asked to touch the uniform pants of Dr. Brallier. Horrigan said 'Yeah.' Tony picked them up and held them a couple of seconds."

Horrigan still remembers the scene.

"When somebody is interested in touching the pants worn by the man, that's what we're all about," he said.

"They brought them out in sealed bags," Novak said. "The chance to touch them, it was a thrill. It was amazing."

Back in Latrobe, Gebicki found that some wouldn't accept the fact that Brallier hadn't been the first pro.

"This thing has taken on a life of its own," he said. "I'm convinced. As for the other people, I guess we're going to have to put them in a bus and send them out to the Hall archives. Poor Joe Horrigan."

More troublesome to Gebicki is the thought of what the Hall could have meant to Latrobe.

"I guess we let that one go by, didn't we?" he said. "I hate to think about it. I really do. It's too painful to really think about."

Said Lucchetti: "Had we been alive back then, Latrobe would have had the Hall of Fame. All the NFL was waiting for was someone to put a case together and stand for it. Had we done it 50 years ago, wow, what might have been."