page_title: Columbus Panhandles
section_title: First AFPA game
hierarchical_section_title: Columbus Panhandles / NFL / First AFPA game
caption_attribution_description: English: Columbus Panhandles team in 1921.
context_page_description: The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroads. They were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before folding after one season. Three years later, the team tried again and playing the Ohio League from 1907 to 1919, not winning a championship, before becoming charter members of the American Professional Football Association which became the National Football League.
  The Panhandles are credited with playing in the first NFL game against another NFL opponent. They have zero NFL championships, but Joseph Carr, the team's owner from 1907 to 1922, is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his work as NFL president.
context_section_description: The Panhandles may have played in the first game with two APFA opponents. However, due to not having the games start at a standardized time, and the failure of the future NFL to record the start times, historians can not determine for sure which two teams played in the first league match-up. What is known for a fact is that the first contests between teams listed as APFA members occurred on October 3, 1920. On that date, the Panhandles were defeated by the Dayton Triangles, 14–0, at Triangle Park, and the Rock Island Independents beat the Muncie Flyers, 45–0, in Rock Island. Frank Bacon of the Panhandles is credited with the first punt return for a touchdown.
caption: 1921 Columbus Panhandles of the National Football League-
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