Joe Carr Joseph F . Carr ( October 22 , 1880 – May 20 , 1939 ) was an early figure in professional football . Carr was born in Columbus , Ohio . As a mechanic for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Columbus , he directed the Columbus Panhandles football team in 1907 until 1922 . The " Panhandles " were one of the largest draws in early professional football , starring the Nesser Brothers , and were nearly unbeatable at home in Indianola Park . He helped to reorganize the American Professional Football Association ( APFA ) in 1921 , and moved the offices from Canton to Columbus , Ohio . This league would be renamed the National Football League in 1922 , and Carr served as its president from 1921 until his death in 1939 . He was elected to the Helms Hall of Fame in 1950 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 , and is the only non - player in both halls . Carr also served as president of the American Basketball League ( ABL ) from 1925 to 1928 , and was also president of the Columbus Senators ( baseball ) team from 1926 to 1931 . He is buried at St . Joseph Cemetery south of Columbus . The NFL ' s original Most Valuable Player award was named for Carr in 1938 . Biography . Early life . Carr was born in Columbus , Ohio , on October 22 , 1880 ( although some records state that he was born on October 23 , 1879 ) . He was the son of Irish immigrants Michael and Margaret Carr . The sixth of seven children , Joseph played a variety of sports while he was growing up in southeast Columbus . Joe ' s formal education consisted of five years at St . Dominic ’ s Elementary School . At the age of 13 he went to work at a local machine shop to help support his family , who was struggling . By the age of 20 , he was hired as a journeyman machinist at the Panhandle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad . In 1900 , Carr became the assistant sports editor of the " Ohio State Journal " , one of the three major newspapers in Columbus at the time . He was especially well known for his boxing stories . He held the position for six years . Sports career . In 1901 Carr organized and promoted a baseball team . He had always admired Charles Comiskey , who had just started the Chicago White Sox of the American League . By using employees from the railroad , Carr fielded a team and called them the Famous Panhandle White Sox . The team gained national attention as one of the country ' s best semi - pro teams . In 1904 , Carr attempted to reorganize the Columbus Panhandles football team which was also organize through the railroad in 1901 . However the team just played two games . However Carr tried again in 1907 and the Columbus Panhandles were finally reborn and existed as a franchise until 1922 . Carr had two ways of keeping the team afloat for 16 seasons . The first idea came while he was organizing his football team . Carr knew that he needed an attraction to get people to come to the games . This led him to recruit what is considered the most unusual family ever to play professional sports , the Nesser family . Over the years , ten family members played professional football , seven brothers Al , Frank , Fred , John , Phil , Ray and Ted . The final three members were Ted ’ s son Charlie , a nephew , Ted Hopkins , and a brother - in - law John Schneider . Over the next two decades the Nesser family became the backbone of the Panhandle franchise . Carr would take out ads by describing his Panhandles as the toughest professional team in football , led by the famous Nesser brothers . This was done to attract interest from local fans so they would want to come out and cheer for their hometown heroes . This resulted in the Panhandles becoming a big draw for home teams , and team owners went out of their way to schedule them . Another way to keep the Panhandles afloat , was for the team to use a railroad company benefit . Since all his players were employees of the railroad , Carr scheduled mostly road games . His athletes would simply use their passes to ride the train for free . Carr saved the team money on travel expenses and stadium rental by playing mostly road games . While the Panhandles ' overall record is only mediocre , Carr ' s promotional skills made them one of the best known early teams in the country . The NFL . In 1920 the Panhandles joined the newly formed American Professional Football Association ( APFA ) . Carr was involved in its formation of the league from the beginning . However there is no record of him attending any of the league ' s founding meetings . The title of league president first went to the legendary Jim Thorpe who could use and his name recognition to promote the new league . With help from the Panhandles , the APFA fielded 14 franchises that first year and crowned the Akron Pros as its first champion with an 8 – 0 – 3 record . At the April 1921 meeting , Carr then replaced Thorpe as the league president . In 1922 , he helped changed the name of the league to the National Football League . NFL President . Schedule . Carr moved the Association ' s headquarters to Columbus , drafted a league constitution and by - laws , gave teams territorial rights , developed membership criteria for the franchises , and issued standings for the first time , so that the APFA would have a clear champion . The Association ' s membership increased to 22 teams . Carr first set a deadline for the season to be completed and a minimum number of league games to be played in order to win the league championship . This led to standardized schedules and prevented teams from scheduling non - league teams to pad their win columns . Contracts . After taking office as President of the NFL , Carr began cleaning up the problems surrounding professional football . By 1925 , he introduced a standard player ’ s contract , fashioned after the ones being used in pro baseball , so players couldn ’ t jump from one team to another . Carr also declared that players under contract from the previous season could not be approached by another team unless first declared a free agent . Amateur issues . In the early days of professional football , the game was shunned by many in the college area . Fearing that the pro game tainted the college game , many college administrators forbade players to have anything to do with the pros . Carr would try to attack this problem and bring a peace between the pros and amateur ranks . Green Bay Packers . The first major challenge to Carr ' s authority came at the end of the 1921 season . The Green Bay Packers , admitted to having used college players under assumed names . Carr proclaimed the act not only a violation of association rules but a breach of the public ' s trust . The Packers were forced to resign from the league . However a few months later , a group headed by future Hall of Famer Curly Lambeau applied for and was granted the Green Bay franchise . Grange rule . When Red Grange , a star player at the University of Illinois turned pro by joining the Chicago Bears immediately after his final college football game the league criticism from college officials everywhere . Ernie Nevers another All - American player did the same thing a few days later . To help ease tensions and promote the professional game in the college circles , Carr established a rule prohibiting college players to sign with professional teams until after their class had graduated . These decisions gave the NFL credibility and much needed support from the colleges and universities from across the country . Milwaukee Badgers . In 1925 it was revealed that the Milwaukee Badgers used four high school boys in a hastily arranged game with the Chicago Cardinals . As a result , the Badgers were fined $ 500 and given 90 days to dispose of all assets and retire from the league . Though finding no evidence to suggest the Cardinals management was aware of the status of the four youths before the game , Carr nonetheless fined the club $ 1000 for participating in the game . Art Foltz , the Cardinals player who confessed to having made the “ introductions " , was banned from play in the NFL for life . Pottsville Maroons . As in 1925 , the Pottsville Maroons , a first year NFL team , played an exhibition game against a team of former Notre Dame stars including the famous " Four Horsemen " . The game was played at Philadelphia ' s Shibe Park , which was within the protected territory of the Frankford Yellow Jackets , who were playing a league game just a few miles away at Legion Field . On three occasions prior to the game , Carr reportedly warned the Pottsville management not to play the game , " under all penalties that the league could inflict ” . Ignoring Carr ' s warnings , the game went on as scheduled . However the Maroons stated that Carr knew of the game and had allowed it to take place . For this act , the Pottsville Maroons were fined $ 500 and had their franchise forfeited ; as a result , the team was stripped of their NFL title , which was given to the Chicago Cardinals . However Carr ' s decision and handling of the situation is still being protested by many sports historians , as well as by the people of Pottsville , Pennsylvania , and controversy still lingers about who actually won the 1925 NFL Championship , since the Maroons had earlier beaten Chicago and were actually awarded the league championship before they were suspended . Franchise stability . Carr also knew that for the league to survive , franchises needed to have a sense of stability . In his early years as president , NFL franchises constantly were setting up and then folding . From 1920 through 1932 more than 40 NFL franchises went through the league . The only two charter members to stay with the league by 1932 were the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cardinals . In those first years , 19 teams lasted one year and 11 teams lasted two years . Carr envisioned the day the NFL could compete with Major League Baseball as America ’ s favorite spectator sport . While nobody really took him seriously , he thought in time it could happen and devised a plan to make it happen . Carr knew that the NFL ’ s success rested on franchise stability and second , those franchises had to be located in the biggest cities , just like those in major league baseball . This led Carr to move his league to the big city . He went out of his way to recruit financially capable owners to run those teams . Beginning with New York City , the largest city in the country , Carr convinced Tim Mara , a successful bookie , to start a club . The club became known as the New York Giants and it is still partly owned by Mara ' s family . He continued to recruit stable owners and eventually placed teams in larger cities by moving the Dayton Triangles to become the Brooklyn Tigers in 1930 , establishing the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles in 1933 , moving the Portsmouth Spartans to become the Detroit Lions , establishing the Cleveland Rams in 1937 , and the Washington Redskins in 1937 after that franchise moved franchise from Boston . By 1937 the National Football League and Major League Baseball were almost identical , with 9 out of 10 NFL franchises in MLB cities . Only Green Bay , Wisconsin did not have a major league baseball team . By placing teams in big cities the NFL gained the stability it needed and established a game plan for a bright future . Other sports . In 1925 Carr organized and served as the first president of the American Basketball League , although he had witnessed only two basketball games in his life . He , returned to baseball two years later as president of the Columbus Red Birds minor league club . 1933 saw Carr ' s most successful undertaking in professional baseball , when he was named director of the National Baseball Association ' s promotional department . Professional baseball in that year had only 12 minor leagues and many of them were in serious financial trouble . Given the order to “ do something about it , ” Carr took baseball ' s faltering minor league system and transformed it into a healthy 41 - league operation by 1939 . Trophies . The Joe F . Carr Trophy was presented annually ( from 1955 – 1978 ) to the NFL Player of the Year . Not to be confused with the Joe F . Carr Trophy which was the official National Football League MVP award from 1938 – 46 . However , both trophies are named after Carr . Death . Carr remained league President until his death from a second heart attack on May 20 , 1939 in his hometown of Columbus .