Greensburg Athletic Association The Greensburg Athletic Association was an early organized football team , based in Greensburg , Pennsylvania , that played from 1890 until 1900 . The team began as an amateur football club in 1890 . The team was composed primarily of locals before several paid players were added for 1895 . In 1894 it was discovered that the team had secretly paid formerly Indiana Normal ( now Indiana University of Pennsylvania ) player Lawson Fiscus to play football and retained his services on salary . The team ' s home games were played at Athletic Park ( which was later renamed Offut Field ) . The field is still in use as football field by Greensburg Salem High School and , up until 1993 , Greensburg Central Catholic High School . History . 1890 – 1893 . In 1890 , Greensburg Athletic Association fielded a football team . Their first game resulted in 6 - 6 tie with Indiana Normal , while losing their first ever home game to the Kiskiminetas Springs School ( Kiski Prep ) , 34 - 4 . The first four years of Greensburg Athletic Association football that began with the 1890 season , through 1893 , were not particularly successful . The drawbacks included a lack of local opponents , rivalries which did not develop until later as well as a lack of local experienced players . 1894 . In 1894 Greensburg hired its first professional player , Lawson Fiscus , for $ 20 a game plus expenses . While Fiscus did play for Greensburg as an amateur in 1893 , he was sought by other teams as the professional concept caught on with several other clubs . Fiscus played informal football at Indiana Normal even before it even fielded a school team . He has also played at halfback for the Allegheny Athletic Association as well as for Princeton University . During the 1894 season , Greensburg got off to an impressive start , winning its first five games before falling 10 - 0 against a squad from Altoona . On Thanksgiving Day , about 2 , 500 fans were on hand for a rematch between Altoona and Greensburg . This time , Greensburg won the game , 6 - 4 , to finish a highly successful season with a record of 6 - 1 - 1 . In those days , a touchdown accounted for four points and the “ goal after ” for two . The 1894 season led to an increased interest in football throughout Western Pennsylvania . Fans were now turning out for games in large numbers , and even accompanying the team by train to road games . And while Fiscus was the paid player on the 1894 team , several other pros joined him in 1895 . 1895 – 1897 . Greensburg ' s 1895 schedule opened and closed with new team ' s new rival the Latrobe Athletic Association . The Latrobe team had an impressive squad led by John Brallier who became the first " openly " paid professional football player . However Greensburg still won the opening game 25 – 0 to start the season 2 – 0 . However problems arose when Lawson , and two former Penn State University players , Charlie Atherton ( who was also the team ' s coach ) , and Ed Robison , turned down Greensburg ' s offer of $ 125 a month each to play for the upstart Duquesne Country and Athletic Club in Pittsburgh . However the community raised some extra money to give the players a better offer than Duquesne . As a result , all three stayed with Greensburg . After a 6 – 0 start the team tied the Pittsburgh Athletic Club 0 – 0 at Exposition Park . The following week against the Duquesne A . C . saw a controversial 14 – 0 loss for Greensburg . A local resident with ties to Duquesne was substituted for the scheduled official . This resulted in what the " Greensburg Daily Tribune " called bad officiating and “ thievery ” . A touchdown was said to have been scored by Duquesne after time was called , along with rough play . However Greensburg soon recovered and finished their season with a 9 - 1 - 1 record . For 1896 , Alfred Sigman of Lafayette College became the team ' s fullback and coach , and two more Fiscus brothers , Ross and Newill , were added to the team . The Greensburg began their season 5 – 0 , which included wins over the Pittsburgh A . C . and Latrobe . The team was acclaimed by Pittsburgh papers at mid - season as being the best in Pennsylvania . During a game against a squad from Beaver Falls , Greensburg ' s Tom Donohoe ran 44 yards with an intercepted pass , which was probably a lateral pass , since the forward pass was not legal until 1906 . 1897 marked the pinnacle of the pro football era in Greensburg . That season saw the team post 10 victories in 11 games . The only negative note was a 12 – 6 loss in the ninth game to Latrobe , an outcome that was reversed by a 6 – 0 score in a season - ending rematch at Latrobe . For 1897 , Greensburg and Washington and Jefferson College had the best football records in Pennsylvania . That year ' s squad had 27 players , which included a number of new ones . Among those players was George Barclay of Millville , Pennsylvania , a halfback at Bucknell University and Lafayette University . Barclay brought in several Lafayette stars to enhance the team . Decline . The first game of 1898 against Latrobe was delayed at one point as mud was removed from the eyes , nose , mouth and ears of Latrobe ’ s Ed Abbaticchio , who was buried in the mud on one of his carries . The 1898 season was marred with two losses to rival Latrobe , and ties against Duquesne and the Pittsburgh A . C . Some of the players from the prior year had better offers to play elsewhere . Greensburg had a tough time providing sufficient financial inducements for out - of - area stars . However the team later turned things around to finish the season strong . In the final game of the season , Greensburg beat rival Latrobe 6 - 0 at Latrobe . According to the " Greensburg Daily Tribune " , the end of the game was marred by stoning and spitting on Greensburg players and fans , “ boorish conduct by ruffians , ” resulting in one player being injured when he was hit on the head by a rock . After an apparent decline in financial resources and interest , professional football in Greensburg and Latrobe underwent a one - year hiatus in 1899 . Some efforts were made to reorganize a team around a core of local members of the previous year ’ s squad , which would be shored up by obtaining some Latrobe players . However this effort never materialized . When the 1899 season began , most of the top Greensburg players of the year before were playing for former rivals in Pittsburgh or for other teams as far away as Newark , New Jersey . As result of not having a Greensburg or Latrobe team in 1899 , the football clubs from Pittsburgh completed their schedules by playing teams from eastern Pennsylvania . In 1900 plans were complete for the return of professional football to Greensburg for that fall . Under the direction of industrialist Morris L . Painter , Greensburg once again fielded a team . The top sought player for the 1900 season , Ralph Hutchinson of Princeton , signed with Greensburg as a player - coach . Meanwhile Isaac Seneca , an All - American from the Carlisle Indian School , was also signed . Greensburg began the season 5 - 1 , before losing 6 - 5 to the Homestead Library & Athletic Club that was financed heavily by the Carnegie Steel Company officials . Newspapers in Greensburg called it the “ the greatest contest ever witnessed on the Greensburg gridiron ” . However a third straight loss at home to Latrobe was sustained a week later on October 27 , 1900 . During the game a riot broke out as a result of a fight between Seneca and the Latrobe quarterback . The final professional football game for Greensburg took place on November 17 , 1900 in Latrobe . Latrobe would go onto win the game and the “ Westmoreland County championship ” . At the end of the season , the team was experiencing major . financial problems . To make matters even worse , Greensburg ' s scheduled next - to - last game was cancelled due to inclement weather . However the worst occurred when Latrobe , who always drew large crowds when they played Latrobe , withdrew from a scheduled Thanksgiving Day game . Latrobe paid a $ 400 forfeit and withdrew from the Thanksgiving Day game at Greensburg to play against Duquesne instead . However that game had to be cancelled because of extreme weather conditions . Greensburg ' s final season record was 3 - 7 . Legacy . Although there were probably others , members of the 1895 squad who were known to have been paid to play were Fiscus , guard - quarterback Adam Wyant of Bucknell and the University of Chicago , and fullback Charles Atherton and halfback Fred Robison , both of Penn State . Wyant was cited by his coach at Chicago , Amos Alonzo Stagg , as “ one of the best men that ever donned the canvas jacket ” ( then part of the uniform ) . Wyant also served at one time as principal of the Greensburg schools and became a U . S . Congressman from the Greensburg area . He would go on to be the first U . S . Congressman to play professional football . Atherton , whose name remains today at Penn State in the name of a main street and a campus building , later became president of the university .