The Dayton Triangles and the Forgotten First NFL Game!

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In the pantheon of American sports, few events are as shrouded in myth as the origin of the National Football League. We imagine roaring crowds in massive stadiums, legendary figures like Halas and Lambeau, and a birth forged in national prominence. The reality, however, is far humbler, beginning not with a spectacle, but with a practical business meeting in an automobile showroom and a sloppy, hard-fought game on a muddy field in Ohio. This is the story of the Dayton Triangles and the forgotten first game of the NFL.

The Birth of a League in a Showroom

By 1920, professional football was a chaotic, regional free-for-all. Teams popped up and folded constantly, players jumped from squad to squad for a few extra dollars, and there were no standard schedules or rules. To bring order to the chaos, representatives from a handful of Ohio-based teams—including the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, and Dayton Triangles—gathered at the Jordan and Hupmobile automobile showroom in Canton, Ohio on September 17, 1920.

They formed the American Professional Football Association (APFA). Jim Thorpe was named its first president, largely for his star power. The league was a loose coalition of independent clubs, and the Dayton Triangles, representing the industrial powerhouse of Dayton, Ohio, were a charter member. They were named for the three main factories that supplied their players: Delco, Dayton Metal Products, and Domestic Engineering Company.

The “First” Game: A Muddy Affair in Dayton

The new APFA’s first official game was scheduled for October 3, 1920, at Triangle Park in Dayton. The opponents were the Columbus Panhandles, a team uniquely composed almost entirely of seven brothers from the Nesser family, a group of formidable, bruising athletes.

The stage was nothing like today’s NFL. The field was muddy from rain, the crowd was a modest 5,000 spectators who paid $1.80 for admission, and there were no elaborate halftime shows or jumbotrons. This was pure, gritty, industrial-football.

The Triangles were a disciplined and well-coached team, known for their innovative use of the forward pass—a relatively new and often-risky weapon. Their star was end/back Lou Partlow, a local hero. The game’s defining moment came in the first quarter when Triangles’ quarterback Al Mahrt completed a short pass to Partlow, who then lateraled the ball back to Mahrt in a clever bit of trickery. Mahrt ran it 20 yards for the game’s only touchdown.

The extra point was missed, and the Triangles’ defense, led by the hard-nosed Buster and Budd Behman, held the powerful Nesser brothers at bay for the remainder of the game. The final score was a meager 14-0 (touchdowns were worth 5 points, and a field goal was worth 3 in 1920; the other points came from three field goals by Dayton’s Marks).

It wasn’t a glamorous shootout, but a defensive slog—a fitting beginning for a league built on toughness and survival.

Why Is This Game “Forgotten”?

For decades, this historic game faded from public memory for several reasons:

1. A League Without History: The APFA (which renamed itself the National Football League in 1922) was not an instant success. It struggled for years. Nobody present knew they were witnessing “history”; they were just at another Sunday football game.

2. The Lack of Media Frenzy: While covered by local Dayton and Columbus papers, the game received no national attention. The concept of a “national league” was still just an idea on paper.

3. The Fates of the Teams: The story of the Triangles is one of long-term decline. As the NFL grew, small-market teams like Dayton, unable to compete financially with the draw of big cities like Chicago and New York, folded. The Triangles moved and changed names multiple times before finally dissolving in 1930. The victorious Triangles faded into oblivion, while teams like the Bears and Packers, who also played in that first season, endured and built dynasties.

4. The Lost Artifact: The official league minutes from that foundational meeting in Canton were lost for over 40 years, only rediscovered in the 1960s. Without this document, the exact details of the league’s formation and its first season remained murky.

Reclaiming a Legacy

The legacy of the Triangles and that first game is no longer entirely forgotten. The NFL now officially recognizes the October 3, 1920, contest as its first game. A historical marker stands at the site of Triangle Park in Dayton, a tribute to the city’s pivotal role in launching America’s most popular sports league.

The game itself symbolizes the true roots of the NFL: not in corporate boardrooms or television deals, but in the heart of industrial America. It was built by factory workers, for factory workers, on fields of mud for the pride of their city. The Dayton Triangles’ victory was the first brick laid in a foundation that would, decades later, support a monumental sports empire. It’s a humble, gritty, and profoundly important origin story that deserves to be remembered.