September 9 stands as a monumental date in gridiron history, marking the precise moment a brand-new football league challenged the status quo. On this day in 1960, the American Football League (AFL) officially kicked off its inaugural season, changing the landscape of professional sports forever. From that historic opening night in Boston to a legendary 21st-century Packers-Bears comeback thriller—and the birth of a pioneering “Point-a-Minute” college football icon—September 9 is packed with the milestones, rivalries, and legends that defined the game.
Let us take a moment to enjoy some good-humored football art from 1916.
September 9 American Football History Timeline
- September 9, 1960 – Boston University’s Nickerson Field hosts the very first AFL regular-season game, as the visiting Denver Broncos defeated the Boston Patriots 13-10. Boston’s kicker, Gino Capaletti, scored the very first points in the new league with his boot from 35 yards.
- September 9, 1979 – Steve Grogan and the Patriots Hang 56 on the Jets: New England Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan put on a clinic at Schaefer Stadium, tossing five touchdown passes—three to Harold Jackson and two to Stanley Morgan—in a 56–3 dismantling of the division-rival New York Jets. The 53-point margin set a then-franchise record for the most points scored in a regular-season game and marked one of the most dominant aerial displays of the 1970s.
- September 9, 2018 – The Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears met to open the season in a thriller. The Packers overcame a 17-point deficit late in the game to come back and win 24-23. For more on the Packers-Bears rivalry, check out the Football History Dudes podcast, titled the Packers-Bears Rivalry Podcast, right here on the Sports History Network at sportshistorynetwork.com.
- September 9, 2018 – The Longest Game in NFL History: The Miami Dolphins hosted the Tennessee Titans in what became the longest game in NFL history by total elapsed broadcast time. Spurred by severe South Florida thunderstorms and two lightning delays totaling nearly four hours, the contest took 7 hours and 8 minutes from opening kickoff to final whistle before Miami officially secured a 27–20 victory.
September 9 Football Hall of Fame Birthdays
Happy Birthday to these legendary gridiron icons! As we celebrate September 9, we look back at a remarkable group of Hall of Famers, innovators, and champions spanning from college football’s turn-of-the-century pioneers to iconic Super Bowl signal-callers.
Here is the list in order of birth:
- Willie Heston [1878] – The unstoppable spearhead of Fielding Yost’s legendary “Point-a-Minute” teams at Michigan, Heston was a dynamic halfback who led the Wolverines to a staggering 43-0-1 record and two national championships, including a victory in the first-ever Rose Bowl. Later named to the all-time college football team for the sport’s first half-century and inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954, the track-star-fast runner also became famous as pro football’s very first “holdout” after sparking a pre-game bidding war between early Ohio rivals Massillon and Akron.
- Gordon Brown [1879] – One of only a handful of four-time consensus All-Americans in college football history, Brown captained Yale’s undefeated 1900 national championship squad—widely heralded as the “Team of the Century”. Enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954, the imposing two-way guard dominated the line of scrimmage so thoroughly that The New York Times famously labeled him “a whole team in himself”.
- Dick LeBeau [1937] – After being scooped up off waivers by the Detroit Lions, LeBeau blossomed into a three-time Pro Bowl cornerback and logged 62 career interceptions across 14 stellar seasons. The 2010 Pro Football Hall of Famer extended his football legacy for more than four decades as an NFL coach, authoring the revolutionary “Zone Blitz” defensive scheme that powered the Pittsburgh Steelers to multiple Super Bowl appearances and titles.
- Johnny Robinson [1938] – Following a national championship career at LSU, Robinson entered the pro ranks with the AFL’s Dallas Texans (later the Kansas City Chiefs) as an all-conference halfback before shifting to safety in 1963. That transition created a perennial All-Pro ballhawk who snared 57 career interceptions, helped lead Kansas City to victories in both the 1962 AFL Championship and Super Bowl IV, and earned enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019.
- Pat Richter [1941] – A phenomenal, rare nine-time varsity letterman at the University of Wisconsin across football, basketball, and baseball, Richter was a two-time All-American end who set a Rose Bowl record with 11 receptions in the 1963 classic. After an eight-year NFL career with Washington, the 1996 College Football Hall of Fame inductee returned to Madison in 1989 as athletic director, revitalizing the Badgers football program by hiring legendary coach Barry Alvarez.
- Jim Grabowski [1944] – The 1964 Rose Bowl MVP and Big Ten’s all-time rushing leader upon graduation, Grabowski was a consensus All-American fullback for the Illinois Fighting Illini before entering the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995. Selected in the first round by Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers in 1966, he earned two Super Bowl rings (I and II) as a punishing interior runner before finishing his pro career with the Chicago Bears.
- Joe Theismann [1949] – An All-American quarterback at Notre Dame who finished second in the 1970 Heisman voting, Theismann guided the Washington Redskins for 12 seasons, capturing the 1983 NFL MVP award and leading the franchise to victory in Super Bowl XVII. A 2003 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, his remarkable career came to an abrupt, unforgettable halt in 1985 following a severe, compound leg fracture suffered on Monday Night Football against the New York Giants.
Conclusion
From the very first points kicked in AFL history to modern classic rivalries that keep fans on the edge of their seats, September 9th beautifully captures the evolution of football. Icons like Willie Heston laid the foundation of gridiron dominance at the turn of the 20th century, while iconic franchises like the Patriots, Broncos, Bears, and Packers continue to build on that legacy today. As we look back on these historic moments, early September will always hold a special place in the hearts of football fans everywhere.
