BREAKING NEWS: Bright lights of Detroit’s 2024 NFL Draft a far cry from event’s humble beginning

  Not just another face in the crowd!; Broncos  draft choice, Otis Armstrong, sits at Bronco table.; Otis Armstrong from Purdue, the Denver Bronco’s No. 1 draft choice in the recent draft of college fThe NFL Draft lands in downtown Detroit for the first time and the next generation of future stars, role players – and yes, even busts, will be ushered in The draft – thanks in part to the soaring popularity of the NFL over the years, has become a sports calendar fixture and pop culture reference in commercials and movies.But it wasn’t always that way.

The draft – which is actually called “The Annual Player Selection Meeting” began in 1936 – a full 16 years after the founding of the National Football League itself.In some ways the seeds were planted in 1934 when the NFL started the waiver system with a selection order meant to help the worst teams first. Philadelphia Eagles co-owner Bert Bell had argued that the team’s lack of success made it harder to sell tickets and make money, adding that even if the money allotment were all the same – players would still choose the winning teams over the struggling ones. The All All-America of 1935–A close up of Jay Berwanger, ace backfield man of the University of Chicago, shown holding the bronze trophy of the downtown Athletic Club, with which he was presented today, December 10th, afAt a 1935 league meeting, Bell proposed that the NFL hold an annual player draft to level the playing field and to make sure every franchise remained financially viable. League owners voted unanimously to adopt his proposal, setting up the inaugural NFL Draft for the following year in 1936.The first draft was far from the spectacle it is now, being held on Feb. 8, 1936 at Philadelphia’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel with a pool of 90 available players. The list of eligible players was compiled from newspaper reports, visits to local colleges by team executives, and recommendations to front-office personnel according to NFL.com.Bell’s Eagles selected Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago with the first pick overall, in the inaugural NFL Draft.Ironically, he would never even play for the Eagles in the first-ever example of drama swirling around the top pick (which may have well been seeded in the event’s DNA). Berwanger’s choice however wasn’t the most outrageous incident to occur, but set the pace for years later.