Logo of a charter member of the American Professional Football Association, the Akron Pros. They were not only a founding member of the league that would eventually become the NFL, they were also the league’s inaugural world champions, having secured the title in 1920. The team originated as the semi-pro Akron Indians in 1908 and changed their name when they joined the APFA. Fritz Pollard, pro football’s first black coach, led the Pros as a player/coach in 1921 and Paul Robeson, another African American, played for the team that year as well, before the NFL segregated the game between 1934 and 1946. The Pros disbanded as a franchise in 1927 due to financial troubles.