Plaque commemorates NFL’s first office building location

A historical plaque recognizing the location of the first office building for the National Football League recently was dedicated in Columbus, Ohio.

Columbus native JOE F. CARR was elected the second president of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1921. The following year, team owners and Carr renamed the league the National Football League.

Eventually, Carr set up the league’s headquarters on the 11th floor of an office building located at 16 E. Broad St., across the street from Ohio’s capitol building. 

In turn, Carr hired Kathleen Rubadue as his secretary, thereby establishing her as the first woman to work for the NFL.

Members of the Carr and Rubadue-Knapp family were joined at the dedication by representatives for the city of Columbus, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, NFL Films, the Tomko Co. (owner of the building) and Homage, the plaque sponsor. 

Linda Logan, CEO & president of the Greater Columbus Sports Commission, served as the event’s master of ceremonies.

“Carr was a visionary,” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said. “This is where history was made. Where leadership shaped the game forever. Where football became more than just a pastime, it became part of America’s identity.”

Joe Horrigan, senior advisor at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, shared the history of the founding of the APFA and NFL, identifying Carr as “probably the most underrated Hall of Famer that we have. People don’t understand all the achievements he had.”



Horrigan shared examples of Carr’s vision from the 1930s, including his belief that the game was close to moving indoors and that the future of the NFL would rely on larger cities as the franchises’ homes. 

The Tomko Co., a development firm focused on historic preservation, renovated the structure for present-day use.

“I remember very well the first day I walked into these buildings just after Christmas of 2016,” Michael Tomko said. “At that point, the building had been vacant for over a decade. I saw the same thing Joe Carr had seen about nine decades prior, which is the opportunity to build something special in the heart of Columbus.”

Ryan Vesler, the founder of Homage and the plaque’s sponsor, said: “It’s not hard to get chills when you think about the fact that the story of the National Football League runs through Columbus, Ohio. The NFL didn’t begin in some New York skyscraper or on the West Coast. It began here in the heart of Ohio.”  

Vesler credited Chris Willis, head archivist at NFL Films and author of Carr biography “The Man Who Built the National Football League,” for his efforts on the project, saying: “He told the story of Joe Carr and Kathleen Rubadue, and he brought everyone together in a way nobody else could. He’s the heart of this entire project.”

Willis, a Columbus native, shared insights about Carr and Rubadue while honoring the family representatives in attendance. 

Ethan Rutter, Rubadue’s great-grandson, said, “Not many people know of her name, but now the city of Columbus will and hopefully far more folks throughout the nation.”

“We’re honoring her to be the first female to work for the NFL, but if you take a step back, she’s also a single woman working in the 1930s, so that’s great on its own,” Rutter said. “She also went to work for a fledgling professional sports organization in the midst of the Great Depression, which was probably a pretty bold decision.”

Carr’s great-grandchildren Jennifer (Carr) Dersom and Andy Carr cited several of Carr’s achievements.

“His vision and leadership left a permanent mark on the game,” Andy Carr said.

The historical marker can be found outside of the Hayden Building at 16 E. Broad St. in Columbus.