Moments in NFL history: First NFL Draft in 1936 was play drawn up for league survival

In the shadow of the Great Depression, NFL Commissioner BERT BELL (pictured above) devised a plan to maintain competitiveness in his league. Still a scrappy pastime carving out its role in American culture, professional football was in need of a selection process that would diversify talent among its nine NFL teams. 

On this day, Feb. 8, 1936, the first NFL draft was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia. Bell’s idea called for an organized distribution of talent where teams with a worse record would have a prioritized choice at the top college prospects. 

Sparked by a failed bidding war over Stan Kostka in 1935, Bell created “the selection of players” process. 

"In (1935), I telephoned Stanley Kostka,” said Bell, according to a 1957 Associated Press article. “I asked him point blank if he would sign with the Eagles if I came out there and offered him a contract for more money than anyone else in the league would give him. He said yes.

"I went to Minneapolis. He told me the top [offer] was $3,500. ‘I'll give you $4,000,’ I told him." 

Bell continued: "But Kostka hemmed and hawed...so, I left. I made up my mind that this league would never survive unless we had some system whereby each team had an even chance to bid for talent against the other."

With the first overall pick in the 1936 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles selected Jay Berwanger (pictured below), a back from the University of Chicago and the first Heisman Trophy winner. After demanding a large sum of money for his per-game efforts, Berwanger was traded to the Chicago Bears.
 
After failing to reach a deal with GEORGE HALAS’ Bears, Berwanger took a rubber sales job in Chicago without ever playing an NFL game. Riley Smith, a back from Alabama and the Boston Redskins’ second-overall selection, became the first player to be selected in the NFL draft and play in the league. 

Four future Pro Football Hall of Famers were selected in the 1936 NFL Draft:

• JOE STYDAHAR, a tackle from the University of West Virginia, was taken sixth overall by the Chicago Bears.
• TUFFY LEEMANS, a back from George Washington University, was selected by TIM MARA’s New York Giants in the second round.
• WAYNE MILLNER, an end from the University of Notre Dame, was selected by GEORGE PRESTON MARSHALL’s Boston Redskins in the eighth round.
• DAN FORTMANN, a guard from Colgate University, was selected by the Bears in the ninth round.