Sports' Forgotten Heroes

On September 17, 1920 at a car dealership in Canton, Ohio, a meeting took place between a group of men who loved football. All of these men, a group that included Jim Thorpe and George Halas – amongst others, had a passion for the game and there they created the American Professional Football Association (two years later it would change names to the National Football League). Another of the 12 men in attendance was Leo Lyons. Amazingly, Leo’s name, as one of the founding members of the NFL, is not documented anywhere in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. That will be corrected in June 2020 when the HOF dedicates a new exhibit about the found of the league. Leo, from Rochester, N.Y. started to dream of professional football when he was just 16-years-old. He told family and friends about his dream and goal of creating professional football, but they all laughed at him. Nonetheless, Leo never gave up on his dream, bought his own team, the Rochester (N.Y.) Jeffersons and years later, after striking up