Professional Football Researchers Association

Welcome to the Professional Football Researchers Association web site. The PFRA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and, in some cases, reconstructing professional football history.

PFRA members receive six issues of our official newsletter-magazine, The Coffin Corner. Each issue is 24 pages crammed with pro football history: articles on great players, teams, and games of the past (and some not-so-great), occasionally a stat article, some opinion, and organization news. This site contains articles that have appeared in the Coffin Corner over the years, with the exception of the last couple of years. For instance, a recent issue includes articles on the Detroit Lions' Thanksgiving games, the WFL's Chicago Fire, the Ice Bowl and Jim Brown.

Membership has its privileges. Since we began in 1979, we’ve published more than a thousand articles - ALL of which are available to members for free by e-mail (or for a small fee by snail mail). That’s correct. Every article we’ve ever published is available to members. The only restriction is that we ask members to limit their orders to five articles a week so as not to deluge our files.

Next, there’s our Annual - a bonus publication. Years ago, the Annual was used for articles too long for the Corner, but as the magazine grew, the Annual was used for specialized publications like Down Payments, a history of pro football in Akron from 1896 through 1930, a complete summary of the 1923 season. With printing costs soaring, we’ve changed to making special publications available to members by e-mail.

Also available to members only upon request is an online membership list that'll tell you how you can contact other folks with similar interests. There are writers, historians, and, mostly, fans.

And you get a chance to purchase our occasional special publications, like The Best in the West, a history of the Pacific Coast Football League, at members' rates. Best, for example, is $5 to members, while non-members pay $10 (in a store it'd be $14.)

We're into our 28th year, so we must be doing something right. Anyway, if you decide to join the PFRA, we'll be happy to have you. It'll cost you $25 dues, but most of the folks who join seem to re-up every year. They think it's worth it. For information on joining, contact Bob Carroll

Either way, check out the site. There are articles on just about every aspect of pro football history either here or on the way. If you're interested in the people, teams and events that made the game of professional football great, you'll want to bookmark this site and check back often.