blacksaint

By Michael Fabiano
NFL.com Fantasy Expert

On a dark and rainy night in a Manhattan hotel back in 1962, Bill Winkenbach, Scott Stirling and Bill Tunnell created the concept for what we now call fantasy football. Winkenbach, who then was part owner of the Oakland Raiders, was credited with the development of the first ever fantasy sport, golf, in the 1950s. The rules of fantasy golf were simple: Owners were each required to "draft" their own team of professional golfers, and the team with the lowest combined score at the end of the week's tournament would win.

Based in part on the concept of fantasy golf, Winkenbach, with Stirling (an Oakland Tribune columnist) and Tunnell (the Raiders' public relations person) all huddled together in a hotel room at The Milford Plaza and built the foundation for what would become the first-ever fantasy football league, which was an eight-team format that was called the GOPPL (The Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League).

GOPPL's list of owners included Winkenbach, Stirling, Tunnell, Bob Blum (Raiders play-by-play announcer), Phil Carmona (Raiders season ticket seller), Ralph Casebolt (Raiders season ticket seller), George Glace (Raiders ticket manager) and George Ross (Oakland Tribune sports editor). The first-ever draft was held at Winkenbach's rumpus room, but later drafts would be held at different Oakland-area establishments.

The scoring system rewarded 25 points for a touchdown pass, rush or reception, 25 points for a field goal, 10 points for an extra point and 200 points for a punt, kickoff or interception that was returned for a score. Owners were each required to draft two quarterbacks, four halfbacks, two fullbacks, four offensive ends, two kick or punt return men, two kickers, two defensive backs or linebackers and two defensive linemen. A weekly starting lineup included one quarterback, one fullback, two halfbacks and two offensive ends. As in fantasy golf, the winners in fantasy football leagues are based on the performances of each team's players.

While the GOPPL continued to be a popular hobby for Winkenbach, Stirling, Tunnell and its owners, fantasy football itself didn't explode onto the scene until the advent of the Internet and software that would allow people to put away the pen and paper and have their league's statistics run online with little work at all. It makes the entire process much simpler and allows owners to run and participate in leagues with little effort.

saint4life
(504)

Nemesis

Seems he could've marketed a home board game of some type....Nice find.