Joe Carr, the NFL’s president from 1921 to 1939, had a tremendous influence on the league’s early trajectory. A former sportswriter, baseball and basketball executive who had managed the Columbus Panhandles, a pro football team, Carr co-organzied the NFL in 1920. As president, he brought the league stability and integrity “with rigid enforcement of rules,” according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and was a “dedicated, no nonsense administrator.” Carr’s moves included prohibiting college players from the NFL under fake names and standardizing player contracts – initiatives that made the game more honest and less shady. Later, Carr decreed that NFL teams couldn’t sign college players until their eligibility had run out. Carr, who was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1879, knew that to succeed the pro game had to thrive in big cities. In 1925, he traveled to New York for that purpose, and the Giants were established that year.