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A GLIMPSE INTO THE HISTORY OF FANTASY FOOTBALL

ByBryon Powell

The history of Fantasy Football is a story much like any other in modern folk lore, it all began on a road trip from Oakland to NYC, with the Oakland Raiders.   As the Raiders were nearing the tail end of a 16 day road trip on the east coast.  The stage was set in a small hotel room at the Hotel Manhattan, as the drinks began to flow, our cast of characters including Wilford “Bill” Winkenbach a minority owner of the Raiders, Bill Tunnell Raiders PR man and Scotty Stirling of the Oakland Tribune, began to lay out the groundwork for a game that would change sports as we know it.  

EARLY FANTASY

In the mid 1950s Winkenbach had participated in early versions of fantasy Golf, and fantasy baseball.  Much like today the scores were based on statistics and totaled up to get a winner and a loser.  Winenbach, proposed to the men the idea of doing the same with the game that they all loved, and Fantasy Football was conceived! 

THE FIRST LEAGUE

The very first league was called the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League or GOPPPL for short.  The group of fantasy pioneers led by Winkenbach, began to hammer out the initial set of rules.  The league would be run by a commissioner, and Secretary, and of course the very first Fantasy Football Commissioner was Winkenbach.   Each fantasy team would consist of 20 players and would be drafted in what was called at the time “ladder order” what we call today a snake draft.  The teams would consist of 4 offensive ends, 4 half backs, 2 full backs, 2 quarterbacks, 2 kick returns, 2 kickers, 2 defensive backs or linebackers, and 2 defensive linemen.  Each week the team owners would have to phone in their lineup to the commissioner or the secretary for the week by noon on Friday.  If the owner failed to call in his lineup they would keep the lineup from the previous week. 

MEET THE MANAGERS

Once the rules were hammered out, the league was filled out by 8 teams consisting of Oakland Raiders staff, and local businesses men from the Oakland area.  Winkenbach, Ross, and Stirling were joined by Andy Mousalimas local business restaurant owner of The Lamp Post, that later became Kings X, Bill Tunnell Oakland Raiders PR man, Ron Wolf Raiders Front Office, Bob Blum Raiders Radio Announcer, George Glace Raiders Ticket Manager, Phil Carmona Raiders Ticket Seller, and Ralph Casebolt Raiders Ticket Seller.

LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE

Finally in August of 1963 the very first draft began in the basement of Bill Winkenbach, and with that very first draft pick George Blanda QB was selected by the Team of Stirling & Mousalimas.  The second pick was made by the team of Ross and Valli who selected Jim Brown FB.  That season Jim Brown rushed for 1863 rushing yards, and 12 touchdowns, leading Ross’s team to fantasy glory in that inaugural season.  The winner, walked away with a cash prize, and the loser would receive a wooden crafted trophy with a dunce cap that was required to be displayed on the mantle in the home of the losing team owner.

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS             

From that small hotel room in NYC some 60 years ago fantasy football has grown into a 13-billion-dollar global industry.  It is estimated that over 62 million people in the US and Canada alone participated in some form of fantasy sports.  In 2023 ESPN reported a record number of participants at 12 million people playing fantasy football.  When you think about those numbers its truly amazing what the game has become, and it is only getting bigger with the NFL taking to the global market.  Every year they expand to more, and more international games and with that growth the fantasy football market is primed to explode!

  • Patrick Ruby, Sports on Earth, published 2013, The Forgotten Fathers of Fantasy Football, Retrieved 1/15/25, from http://www.patrickhruby.net
  • Bob Harris and Emil Kadlec, Letterhead from the Commissioner Bill Winkenbach A Nod (and a wink ) To The Founders of Fantasy Football, Retrieved on 1/14/25, from http://www.footballdiehards.com
  • Google Generative AI, Retrieved 1/16/25, How Many People Play Fantasy Football, http://www.google.com                

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