The History of the Super Bowl

The history of the Super Bowl starts with two things: the merging of the American Football League with National Football League, and a bouncy rubber ball.

The NFL - AFL World Championship Game was created as a piece of the merger agreement between the NFL and the AFL in 1966.

During the negotiations between the NFL and the AFL, Kansas City Chief owner, Lamar Hunt, thought of the name "Super Bowl" for the Championship game, after observing his daughter playing with her toy Super Ball. Hunt only meant the name to be a stop-gap until the powers that be could think of something better. Not having thought of one, the game was named "The NFL-AFL World Championship Game".

The first Championship took place in 1967. With the official title being quite a mouth full, the fans as well as the media took to the short, unofficial name, Super Bowl. In 1969, the name, "Super Bowl" became official.

The Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls convincingly, causing many people to question if the AFL teams could compete. The very next year, the New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts for the AFL's first Super Bowl Title. The Chiefs won the 4th Super Bowl, evening the record at 2-2.

In 1970, the NFL and AFL merged into one combined league with two conferences, which resembles today's National Football League. Three NFL Teams joined the 10 AFL teams forming the AFC (American Football Conference). The remaining 13 teams from the old NFL formed the NFC (National Football Conference).

Since the construction of the combined league, former AFL teams have won 10 Super Bowls while original NFL teams have taken 23. Two Super Bowls have been won by teams created after the merger.

The Winner of each Super Bowl receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after Vince Lombardi, the great coach for the Green Bay Packers who led his team to victory in each of the first two Super Bowls. Following his death, the trophy was named prior to Super Bowl V in his honor.