JOIN PFRA

If you’re interested in reading, talking, and writing about professional football, we would enjoy having you become a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA). Any pro football fan may join.

The PFRA was born in 1979 in Canton, Ohio, with the mission of preserving the history of professional football. Today, PFRA members come from varied backgrounds and have a variety of interests related to professional football in the United States, Canada, and abroad. Our members include authors, sportswriters, sportscasters, podcasters, journalists, freelance writers, librarians, attorneys, teachers, professors, novelists, and historians, but also business and technology consultants, finance professionals, communications executives, marketing professionals, public relations representatives, graphic artists, arts project coordinators, doctors, clergy, software developers, insurance executives, data analysts, government administrators, coaches, and cab drivers. Our membership is global.

When you become a member of the PFRA, each year you will receive six issues of The Coffin Corner, the official magazine of the PFRA, which includes scholarly, peer-reviewed articles presenting original research about professional football, as well as other information about the business of the organization.

In addition, because PFRA members strive to increase the depth and breadth of the PFRA’s Members Only archive, annual benefits of joining the PFRA include access to the following resources:
• Past issues of The Coffin Corner going back to 1979
• NFL and AFL gamebooks going back to 1950, CFL gamebooks going back to 2010, as well as AAFC, NFL Europe, UFL, WFL, XFL, and AAF scoresheets, gamebooks, or statistics.
• Linescores for pre-NFL, AFL, AAFC, and NFL games going back to 1890.
• Lists of former professional player deaths going back to 2010.
• Lists of all-pros going back to 1920.
• A pro football chronology dating back to 1869.
• A register of former NFL game officials.
• A register of former assistant coaches.
• Draft lists going back to 1936.
• Oral history interview transcripts.
• Web pages devoted to resources about specific defunct professional teams.
• Images depicting the uniforms of past NFL and AAFC teams.
• An AAFC encyclopedia and AAFC attendance records.
• Information about the WFL.
• Information about TV commentators dating back to the 1970s.
• Information about players who served in the military.
• Bylaws, minutes, and reports of the PFRA board of directors.

Our membership is an active one, and as a member of the PFRA you will be able to:
• Nominate and vote on candidates to become members of the Hall of Very Good, which honors outstanding players and coaches who are not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• Help to compile and publish a comprehensive list of former professional players who have passed away during the past year.
• Gather biennially at the PFRA Convention to share research and to listen to speakers, including former professional players and coaches, talk about their experiences in professional football.
• Cooperatively write, edit, and publish books about professional football.
• Participate in research committees about specific topics.
• Participate in the PFRA online forum, where members discuss all things professional football.



NOTE: Please allow 48-72 hours for your membership to be processed and for your Members Only account to be created.