Pittsburgh Athletic Club (football)

[2] In 1893, Pittsburgh again made history when it signed one of its players, probably halfback Grant Dibert, to the first known pro football contract, which covered all of the team's games for the year.

[3] Their rival, the Allegheny Athletic Association, started up a football team in the same year that brought a lot of publicity to their club.

The quest for club prestige led to the recruiting of football players, at first with indirect financial inducements.

After their undefeated season, each member of the East End team was presented with a gold watch in the shape of a miniature football which also served as a trophy.

The first game between Allegheny and the now renamed Pittsburgh Athletic Club was played on Columbus Day 1892 in East Liberty.

Pittsburgh accused Allegheny of purposely trying to injure Kirchner, who had been forced out of the game with an ankle injury.

A few weeks after the game, it was discovered that "Stayer" was actually A. C. Read, the captain of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team.

[6] In preparation, both clubs went into full-scale behind-the-scenes talks with the top players of the era to strengthen their teams.

Allegheny won the game 4–0, in front of 3,000 spectators, when Heffelfinger picked up a fumble, that he forced himself, and ran it in for a touchdown.

After successful seasons in 1896 and 1897, the pro football turmoil had upset Allegheny club so greatly that the sport was dropped.

However, the Pittsburgh A. C. also lost ground to the Latrobe Athletic Association, located in neighboring Westmoreland County.

Pittsburgh finally decided the cost of paying football players only to watch them lose to Duquesne was a poor investment for the club's treasury.