405: Leo Lyons & The NFL's Rochester Jeffersons - With Jeffrey Miller & John Steffenhagen
In 1898, a 16-year-old dreamer named Leo Lyons was tossing a football around a Rochester, NY sandlot. Within two years, he wasn’t just playing—he was managing, coaching, and bankrolling a team that would become an National Football League charter member: the Rochester Jeffersons.
This week, we sit down with authors Jeffrey Miller and John Steffenhagen to explore their powerful new book, "Leo Lyons, the Rochester Jeffersons and the Birth of the NFL" - the unbelievable-but-true story of how one man’s relentless vision helped shape pro football’s earliest days.
From challenging Jim Thorpe’s Canton Bulldogs and signing Black players decades before integration, to mortgaging his house and offering Red Grange $5,000 per game, Lyons’ tale is one of grit, guts, and heartbreak.
With exclusive access to the Leo Lyons Collection, Miller and Steffenhagen uncover the backroom deals, sandlot beginnings, and forgotten heroes behind the NFL's formation.
It’s a story of ambition, obsession — and a dream that changed American sports forever.
PLUS: Tim devises a strategy to definitively get Leo Lyons into the Pro Football Hall of Fame!
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