NFL Awards
Beginning in 1954 the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), under the guidance of Murray Olderman, began to poll NFL players and award what became known as the Players' All-Pro team. In addition, the NEA awarded a Rookie of the Year, a Most Valuable Player (since 1955), and a Defensive Player of the Year (George S. Halas Trophy; 1966–96). All were accepted as official and were published in the NFL Record and Fact Book alongside the Associated Press, United Press International, and the Pro Football Writers Association All-Pro teams and awards. The NEA last announced awards in 1997 and last had an All-Pro team in 1992, ending a 34-year tradition of the "Player's All-Pro Team". (The NEA list's successor, the Sporting News All-Pro team, currently polls players along with coaches and managers for its teams.) From the early 1980s the NEA All-Pro team was released in the World Almanac which was a NEA publication.
The NFL MVP award was called the Jim Thorpe Trophy and began in 1955 (not to be confused with college football's Jim Thorpe Award). The Defensive Player of the Year was named after Chicago Bears founder George S. Halas and its inception was 1966, the Rookie of the Year award was named after NFL commissioner Bert Bell and began in 1964. In the early 1960s the NEA began awarding the Third Down Trophy that symbolized each team's MVP. That began in the American Football League and included the NFL after the 1970 AFL-NFL merger and ran through 1979. Currently the Jim Thorpe Trophy is still awarded, through the Jim Thorpe Association of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is awarded to the NFL Most Valuable Player and is voted upon my members of the NFLPA.
Olderman, the driving force behind the Players' All-Pro teams and awards, was also a fine artist and cartoonist. When the NEA news service released its stories on the annual NFL awards they were accompanied by artwork provided by Olderman to illustrate the stories.
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