Our History

The National Football Foundation was founded in 1947 by General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl “Red” Blaik and well-known journalist Grantland Rice. Under the leadership of Chairman Archie Manning and President and CEO Steven J. Hatchell, the NFF is a non-profit educational organization that focuses on using the power of amateur football in order to develop scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF unites all organized groups that play, coach, administer and support amateur football. With 120 Chapters throughout the nation, including the Oregon chapter, the NFF has over 10,000 members in 47 states.

More than 5,000 high schools are connected to the NFF chapter system and within those schools 500,000 athletes are reached annually. Approximately 3,300 high school scholar-athletes are recognized at local chapter banquets distributing $1,000,000 in scholarships annually. More than 1,000 individual chapter events are held across the nation including golf tournaments, college nights, passing leagues, and scholar-athlete banquets.