Homer Cooke, co-owner of Enumclaw's Silver Barons football team heard 1930's radio accounts about Sammy Baugh being the best football player in the nation and asked himself "How do we really know?" So, in 1935 he convinced the Northwest Football League owners to track statistics of their games and submit them to him for publication and he would compile the stats and issue them to the AP and UP. This two year experiment saw every newspaper of consequence in the Northwest report the exploits of Northwest League players, many of whom were ex-collegiate stars at Washington, Washington State, Gonzaga, Oregon and Oregon Tech, while others were local high school standouts whose family names were deeply rooted in the communities which came out by the thousands and on train rides from Portland to Seattle to Spokane to watch these early semi-pro games.

In 1937, he had worked out the bugs and was ready to launch the program nationally. Typing on the letterhead of the Silver Barons, Homer wrote to the nation's top colleges, asking them to send him statistical roundups for the next season. Sportsfolio reported that only 25 publicists said they could supply Cooke with even part of what he wanted, but he was not discouraged. He had gained the support of Joe Petritz at Notre Dame, Fielding Yost of Michigan and the chair of the NCAA Rules Committee. He asked again and by the end of the season he had 78 schools from coast to coast.

By then, Cooke also had a company: the American Football Statistical Bureau.

Four years later, the 1941 Official Football Guide published by A.S. Barnes of New York included "The National Leaders," with credit given to the AFSB.

The 1943 Guide featured Cooke's first statistical analysis ("Flames of War Singe Record Pages"). "For a half dozen years," said the editor's note, "the American Football Statistical Bureau has served collegiate football as it's national 'clearing house' of official facts and figures."

In 1946, the bureau began receiving financial assistance from the NCAA to help support the venture, but was revoked in 1949 due to the cost of implementing the Sanity Code and A.S. Barnes decision to no longer publish the guides and rule books. Cooke convinced the NCAA that his National Collegiate Athletic Bureau could produce the guides at a profit with the NCAA as the publisher; this they did for the next 24 years until his retirement. In 1959, the NCAA purchased the NCAB in it's entirety and has operated it ever since.

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