David J. Berry was a major football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 manager during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the top promotor for the sport during that time period. He is credited with inventing the "all-star game concept" in 1898, and also helped to form one of the first organized football leagues in 1902.

Latrobe

He was the manager of the Latrobe Athletic Association

Latrobe Athletic Association

The Latrobe Athletic Association was a professional football team located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, from 1895 until 1909. The team is best known for being the first football club to play a full season while composed entirely of professional players...

 the first ever fully professional football team to play an entire season. He was also signed John Brallier

John Brallier

John Kinport "Sal" Brallier was one of the first professional American football players. He was nationally acknowledged as the first openly paid professional football player when he was given $10 to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association for a game against the Jeanette Athletic Association in...

 to the Latrobe football team in 1895, for $10 a game plus expenses, making him the first-ever openly professional football player. Outside of pro football, Berry was the editor of the Latrobe Clipper newspaper.

All-Star game

Berry was also the inventor of the all-star game

All-star game

An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league, except in the circumstances of professional sports systems in which a democratic voting system is used...

. In 1898, Berry organized a team of local stars to play the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club

Duquesne Country and Athletic Club

The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club was a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1895 until 1900. The team was considered one of the best, if not the best, professional football teams in the country from 1898 until 1900...

, the Pennsylvania "football champions" that season. He came up with the idea of opposing them with an all-star team culled from Latrobe, Greensburg Athletic Association

Greensburg Athletic Association

The Greensburg Athletic Association was an early organized football team, based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, that played from 1890 until 1900. The team began as an amateur football club in 1890 and was composed primarily of locals before several professional players were added for the 1895 season...

, Washington & Jefferson College

Washington & Jefferson Presidents football

The Washington & Jefferson Presidents football team represents Washington & Jefferson College in collegiate level football. The team competes in NCAA Division III and is affiliated with the Presidents' Athletic Conference...

, the Pittsburgh Athletic Club

Pittsburgh Athletic Club (football)

The Pittsburgh Athletic Club football team, established in 1891, was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1892 the intense competition between two Pittsburgh-area clubs, the Allegheny Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, led to William Heffelfinger becoming the first known...

, and Pittsburgh College. Berry was able to form the 1898 Western Pennsylvania All-Star football team

1898 Western Pennsylvania All-Star football team

The 1898 Western Pennsylvania All-Star football team was a collection of early football players, from several teams in the area, to form an all-star team. The team was formed by Dave Berry, the manager of the Latrobe Athletic Association, for the purpose of playing the Duquesne Country and Athletic...

, however Greensburg and Washington & Jefferson refused to commit players, or allow them to play. Many of his players came directly from Latrobe. Still Berry's All-Star Game ended in a 16-0 Duquesne win. The game also resulted in a poor showing of attendance, with only 1,500 fans in attendance at Pittsburgh's Exposition Park

Exposition Park (Pittsburgh)

Exposition Park was a baseball park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1890 to circa 1915. It was located on the north side of the Allegheny River across from Pittsburgh's downtown area. Prior to the construction of this version of Exposition Park, two previous ballparks of the same name were...

. Part of the blame was due to many Pittsburghers considering the football season over with the Thanksgiving games. Uncertain weather was also blamed for the poor attendance. However most of the blame went to the leaders of the Greensburg Athletic Association, who were accused of spreading rumors that the various star players would not appear in the game.

Hours before the start of his all-star game, Berry was "arrested" by one of his Latrobe players for a debt he claimed Berry owed him. Berry paid the $33 owed and then had the player arrested on false arrest

False arrest

False arrest is a common law tort, where a plaintiff alleges they were held in custody without probable cause, or without an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction...

 charges.

NFL (1902)

Berry also helped form the first National Football League

National Football League (1902)

The National Football League was the first attempt at forming a national professional football league in 1902. The league has no ties with the modern National Football League. In fact the league was only composed of teams from Pennsylvania, which was hardly "national". Two of the teams were based...

 in 1902, with Ben Shibe

Ben Shibe

Benjamin Franklin Shibe was an American sporting goods and baseball executive who, along with his sons John and Tom, was half-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League from 1901 until his death. He is credited with the invention of the automated stitching machinery to make...

 and John Rogers

John Rogers (baseball)

John Ignatius Rogers , was part-owner of the Philadelphia Phillies from to , and majority owner from 1899 to . He also owned the Philadelphia Phillies of the short-lived National Football League of 1902.Rogers was born to Irish immigrant parents in Philadelphia on May 27, 1844...

. Shibe and Rodgers, owners of the Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

 and Philadelphia Athletics respectively, decided to field football teams to compete with each other during the baseball wars, that pitted the National League

National League

The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

 against the upstart American League

American League

The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...

. However both men needed to have a Pittsburgh-based

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 team in their football league to add legitimacy to their league. So they contacted Berry who put together an all-star team of top players, that were named the Pittsburgh Stars

Pittsburgh Stars

The Pittsburgh Stars were a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1902. The team was member of what was referred to as the National Football League. This league has no connection with the National Football League of today. The whole "league" was a curious mixture...

. The Stars were owned by Berry on paper, however Barney Dreyfuss

Barney Dreyfuss

Bernhard "Barney" Dreyfuss was an executive in Major League Baseball who owned the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise from 1900 to 1932....

 and William Chase Temple

William Chase Temple

William Chase Temple was a coal, citrus, and lumber baron during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from baseball's National League...

, owners of the Pittsburgh Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...

 were rumoured to be funding the team. Meanwhile Shibe and Rogers named their teams after their baseball counterparts. Berry was also named the league's president.

In the league's only season, Berry's Pittsburgh Stars defeated the Philadelphia Athletics

Philadelphia Athletics (NFL)

The Philadelphia Athletics were a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1902. The team was member of what was referred to as the National Football League. This league has no connection with the National Football League of today. The whole "league" was a curious...

, 11-0 at the Pittsburgh Coliseum to win the league championship. The A's players decided to call the Stars game an exhibition, and declared themselves the champs. However the team had agreed to that season-ending championship game against Pittsburgh the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving (United States)

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...

, and they had lost it. This was recognized by all parties at the time as the championship game. Each team carried a record of 2–2 for league play. Pittsburgh had by far the better point ratio, scoring 39 points to their opponents' 22. Both the Athletics and the Phillies gave up more points than they scored in their league games. Finally Berry used his power as league president and name his Stars the 1905 champions.