Timothy P. Brown's Blog, page 16

Today's Tidbit... Getting Your Signals Crossed

Teams getting their signals crossed has been in the news lately—maybe you heard about it. A different group of high schoolers, seen below, got their signals crossed around 1910. They played when only a few teams had ever worn numbers on their jerseys, yet some of the guys have addition or multiplication signs on their chests.

c. 1910 football team practicing addition and multiplication (Personal collection)

The quarterback, fullback, and left halfback have plusses on the front. A close look shows ...

Two-Lace Football Prototypes

I published A History of the Football last year, which describes how the football evolved in size, shape, construction, coloring, striping, and attempts to make the ball easier to grip. The latter primarily came through adjustments to the tanning and dimpling processes.

I recently learned about a prototype ball from the late 1960s to mid-1970s that is not included in the book. It is not believed to have been used in a game other than in a backyard. What makes this ball distinct? The typical footb...

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... Holding On

Pigskin Dispatch podcaster Darin Hayes and I discuss the old days of holding and teeing up the football. The old rules were a bit bizarre to modern eyes, so we walk through how the kicking rules and corresponding techniques changed over time.

Watch or listen to the podcast here and/or read the original Tidbit.

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Today's Tidbit... When Kansas Fired Their Best Football Coach

If you were a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Kansas the last time they went undefeated and untied in a football season, you would be 136 years old today, or thereabouts, and hopefully would have graduated by now.

The Jayhawks' last perfect season came in 1908 under the direction of Dr. A. R. "Bert" Kennedy, and his 52 career wins at Kansas remain the most of any coach in history. Not only that, they fired him after the 1910 season due to a new Missouri Valley Conference rule requiring...

Huddled Masses #4

Football history generally focuses on the stars, the winners, and the championship teams from prominent programs. However, most who played football over the years did so in obscurity. Yet, some left a record of their football days in the form of Real Photo Postcards (RPPCs). Despite most images showing those who played before teams huddled regularly, we refer to them as The Huddled Masses.

Previous Huddled Masses: 1905 | #2 | #3

Those playing back in the day were often ill-equipped, had mismatchin...

Wilson's 1955-56 Catalog and the Future of Face Masks

I've written about the evolution of face masks in the past, but a recent acquisition illustrates how the future of face masks took a turn in the mid-1950s.

Football faced a critical juncture in head protection in the 1950s. Riddell introduced plastic helmets in 1940, but plastics became unavailable for civilian use within a year, so leather remained the primary material for helmet construction until post-war. As the 1940s closed and the 1950s began, plastic helmets quickly became the preferred to...

Today's Tidbit... Football Balks And Snapper Feints

Most people associate balks with baseball, but football twice had balks until they were outlawed each time. Football's first balks came in the 1880s when kickers set up for field goal attempts, and instead of fully kicking the ball, they sometimes dribble kicked or balked it, booting it a short distance, picking it up, and running with it.

(‘The New Football Rules,’ Sun (New York), April 10, 1887.)

Balking a field goal attempt sometimes made sense when scoring the touchdown near the sideline. Back...

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... Halftime Entertainment, or Not

Pigskin Dispatch podcaster Darin Hayes and I discuss a few odd example of halftime entertainment, all of which have an Olympic connection. Not all were as entertaining as others, but I would have enjoyed the javelin toss demonstration at the 1935 Creighton and Hardin-Simmons game.

Watch or listen to the podcast here and/or read the original Tidbit.

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Today's Tidbit... The Unlikely 1910 Carlisle-Harvard Law School Game

Football history is always surprising. You think you have heard every odd story and then come across a new one. This one is about a legendary coach of a Top 25 team being challenged to a game by a bunch of law school students. He, Pop Warner, accepted the challenge and lost the game, to Harvard Law School.

Carlisle once competed with the top football schools in the nation. Based in the small town of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, they played anywhere and everywhere. They took on anyone who would have th...

Today's Tidbit... Chuck Cramer's Sprained Ankle

You may not have heard of Chuck Cramer, who played football for Gardner High School in Kansas in the years immediately after the forward pass became legal. You also may not have heard of Chuck Cramer, who lettered in track at Kansas by pole vaulting 11' 3" in a meet against Missouri. That was back when pole vaulters used bamboo poles, fell into sawdust pits, and a 12' 0" vault earned an invitation to the Olympic Trials.

(1912 Kansas yearbook)

Still, you are familiar with Chuck's life work, which b...