Timothy P. Brown's Blog, page 33

Walter Camp and Football's Road Not Taken

The history of football equipment includes long-forgotten devices that never gained the traction their inventors sought. For example, two Michigan inventors earned a patent for adding beads to the bars of face masks, hoping to prevent face masking.

(US Patent 4594737 John Butash. Fig. 1)

The same situation applies to ideas for potential rule changes, such as the one calling to number the yard lines from 0 to 100 rather than from 0 to 50 on either side of midfield. Whether applied to the game's equ...

Today's Tidbit... Percy Wendell, Nose Guards, and Serbian Restaurant Riots

Caspar Whitney named the first All-American football team in 1889, so while All-Americans are members of an exclusive club each year, a large number have become members over the years that I do not know or have not given attention. One such player was Percy L. Wendell, a Harvard halfback and kicker who was a second-team All-American in 1912 and first-team All-American in 1913 and 1914.

Wendell captained the Harvard eleven in 1912 under Percy Haughton. Considered the ideal captain, the senior clas...

Rerun: When The Olympics Included Gridiron Football

Originally published in June 2021, this story applies to those who love the Olympics and gridiron football. It is republished today for the opening of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Tokyo Summer Olympics are upon us, and gridiron football will again be absent, but our dear game was part of the 1904 St. Louis and 1932 Los Angeles games. Sort of.

We all know the modern Olympics began in Athens in 1896, followed by the Paris Games of 1900, which included events familiar and strange. The International O...

The 1951 Los Angeles Rams-11th Naval District Tripleheader ($)

1951 Los Angeles Rams-11th Naval District Football Program (Personal collection)

We're approaching Week 8 of the CFL's 21-week season, college football teams will soon start camp, and the first NFL preseason game arrives on August 1. Nowadays, CFL teams play only CFL teams, colleges play other colleges, and NFL teams play one another, but that was not always the case. Pro teams occasionally crossed the border and periodically faced amateur teams, particularly those representing the U.S. military....

The 1951 Los Angeles Rams-11th Naval District Tripleheader

1951 Los Angeles Rams-11th Naval District Football Program (Personal collection)

We're approaching Week 8 of the CFL's 21-week season, college football teams will soon start camp, and the first NFL preseason game arrives on August 1. Nowadays, CFL teams play only CFL teams, colleges play other colleges, and NFL teams play one another, but that was not always the case. Pro teams occasionally crossed the border and periodically faced amateur teams, particularly those representing the U.S. military....

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... The Ready-To-Play Signal

Pigskin Dispatch podcaster and former football official Darin Hayes and I discuss the onset of the referee handling the ball between plays and creating the ready-to-play signal in 1951, which we now see on every play.

Watch and listen to the discussion on YouTube, hear the podcast, and feel free to read the original Tidbit below.

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George Taliaferro: Army Draftee, and NFL's First Black Draftee and Starting QB

The first NFL draft occurred on February 8, 1936. The draft kept teams with shallower pockets from competing with the deeper-pocketed teams for amateur players. Players either signed with the team that drafted them or could not play in the NFL. The 1936 draft's #1 pick and Heisman winner, Jay Berwanger, chose not to sign a contract, and neither did most draftees since only 24 of the 81 selected players appeared in an NFL game.

There also weren't any Black players selected in the 1936 draft due to...

Today's Tidbit... Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

Some teams have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time, but the 1949 Emory & Henry gridders doubled up twice, winning two conference championships and playing in two bowl games. In the finest season in school history, the Emory & Henry Wasps buzzed through the regular season to finish 10-0.

By going 2-0 in their first season of play in the Virginia Little Six Conference and 4-0 in the Smokey Mountain Conference, Emory & Henry won two conference titles. The Wasps tossed the ball all over...

Today's Tidbit... IGA's Football-Themed Incentive Program of 1942

Football sells. It grabs headlines and attracts attention, so many businesses align themselves with specific players, teams, and leagues. Others avoid paying licensing, royalty, or endorsement fees by associating themselves with the sport in general, such as when the Independent Grocers Alliance or IGA developed a football-themed incentive program in 1942, hoping to promote the sale of various grocery products.

Since I worked for several decades for a marketing services firm that pioneered the sa...

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... Eligible Receiver Out Of Bounds

Pigskin Dispatch podcaster Darin Hayes and I discuss the penalty for an eligible receiver stepping out of bounds and reentering the field. The primary reason the original rule was put in place no longer exists due to various rule changes, including the creation of hash marks.

Watch and listen to the discussion on YouTube, hear the podcast, and feel free to read the original Tidbit below.

Subscribe for free for limited content or gain full access with a paid subscription.

Subscribe now

You can also s...