Timothy P. Brown's Blog, page 8

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... Football Tees Off

Pigskin Dispatch’s Darin Hayes and I discuss the history of football tees, covering the days before artificial tees, then dirt mounds, and various rubber or plastic tees and blocks. It’s a fun look back a strange evolution that occurred in football history.

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

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1960 NFL Enterprises Catalogue: Youth Apparel

The NFL started shifting into a different gear in the late 1950s and early 1960s. With television technologies improving and networks becoming fully integrated, the league was ascending and taking steps to better market itself and make more money.

Among the steps they took was to centralize television contracts and merchandising functions with the league rather than the franchises, leading to the creation in 1959 of NFL Enterprises as their licensing arm. Now, if you were the NFL in 1960 and need...

Parke H. Davis Coaches the 1893 Wisconsin Badgers

Parke H. Davis is best known today for his 1911 book, Football, The American Intercollegiate Game, the first history of American football. Widely recognized in his day as a coach, statistician, historian, and overall football guy, he served on the NCAA Rules Committee from 1909 to 1915.

Davis was many things, but after substituting in the line for Princeton during the 1890-1892 seasons, he signed on as a reporter for the Philadelphia Press upon graduation. The engagement did not last long, howeve...

Pete Overfield and Center Play in 1897

Raise your hand if you are familiar with Pete Overfield's game. If not, you soon will be.

Overfield was a two-time All-American at Penn, joining Camp's first team in 1888 and 1889. After playing two years at left guard for Mansfield Normal, Overfield enrolled at Penn, becoming an immediate starter at center for teams that went 14-1, 15-0, 12-1, and 8-3-2 under George Woodruff, earning a national championship in 1897.

Early in his sophomore season, the Philadelphia Times published a set of illustra...

Pigskin Books Review of How Football Became Football

Shane Richmond of Pigskin Books recently reviewed How Football Became Football, my tome on the history of the game. Shane’s site covers the range of football books and helps readers find those about their favorite teams, coaches, time periods, or other themes.

Here’s one of his comments about How Football Became Football.

Brown, who has written four books and is a regular on football history podcasts, earned a reputation for meticulous research and deep curiosity. With its wide-angle view and fine...

Film Room: 1915 Cornell@Penn

The 1915 Penn-Cornell game was expected to be a blowout. Cornell was 8-0 with a high-scoring offense that put up 40 points in four of those victories, plus a 34-7 drubbing of Michigan. They are recognized as national champs by several pollsters.

Penn started the season 3-0 before going 0-4-2 in the next six games, including a 0-0 tie versus Michigan.

Game program (eBay)

Despite expectations for Big Red dominance, the Quakers put up a fight. They led the game at half and after three quarters, both t...

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... No Returns on Exchanges

Pigskin Dispatch’s Darin Hayes and I discuss old time rules to encourage greater risk taking by offenses, including the rule that once denied defenses the ability to advance recovered fumbles. Lots of good stuff discussed along the way.

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

Football Archaeology is reader-supported. Click here to donate a couple of bucks, buy one of my books, or otherwise support the site.

Subscribe now

Today's Tidbit... Harvard Stadium's 1929 Expansion Plans

Being the first out of the gate confers advantages and disadvantages, especially when it comes to football stadiums. Harvard Stadium was the world's first large reinforced concrete structure, and its pioneering design meant its construction in 1903 garnered global media attention; yet, it also featured many elements that became norms for the stadiums that followed. Among Harvard Stadium's shortcomings were the lack of locker rooms, restrooms, concessions, and a press box. Additionally, spectator...

Today's Tidbit... Play Like A 1961 Champion Catalog

A little over a year ago I reviewed the Champion Athletic catalog from 1955, noting that the Champion C logo premiered the following year. Today we get to look at the 1961 catalog, where the Champion C is nowhere to be found. Manufacturer logos generally did not appear on clothing at the time. They showed up on helmet foreheads, footballs, and some shoes, but the only place they were found on clothing was the tag. Of course, the times have changed.

Unlike the 1955 catalog which used black and red...

1955 Don Spencer and Coca-Cola Program Covers

The illustrated game program covers from the 1940s to 1960s are among football's most iconic images. There isn't an individual cover that is iconic; instead, the covers as a class are iconic, and none are more so than those drawn by Lon Keller.

I've written about Keller three times previously. Once, to describe the early evolution of program covers, which reached their peak with Keller and his association with the Don Spencer Company. As detailed in the second and third stories, Keller created pr...