1926 Pottsville Maroons Real
Photo Post Cards
In 1926 the Mack Studio in
Pottsville, Pennsylvania produced a series of real photo post cards of members
of the Pottsville Maroon NFL football team. Some would consider this is the
first set of cards for professional football.
1929
Giants Schedule
In 1929 the Giants issued this
schedule with Jack Hagerty on the front. It measures 4.5″ by 6″ on
card stock.
1930
Giants vs. Notre Dame All Stars
In December 1930 the New York
Giants played a benefit football game against a team of Notre Dame All Stars to
raise money for the unemployed in New York City (see Giants vs. Notre Dame) The
contest was also promoted as a opportunity to see if
the nascent pro game was equal to the venerable and very popular college game.
The Giants won the day 22 to 0.
1933
Championship Game Program
But to see an example that was
signed by a number of the Giants and with my father’s autograph so well placed
-I did not imagine such a piece existed.
A
Most Amazing Story
This wire photo is from November
28, 1937 and shows Mario (Moots) Tonelli crossing the goal line giving Notre
Dame a 13-6 win over Southern California. While that was a memorable event, it
set the stage for what might be the most amazing football story every told (thanks to the Notre
Dame News, Aug. 19, 2002)
An
Interesting Contract
A number of items from the files of
Charlie Conerly have recently come up for auction. I thought this contract was
a real time capsule – can you imagine what such a contract would look like
today?
And
now, after a long absence
I have a new respect for people who
actually keep up with blogs – clearly I’m not one of
them since it has been over a year between posts.
Carlisle
Indian Industrial School
In 1893 Richard Henry Pratt,
Superintendent of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, permitted students to
organize a football team
Chris
Cagle
Chris Cagle had a long college
football career – 8 years worth.
Coach
Of all famous football coaches, my
favorite is Jim Lee Howell, the coach of the New York Giants from 1954 to 1960.
College
Football Draws Big Crowds
By the 1880 – 1890s College
football was drawing big crowds. Here’s a photo from
the scapbook of a Yale student showing the line to
buy tickets for the Yale Harvard game in the early 1890s
Earl
Potteiger
Earl Potteiger
was the coach for the New York Giants in their first championship season, 1927
Early
NFL Contracts
Finding contracts from the early
years of the NFL is not an everyday occurrence, but when they turn up they often yield both great autographs and interesting
information.
Election
Day in Buffalo 1929
In 1929 the New York Giants
traveled to Buffalo for an Election Day game against the Bisons.
First
Things First
This program is the oldest football
finding in my collection – 1873 – before Walter Camp joined the Yale squad.
Football
Matchbooks
In 1933 the Diamond Match Company
introduced a set of matchbooks with photographs of professional and college
football players on the front and a brief bio on the back.
Grace
Thorpe
Recently on eBay I found this 1931
wire photo of Jim Thorpe and his daughter Grace.
Gridiron
Although the forward pass had been
used earlier, it was only legalized by rule changes in 1906.
Hinkey
Haines, A Singular Achievement
Hinkey Haines accomplished
something no one had ever done before and no one has
ever done since
Jarvis Field, Cambridge MA
A great Pach
Brothers photograph of Jarvis Field, Cambridge, MA, where Harvard played football
before Harvard Stadium was built in 1903.
Lou Gehrig on the football field
Picked up an interesting Real Photo
Post Card the other day – a scene from the game between Columbia and Cornell on
Nov. 4, 1922.
Mystery Man
I’ve found a 1935 photo of the Giants welcoming back Harry Newman
after a year out due to injury. I can identify every player in this photo
except one mystery man
Oorang Indians
In 1922 Jim Thorpe teamed up with
the owner of an Airedale hunting dog kennel to create an all Native American football
team – the Oorang Indians.
Pro Football Its Ups and Downs
Several efforts to publicize
professional football were launched in the 1930s – Dr. Harry March of the New
York Giants published “Pro Football Its Ups and Downs, a “Light-hearted History
of the Post-Graduate Game.”
Steve Owen
Five years ago I wrote an article
about Steve Owen for Gridiron Greats magazine (Steve
Owen) I’ll
begin this post with the same paragraph: I remember Steve Owen as a very big
man.
The 1926 NFL Championship
Before 1933, the NFL championship
was determined by the best winning percentage of league games. In 1926 the
championship was won by the Frankford Yellow Jackets.
The First All American Team
The first list of players presented
as an All-American team was selected by Caspar Whitney and appeared in Harper’s
Weekly in 1889. Among those selected were three Yale players: W. W. “Pudge”
Heffelfinger, Charles O. Gill, and Amos Alonzo Stagg.
The Sneakers Game 1934
The 1934 NFL Championship game has
gone down in football history as “The Sneakers Game” because the Giants came
out in the second half wearing basketball sneakers instead of football cleats
and this gave them better footing on the frozen field.
Update to Mystery Man in photos
It seems to me the most likely
identification of the 1930 mystery man remains Hilpert, and the 1935 mystery
man is most likely Tony Sarausky.
When Walter Camp Came to Campus
During the early decades the rules
of football were in constant evolution. The Yale Princeton Game of 1881 ended in a
scoreless tie revealed flaws in the rules which were revised to require a team
advance the ball five yards in three downs or give it up to the other side.