When Football Was Football

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of “When Football Was Football” on the Sports History Network, we are delighted to bring back the unique life, and amazing accomplishments, of one Wilfrid Russell Smith. Smith was the son of a wandering minister, enjoyed playing sports, and eventually accepted...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY It was December of 1924 when Big Jim Thorpe of the NFL’s Rock Island Independents decided to escape the harsh, frigid weather of northern Illinois for a post-season gridiron tour of several southern states. The idea seemed promising. Most of his Rock Island teammates would joi...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . WHEN FOOTBALL WAS FOOTBALL HOME PAGE EPISODE SUMMARY Throughout the history of professional football, every so often you might notice a club roster that is so strong, so impressive, and so very talented, that you just could not anticipate anything less than total success for that specific tea...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Since the Arizona Cardinals are the NFL’s oldest team, with roots extending back to 1899, there are many examples of unusual plays, strange accomplishments, and perhaps odd statistics! Most of this stuff has been relegated to history, and remains hidden on yellowed newspapers...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY As usual during the staging of the Summer Olympics, numerous stars are born, discovered, and revered forever based on their gold-medal winning performances. World-wide coverage of the numerous events is eagerly followed by millions and many of the champions quickly become hous...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY This episode covers some of the greatest moments in Paddy Driscoll's career. Read the entire episode blog post and check out some other cool info regarding this episode here . WHEN FOOTBALL WAS FOOTBALL BACKGROUND Each episode takes the listener back to the very early days of...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY On this episode of “When Football Was Football,” we’ll take a break from covering professional football and journey back to 1937 for a celebration of one of Chicago’s most prominent annual sporting events: the Prep Bowl. Each year, the high school season in the city would conc...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY And, you may ask, who is Joseph T. Sternaman? Sternaman was more commonly known as Joey Sternaman during his professional football playing days from 1922 through 1930. As such, Joey was actually the very first quarterback of the Bears when the team incorporated in Chicago in 1...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . NETWORK SPONSORS Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans! EPISODE SUMMARY Cardinals’ fans are familiar with the long, sad story concerning the current championship dry spell for the club that has now stretched into its 76th year. That will be 76 years this fall without an NFL title...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Long before we could watch football games on our phones, or talk with our friends using our wrist watch, there was Dick Tracy. On this episode of “When Football Was Football,” we’ll visit the original Dick Tracy, a crime fighting cartoon character whose fame achieved world-wid...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Every so often, we encounter a football story that just screams to be shared. In this episode of “When Football Was Football” we’ll actually discuss a kicker who, believe it or not, boomed 100-yard punts in practice. Sometimes, there are true stories that just cannot be made u...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Stories about unknown or undrafted collegiate players making it big in the NFL, are rare, but always entertaining! One such case occurred in December of 1953 when Chicago Bears’ assistant coach Clark Shaughnessy was scouting the Blue-Gray all-star game in Montgomery, AL. A loc...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Who is Art Folz, and why is he one of the most notorious villains in NFL history that you never heard about? On this episode of “When Football Was Football” we’ll introduce you to Mr. Folz who was banned from the NFL for his unwitting attempt to be helpful, but then became the...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY The episode recounts the story of World War II hero Edward "Butch" O'Hare and his gangster-affiliated father. Butch O'Hare, an American naval aviator, displayed extraordinary courage and skill by single-handedly taking down five enemy bombers threatening his ship, the USS Lexi...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . From a personal standpoint, I truly love the game of football…and to write about it. At times, it’s easy to slip back in time during my research of pro football topics to be captivated by some obscure player or fact from the history of the game itself. A few minutes searching for verification...

Historian Joe Ziemba Shares Stories of Some Pieces of his Chicago Cardinals Memorabilia Collection. The History comes to life when you see period pieces from when Chicago had two NFL teams. Join us at the Pigskin Dispatch website and the Sports Jersey Dispatch to see even more Positive football news! Sign up to get daily football history headlines in your email inbox @  Email-subscriber Miss...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY On November 6, 1927, a few thousand of his closest friends gathered to honor Chicago Cardinals’ lineman Willis Brennan. But Willis Brennan was much more than a football player. In fact, if you consider some of the landmark events of Chicago in the 1920s, chances are Willis Bre...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Before player drafts, salary caps, and heck, even before the National Football League, we had the Cardinals! On this episode of “When Football Was Football,” we’ll chronicle the very first season of the NFL’s oldest team—the Arizona Cardinals. Along the way, we’ll discover som...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY No one knew it existed. But suddenly, there it was: a dusty, withered document, that brought a quick end to a daring rivalry, disrupted an NFL team’s plans for an economic revival, and may have even saved the NFL. That was then, but six decades later, no one knows where this i...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Bidwill was the founder of the Chicago Bluebirds professional softball team and was also the co-founder of the National Girls Baseball League (NGBL) which began in 1944 with all teams based in Chicago. Many of the games were played at Charley’s own Bidwill Stadium, located at...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Remember the infamous “Spygate” scandal from a few years ago? As a reminder, one prominent NFL team was severely penalized for allegedly, and illegally, filming another team’s defensive signals from an on-field camera during a game, thus offering the offending club a significa...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of “When Football Was Football” we’ll look back at a battle between the two rivals that has largely been erased from the record books despite the game being played under the lights on Wednesday, October 17, 1934 at State Fair Park in Milwaukee, WI. Read the ent...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of “When Football Was Football,” we’ll look closely at the arrival of the original Chicago Bulls back in 1926. Unlike the NBA champions of almost 70 years later, these Bulls were formed to participate as members of the newly formed American Football League. And...

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Something didn’t look right… It was the morning of December 28, 1947, 75 years ago today, and both the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Cardinals were preparing for their eagerly awaited NFL title game at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Despite the presence of 18 tons of hay bein...

Author and historian Joe Ziemba of the  When Football was Football Podcast  joins us to discuss the 1996 Rose Bowl game between USC and Northwestern. The people, plays, and great stories associated with the 70th Rose Bowl Game. Joe has a fantastic book on Chicago area pro football titled  Bears versus Cardinals , that is an excellent piece of reading for any fan of football history!...