Re-Introducing the Pigskin Parade Part 1

In 1939, the Cleveland Press newspaper celebrated the new football season with an entertaining series of illustrations and facts about the first 70 years of American football.

What is the “Pigskin Parade”

The Cleveland Newspapers published 35 episodes of the “Pigskin Parade” images and information series posts, each containing 3-5 frame cells, during the 1939 Football season. We salute the artist and author of this series and repost the episodes to honor their work. We salute the artist and author of this series and are reposting to honor their work. Timothy Brown of Football Archaeology recognizes the syndicated cartoon series’ author as Jerry Brondfield (author) and an unknown but talented illustrator.

Tim says that this Pigskin Parade is the original series written by the same author and a different illustrator from the 1969 series called “100 Years Of Football,” also released in book form, which was followed by newspaper posts.

The hand-drawn sketches published in multiple frames each day introduced readers to significant gridiron people, events, and teams. Over the coming weeks, we will celebrate the genius of the Pigskin Parade strips and add additional historical context to help the 86-year-old news event tell the story of the first 70 seasons of American football.

Parade 1 Frame 1

Football originated in Europe as a rugby and association (soccer) game. It became popular in the States in 1862 when Gerritt Smith Hiller organized a group of Yale students to play again, using rules that were reasonably similar to those of soccer. Still, the game was often more of an excuse to beat up first-year students in a hazing activity than anything else.

The ” football ” game became popular at the eastern colleges, though. On November 6, 1869, an intercollegiate game was played between Princeton and Rutgers. This day’s game was very similar to rugby, with twenty players on the field for each team during the action.

Parade 1 Scene 2

The codification of American football did not solidify in 1872, but rather it was a process of negotiation and compromise that began around that time and involved multiple rules conventions. In the years immediately following the first intercollegiate game in 1869 (Princeton vs. Rutgers), most colleges, including Princeton and Rutgers, played a form of “foot-ball” that closely resembled modern soccer, based on the London Football Association Code of 1863. This “kicking game” disallowed carrying or throwing the ball. In 1872, Princeton defeated Rutgers 4-1, playing under these Association Football rules.

However, the lack of uniform rules hampered intercollegiate play. Harvard, for instance, had adopted a much different, rugby-style game after playing Montreal’s McGill College, which allowed carrying the ball. This major division led to the crucial October 1873 rules convention at New York’s Fifth Avenue Hotel, where Princeton, Rutgers, Yale, Columbia, and Stevens Tech met. This meeting established the Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) and adopted a standardized set of rules that still favored the “kicking game” with 20-man teams. The true transition toward the rugby-style “carrying game,” which laid the foundation for modern American football, didn’t fully occur until the 1876 Massasoit Convention, where Princeton and other major colleges formally adopted the Rugby Union rules, cementing the sport’s distinct trajectory.

We have more on this time period in American gridiron history in our Football History Rewind Series:

Parade 1 Scene 3