Football History of August 24

From ticker-tape triumphs to earth-shaking franchise announcements, August 24 stands as one of the most unpredictable dates on the gridiron calendar. On this day, New York City roared for Olympic and football legend Jim Thorpe in 1912, Jerry Rice orchestrated his storybook retirement as a 49er, and the football world stopped spinning when 29-year-old Colts superstar Andrew Luck abruptly walked away from the game. Whether it is celebrating the birth of offensive mastermind Mike Shanahan or mourning the loss of “Lenny the Cool” Dawson, August 24 is loaded with milestones that defined football culture across generations.

August 24 American Football History Timeline

• August 24, 1912 – A ticker tape parade was held in New York City as Jim Thorpe and the rest of the U.S. Olympians returned home from the Olympic Games held in Stockholm. Of course, Jim Thorpe, as we covered earlier in July, won the gold medal in the decathlon and the pentathlon and just had some great times doing it. We had some saga happen later on. You’ll find out in our history headlines that those gold medals were quite a roller coaster for Mr. Jim Thorpe, but he and the Olympians came home from Stockholm with the medals.
• August 24, 1979 – 60,916 NFL fans voted, and they chose the old New England Patriots logo over the new one, so they had to keep that older one there for a while. Of course, they changed it again a few decades later.
• August 24, 1992 – The Cleveland Browns suffered their most lopsided preseason loss ever when the Minnesota Vikings handed them a 56-3 drubbing. August 24, 2002, Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, opens for the first time to fans in a preseason game where the Texans hosted the Miami Dolphins.
• August 24, 2002 – Reliant Stadium Opens in Houston: The Houston Texans hosted the very first football game at Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium). A crowd of 69,432 fans filled the state-of-the-art facility—the first NFL stadium built with a retractable roof—for a preseason matchup against the Miami Dolphins, officially welcoming pro football back to the city of Houston following the departure of the Oilers.
• August 24, 2006 – The legend Jerry Rice signed a one-day contract with his former team, the San Francisco 49ers. Remember, he played for the Raiders for a year or two. He signed with the 49ers so that he could officially retire from the NFL as a Niner, just the way it should be.
• August 24, 2019 – College Football Commemorates 150 Years with “Week Zero”: The National Football Foundation and the NCAA officially kicked off the 150th Anniversary of College Football (CFB150) with a dedicated “Week Zero” slate. Commemorating the sport’s origins dating back to the inaugural Rutgers–Princeton clash on November 6, 1869, the milestone launch highlighted a season-long celebration of gridiron heritage and traditions across the country.
• August 24, 2019 – With just two weeks before the season was about to start, the Indianapolis Colts franchise received devastating news when their young star quarterback, Andrew Luck, retired for health reasons. What a shocker for the Colts franchise and for fans around the world. He was their franchise quarterback and really set them back a bit because he was a young, rising star in the National Football League. Unfortunately, the health issues just became too much for him, and he was not able to function the way he wanted to and, you know, didn’t want to risk his health, so he had to retire.
• August 24, 2022 – Football Mourns the Loss of Len Dawson: Legendary Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson passed away at the age of 87. Known as “Lenny the Cool,” Dawson guided the Kansas City Chiefs to victory in Super Bowl IV, earning game MVP honors, and later enjoyed a distinguished broadcasting career that earned him the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.

August 24 Hall of Fame Birthdays

Happy August 24 birthday to these amazing figures from American football history.

• Albert Benbrook [1887] – A powerhouse guard for the University of Michigan from 1908 through 1910, Benbrook was recognized by Walter Camp as a consensus first-team All-American in consecutive seasons (1909 and 1910). Renowned as one of early college football’s premier pulling guards and dominant trench leaders, he served as team captain in 1910 and was posthumously enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
• Paul Des Jardien [1893] – A towering 6-foot-5 center for Amos Alonzo Stagg’s University of Chicago Maroons, Des Jardien earned All-American honors in 1913 and 1914 while anchoring a 1913 squad that captured the Big Ten championship with an undefeated 7–0 record. Enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955, the multitalented four-sport letterman later took his skills to the early professional gridiron with clubs like the Hammond Pros, Chicago Tigers, and Minneapolis Marines.
• Jim Holder [1940] – A prolific, record-breaking halfback for Panhandle A&M (now Oklahoma Panhandle State), Holder set NAIA single-season records in 1963 by racking up 1,775 rushing yards across just 10 games. Enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012, he served his country as an Army officer following graduation. He tragically made the ultimate sacrifice when he lost his life in the Vietnam War in 1966.

Additional Birthday

• Mike Shanahan [1952] – Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Shanahan became one of the most influential offensive minds in pro football history. After coordinating dominant offenses for the San Francisco 49ers, he served as the head coach of the Denver Broncos from 1995 to 2008, where he pioneered the dynamic zone-blocking running scheme and captured back-to-back titles in Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII.

Conclusion

The August 24 milestones remind us of the fragile, historic, and passionate nature of American football. We see legendary longevity in icons like Jerry Rice and Mike Shanahan, juxtaposed with the sudden, poignant departures of stars like Andrew Luck and wartime hero Jim Holder. Combined with fan-driven traditions like the New England Patriots’ logo vote and the grand opening of Houston’s NRG Stadium, this date shows that the sport’s history is written as much in stadium architecture and emotional farewells as in the box scores.