Author: Darin

1877 American Football Season

​If 1874 was the year American football found its soul, 1877 was the year it found its backbone. While the early 1870s were defined…

1876 American Football Season

A New Authoritative Organizational Body and Leader for Football ​Pigskin Dispatch’s Part 5 in the Series on American Football History A Princeton influence on…

History of Number 12 Overall NFL Draft Picks

Football History of April 11

Imagine a day when the airwaves first crackled with the sound of live sports, and future Hall of Famers were born just as the…

1875 American Football Season

By 1875, the “beautifully chaotic” experiment of American football hit a massive turning point. This was the year the round ball began its transformation…

Sam Chapman: The “Tiburon Terror” and the Pride of the Golden Bears

What happens when a player possesses a temperament so calm they call him “Sleepy Sam,” but a talent so explosive he’s dubbed the “Tiburon…

Dr. Dan Fortmann: The Scalpel-Sharp Guard of the Monsters of the Midway

How does a 17-year-old medical student become the youngest starter in NFL history and a Hall of Fame legend? Dan Fortmann arrived at Colgate…

Joe Romig: The Scholar-Warrior and Heisman-Sized Legend of Colorado

How does an interior lineman command enough respect to finish sixth in the Heisman Trophy race? In the early 1960s, Joe Romig wasn’t just…

Terry Hoage: The “Genius in a Uniform” Who Anchored the Georgia Dynasty

Can a genetics major with a 3.85 GPA be the most dangerous man on a football field? For Terry Hoage, brilliance was his greatest…

1874 American Football Season

Before the NFL, the Super Bowl, or even the forward pass, there was 1874—the year American football survived its first identity crisis. While most…