April 15, 1963 – Sonny Werblin leads group that purchases New York Titans from original owner Harry Wismer per the JetsInsider.com. Team changes name to the Jets on April 15. (Check out the purchase on our March 28 post)
April 15, 1965 - NFL changed its official’s penalty flag from white to bright gold. There were a few reasons that this change occurred. The first was that the majority of the officials wore white hats back then and these hats were used as a tool to mark spots of fumbles, out of bounds etc… With the advent of television broadcasts of games becoming more and more common and spotters in the stands would have an easier time discerning between a marker of a spot and that of a foul. A recent article on ProFootballTalk.NBCSports.com tells us that a second reason was that sometimes littered paper from the stands, mostly white in color, were often confused with penalty flags. I would imagine that games played on a snowy day would be an impairment using the color white as well. The American Football Database shares that the idea for the penalty flag came from Youngstown State coach Dwight Beede and was first used in a game against Oklahoma City University on October 17, 1941. Prior to the use of flags, officials used horns and whistles to signal a penalty. Official adoption of the use of the flag occurred at the 1948 American Football Coaches rules session. The National Football League first used flags on September 17, 1948 when the Green Bay Packers played the Boston Yanks. The college game used red colored flags until the 1970’s and the striped rules enforcers in Canada carry an orange flag. As for the hat being used for spots… this practice has lessened in the past four decades with the use of bean bags that vary in color from white, to black and most commonly blue.
April 15, 2000 - NFL Draft: Penn State defensive end Courtney Brown was the first pick by Cleveland Browns. Brown was a consensus All-American in his senior season with the Nittany Lions. Courtney along with Penn State teammate Lavar Arrington were the most popular choices by draft gurus everywhere labeling them as sure fire picks. The Cleveland franchise believed in the hype too and Brown appeared to be the right choice during his rookie season as he recorded 69 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks according to the Brownsnation.com website. An injury plagued second season though derailed the trajectory of the young player and his stock value fell sharply. The Brown’s kept Courtney on their roster for a total of five seasons and then he played one final year in Denver before his playing career came to an end according to the Pro Football Reference website. The New York Jets set a record when they wheeled and dealed their way into four first round draft picks.
