April 29, 1927 - John T. Riddell and his fledgling new Riddell Company developed the first football cleat. According to the blog of the Edison Nation.com website, John Riddell taught mathematics also serving as the Head Football Coach and Athletic Director at Evanston Township High School in Evanston, Illinois from the years of 1913 through 1927. It was during this time Riddell invented and developed the removable cleat around 1922. During that era, football shoes were equipped with leather cleats nailed to the sole of the shoe. Changing cleats due to inclement weather required the services of a cobbler to install the longer tangs. Unfortunately, because Northwestern University used the same shoe smith as Evanston Township High School, Riddell’s team football shoes were often not ready by game time. Riddell knew his idea would solve this problem for the masses but lacking the needed funding to produce the new product himself, Riddell had his shoes manufactured by the J.P. Smith Shoe Company, and he and his wife installed the posts and cleats in the evenings. John continued to teach, coach and produce his shoes until this 1927 day, when, with the popularity of his shoes on an upward trend, he left his teaching job therefore devoting his entire effort to producing shoes. The John T. Riddell, Inc. was formally announced in February of 1929 and their aim was to create sporting goods that were innovative, provided protection and gave the best performance to the athletes.
Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the Day comes from the Victoria , Texas paper the Victoria Advocate on April 30, 1980 and read, “ Lions Make Sims No. 1 NFL College Draft Pick.”
April 29, 1980 The Detroit Lions made Oklahoma running back Billy Sims the first overall pick in the 1980 NFL Draft. Sims was the 1978 Heisman Trophy winner and was anointed the big fish in this pre-draft class. A confident Sims was quoted in the article as saying, “Whatever the pros dish out, I am ready to take!” At that point in time though the Lions franchise and Billy Sims were very far apart on a mutually agreeable salary. Remember the deals were not structured the way they are now where the draft picks have a pretty good idea what they will be earning based on draft pick position. At the time Sims and his agent Jerry Argovitz were seeking a cool $4.5 million for a 6 year contract. Simms made a statement about how the pre-draft negotiations were going, “Detroit will have to wake up. I was hoping to sign with Detroit soon. Everybody’s making a 100 percent effort except Lions General manager Russ Thomas. He’s made zero effort.” Reports circulated that the Lions had their opening offer somewhere in the neighborhood of $700.000, so the gap at first was indeed a wide one between team and player. Finally on June 11 a deal was struck as the Detroit Free Press Sports page posted this headline,”Lions’ Billy Sims:’I believe in Miracles!’ The results of the financial package were confidential as part of the contract, but we do know that Sims and his agent were giddy over the results. Speculation for the Free Press article placed the contract at $2 million a season over four years.
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Future Hall of Fame players that came out of the 1980 NFL Draft were bengals tackle Anthony Munoz as the third pick, wide receiver Art Monk taken at 18 by the Washington franchise and Dwight Stephenson, a center chosen by the Dolphins with pick number 48 according to the Pro Football Reference website.
April 29, 1981 - South Carolina running back George Rogers becomes the first pick by the New Orleans Saints at the 1981 NFL Draft. Rogers deservedly won the Heisman Trophy for his outstanding All-American 1980 season with the Gamecocks. Rogers did not pan out quite as well as a pro though but an amazing 7 of his Draft Classmates so far, per the Pro Football Reference, have made their way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For starters one of the top linebackers of all time, Lawrence Taylor was the second overall selection by the Giants soon to be followed by defensive backs Kenny Easley at number 4 by Seattle and Ronnie Lott the 8th pick by the 49ers. In the second round more future Gold Jacket bearers joined their teams as the Bears took Mike Singletary at number 38, Howie Long was scooped up the the Raiders at 48 and the 51st overall pick of Rickey Jackson by New Orleans was a gem. Russ Grimm may have been the steal of this Draft as Washington chose the lineman with the 69th overall selection.
April 29, 1986 - The NFL Draft of 1986 started off with Auburn running back Bo Jackson becoming the first pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. According to a story in the Orlando Sentinel the Bucs took a big chance with their pick of Jackson because Bo warned team officials he would not play for owner Hugh Culverhouse. Apparently Culverhouse, the Bucs owner, sent his private jet to pick up the reigning Heisman Trophy winner for a physical and a visit. Jackson was soon ruled ineligible to play baseball for Auburn because Tampa Bay had failed to check on NCAA and SEC rules, despite assuring Jackson otherwise. Jackson held true to his word and turned down approximately $7 million with Tampa to play with the MLB’s Kansas City Royals for $1.6 million. After waiting a year the Buccaneers lost all rights to Jackson and he became eligible for the 1987 NFL Draft and the Raiders took a flyer on him in the 7th round of the 87 draft and Bo ended up playing for the Black and Silver. Going back to the 1986 Draft there was only one player that I could find that is currently enshrined in Canton and that is the San Francisco 49ers fourth round selection, 96th overall of James Madison University’s defensive end, Charles Haley.
April 29, 2006 - Mario WIlliams the brilliant defensive end of North Carolina State was the first pick of the 2006 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans. This draft is still too fresh to have pliers placed in the Pro Football Hall of Fame so here are the first twelve picks per the Pro Football Reference website.
Pick Tm Player Pos College/Univ
1 HOU Mario Williams DE North Carolina St.
2 NOR Reggie Bush RB USC
3 TEN Vince Young QB Texas
4 NYJ D'Brickashaw Ferguson T Virginia
5 GNB A.J. Hawk LB Ohio St.
6 SFO Vernon Davis TE Maryland
7 OAK Michael Huff DB Texas
8 BUF Donte Whitner DB Ohio St.
9 DET Ernie Sims LB Florida St.
10 ARI Matt Leinart QB USC
11 DEN Jay Cutler QB Vanderbilt
12 BAL Haloti Ngata DT Oregon
April 29, 2021 - The prime time extravaganza of the 2021 NFL Draft was held in Cleveland, Ohio on a rainy chilly day. # QBs were the first off of the board!The Jacksonville Jaguars brought a little bit of sunshine to their fans when the Commissioner read the card that stated that their first pick in the NFL Draft was Quarterback Trevor Lawrence from Clemson. The New York Jets then took fellow QB Zach Wilson from BYU. Not to be outdone the 49ers selected Trey Lance the signal caller from North Dakota State.
