April 4

In this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss  the WLAF name change as well as many more HOF Legendary stories.

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by photographer Ansel Adams circa 1943 and is titled " Football Practice."

April 4, 1998 - NFL Europe  the Former World League of American Football or WLAF, kicks off season. 1998 was the first season the league was known as NFL Europe. In that important season a guy that played for the Amsterdam franchise named Kurt Warner set the overseas League on fire tossing for over 2100 yards. The League schedule would come to a peak at the 1998 World Bowlplayed on June 14, 1998 when the Rhine Fire would defeat the Frankfurt Galaxy 34-10 according to the FootballDB.com website.

April 4, 1891 - Alpena, Michigan - The University of Wisconsin's brilliant tackle from 1911 to 1913, Bob "Butts" Butler claimed his birthday. Butts was a stout two way tackle that knew how to hit opponents low and drive them to whatever location he wanted.The Badgers were considered by many to be the top team in the country in 1912 and Butler was the anchor of the lines for Wisconsin. Many wanted to test the waters of how good the Badgers were by challenging Yale, but the Wisconsin faculty gave the idea the thumbs down preventing the 1912 game to take place. The Badgers nevertheless according to the NFF went undefeated blowing out rivals like Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota and even Arkansas. Nine players from the 1912 U of W squad were awarded All- American honors in 1912 including Bob Butler. The National Football Foundation inducted Bob Butler into their College Football Hall of Fame in 1972.

April 4,1907 - Lake Charles, Louisiana - Bill Banker the great Tulane halfback of the 1927 to 1929 teams, arrived into this world. Bill was known as the "Blonde Blizzard" according to his biography sketch on the footballfoundation.org website. This moniker came about because when the speedy light haired back ran on the field without a helmet most people saw a vanilla blur go across the field! Banker was voted as a 1929 All-American and he established the Tulane school records for career scoring with 263 points,  37 career touchdowns, 4 touchdowns in a game, 515 most rushing attempts in a career, most rushes in a game with 43 and a atounding 93.2 yards rushing average per game. In his senior year he led Tulane to an undefeated season. Bill Banker's collegiate football records are celebrated in the College Football Hall of Fame after his induction in 1977. After school he acted in some Hollywood movies for Warner Brothers and later played pro ball for the Memphis Tigers.

April 4, 1917 - Bridgeport, Connecticut - The solid center of Boston College from 1938 through the 1940 season, Chet Gladchuk celebrated his day of birth. Chet was a well rounded athlete who really was cemented in the position of center, not only on the Gridiron but he was also the starting center on the BC hoops team. The 1940 Golden Eagle football team was pretty solid too as Gladchuk was one of five College Football Hall of Fame inductees from that team. The Football Foundation website says that Gladchuk was associated with yet another Hall of Famer as Frank Leahy was his head coach. Boston College posted a 9-1 regular season mark and played Clemson in the Cotton Bowl. Despite losing 6-3, Gladchuk was part of a Boston College defense that forced Clemson to punt 11 times, a Cotton Bowl record. The 11-0, 1940 squad was unquestionably Boston College's all-time best team. Boston College finished with a 19-13 Sugar Bowl victory over the Tennessee Vols. The NFF voters selected Chet Gladchuk for induction into their College Football Hall of Fame in 1975.

April 4, 1947 - La Mesa, California - The impactful defensive tackle from Cal, Ed White was born. The NFF tells us that White was a player who lettered three years at California, made all-Pac 10 Conference three times, and made All-America in 1968. In 1968, he anchored a California defense that allowed only five rushing touchdowns in 11 games. His legend lives on in his hometown of San Diego where a local high school even named their field after him.The College Football Hall of Fame proudly placed a display in honor of Ed White into their legendary museum in 1999.In 1997 Ed rejoined his connection to the Cal football programs when he became an assistant coach with the team. 

April 4, 1951 - Canton, Georgia - The Alabama Crimson Tide standout offensive lineman  from 1970 to 1972, John Hannah celebrates his birthday. The National Football Foundation shares that John Hannah was perhaps the greatest offensive lineman in the history of the game as many different credible experts offer great testimonials of this. His head coach at Alabama, Bear Bryant, said, "In over 30 years with the game, he's the finest offensive lineman I've ever been around." Sports Illustrated in 1981 called him the best offensive lineman of all time. He made All-America in 1971 and  was a unanimous selection 1972. In 1972 he also won the Jacobs Award as the nation's best blocker at his position, offensive guard. He was named Lineman of the Year by the Birmingham Quarterback Club, Atlanta Touchdown Club, and Miami Touchdown Club. Alabama had a 27-8-1 record in his three years and won two conference championships. Hannah was named to Alabama'a all-century team and the Southeastern Conference all-50-year team (1933-1982).The National Football Foundation tallied the votes in favor of John Hannah entering the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. At the 1973 NFL Draft the New England Patriots used their first round pick to select Hannah. John had a brilliant 13 year career with the Pats in the NFL and was equally proficient at blowing open big holes for the run game was well as being a solid pass protector. According to the Pro HOF site Hannah was selected as an All-Pro in 10 of the 13 seasons he played professionally as well as being a four-time NFLPA Offensive Lineman of the Year which are even more accredited of how special a player he was. John Hannah was enshrined for his great NFL play into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991.

April 4, 1965 - Griffin, Georgia - Jessie Tuggle the fine linebacker from Valdosta State University was born. Tuggle according to the so called experts did not have the size or the footspeed to play linebacker position at a high level in college football. Therefore Jessie was not offered any incentives to play in the Division I level so he played at Division II Valdosta State. At VSU, according to the NFF's bio on him, Jessie lettered all four years and made the All-Gulf South conference team for three consecutive years. He gained All-America status as a senior. After his career, Valdosta retired his # 88 and named its athletic workout facility the Jessie Tuggle Strength and Fitness complex. The collegiate legend of Jessie Tuggle was memorialized in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007. Even with all of the accomplishments he had in college even the NFL teams didn;t recognize how good he was as he went undrafted. He tried out with the Atlanta Falcons and was 17th on their depth chart before he worked his way up the ranks to make it to five Pro Bowls and have a great 14 year NFL career.